Posted on 08/31/2005 10:00:20 AM PDT by wolf78
Hurricane Katrina has cost the lives of hundreds and devastated the US Gulf Coast. But instead of aid donations and sympathy, the Americans have heard little more than a haughty "I told you so" from Germany. It's another low point for trans-Atlantic relations -- and set off by a German minister. How pathetic.
For the record: German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder offered his condolences to US President George W. Bush for the Hurricane Katrina disaster that has hit the Gulf Coast. Both he and his fellow Germans, Schröder wrote, feel "great sympathy for the fate of those people affected by the hurricane."
Nice words to be sure, but that was it. No pledges of aid money, no announcements of immediate help -- although finally, two days later, the German interior minister did manage to come out with a hesitant offer of assistance. And let's be honest, the crisis region this time around isn't in the Third World, but is in the United States of America. There really isn't much of a need for German helpers -- experienced as they may be from aid missions from Kosovo to Afghanistan -- because the American authorities are already doing as much as can be done.
Nevertheless, German aid money delivered to American aid agencies would surely be welcome on the other side of the Atlantic. But apparently, people over here believe that the Americans over there don't really need help. Strange. The same people who normally spend their time pointing their holier-than-thou fingers at the ghettos and slums in the US, the same ones who describe America as an out-of-control capitalist monster, are now, when the Americans could really use a bit of help, oddly quiet.
(Excerpt) Read more at service.spiegel.de ...
What a refreshing sight.
Wow. That is one hell of an editorial. That minister should be taken out back and dealt with.
President Bush should announce that all Foriegn aid is cancelled while we recover from this natural disaster.
I don't believe this report is true. FNC reported this morning that Germany has offered relief help to the US. Russia has as well. I don't have a link - it was a banner on FNC.
To those who only read the excerpt - read the whole thing. Devastating.
Goes to show the luancy of the left and green party wackos in Germany who have been put in charge. No wonder that country is in an economic crisis.
Just in case you're interested in Trittin's career: You can find his official biography here:
http://www.bmu.de/english/the_ministry/the_minister/doc/3083.php
If you wonder why it starts at the age of 28, well that's because before that Trittin had been a member of a communist splinter group:
http://66.249.93.104/search?q=cache:ksWYVxrRZU0J:www.mail-archive.com/marxism%40lists.panix.com/msg48585.html+trittin+kbw&hl=de&lr=lang_en
That, of course, was edited out. Man, it is so time for regime change here in Germany. I hope the polls are right and that Angela Merkel will become chancellor on September 18th.
That Trittin guy is a Green Party member.
Trittin is an interesting character. Anytime you put him into a interview situation...he looks like a fool. He is unable to understand any economic situation or describe the function of a profitable business. He never drove a car or vehicle...through all these years...and today is escorted in a government car to work each day. If you asked most Greens who the dimest member is of the top 20...he ranks number one each time.
"Goes to show the luancy of the left and green party wackos in Germany who have been put in charge."
Socialists see you and your family as nothing but props to be used to further their cause of control. Your pain or death means absolutely nothing to them if they cannot capitalize on it.
"Katrina" is a German name, so I blame the Germans for this hurricane! ;-}
I too was astonished about the clearness of this article. Thanks for posting.
And prayers continuously going up for the citizens of the affected areas, especially for the people of the New Orleans region, which are supposed to leave their (former) homes for at least 4 months. As it looks today, New Orleans seems to be lost. What a sad week!!
As a German, I honestly have never seen a person with the name Katrina. It would be Katharina in German. Katrina sounds more Slavic.
I looked it up...it is German. My little sister is named Katrina and she was born in Germany when our father was in the military.
"It's not the American people's fault that the storm hit and they couldn't have stopped it. The Germans, on the other hand, could have done a lot to prevent World War II. And yet, care packages still rained down from US troops. Trittin's know-it-all stance is therefore not only tasteless, it is also historically blind."
I say it has Slavic origin. I just googled Katrina Müller (the most common German family name is Müller) for sites from Germany and got three results. I then googled Katrina Schmitz (also a very common name) and got two results. With Katharina Müller I got ca. 9.000 sites (without the doubled links, say 5-6.000).
At any rate, the words spoken by these idiot Germans was uncalled for!
Actually, "Katrina" or "Katharina" stem from ancient Greek. Some say the origin is "aikaterine" (which might be related to "hekateros" or "hekate"), others (the majority) says it comes from "katharos", meaning pure.
Anyway, the Romans took over that name from the Greek and through Latin it has spread into other languages as well.
While in English the standard form would be "Catherine" (short Kathy), the standard German form is "Katharina" (short Katrin). In some other languages the standard spelling is "Katrina", e.g. in Polish. But, as there were waves of Polish immigration to the western German Ruhr area (which can be traced through family names such as Schimanski or Kowalski), the spelling "Katrina" also exists in Germany. However, the standard German spelling is "Katharina".
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