Germany: Georgia on My Mind/Germany: America on My Mind

[jetsetter]

German Spectator is a regular survey of German mainstream media coverage of politics, religion and society, as well as of foreign policy, especially toward Europe and the United States.

Georgian Crisis Spurs German Identity Crisis

The Russian invasion of Georgia has opened yet another chapter in Germany’s decades-long self-identity crisis. German media are chock-full of armchair analyses that ponder whether Germany’s destiny lies with her “natural” partner, the Russian-led East, or with the “unnatural” American-led West…or perhaps somewhere safely in between. Myriad pseudo-introspective commentators are also advising readers on the role Germany could or should or may or may not have in resolving the conflict in Georgia.

Although German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been quick to condemn Russia, her efforts to play a meaningful part in resolving the crisis have been hamstrung by the junior partner in her coalition government, the left-wing Social Democrats, who believe that Russian imperialist aggression should be rewarded with brotherly love.

Merkel says Germany’s demand that Russia withdraw its troops from Georgia must be “credible.” But Merkel’s own credibility has been systematically undermined by her pro-Russian Foreign Minister, Frank-Walter (Superman) Steinmeier, who, by working single-handedly to save Planet Earth from a “new Cold War,” is also hoping to replace Merkel as chancellor in the general elections set to take place one year from now.

According to a new poll commissioned by Germany’s ARD public television, more than half of Germans are worried about a new Cold War between Russia and the West. Another poll, taken before the Russian invasion of Georgia, shows Steinmeier gradually closing the popularity gap with Merkel.

Meanwhile, the German military attaché in Moscow has this to say about the Russian bombing of Georgia: “The deployment of air power—despite the regrettable civilian casualties—can be seen as militarily appropriate.” Say what?

Some German media outlets have, not surprisingly, also taken sides with Russia. Deutsche Welle, for example, demands: “Stop the Russia Phobia.” Some German octogenarians are blaming democracy-obsessed Americans for provoking the authoritarian-nationalists running Russia.

The unspoken sentiment running through much of German commentary on Georgia is one of Schadenfreude that the Russians have finally taught the Americans a lesson about the futility of trying to spread democracy to states that Western European elites deem not to deserve freedom. The Financial Times Deutschland: “America Loses Control.” Die Zeit runs a piece titled: “America’s Weakness.” Der Spiegel says: “The sudden war in the Caucasus [has] dealt a blow to US prestige.”

Other German luminaries say (with a straight face) that this would be an ideal moment for Germany to carve out a morally neutral niche for itself as a permanent impartial intermediary between America and Russia. This, the postmodern logic goes, would enable a woefully energy-dependent Germany to finally break free from the inconvenient yoke of those pontificating Americans, who insist on holding Russia accountable for its actions.

Beyond the predictable charade of blaming the Americans and/or philosophizing about questions of world order, however, the overwhelming sentiment in Germany about Georgia is one of fatalism, based on the sober realization that Berlin actually has very little influence on what happens beyond its borders.

This, in turn, has led German media elites to seek false refuge in the (surprise, surprise) European Union. Many German newspapers are urging the chronically divided member states of the EU to join ranks around a common policy vis-à-vis Russia. In practice, this means that the authoritarians running the EU will be expected to issue demands against the authoritarians running Russia. The center-right Berliner Morgenpost warns: “Europe Must Give Russia A Clear Answer.” Has the EU’s superpower moment finally arrived?

And, sure enough, the EU has agreed on a united policy: There will be no EU sanctions against Russia. As the financial daily Handelsblatt reports: “Europe Barks, But Does Not Bite.” According to Der Spiegel: “Europe is Capitulating.” Deutsche Welle admits: “EU’s Options are Limited.”

But that has not deterred European federalists: Says the Financial Times Deutschland:
“Europe’s leaders have understood that they must act…but the complicated rules and regulations that govern the interplay of the 27 EU states are an invitation to distraction and quarrel. The war in Georgia shows that Europe urgently needs a president…and it lacks a common foreign minister who can forge a common foreign policy from among 27 national sensitivities. It is not impossible; the governments are ready…the Lisbon Treaty is written. The problem is not them up there, but us here below. We would have had our EU Treaty in January had the majority in Ireland not said ‘no’.” Democracy…it’s just so inconvenient.

Meanwhile, Der Spiegel argues that Germany’s number one priority is to keep the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) from being drawn into the conflict. “As things now stand, the crisis has renewed debate on Georgia’s membership. At the NATO summit in April in Bucharest, Merkel and Steinmeier played a major role in preventing Ukraine and the Caucasus country from joining the alliance’s Membership Action Plan (MAP). Now that hostilities have erupted, the Germans are happy to keep as much distance as possible between them and Georgia.”

Spiegel continues: “Strong criticism [of the German position] has also emerged from the American election campaign. US presidential candidate John McCain has warned that withholding fast-track membership for Georgia might have been viewed ‘as a green light by Russia for attacks on Georgia.’ Somehow this makes Germany partly responsible for the war in the Caucasus, at least in McCain’s eyes, and that does not bode well for Germany should the Republican be elected president in November. Berlin actually had hoped that it only had to get through the last few months of the Bush administration, and then everything would get better. But, no matter who is president, Germany’s relationship with the US promises to be fraught with tension should America allow itself to be provoked by Russia.” As usual, it’s all America’s fault.

