Tuesday, September 24, 2002

Bush's authority
The German-American relationship isn't at its best at the moment. Schröder shouldn't have talked too much during the election campaign. Even I agree that we shouldn't follow the US into war, the total exclusion of this thread was not very clever and helped Saddam in a way. Additionally, our ex-ministre of justice should have also been a bit more diplomatically and honest. But things can't be changed now. The damage is done.

Actually I don't feel that pessimistic about is as the press does. There is no strong anti-Americanism in Germany. We like the American country and its "cultural" exports like McDonalds, Coca-Cola, Hollywood movies etc. We also like the US as a travel destination or work place. - It's not Anti-Americanism, it's of an Anti-Bushism. The new ultra-conservative government with its "you're my friend or you're my enemy"-attitude is not our style. Friends can have different opinions and even we owe a lot to the US, that does not mean we have to follow their orders.

I remember the days when I was praying for the Democrats to win the election. Well, Al Gore got the most votes but Bush the better lawyers. I have been in Korea at that time and could see firsthand how Bush destroyed the new and succesful sunshine policy of (the South Korean) president Kim Dae-Jung by putting North Korea on his "axis-of-evil"-list. Contacts between the two countries flew in pieces immediately. If anybody isn't able to act diplomatically on sensitive issues, than it is Bush. His conception of a relationship is quite one-sided. It's a misconception, in my opinion.

Moreover Germany's chancelor isn't the only one critizising Bush's Iraq-policy, even he may be the most prominent one. But Chirac in France, the opposition in the UK, the former US vice-president Gore and, not to forget, almost all nations in the middle East, strongly oppose a war without an approval from the UN. Not even his own dog seems to follow his instructions as can be seen on the pic (see the German comment to the pic at spiegel.de). :)
Not everyone is following Bush (&copy 2002 Associated Press AP)

If you're on the topic, see also the editorial "The German Problem" from William Safire in the New York Times (free registration required). A good article about the irregularities of the 2000 US president election can be found at CNN.com: "More evidence Bush stole the election" by Bill Press. By the way, the inquiries on that election stopped at September 11 last year when the illegitimate president "united" the country.

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