|
< Previous Post | Next Post >
"Merkel is politically Europe's strongest leader"Posted by Editors in Transatlantic Relations on Tuesday, May 9. 2006
In addition to President Bush, the US media has been praising Chancellor Merkel as well. The International Herald Tribune (HT: Cuppapolitics) believes that Merkel is the leading mediator in the Iran dispute:
Since taking power last November, Merkel has failed to push through substantial economic reform at home, but she has burnished her foreign policy credentials. This is her second visit to Washington this year; she has also had two meetings with President Vladimir Putin of Russia and six with President Jacques Chirac of France. Her advisers say she discussed Iran at length with Putin last week. (...)Since Germany is one of Iran's major trading partner, sanctions would be meaningful. Meanwhile, Newsweek wonders about Merkel's Long, Strange Honeymoon: "Germans seem to prefer inaction from their not-so-new chancellor." UPDATE: To get a different perspective concerning the calls for direct U.S.-Iranian talks mentioned above and in an earlier post, reader Joe recommends Amir Taheri's op-ed in the Wall Street Journal about "The Perils of Engagement." Taheri does not totally reject direct talks, but opines "It is important to say what the proposed talks should be about." Sure. Interestingly he also perceives: Something interesting is happening with regard to the crisis over Iran's nuclear ambitions. Slowly the blame is shifting from the mullahs to the Bush administration as the debate is redirected to tackle the hypothetical question of U.S. military action rather than the Islamic Republic's real misdeeds.American Future recommends this op-ed too, as part of their extensive coverage on Iran. Welcome! You are reading the ATLANTIC REVIEW -- a Press Digest on Transatlantic Relations combined with commentary and analysis by four young professionals from Germany, the Netherlands and the United States. More about us. The horizontal menu bar at the top helps to navigate this site. Subscribe to one of our RSS-Feeds or to our newsletter, which is emailed twice per month.Trackbacks
Trackback specific URI for this entry
No Trackbacks
Dr. Dean
- #1 - 2006-05-10 21:37 - (Reply)
Maybe the quick discussion about U.S. military action was a big strategic mistake. Maybe it works to weakon Ahmadinedschad.
Kathy - At the Zoo
- #2 - 2006-05-11 03:38 - (Reply)
Yeah sure, as usual: Let the US do it so Europe can sit on the sidelines and dish out blame. Then Europe gets to blame the US for what wild IRAN does. Perfect.
Kathy - At the Zoo
- #3 - 2006-05-11 05:05 - (Reply)
I missed something the first time. So, Germany is disgussing the possibility of sanctions against Iran? Ha! Another good one.
Jorg
- #3.1 - 2006-05-11 07:57 - (Reply)
You seem to be very convinced that Germany would not support sanctions against Iran. Do you want to bet about this?
David
- #3.2 - 2006-05-11 13:04 - (Reply)
@Kathy,
Dr. Dean
- #4 - 2006-05-11 12:19 - (Reply)
To give Kathys antieuropean rant three words: Stereotypste hostility. Useless.
Dr. Dean
- #5 - 2006-05-11 12:30 - (Reply)
I suppose i will never learn the BBCode... QUOTE: "At the Zoo. Yeah sure, as usual: Let the Europeans do it so US can sit on the sidelines and dish out blame. Then US gets to blame the Europeans for what wild IRAN does. Perfect. On two things we told useless US to go ahead with its "strong power." Cuba and Iraq. US sure did a bang-up job. US blamed the Europeans for US's failure with Iraq. And it served Iran by demanding that the option of diplomacy be taken off the table, sabatoging the negotiations. And US neocons threatened the Europeans with US's nuclear weapons in the same breath he threatened Iran with them. Smart. Really, really smart. America should at least have tried to camouflage the setup a little. America has done nothing except make Iran more aggressive and get Israel more threatened with annhilation. Now, it shifts the blame, as usual, by saying the problem is that the Europe negotiating isn´t quick enough. It's just the usual game to be able to dodge repsonsibility and put all the blame on us...for what somebody else does. America is cooperating with Iran by making it an issue between Iran and the Europeans, instead of an issue between Iran and the world. It's a trap. It's also the good, old "unilateral" trap. As they're trying to get us in with North Korea. There's no trust left. Voilà! What i want to show here: A chauvinistic attempt to international politics does not work. Maybe stereotypste hostility works for the finding of followers, but in fact it is: Useless.