But as the crisis draws out, and the full implications of the Russian aggression set in, Merkel is, in fact, moving much closer to the American position. Indeed, she now seems more open to Georgia’s desire to join NATO. After meeting with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili in Tbilisi, Merkel said: “I think that a clear political statement is once again very important in this situation: Georgia is a free and independent country, and every free and independent country can decide together with the members of NATO when and how it joins NATO. In December, there will be an initial assessment of the situation, and we are clearly on track for a NATO membership.”

Following Merkel’s comments, Financial Times Deutschland ran an essay titled: “Georgia Belongs in NATO.” Could this be the beginning of a European strategic rethink?

Star Wars in Poland

German media reaction to news of the agreement to base a US missile defense system in Poland has been strangely muted. The deal, which signifies a major augmentation in the ability of America to project power in Europe, may over time turn out to be far more significant to the future of European security than the crisis in Georgia. All the more puzzling, then, that German commentators have reacted to the news with a kind of fatalistic resignation.

The left-leaning Die Tageszeitung says: “Moscow’s military leaders are not really afraid of the US missile defense system. Ten US interceptor missiles stand against thousands of Russian warheads, should it come to that…. As usual, the main point is the respect and recognition of a Russia which still has not come to terms with its loss of superpower status.”

Only a few months ago, the same newspaper said: “There are so many unanswered questions, especially as to the purpose of the [missile shield]. Since Iran is obviously not yet capable of atomic weaponry, and the world community wants to prevent them from obtaining such weapons, which missiles is the anti-missile shield going to intercept? What is the nature of the threat? How much will it cost the German taxpayer? Will there be further armament projects?”

The leftwing Der Spiegel, in a surprising moment of introspection, admits: “Concerns about possible threats emanating from Putin’s unpredictable empire were never far from the minds of Warsaw politicians. After all, have its EU partners in the West not criminally underestimated this danger and left the countries of Eastern Europe to fend for themselves against the Russian bear time and time again in the past? Brussels did nothing when Russia beat up on the Baltic States with arbitrary trade restrictions, when it launched a full-scale cyber war against Estonia and when it used specious arguments to ban Polish food imports. And that’s not even mentioning the weak support given to the young, wobbly Ukrainian democracy as Russia attempted to strong-arm it.”

Only a few months ago, the same magazine said European leaders were “sitting out” the rest of the Bush Administration: “Behind the delaying tactics is the hope that a new US administration under Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton will push the expensive missile defense with less determination than the Republican Bush.”

The financial daily Handelsblatt says: “In Eastern Europe, a new discussion about Russia is developing that considers both the domestic and foreign policies being followed in the Kremlin. This mindset does not necessarily mean a new split of the NATO alliance into the ‘old’ US-critical Europeans and the ‘new’ pro-American Europeans. But it does show that the large European countries like Germany and France must show more deference to the Eastern European worldview.”

The Financial Times Deutschland says: “Prague and Warsaw are betting that their countries will be strategically more important for the United States—and thus they will enjoy greater protection in the future. All this is happening because of fear of ever-more aggressive Russia. In Western Europe, which did not experience a Soviet invasion and martial law, this fear is often mocked as being outdated. But the recent Russian invasion of Georgia shows that it is a very relevant issue.”

One year ago, the same newspaper said: “Myths Burden the Debate About US Missile Defense.” The article called for a “factual” explanation of the anti-missile system.

At least the center-left Die Zeit is being consistent. An essay titled “Questionable Security” argues: “That Poland—considering its past history with Russia—lacks the will to structure its priorities in another way (let’s say: European) is understandable. But that the Administration in Washington at this point is pushing a Cold War mood and is further splitting the Alliance partners, can mean only one thing: That the current authorities have not learned from the mistakes of the past.”

Or maybe it’s the Germans who have failed to learn from history that appeasement never works.

The World Has Earned a New America

European media elites love to find Americans who can “confirm” that the United States is indeed as crappy of a country as Europeans say it is. And the editors of Handelsblatt are no different. In what must rank as one of the shoddiest pieces of German journalism in recent times, Katahrina Slodczyk tries to convince her readers that the 120,000 US nationals living in Germany (aka America’s 51st state) are suddenly proud to be American again. And it’s all because of Barack Obama.

In a “news” story titled “The New Pride to be American”, Slodczyk interviews one Sue Bergermann, who after divorcing her German husband decides to leave Munich to return to live in her small hometown in Ohio. But she soon discovers that she cannot adapt. So she transfers the blame for her self-imposed self-identity crisis to the man who is to blame for all of the world’s problems: George W Bush.

In 2004, Bergermann decides to return to Germany, the last true paradise on earth. She says: “I could not stand America. This president [Bush] has turned my homeland into a developing country. Everything is ailing: Infrastructure, schools, political institutions.” Bergermann is back in Munich because “I was happy to find an alternative to life in America.”

