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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: quehubo who wrote (49867)	10/6/2002 11:02:34 PM
From: Elsewhere	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

That is a very disturbing article. I'd add more than a grain of salt to statements of somebody who still calls himself a Marxist. von der Osten-Sacken's observations regarding the human rights situation in Iraq are justified. But his assessment of the economic importance of Iraq for Germany is exaggerated. Yes, there have been illegal shipments of technology but quantitatively (as far as deliveries to oppressive states are concerned) I wouldn't rate Germany worse than France, Russia, China or the USA. He would find it hard to back the statement "German policy has always put its eggs in Saddam's basket and gained from trade with Iraq" with numbers. In 2001 German exports to Iraq were about $70 million and imports $60 million. Trade with Iceland, to give an example, was three times as high, with the USA 500x as high (from a survey of the trade association DIHK). The claim about rising German antisemitism is refuted by the election result as I posted twice here. The one candidate who tried to sing the antisemitic tune, Mr. Möllemann, was severely punished. He fought for 18% and had to cope with 7% of the votes; and the FDP, party of Genscher, is kicking him out from some positions. (Incidentally Möllemann belongs to the few German politicians who met Hussein earlier, he's in company with Rumsfeld here.) Re. "Germany is now conducting its own independent foreign policy, which in the last two to four years, has become simply to contrast itself to the U.S." Again wrong. Schröder's statements were a pre-election panic; currently the German government is anxiously trying to join the NATO ranks again, though it obviously is cautious not to desert its majority-saving position too quickly. Re. "You can find the same words and the same phrases as are being used today in the '40s when the Germans were supporting India's and the Arabs' revolt against the British." His comparison of Nazi politics with today's politics in Germany is just as wrong as Däubler-Gmelin's alleged comparison of Bush with Hitler. Some German comedians are making fun of the current inflation of Nazi comparisons. von der Osten-Sacken is another one fulfilling Godwin's Law, see Win Smith's #reply-17995416 or tuxedo.org von der Osten-Sacken should drop Marxism and join amnesty, there he'd be a more interesting contributor.