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

To: michael97123 who wrote (166884)	7/22/2005 4:20:14 PM
From: Elsewhere	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

<How do the candidates stand on fp issues?> Basically the choice who will become the new chancellor is between Schröder and Merkel. Schröder has been on the scene for seven years now. So one ought to have a look at Merkel as you do with your next question: <Is the fact that merkel is a conservative make her more supportive of American policy or do they all have to appease the pacifist and anti-bush electorate?> She's an "Atlanticist", like most of her party members. Regarding Iraq Merkel published a letter to the public, in the middle of the war: Brücken bauen, nicht spalten [Build bridges, don't divide] 2003-03-29 welt.de A quote: "Jetzt ist der Krieg traurige Realität. In dieser Situation steht es für mich außer Frage, dass die CDU in der Auseinandersetzung der alliierten Streitkräfte mit dem irakischen Diktator Saddam Hussein nicht neutral sein kann, sondern an der Seite der USA und ihrer Verbündeten stehen muss." "Now the war has become sad reality. In this situation it's no question for me that the CDU can not remain neutral in the conflict between the allied forces with the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein but must be on the side of the USA and its Allies." She has been accused of being obedient to Bush and US interests. But this is contradicted by the degree of her solidarity - she opposes German troops in Iraq. Regarding the Paris-Berlin-Moscow "axis" Merkel's FP specialist Pflüger wrote in the French "Figaro" that she has no interest in maintaining it; the article was published shortly before Merkel met Chirac... Union will keine Achse Paris-Berlin-Moskau Netzeitung 2005-07-18 netzeitung.de <German people need a big dose of supply side> On July 11 the CDU published its election program. (One chapter is available in English: cdu.de ) It was sad to hear that the CDU is in favor of increasing the value-added tax from 16 to 18%. I doubt that Merkel will have the power for a major supply-side push. Bottom line: Merkel is no Maggie. She's certainly not as contentious as the Iron Lady. Actually Merkel is rather inconspicuous but it pays to watch her. She's the one who managed to dethrone former Chancellor Kohl, an act which nobody had survived politically before her. And now she herself has become a chancellor candidate in spite of not fitting some stereotypes of her party. -- Two Wikipedia links with more background information: German president dissolves parliament; elections in September en.wikinews.org Angela Merkel en.wikipedia.org