Fast-forward to 2008: Bergermann is once again homesick for America, thanks to (surprise, surprise) Barack Obama! “If Barack Obama wins the presidential elections, then sooner or later I will return to the USA,” she asserts.

Confirming that Bergermann is not the only American expatriate who shares the correct (ie German) perspective on America, Slodczyk also interviews Jerry Gerber, a New Yorker who has lived in Germany for more than 30 years. He says: “Obama makes us proud of our homeland. We now, once again, have a r reason to love our country.”

Slodczyk then writes: “Americans have high expectations for the successor of George W Bush…The United States, the greatest world power of all times, has lost its authority. Bush stands for the war in Iraq, torture at Abu Ghraib, for legal inflection in Guantanamo, for a reckless environmental policy…The new president will have to clean up, repair, rectify. He will have to give the country a new direction—and the rest of the world as well.” To which one might reply: Are there any prerequisite qualifications to being a journalist in Germany? Any why is opinion being peddled as news?

The Frankfurter Rundschau takes a similar but slightly different line by publishing a commentary titled “European Americans” which asserts that Republican voters are largely uneducated and therefore “American” and Democratic voters are educated and therefore more “European.” Marcia Pally, a “multicultural studies” professor at New York University says: “McCain’s supporters are older, white and uneducated men. By contrast, Obama’s quasi-European voters are female, but especially young and smart.” She then advises: “If Democrats want to win, they will have to rid themselves of their European appearance.” By which she evidently means they should abandon their snobbish cultural superiority complex. Just for good measure, Pally concludes: “Hillary Clinton is simply the better American.” Ouch!

Not to be outdone in the effort to profile “disaffected Americans,” the newsmagazine Focus offers an interview with Michael Franti, a Californian hip hop musician who refuses to wear shoes as a way of expressing his solidarity with poor people (by the way, he is also for peace in the Middle East and in the whole world). Focus asks Franti: “You must certainly be supporting Barack Obama.” Franti responds: “I support ideas….For the rest of the world, Barack embodies a new America—and the rest of the world, as well as the USA, have earned a new America.”

Germany Way Too Conservative…for Gay Marriage

Brigitte Zypries, Germany’s leftwing justice minister, writes an opinion essay in the San Francisco Chronicle in which she apologizes to California’s gay community for her failure to achieve rights for same-sex partners that are equal to those held by married couples.

But she insists she is making big progress. Says Zypries: “A visible sign that the important thing in these deliberations is love is the rainbow flag that flew over the Hamburg City Hall from July 31 to August 3 to commemorate the local gay pride celebration.” That “event” was the result of a political agreement between the parties that form the local government, which is led by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

She continues: “The CDU is Germany’s leading conservative party, and its attitude toward creating a legal foundation for registered same-sex partnerships has ranged from reluctance to rejection…. I am committed to attaining complete equality between married couples and registered life partners. But in Germany, the time for this unfortunately has not yet arrived…. In Germany, many conservative people attach every bit as much importance to the remaining legal differences between heterosexual spouses and same-sex partners as conservatives in the United States attach to the exclusive use of the term ‘marriage’ to describe the bond between a man and a woman.” Long live many conservative people!

In the effort to score some brownie points with San Francisco’s gays, however, Zypries concedes that Germany is not any more “progressive” than is America. Another pillar of European leftwing dogma goes up in flames.

“Ugly German” Seeks “Negro”

More news of Germans gone wild while abroad: The German consul general in San Francisco, Rolf Schütte, says a group of German MPs visiting the United States was more concerned about sightseeing and shopping for shoes than about scheduled meetings with American counterparts. And who can blame them? After all, San Francisco is one of the most beautiful cities in America.

But Schütte’s complaint does not end there. In a report he prepared for the Foreign Ministry, and which was later leaked to the German media, the parliamentary group was due to take a sightseeing trip around San Francisco, when one delegate, Annette Widmann-Mauz, broke her foot. When Schütte provided her with a wheelchair, the MP complained that it was “a chair for the sick with small wheels, the kind you see in old US movies.” Her colleague, Randolph Krüger, chimed in by saying: “We need a negro who can push the wheelchair.” Come again?

When asked by Der Spiegel about the incident, Krüger said: “I would not exclude having said that, but if they are going to provide us with such a splendid contraption, they can at least help us out with it.”

So much bunk for the idea that Germans are more civilized than Americans. It looks like the “ugly American” faces stiff competition from the “ugly European.”

http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/3476

An interesting article.

Another earlier article from the same author:

German Spectator is a new column published by the Brussels Journal. It aims to provide a regular survey of German mainstream media coverage of politics, religion and society, as well as of foreign policy, especially toward Europe and the United States. This week’s Spectator looks at some of the stories making German headlines during the last seven days and finds America, in one way or another, dominating the thoughts of Germany’s media elites.



