Angela Merkel is in Washington for a little while, which I believe is her first visit with President Bush since becoming Chancellor of Germany. The two are spending time talking about the same old stuff. Club Gitmo, secret prisons in Europe, the dangers of a nuclear capable Iran...yadda yadda yadda. Though I enjoy reading and watching their meetings unfold, I would never post an opinion on what conclusions they come to. The reason is, I don't know enough to make a good argument and secondly I don't care to comment. What I do find interesting is the relationship between the two. I have always had a soft spot for Germany and the German people and that is one of the reasons why I stayed in Germany for a little while. As a result, it was painful for me when I learned that the German people had lost respect for America and the American people and that Gerhard Shroeder campaigned on the platform that he would oppose Bush. Also, I found it unbelievable that Germany wasn't going to help us in our struggle in Iraq against a brutal dictator. In fact it seemed that Germany took great joy in calling the US the new "NAZIS" and that George Bush was an idiotic tyrannical oil drinking crusader. ARRRGH! No matter, past is past. So you can understand how delighted I was to find out that not only did Merkel reportedly get along with Bush, but that their was actual "Chemistry." I wonder what the Germans, who use Anit-American Rhetoric, think about that. Their own Chancellor has chemistry with an idiotic tyrannical oil drinking crusader? Interesting.
My curiosity led me to Der Spiegel. A German news group I found on-line. I wanted to get some insight on what was felt and what was being reported during Merkel's visit and this is what I found. http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,395041,00.html
First off the tone of the article seemed to be luke warm from the start, but the content was positve. As it progresses though, it seems to go back to a more sour based story. The Article starts off talking about the chilly relationship Bush had with the former Chancellor Schroeder and how Merkel has cautiously set out to change that relationship. To improve "the quality and substance of the German-American relationship" she says. So far so good. But then comes this.
"British historian Tony Judt recently pointed out that Europe and the United States were only brought together as a unit called the "West" as a result of World War II -- and this alliance lasted only from Pearl Harbor until the end of the Cold War.....Europe and the United States were brought together by mutual enemies."
BS...I swear. Tell that to the thousands of American soldiers who died freeing that continent. To suggest our loyalty and friendship is as deep as our mutual enemies allow?..FU
Anywho...The article goes on to comment about the many different cultural values between the US and Europe. If you read it, it seems to echo the same left-wing group-think that I have come to expect from my Bay Area brethren. If I had a dollar for every time I heard a sentence started with "In Europe..." I would have a lot of dollars, but digress. Anyway, the article comments on how most of Europe has legal prostitution, and civil unions between gays. How the death penalty is illegal and that US imposes stricter punishments on criminals (well if Europeans treat their criminals like they treat their children, I should hope so)....again off subject, I am sorry. What I gather from this is that the person who wrote this article doesn't seem to understand the American system. So lets go through it...again. In short, the Federal government upholds Constitutional law and the State government upholds state law. In other words EACH STATE IS DIFFERENT! GOT IT! When I say different I mean captial punishment, prostitution, criminal sentencing so on an so forth. Hell, you can make the argument that the US has different cultural values with the US. And that is what makes us Great!
So, in short, I am happy to see that Merkel and El Presidente got along well, but I am still waiting to see if Germany has anything positive to say about America.
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