Posted on 02/27/2005 2:14:58 PM PST by srm913
US leader fails to win over Germans
By Rhea Wessel FOR THE STRAITS TIMES
FRANKFURT - CITIZENS in Mainz and Frankfurt gave a collective sigh of relief last week when US President George W. Bush left Germany.
It was not just the inconvenience: blocked autobahns and a clogged airport.
Germans, in general, are sceptical about a love affair between German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Mr Bush.
'They smiled a lot for the camera, and since there were lots of cameras, they smiled all the time,' said Frankfurt finance worker Claudia Ehler.
Few Germans seriously believe the two leaders have put their differences behind them.
'It's a new phase in our relationship because Germany is no longer an importer of security, we're an exporter of security.
'It's very obvious that the Americans want Europe as a partner and it's difficult to get Europe as a partner without Germany,' a top German diplomat for German-American affairs, Mr Karsten Voigt, told The Strait Times.
'For us, it's clear that the United States is the most important partner outside of the European Union. We have a fundamental interest in both sides working together.'
But a poll by the Marshall Fund showed about 60 per cent of Germans disapproved 'very much' of the Bush administration.
Mr Bush left the impression in Mainz that he was there only to talk briefly with Mr Schroeder and to see the Gutenberg bible.
A town hall meeting was planned but US officials cancelled it after the Germans refused to allow selection of attendees in order to avoid difficult questions.
'It's not true that Bush and Schroeder have made up. It takes more than eight hours to repair a friendship,' said pharmaceutical worker Martina Barwig.
About 5,000 people demonstrated against Mr Bush in a rally organised by the group Not Welcome Bush.
Group spokesman Malte Kreutzfeldt said: 'We're also here to protest against our own government which is not opposing (Bush's) policies anymore.
'Our own government is increasingly giving military aid and not opposing as strong as we want.'
One German newspaper summed up the US leader's tour: 'The encounters between Europe and America over the past few days are reminiscent of a pair of lovers who are now separated.
'They know that the affair is over but shouldn't they try it one more time for the sake of the children?'
That's because winning over Germans requires tanks, amphibious invasions and air raids.
"...Germany is no longer an importer of security, we're an exporter of security."
LOL...is that a reference to Rumsfeld's looming troop realignments?
I was sitting in a coffee shop one day during the Elian Gonzalez controversy. A German tourist took a seat at the table next to me. As he read the paper about the furor created by the possibility of sending Elian back to Cuba, he began a loud complaint so everyone could here. He said it showed how self-righteous America was - typically American.
Now, I am generally not into "manners", but when I go to a foreign country I don't make it a point to insult the country and its citizens in a loud manner. But Mr. Kraut did want everyone in provincial America to know he thought himself morally and philosophically superior to his American hosts.
here=hear
And people dare call us "ugly Americans..."
Not anymore. Pull our troops out of Germany and their economy will go into a free fall!
Don't they have a 12% unemployment rate right now?
Man, it takes some serious socialist shenanigans to do that much damage.
Fortunately at least 52% are not...
Screw Europe! The Germans don't like any war that they don't start and the French have a long policy of "Surrender first and ask questions later". We should focus our friendship on the appreciative, newly free, former Communist blocs countries and not on the manipulative whiners and thieves of "Old Europe".
And even more fortunately, the other 48% are by and large far too scared of guns to arm themselves.
110% RIGHT!
We need to YANK those bases out of Germany NOW! They do not deserve us there.
Germany a partner??? In what???
Lets move our bases to Poland, our ally.
Bump.
ditto
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