Obama Wants to be a Berliner

German politicians are bickering over the planned July 24 visit to Berlin of US presidential candidate Barack Obama. Center-right Chancellor Angela Merkel, who presumably backs the rival candidacy of US Senator John McCain, intends to deprive Obama of the chance to pretend he is the new John F Kennedy. She says she has “little sympathy” for the symbolic Brandenburg Gate being used for “electioneering.” Her thinking is that only sitting presidents should be afforded that honor; anything else would be presumptuous rather than presidential.

Merkel’s center-left Social Democratic coalition partner, Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who claims that a 15 minute telephone conversation with Obama gave him the impression that Obama is “prepared to fundamentally reconsider the course of US foreign policy,” says Obama can play ‘Let’s Pretend I’m the President’ wherever he wants.

The center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung says the Dalai Lama used the Brandenburg Gate as a political prop, so why can’t Obama? The paper then launches into a Clintonian-like vast right-wing conspiracy theory, reporting that operatives of the current occupant of the White House told Merkel at the recent G-8 Summit in Japan that it would not be fair to invite Obama without also inviting McCain. “Prohibiting Obama from speaking [at the gate] would be like prohibiting foreign politicians from speaking at the National Mall in Washington just because Martin Luther King held his big speech there in 1963,” the paper says.

[This is the second conspiracy theory about American interference in European politics that has been proffered by German media in as many weeks. Last week, the leftwing Der Spiegel tried to convince its readers that the neocons were somehow to blame for the failure of the Lisbon Treaty (aka the European Constitution) in Ireland.]

Der Spiegel asks: “When is he coming, who will he meet, and, more importantly: What will he say?” The magazine, which has spent the last eight years trashing the United States, then explains: “The senator from Illinois must take care not to seem overly pro-European” or else Republicans will pejoratively label him as ‘European’. “It’s therefore unlikely that Obama will wax lyrical about Europe’s leadership on combating climate change or health insurance.”

The Berlin-based Tagesspiegel notes: “There is a certain irony to it all: It took a major war for George W Bush to strain the transatlantic relationship, but for his wannabe successor, the campaigning senator from Illinois, all it takes is a speech announcement.” The newspaper says Germany’s Social Democrats want to be all over Obama so that some of his stardust might fall on them. “What would otherwise be criticized as pretentious attention-getting, in the case of Obama the Social Democrats it is labeled as “having stature” and “showing respect.”

The Berliner Morgenpost believes that Merkel, who has recently broken popularity poll records for German politicians, is probably going to end up winning this fight.

Germany in Afghanistan: Mission Creep?

The tourism itinerary of a young American politician is not the only topic being debated in the corridors of German power. NATO officials on July 10 announced that they were considering a deployment of the Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) reconnaissance aircraft to aid the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. The planes are stationed in Germany, and the prospect that they might actually be used for what they were designed to do is sending German politicians into apoplexy.

Roughly one-third of the AWACS crews are German officers and any deployment would require parliamentary approval, which analysts say seems highly unlikely. Already German politicians are saying the AWACS request could overburden Germany’s armed forces, the Bundeswehr.

Germany, of course, has earned a well-documented reputation for creativity in finding excuses to avoid doing its fair share in Afghanistan (or anywhere else, for that matter), and that is unlikely to change anytime soon. The German defense ministry’s initial reaction to the NATO announcement was: “Britain also has these [AWACS] capabilities.” So why not ask them instead.

The entire debate is eerily reminiscent of a similar dustup in 2007, when the pacifist Green Party argued that that deploying a total of six Tornado fighter planes to Afghanistan would contribute to global warming. So much for the leadership of Europe’s leading power.

The center-left Frankfurter Rundschau says: “The AWACS deployment may be logical. But it shows, once again, how the German Bundeswehr is, logical step by logical step, stumbling into the fighting in Afghanistan. Overall, it is a worrying development.”

The Cologne-based Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger sees a Sy Hersh-type conspiracy theory: The [German] military says that the planes are not needed—unless they were used for an air war, which is not happening in Afghanistan. Does all this have to do with Pakistan or Iran? Increasingly there is talk of a ‘regional conflict.’ Under such circumstances, Germany cannot agree to the AWACS deployment.”

A fine mess those Americans got us into.

America, Tear Down this Embassy!

The emotional debate over the new American embassy in Berlin continues unabated. The much-maligned building occupies the same spot on Pariser Platz, the square in front of the Brandenburg Gate, as the pre-World War II American embassy. Some Germans don’t like the architecture; others say it’s too big; still others don’t like the location.

And some don’t like the ambassador (neither the previous one nor the current one). Hans-Ulrich Jörges, chief propagandist for the rabidly anti-American (and anti-Israel) weekly magazine Stern, is angry and very, very resentful that he was denied an interview with former US Ambassador Daniel Coats several years ago. He unleashes his pent-up bitterness by publishing a childish rant against the current Ambassador William R Timken.

