[swilhelm73]

With backing from mainstream conservative and Social Democrat personalities, politically powerful groups of expellees from former German territories in the Czech Republic and Poland are mounting newly aggressive campaigns to regain their old properties and memorialize themselves as World War II victims.

Well there is no question that the Soviets and Poles committed serious atrocities on the Germans after WWII - and no we aren't using the modern media panties-on-the-head version of the word here - there is no way you can present Germany as a victim.

As for freeing Germny from the NAZIs, outside of the German equivalent of the American right (Stauffenberg, Bonhoeffer, etc) they didn't *want* to be freed.

[dr_who_2]

Everyone's a victim nowadays. Being a perp never was in style.

[JLS]

Let's see:

1. The Germans are now trying to play victim of the Nazi because they see Islamic radical not Islam, the Taliban not the Afgahnis and Saddam not the Iraqis blamed today and they naturally wonder, if nobody else is to blame for what is what happens in their name, why should Germans in WWII been different.

2. The idea that Germany will get a permanent place on the UN Security Council is silly. With both Russia and France already on the Council with the UK, Europe is over represented on the Council today. What needs to happen is for France to be removed and either Brazil from South America or South Africa or someone from Africa need to be added. The Europeans just do not get it. By moving toward a single European state, they will count as merely one vote in world affairs in the Future.

[xzins]

The United Nations is what doesn't make sense. Get US out of the UN.

[McGavin999]

Coming in the context of Schröder's current drive to win Germany a seat on the United Nations Security Council, a statement sounding like a guarantee of its comfortable anchorage in the acquisitive, nonromantic world of capitalism finds few doubters.

Why on earth does Germany think it's going to get a seat on the security council. As a matter of fact, if anything happens france and Britain will lose their seats and a single seat will be allowed for the EU. There will only be ONE ambassador to the UN as well and only ONE vote.

[ellery]

This brings to mind Lincoln's old anecdote about the boy who killed his parents and then threw himself on the mercy of the courts because he was an orphan.

[longjack]

German Ping

[zip]

ping

[tkathy]

The Germans insist they are victims for the exact same reasons as the Islamofascists insist they are victims of the Palestine mess. (Truman's Palestine mess). Both need to look in the mirror and move on.