Thomas
- #6 - 2006-05-11 13:54 - (Reply)
@ Dean,
joe
- #7 - 2006-05-11 21:10 - (Reply)
I have read the comment “we should help the Iranian opposition.” several times.
Dr. Dean
- #8 - 2006-05-12 11:29 - (Reply)
"is Germany doing to support the Iranian opposition. Is this part of the formal foreign policy of Germany?"
Bernhard
- #8.1 - 2006-05-12 12:53 - (Reply)
I feel not directly addressed by this question, but would like to reply: as Iran is (apart from Hamas) the most democratic government of the Middle East, I don't think any exilants will be able to remove them. And I don't think this should be desired... I agree it makes perfect sense to spread democracy and human rights, but not "regime change".
joe
- #9 - 2006-05-12 13:24 - (Reply)
Dr Dean,
Jorg
- #10 - 2006-05-12 14:14 - (Reply)
The German government practiced a so-called "critical dialogue" with the Iranian regime in the 90s. Not that much *visible* success. It is considered a failure by most experts because apparently it was not as critical as promised.
joe
- #11 - 2006-05-12 16:34 - (Reply)
I just knew I was going to learn a lot from this discussion. By using democracy in Iran as both a standard and a definition, then one could say the Soviet Union was one of the most democratic nations ever to exist. It would also seem Syria is equally a democratic nation.
Bernhard
- #11.1 - 2006-05-12 21:28 - (Reply)
you might want to have a look at the Finkelstein - Ben-Ami discussion
joe
- #12 - 2006-05-14 07:52 - (Reply)
Kathy,
Kathy - At the Zoo
- #13 - 2006-05-14 08:17 - (Reply)
Sanctions are useless when European nations undercut them. What do you expect anti-Americanism to produce? Love? What do you expect duplicity to produce? Trust? Just call it bad karma.
Kathy - At the Zoo
- #14 - 2006-05-14 08:37 - (Reply)
"You seem to be very convinced that Germany would not support sanctions against Iran. Do you want to bet about this?"
Jorg
- #14.1 - 2006-05-14 09:14 - (Reply)
Fine. Why don't you write down the specifics of this bet and then we are in business.
Jorg
- #15 - 2006-05-14 09:27 - (Reply)
We all failed so far.
Dr. Dean
- #16 - 2006-05-15 01:52 - (Reply)
I am asthonished about this "good guy" vs "bad guy" arguments. Mister A. is - no doubt - a bad guy. Fine. Thera are about 40 or 60 bad systems around the world.