Jörges begins his diatribe with a philosophical discourse on what is and what is not an embassy. He then concludes that although the United States has a building in Germany, it does not have an embassy. This sets the tone for the rest:

“Attention must be given to this continuing scandal, this incomprehensible stupidity, this appalling result of imperial arrogance—now that the United States has opened a new embassy building in such a spectacular location, next to the Brandenburg Gate. Exactly there, where 69 years ago, there was an earlier embassy, even if then, as now, without an ambassador. He was recalled to Washington after the Reichspogromnacht [November 9/10, 1938] of the Nazis against the Jews. Today, nothing has de facto changed. Although William R Timken, who holds the title of ambassador, is physically present in the capital of the Germans, politically he is absent, completely. And he has absolutely nothing to say to Germans at all.” Ouch!

Has Jörges just barred himself from the American embassy for life?

Germany or America: Where Is It Easier to Get Away with Murder?

In December 2007, two drunken immigrants beat the living daylights out of a 76-year-old German man in the Munich subway. A security camera filmed the act, and the perpetrators, a 20-year-old Turk and a 17-year-old Greek, were arrested three days later. The unemployed accused, who took turns kicking the victim in the head and shattered his skull, have between them already committed some 60 violent or theft-related crimes. The victim survived and the perpetrators were charged with attempted murder.

A German court on July 8 sentenced the Turk to 12 years in prison; it sentenced the Greek to eight years and six months. Many Germans believe the sentences are too harsh, says the German weekly news magazine Focus.

But the center-left Die Zeit goes a step further by asking: How would the case have been handled in the United States? In an article titled “America and the Treatment of Criminal Immigrants” the paper says that if you think Germany is cruel, just take a look at how America treats immigrants who commit crimes.

Die Zeit says such a case could never even happen in America. “Not only because subway security is taken much more seriously—from New York to Los Angeles, subway stations have security cameras and sheriffs. More importantly, drunkenness cannot be used as a mitigating factor to reduce prison sentences; on the contrary, it is illegal to drink under the age of 21. And in most states, criminals who are 18-years-old are treated as adults; in some states this is the case even for 16- and 17-year-olds.”

It continues: “In general, prison terms in the US are longer. In this case, a life sentence, at least for the 20-year-old. At least in theory, that is, because in America no one with 40 previous convictions would be running around free. In some states, like California, a life sentence can be applied after the third infraction….And there is almost no tolerance for criminal immigrants: The Department of Homeland Security plans to deport some 200.000 criminal immigrants this year alone…At the present time, many US states are tightening laws against immigrations…Driving under the influence is deportable. In Georgia, Mexicans are beig deported because of fishing without a license. In Mississippi it is a crime for an immigrant to work without working papers…According to Richard Lamm, the ex-governor of Colorado: ‘We have enough criminals, why should be import more?’”

This Ain’t No Heartland

“It is sick, the heart. It is empty. It is old, wrinkled, used. It beats only weakly. It is slowly bleeding. It offers little hope. Oh, America, how could it come to this? There, where the new man struggled to build his utopia of a New World, with sweat on his brow, but always aware while working his own piece of ground that he was a gentlemen servant to no one, there, where the air smelled like the sweet fragrance of freedom, and the horizon reached to an infinite distance, there in rural America, in the heart of the nation, in their mythical ‘heartland’, the hard times are there to stay. It was destroyed when agriculture rediscovered itself as an industry, which required fewer workers and certainly no free, self-centered people.”

This is how the Frankfurter Allgemeine opens its anonymous review of an anti-American photo essay titled ‘Heartlands: Sketches of Rural America’. The book is a repackaged version of a pseudo-documentary film produced by Andreas Hovarth, an Austrian Michael Moore-wannabee. His thesis is that all Midwestern Americans are stupid hicks.

Hovarth traveled to the American ‘heartland’ (somewhere west of Chicago, to be more exact) in 2003 to find answers to his many questions about the US invasion of Iraq, including about American unilateralism and astonishing arrogance. Would he find satisfying answers in the peaceful heartland? No. Instead, what he finds are some rural small-town Americans who are largely ignorant about the facts of the war. After interviewing a few drunk Iowans and Nebraskans, Hovarth concludes that the Midwestern heartland is a decaying stronghold of fat, ignorant, boorish, drunken, xenophobic, (insert more perjorative adjectives here…) Americans. The result of Hovarth’s labors is his Magnum opus: a contemptuous film titled “This Ain’t No Heartland.”

Hovarth didn’t need to travel all the way to America’s heartland to find village idiots. But then again, there is no market for books and movies about dumb Austrians or ignorant Germans.

Of course, Hovarth knows his caricature of the American Midwest is dishonest. To get around this little problem, he titles his book Heartlands, with a plural ‘s’, that is. Like all postmodern relativists peddling a political agenda, Hovarth says: “What you see is not necessarily what I see.” Shame on Frankfurter Allegemeine.

Déjà Vu

Europeans naturally love it when Americans (or in the case of Neil Young, a Canadian who has lived in the United States so long that he probably qualifies as an American) share their political views, especially as regards the current American president. So Germans will enjoy Michael Pilz’s review at Die Welt of ‘Déjà Vu’, an anti-Iraq war propaganda film produced by Young.

