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.
I also share the impression that we have a problem that demands cohesion and cooperation. After all it was America and not Europe that acted unilateral first. Nevertheless the world is not collapsing just because of a few idiots in the ME. The question for a typical German like me is if it makes sense to provoke the whole world without any need and if it is necessary that we as Germans join into operations that I and my compatriots are not convinced of. Practically nobody in Germany is convinced of the current US-policy in the ME although we share the general opinion that those nations there need a change and freedom. Nevertheless we doubt that this can be done from outside.
Since 17 years we Germans are a sovereign nation at least and therefore it is our very own decision where we join and where we do not. It has nothing to do with backstabbing if we continue to sell a few fridges to the Iranians. We are a nation that is dependent on its exports. We can not pick out the customers of our refrigerators just because you Americans do not like them. Our economy is in a hard competition with yours and it is nothing new that America is using political pressure to pave the way for its own businessmen. We already noticed this a few times in the past. Your own economical failures (BTW - American fridges are excellent in difference to many other American goods :) ) on international markets and your private political vendettas are no reason for us to give up the field. It would be indeed backstabbing if we would sell i.e. nuclear technology to Iran. Nevertheless this is something that was never legal in Germany since the fall of the shah.
Rumor has it that Germany,France,Russia and other nations have been selling more that just refrigerators to Iran....if you catch my drift.
We were talking about Germany and not about the Russians. It is true that we Germans had some criminals who did so. They all went to jail to my knowlege. BTW - two American businessmen tried to sell the Iranians F-14 parts not that long ago.
You see - this world is a rotten place. There are crooks everywhere. No matter if we talk about Germany or the good ole USA.
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.
It was Germany and not the US who gave Israel the possibility to answer the Iranian threat in a suitable way. While your politicians wasted their time in a unsubstantial mumbo jumbo about a war with Iran we donated (well they had to pay one third) 5 of your top-of-the-line Dolphin subs. Those subs are capable of carrying the nuclear tipped Popeye Turbo cruise missles and give Israel a perfect second strike abillity. The certainty of the mullahs to vaporize away to their "Allah" immediately if they fart into the wrong direction is for sure much more worth than the recent sabre-rattling of your administration. The Iranians know very well that you are structurally not able to invade them and they are used to some bombing... Therefore the American scare tactics can not be not that impressive to them.
BTW - if we Germans are "stabbing any freedom loving nation in the back" (your words) we would have sold those subs to Iran and North Korea for good and hard Euros instead of donating them to Israel.
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.
No. You can not. America alone is not powerful enough to deal with those dangers. We Europeans see things without your national self-adulation and therefore more realistic. You need us and i.e. the Russians to keep the world safe and stable. Therefore there are some compromises to be made. It is indeed true that nothing will go without America, but you will find out soon that also nothing goes without the other powerful western nations like the UK, France, Australia and last but not least Germany.
Think about it.