Bernhard
- #16.1 - 2006-05-15 08:51 - (Reply)
Hey Dr. Dean,
Dr. Dean
- #16.1.1 - 2006-05-15 12:11 - (Reply)
@Bernhard QUOTE: And still, one can talk even with these radical guys, disarm verbally, and take a lot of the tension out. Since about 10 year I now live in East Germany, and what I learned there is that the Soviet Union was not only brought down by "hard" power. While I believe that is was right to re-arm Nato in face of the Soviet threat, Brandt's "relaxation policy" was at least equally important. It was only this which abolished the "concept of an enemy" and brought Gorbatschow to power... and without him, we may have faced a desparate, agressive Eastern Empire armed to the teeth and presenting the choice world war 3 or give us way. Good idea to compare the Iran conflict with stalinistic Soviet Union! There is much truth in your word i believe. An additional factor is the impact of the "Friedensbewegung" ("peace movement"??) which reduced the block confrontation together with the intensified human rights dialogue. This influenced the way of thinking of Gorbatschow and helps to "open the gate". For example, look at the famous and great Berlin speech of president Reagan. The international politics climate got less confrontative, less hostile. As far as i can see it: An underestimated factor is the economic crisis in eastern Europe and in the Soviet Union. As an ordoliberal it is no surprise for me that the soviet economy must collapse. Than you wrote: QUOTE: So maybe it still would not be "easy" to solve the conflicts with the Islamic world (as I wrote a little bit emotionally in a former comment), but it is possible - dialogue is the only way. Let us not forget that double standards are applied: India did not sign the non-proliferation treaty, but may have nuclear weapons - Iran signed this treaty, but may not even have the reactors. When Israel repeteadly violates international law, nothing happens, but if the Palestinans elect a democratic government, sanctions are imposed. This is not suited to create any kind of trust or basis of a fair dialogue with the Islamic world... What can be done to open the dialogue with Iran and to give dialogue more power? More hostility? Or maybe (scary option?) less hostility? If international politics has an influence to national politics "less hostility" would automatically look like "no strong leadership". Am i right? If i am right (i am quite unsure), that would eventually signify an important relationship between internal national political marketing and international politics. What can be more helpful for success in the political business of the America of today than "strong leadership"? (not to myself: maybe i am not an idiot at all - now i have learned the use of the "in reply to"-field!!! Wow!)
The Editors of the Atlantic Review
- #16.2 - 2006-05-15 10:06 - (Reply)
Although we appreciate open discussions on our blog, we do not consider "Fascist Gedmin" an appropriate choice of words when speaking about the Aspen Director.
joe
- #17 - 2006-05-15 06:12 - (Reply)
Kathy,
Dr. Dean
- #18 - 2006-05-15 11:30 - (Reply)
@Gedmin Add Comment
We appreciate any thoughtful comment!
Would you like to read more? Have a look at our directory of Atlantic Review posts. Or check out the constantly updated reading recommendations from our readers in the sidebar: "Tips From Our Readers." More information on this project in this post. Feel free to comment on any article recommended in the sidebar. BBCode format allowed. You can make a clickable link with this code: If you write "[url=http://america-germany.atlanticreview.org]Carnival of US-German Relations[/url]", then this will be displayed: "Carnival of US-German Relations". And if you write "[url]http://atlanticreview.org/mustreads.html[/url]", then this will be displayed: "http://atlanticreview.org/mustreads.html" |
SponsorTips From Our Readers
The above links on transatlantic issues have been recommended by trusted readers. More information about this web 2.0 project ;-)
BlogrollLatest Comments
Pat Patterson about Huckabee: Obama's "European Ideas" Threaten America's Freedom
Yes funny, because the UK is not in a recession and the monetary powers, the Bank of [...] Don S about Huckabee: Obama's "European Ideas" Threaten America's Freedom What! Next you will be telling us that they intend to bulldoze Bruges to build an [...] Marie-Claude about Huckabee: Obama's "European Ideas" Threaten America's Freedom next time ypu'll check for Belgium, there will might be no more belgian [...] Marie Claude about Huckabee: Obama's "European Ideas" Threaten America's Freedom nah, I was joking !!!! I don't want to offend the hype you ment Don S about Huckabee: Obama's "European Ideas" Threaten America's Freedom Francie, you mistake me. Here I compliment France by referring to it as le [...] influx about Huckabee: Obama's "European Ideas" Threaten America's Freedom You're right, I meant a trillion, which is "billion" in German. My main point was [...] Google the SiteHot TopicsClick on one of the following links to see all Atlantic Review posts about this topic in a chronological order with the latest post on top:
Afghanistan Anti-Americanism Economics Iran Iraq Merkel Polls Terrorism Click here for the full list of all topics. Read posts from specific Atlantic Review authors |
Home - About Us - Newsletter - Transatlantic Relations - US Foreign Policy - Various RSS Feeds Designed for Atlantic Review by Carl.