“It is a symbol of how America deals with the war it started in the Middle East—thereby provoking the return of the protest culture…He wants for the president to get lost and for the war to end,” says Pilz, Die Welt’s music critic. He then describes the film’s climax: “Then it comes to the highpoint. In Georgia, they play ‘Impeach the President’. The audience, feeling lucky and besides themselves to be able to see the four [ageing hippies Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young] one last time in their lives, becomes indignant: there is a war going on, and who turns his back on the country with such heavenly music, deserves ripped-up concert tickets and booing. Because pop and politics are two different things in predominantly apolitical in America.”

A review of the same film by Bodo Mrozek in Der Tagesspiegel sums it up this way: “Déjà Vu, the film, is way too late. In considering the [American presidential] campaign, one must instinctively think of a more recent campaign: that of candidate Barack Obama. The attacks on President Bush are now outdated.”

Another American Germans will like is Collier Schorr. An artist famous for her interest in androgynous teenage boys, her exhibition titled “Freeway Balconies” is currently on display at the Deutsche Guggenheim in Berlin. A Berliner Morgenpost review says: “Popcorn meets provocation: While the new American embassy on Pariser Platz was opened with great excitement last weekend, a few hundred metres on the Unter den Linden a very different America is on display. This is about sex and violence, war and anti-war demonstrations, uniforms and naked bodies, Judaism and anti-Semitism.” She presents America “as a land of inner turmoil and deep identity crisis.” No surprise that Schoor calls Germany home.

http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/3410

Long articles I know but it is nice to get an incite into what the German media is feeding the masses. It is quite sad that the papers are so diluted.

[the Interceptor]

Originally Posted by jetsetter

but it is nice to get an incite into what the German media is feeding the masses. It is quite sad that the papers are so diluted.

No. This is what this autor feeds us. I only read about a quarter of the first article, and I'm not only fucking mad about this bullshit, I also found most of the statements in the article to be interpreted falsely, absolutely taken out of context or simply not true to an extent I thought not possible in western media.

I'll just say it one time:

THIS IS A GIANT PILE OF CRAP, DON'T BELIEVE A WORD!

EDIT: I read more, and it's not getting better.

[klankymen]

yes, there is some misinterpretation in the article, and there is a lot of rambling.... but he does make some points.

The blatant anti-american propaganda spread by leftist papers like the spiegel or the stern, and leftist parties like the social democrats, the greens and the communist party, for no other reason than jealousy of America (but why? Do they not like their own country enough to just shut up about it?) is abundant in the media, and has been so for many years, even before Bush started attacking muslim countries for what they perceive to be motivated by oil.

I find this line interesting:

‘We have enough criminals, why should be import more?’

It's a good point, and one that it seems more and more Germans are catching on to, judging by the rising numbers of votes for the nationalist party and the republicans (a far right party, affiliated with neo-nazis by some). This is of course unfortunate, because these parties are just profiting from protest votes, by people who think the only way to do something about "those damn criminal foreigners" is to just deport the lot of them, and let none in. But why not just focus on the criminals? Unfortunately the legal situation makes it almost impossible to deport criminal immigrants, but if this was changed, then the whole matter could be considered taken care of. I simply have no idea why so many people are opposed to changing this, the only people who have anything to lose are criminals. yeah, read it again: criminals. What's wrong with punishing criminals? Isn't that almost a part of the definition of the word?

Although normally I am in favour of the multi-party system in Germany, because it allows my favourite party, the liberal democrats, to get some say in what's going on, unfortunately the current political climate seems to mean that all the extremist parties (communists, nationalists) are getting so many votes, it's no longer possible for one of the big 2 to rule properly... part of the reason for the problem we have now, the big coalition, with merkel uselessly trying to do anything, and being undermined by her socialist co-regime. Simply seeing Kurt Beck makes me want to punch him.

As for Obama. I think some Germans are in for a nasty shock if Obama get's elected, they will find him to not be the man they expected. It's funny how Germans praise him as the next Kennedy, as if Kennedy was some kind of pacifist god, completely forgetting about things like the bay of pigs invasion.

Although I hate Zypries, good on her for supporting gay marriage, unfortunately she seems to be using it as a front to mindlessly criticize the CDU and the american republicans.

As for the German non-interventionist policies everyone is trying to accomplish, I can understand their fears, Germany is a small country (well actually, it's big, but not as big as some), that no longer is the superpower it once was. Germans are afraid of getting caught up in a war, and being fucked in the ass by Russia. Unfortunately for them, they don't seem to understand that not doing anything, except a little bit of sucking up to Russia, is not going to help them protect themselves. When will they learn.

EDIT: How long until a SPD-voter neg reps me?

[Elvis313]

Hello fellow Americans and welcome to the AGL:



Seriously, I don't even have words for that bulls**t

[the Interceptor]

Originally Posted by klankymen

The blatant anti-american propaganda spread by leftist papers like the spiegel or the stern, and leftist parties like the social democrats, the greens and the communist party, for no other reason than jealousy of America (but why? Do they not like their own country enough to just shut up about it?) is abundant in the media, and has been so for many years, even before Bush started attacking muslim countries for what they perceive to be motivated by oil.

