German President Horst Köhler announced his resignation today, putting a surprising end to his six year term in office following growing uproar over his comments defending the war of Afghanistan.
In a weekend radio interview, Köhler insisted that the war was necessary to protect German economic interests in the region, including trade routes.
Köhler subsequently lashed out at domestic criticism of his comments, saying that the media had not “shown the respect due to me as the holder of the highest office of state.” In the end, however, the outrage was becoming a liability to the Merkel government, and he announced his resignation.
Germany’s role in Afghanistan has been a source of enormous domestic controversy, as Germany’s constitution specifically rules out participation in such a war, prompting many officials to claim that it “technically” isn’t a war, and that the constitutional limits don’t apply.
As a former banker and president of the Worl Bank he had some neo-liberal points of view which made it difficult for him to adjust with German people. Even though he seemed to be a nice person. However, the German economy is going straight downward, mostly due to huge German contributions to support the failing of the Euro and the debt of EU countries. So, the political trend is going more and more to the left, with the Leftist parties winning many votes. Also, the German constitution ("Grundgesetz") does not permit the participation on wars, which have no defensive character for Germany. After the war in Yugoslavia this law is now violated again by participation in the Afghanistan war. The government tries to fool the people, telling them that German soldiers would NOT participate in the war. But when dead bodies return home, the politicians are proven liars.
He was not able to understand that after second world War, German's do not want to participate in wars.
W.
Now is the time for the Germans to take action and prevent the backward slide. The rich and powerful have always profited by war — "health of the state" and all. Now the power class is working its way slowly back to the previous condition where "a state of war" conveniently places the people in a state of fear on the one hand, and a state of coerced patriotism on the other.This one-two punch is the key to controlling "the masses" and returning power to the criminal elite.
Right now, when they've committed their first crimes, but are vulnerable because they are not yet strong enough to suppress the legal process, is when they need to be indicted, tried, convicted, and imprisoned. Now is the time to reaffirm the Nuremberg principles and demonstrate by unambiguous legal action that ***THE POWERFUL ARE NO LONGER ABOVE THE LAW***.
Non-defensive military action is a crime. Parse it as you will, spin it as you will, but the last word is for a jury, and the last word(s) may very well be "life imprisonment in Spandau".
Humanity has been moving in this direction since the beginning of time. True accountability for the powerful is a paradigmatic game changer for human affairs.
Go for it Wolfgang, and good luck.
Neo-Liberals may have nice personas but they are never nice human beings, at best deluded ones.
Merkel is in trouble and the "Link" does well.
After the fall of the Soviets, East Germany should really have gone off on its own. The basic system was sound, despite serious political mistakes. As it stands now the contradictions of
Erhard's intervention capitalism and German dependence on a collapsing US and a bellicose, otiose,and cadaverous NATO bode for even more serious troubles soon enough.
Seig Heil!
Poor baby, not given the respect due him.Maybe he would have felt at home in the Third Reich, no doubt. There the media and people could have been made to toe the line.
Germany, the past seems to be slipping from your mind.
Let the americans fight by themselves, and go under. Don't follow them.
If you read between the lines, he's saying that Germany needs to beat the hell out of some little country in order to rid itself of
VietnamWWII syndrome. Hey, it worked for the USA.In Herr Koehler's German, "trade routes" translates into English as "oil routes".
2010-06-01
Technically, flattening Warsaw (Warszawa) with a fire throwers, mines, bombs,
cruel wholesale deportations, executions – it was not a war, within the II WW war.
It was a legal (per the Fallujah and other contemporary standards) – reaction to
the Uprising, Insurgents and other Criminals, including Polish generals, some
with German-sounding names (_they were all heroes, than and now_).
Warsaw Uprising, organized by the Polnische Banditen und Terroristen….
Where over 200,000 died …in August of 1944.
Germany than sinned terribly, the sons of Mozart, Schubert, Goethe, Bach…
Many people in Germany understand that (I understand the "people" there
better now, after living over 20 years in the USA, seeing the US folk being
similarly duped, with Goebbles techniques).
American base in Germany is for a purpose – and the purpose is to make
those opposing Germans complaint with the "technically no war" line.
For the record, the current Polish "government" does not even need an American
base to follow directions. The solace is, that the Poles do not support this – and
maybe they will throw away any politicians who trots the US lies line.
The German President disappeared, and the German people won, this time.
Per Nietsche – this will make Germany stronger – in democracy. We need this.
Plus for the Germans.
George
please see ———- [BEN GURION ON PAKISTAN ] Wy we are in afghanistan— Pakistan needs to
go for Israel .——gerhard
It's rather ironic that he got in trouble for speaking honestly about why the western powers are in Afghanistan. If he had gotten all propagandistic about how "we are liberating the enslaved women of Afghanistan" or some such hokey BS like the US puts out about these wars, he probably would have gotten a pass. Admitting the economic agenda, a no-no. People PREFER propaganda.
Polonia nondum perdita.
This is an essential characteristic of Capitalism and Finance Capitalism.
Every Capitalist knows what Marx's surplus value of labor is but cannot afford to have "labor" know it.
This in itself creates a kind of schizophrenia in both Capital and labor.
With Finance Capitalists the situation is much different. It imposes a Meta-economic system over Capitalism which hinges, among other things, on two different definitions of"money". The Finance Capitalists themselves know this, though their servants do not.
Again schizophrenia is generated but of a much different drift.