Well - Germany has many different interests than the US or other western nations. The contemporary world is a struggle of different ideas, markets and philosophies. Therefore it is quite logical that we Germans insist on our right to do business or to have political relations with everybody we want to. As a German I have to say that it should be clear that we Germans first fight for our own interests.
To give you an example - It was President Bush who declined Kyoto with the argument "America first". He did not want to risk American jobs for a European hullabaloo. This is perfectly okay with me. We Germans do nothing different when we continue to sell refrigerators to the Iranians. Furthermore your very own US-administration has close economic and political relations with some of the most terrible crooks we both can think of.
A few funny examples: Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the ChiComs. The Pakistanis and the Chinese even have numerous nukes and are as reliable as the Iranians would be if they would have some.
For someone who calls Pakistan an ally our German connections to Russia, a country that respects human rights (i.e. they do not have capital punishment in difference to the US anymore - something quite important to Europeans and their values), that has a working justice system, that has elections and democracy and that has -last but not least- changed into a capitalist system should be perfectly okay. Anything else would be extremely hypocritical.
I don't know if the typical German realizes this but Western civilization is under attack.9/11...riots in France...mosques in the UK that openly teach "jihad"...the murder of a descendant of Van Gough...bombings in Madrid...should I go on? Add to that the fact that the Chinese military is expanding by 10% each and every year and that Putin openly boasts of new nuclear bombs he's developing and you'll see that we (the West) have a problem that demands cohesion and cooperation.
To give you an example - It was President Bush who declined Kyoto with the argument "America first". He did not want to risk American jobs for a European hullabaloo. This is perfectly okay with me. We Germans do nothing different when we continue to sell refrigerators to the Iranians.
Rumor has it that Germany,France,Russia and other nations have been selling more that just refrigerators to Iran....if you catch my drift.
Furthermore your very own US-administration has close economic and political relations with some of the most terrible crooks we both can think of.
Crooks? I think we're talking about something rather more important than "crooks" here.
A few funny examples: Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the ChiComs. The Pakistanis and the Chinese even have numerous nukes and are as reliable as the Iranians would be if they would have some.
Somehow I doubt that the Israelis,and others,would share your confidence in Iran's trustworthiness.In fact,I think Israel would disagree so strongly that she just might fire a couple of nuclear missiles at Iran as they get close to deploying their first nuclear bomb.And why would they do that? Because the doomsday speeches that are routinely delivered by top Iranian officials these days sound too much like "Mein Kampf" to them.
For someone who calls Pakistan an ally....
Perhaps you'd get back to me regarding your contempt for Pakistan after a 767 crashes into Frankfurt's tallest building at 900 kph and one crashes into your Reichtag at the same speed.
....our German connections to Russia, a country that respects human rights (i.e. they do not have capital punishment in difference to the US anymore - something quite important to Europeans and their values), that has a working justice system....
A working justice system? That's a joke,right? Tell that to the British Home Office,which has been trying for months to have a Russian citizen extradited to the UK (no death penalty there,BTW) for having murdered an outspoken opponent of Putin...WITH A RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL....on British soil.Working justice system.My God that's funny.
....that has elections and democracy and that has -last but not least- changed into a capitalist system should be perfectly okay. Anything else would be extremely hypocritical.
I don't know if Germany has heard yet but Putin is in the process of setting himself up to be the power behind the scenes after Russian law compels him to leave office.It sounds like a move of which Stalin himself would approve.
The bottom line is this....there is one free,democratic country that can stand alone against the Russians,the Chinese and the Religion of Pieces and it's *not* Germany.It's not even the EU (yes,I know the EU isn't a "country")...it's the United States of America.In other words,whether your realize it or not,you need us far more than we need you.And if you think I'm kidding just remember what I've said next time the Russians decide to shut down a gas pipe because some Western European newspaper prints something that Putin feels is insulting.