Anti-American propaganda? Oh gimme a break...

[swek]

Kudos to you. You managed to find a European blog with ties to the Vlaams Belang (far right Belgian party).

Is there more to say?

[jetsetter]

Originally Posted by swek

Kudos to you. You managed to find a European blog with ties to the Vlaams Belang (far right Belgian party).

Is there more to say?

I've also read about the connections and am not concerned.

According to Brussels Journal it is a nonpartisan publication. However, Belgian media often link it to Vlaams Belang since Belien's wife, Alexandra Colen, is a parliament member for the party and Belien receives a salary from them. But Belien himself has been at odds with Vlaams Belang at times, criticizing the party for its populism. There are other writers on Brussels Journal, both Belgian and non-Belgian, who have no affiliation to the party and who express other opinions.

Most in the United States are right(even the democrats) of the general Euro view anyways.

[klankymen]

Originally Posted by Elvis313

Hello fellow Americans and welcome to the AGL:



Seriously, I don't even have words for that bulls**t

Isn't it funny how as soon as some foreign media critizises Germany, all the Germans are jumping up and down screaming "bullshit" and "anti-germany", but if they have even half a brain can not possibly deny the rampant anti-americanism in German media.

[the Interceptor]

Originally Posted by klankymen

Isn't it funny how as soon as some foreign media critizises Germany, all the Germans are jumping up and down screaming "bullshit" and "anti-germany", but if they have even half a brain can not possibly deny the rampant anti-americanism in German media.

Thanks for the insult!

And I don't have a problem with criticism of Germany, I mean there are loads of things to criticise. I have a problem when someone comes along and totally twists and turns the picture Germany and the Germans have on things, such as the conflict in Georgia. My major concern is that someone takes this for granted and actually believes that we think the way this article says we do. I don't know about you, but I don't.

And I don't see any anti-Americanism in the media, at least not any more than against any other country or crowd. There sure are people that are against actions performed by the US, but they criticise such actions just as much when someone else performs them.

[klankymen]

I believe you too are an immigrant/foreigner, and as such are probably much more easily capable of recognizing sentiments against your own country. (turkey, am I correct?)

As such with your statement of "not any more than against any other country" you may be partially correct, in that there is an equal amount of anti-turkish sentiment as there is anti-americanism.

But when's the last time you saw anti-danish sentiment in the Spiegel? Or anti-australianism in the Stern?

European media just loves to pick on America, just like American media picks on china, and there's no doubt about it. But as I was saying before, everyone here is all giddy about Obama (I don't think I've even heard McCain mentioned...), and are all thinking America will be so much different. But like I said, they're in for a surprise. American Democrats are not German socialists.

[Momentum57]

All I have to say is don't Germans like Michael Jackson and think hes normal or at least innocent. There you go they just have bad judgment as a people.

[Elvis313]

Originally Posted by Momentum57

All I have to say is don't Germans like Michael Jackson and think hes normal or at least innocent. There you go they just have bad judgment as a people.

Yeah, that's true. And don't forget that David Hasselhoff is the most popular musician of all time over here.



Smell the sarcasm?

[SuperStalin]

Der Wacko Jacko ist der neue Fuhrer! Alles Rejoycensie bitte!

Seriously though. I doubt that most Germans care about Michael Jackson.
Even if they do, it's hardly something you can pin on the entire population of Germany.

On the other hand, the US justice system found that Michael Jackson is not guilty.
So, who's suffering from poor judgment as a people?

[the Interceptor]

Originally Posted by klankymen

I believe you too are an immigrant/foreigner, and as such are probably much more easily capable of recognizing sentiments against your own country. (turkey, am I correct?)

My dear friend, I am as German as it gets. I don't even know of any ancestor in my family that wasn't German.

Originally Posted by klankymen

But when's the last time you saw anti-danish sentiment in the Spiegel? Or anti-australianism in the Stern?

Yeah, but why is there nothing about Denmark or Australia in the Stern? Because - no offense to be taken by Australians or Danes - what happens there doesn't mean shit to us. Things that happen in the US however have a lot of influence on us, not only because we play a major role in Western Europe, and therefore in the western world of Eurasia.

There certainly is a difference on how German media treats the US, opposed to how US media treats Germany. Out media usually has a more critical view on things, while the US media usually gives a general feeling of a superior, modern Europe.

Originally Posted by klankymen

everyone here is all giddy about Obama (I don't think I've even heard McCain mentioned...), and are all thinking America will be so much different. But like I said, they're in for a surprise. American Democrats are not German socialists.

Oh, McCain is being mentioned alright. Nevertheless, the German media certainly centers around Obama, simply because he is such a "profiable" object in terms of media work. And I think that the way Germany works, we've always been closer to the liberal candidate of the US, simply because his polictics would be closer to ours. I do agree that there are big differences between American and German liberals, but I think the differences to the American republicans are even bigger.

Coming back to the introductory articles, my opinion remains that they are awfully biased and give a very wrong picture on what we actually think about such things. Do I really have to take it apart?

[cvrefugee]

TLDR

Is this about Germany/France?Russia blocking Georgia and Ukraine from entering NATO because of pipeline control?

[phuckingduck]

Yikes.

/me slowly walks away and lets the Germans work this one out...

[ryosuke]

Originally Posted by jetsetter

Long articles I know but it is nice to get an incite into what the German media is feeding the masses. It is quite sad that the papers are so diluted.

what are you trying to tell us, that the media landscape looks different in europa than in the US?


for an american, european politics and media is mostly left wing. for an european, american politics and media is mostly right wing.

who is right now, europe? america?

these are just the issues that made me stop writing in political discussion threads like these because in the end it was always the same with people calling each other biased or anti-something and agreements or even just understanding was never found.

what should we do to overcome this?



(btw, i've read the article and there is some truth in it and some propaganda, but i won't go into any arguments about its content that end in the usual manner...

but i'd like to assure you that were not being diluted here, as this article tries to claim by picking out small bits that fit into the authors agenda.
there are lots of quality papers and tv channels here.)

[efoolution]

Originally Posted by the Interceptor

THIS IS A GIANT PILE OF CRAP, DON'T BELIEVE A WORD!

I´m with you on that ...

On the "Anti-american" thing ... bullshit. Germany is about as american influenced as a country can be. All, and I mean ALL our Pop-culture is basically Us-american. For the last decades People were complaining and warning that Germany is too much a Usa-Clone (culturally) and that we wouldn´t have our own Identity (unlike other big European Nations; France, GB and so on) and to be honest, not much about that has changed. Movies, TV, Music, Books and even food ... it´s all hugeley influenced by the Usa.

I think most of us Germans have a good opinion about the USA and take much interest in what happens there. That shouldn´t be mistaken for uncritical interest though. Anyone who thinks taking a critical approach equates to being against something or someone, is a Moron.

[MacGuffin]

Well, let's not forget that they managed to turn the word "liberal" into an invective in the USA... So being liberal is a bad thing or what? That's funny because the original meaning of liberalism is according to Wikipedia "a broad array of related ideas and theories of government that consider individual liberty to be the most important political goal."

Strange... I thought they value individual liberty over there more than anywhere else..

So when the meaning of "liberal" has become so twisted that it is nowadays a swearword in the USA, it's no wonder that people get wrong perspectives from propaganda-babbling nincompoops like in those articles above. Welcome in cyberspace, where everyone can google for a confirmation for his/her twisted opinions, resentments, prejudices and stereotypes.

Sorry for the hard words but next time seek out more reliable sources.

[idk]

Mhh... I don't know where to start...

German-Russia-Georgia...

As far as i know, the Georgians started, then the Russians moved in. It is on Georgian territory, but the region in question declared itself Independent... mh i thought Americans are very serious about independence. Isn't that even the most important holiday in the US? With many speeches how much that meant for freedom blahblahblah So why shouldn't there be other regions/nations that want to benefit from independence? Well i can not tell in what way they plan to benefit, I'm not into the topic and to be honest... I don't care too much.
On the other hand i don't see why former soviet states are so welcome to the NATO... what can they offer? It's just a strategical gain.
Maybe the world would be much safer when every country had to keep its own troops in its own territory and not to spread it all over the world, just to start marching when some idiot rants some paroles.

The situation now is difficult. Of course Germany has its "duties" to the western world... but like the article said an identity crisis as well imo.
Look at Germany... a small country, smaller then many of the states in the USA but regained so much influence after WW2, raised again to one of the biggest industrial nations with considerable economic power. This from... a country that rankes 62 in size.

So there is a lot to lose. China is coming... India is coming, some others too... also Russia is much more present then it was between the end of the cold war and even yesterday.

Well since the USA invaded several country for importing democracy and exporting oil, so... maybe Germany might also have some interests since it wants to stay an industrial power which consumes alot of energy.

Now there is Russia... just a few kilometers eastwards which could guarantee us a lot when they like us.
When it all comes to an end with oil, I'm sure USA won't provide us with the last reserves from the middle east because they need everything for themselves to stay powerful.

Difficult situation now. I'm not keen on the Russians, but also don't want to rely on the America because then it's just a matter of who's in office whether we're good or bad = worth supporting/not supporting.

One thing on the missile shield... Umm... yah... nice idea. I'd also like one that protects us. But i also don't like the idea that the nuclear debris from destroyed missiles lands in my backyard.

Would the American people support a protection system for a foreign nation, that harms their own health if it comes in action?
I really doubt that!

Last statement about the medias attitude itself... yah it makes me sick. The breeze comming from the left is turning more and more into a hurricane. It makes me sick and i wonder how long i will be able to take it.
I really can not think of any OBJECTIVE media... nothing!
They have a position all the time

• against big cars
• against Speeders
• against electronic music (since all the listeners are considered to be junkies on the needle and pills

I could continue for hours. I cant remember having heard any news you could not get the networks position on it.

But is that only a problem in Germany? From my experience US media aren't any better... they just have other topics.

Anyway... it sucks whatever way you look at it