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| Europe |
| Gerhard’s puke-o-rama |
| 2003-09-04 |
| Sorry, TGA, he’s never getting near the WH at this point in time, don’t even think about the ranch. Via Zogbyblog. Schröder says call for troops made him feel sick By Hannah Cleaver in Berlin Chancellor Gerhard Schröder has said a call from his Green Party coalition allies for German troops to join any United Nations force in Iraq made him "want to puke". Mr Schröder, who was re-elected on the strength of his opposition to the Iraq war, has consistently ruled out such a move. He used the phrase in a private meeting with MPs of his Social Democratic Party (SPD), adding that the Greens should stop acting as if they were both part of the ruling coalition and an opposition party. The comments were widely reported in Germany yesterday, only days after Mr Schröder and his Green vice-chancellor, Joschka Fischer, said they would fight the 2006 general election as a team. Both parties attempted to play down the remarks. Bela Anda, the government spokesman, refused to confirm or deny what Mr Schröder had said. But the SPD’s parliamentary party head, Franz Muntefering, said there were "voices which were a bit strange" among the Greens and that the chancellor had only been reflecting wider SPD opinion. Mr Fischer said: "I never comment on cabinet colleagues in public, and certainly not the chancellor." Angelika Beer, the Green Party politician whose comments first enraged the chancellor, has since backtracked, ruling out any kind of German military involvement in Iraq "at the moment". So, what do the Greens see that Gerhard can’t or won’t??? Money, status, grinding the US’ face into the ground?? |
| Posted by:Anonymous |
| #13 Seafarious, I think we can arrange that if they have the time, Merde or dissidentfrogman, liveinBrussels and there's an italian log I link to but since I can't read Italian.... |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-9-4 10:42:03 PM |
| #12 At least that's ONE good thing that's come from asking the weasels for help in Iraq. |
| Posted by: A Jackson 2003-9-4 9:17:59 PM |
| #11 What's Schroeder's public opinion poll in Germany? Is he high or low at this point? |
| Posted by: Yank 2003-9-4 5:05:42 PM |
| #10 TGA, I just wanted to say that I appreciate your insight and calm replies to potentially inflammatory posts. You are invariably polite and give us a much better picture of internal German politics than we are able to get from the usual sources. I wish Rantburg had a True French Ally, a True Italian Ally, a True Belgian Ally, etc. to do some translations and analysis... Anyway, thanks! |
| Posted by: seafarious 2003-9-4 4:50:12 PM |
| #9 Thank you Greg, for your smile. If you want I'll give you an eyewitness report of the destruction of Dresden. I bet you will smile so much more then. Mitch H, that's a longer story. Give me some time and I write something up. |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2003-9-4 4:35:58 PM |
| #8 Greg, what the hell does that mean? I just came across you sneering at the dead of Verdun a few posts down, and now you're making mock of the firebombed dead? You have something to say out loud, or are you just going to make vile little jokes about dead Europeans? I don't know what to make of Fischer, to be honest. I've never noticed him being reasonable outside of the general SPD line, but I don't pay a lot of attention to the Germans. TGA, could you elaborate on how his stance is distinct from Schroeder & Co? I mean, I remember his leadership on the Kosovo issue, but that was before the Terror War, I thought... |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2003-9-4 3:32:21 PM |
| #7 Every time I start to get pissed off at the Krauts, I just think about Dresden and Hamburg! Then the smile returns to my face! |
| Posted by: Greg 2003-9-4 3:09:48 PM |
| #6 Thanks for the update, TGA, that's what I was hoping for. Of course, Stoiber wasn't much better. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-9-4 2:55:35 PM |
| #5 "Schröder says call for troops made him feel sick" This is a bit of Telegraph spin because Schroeder never said that sending troups would have the effect, rather that he disliked the Green's attempt of "playing government and opposition at the same time". Not sending troops to Iraq is the last election promise Schroeder hasn't broken yet. Watch this space. I will refrain from comments about my own digestion when it comes to Schroeder. As for the Green Party, it is a very heterogenous group of people. Some are radical leftist, some classical "muesli eaters", but they have a fraction which is astonishling conservative and open to decisions which actually make sense. Fischer is part of this group. He would certainly have handled the Iraq issue a lot better without Schroeder's constant interference. He remains by far the most popular politician in Germany. He still strives to be the first EU foreign minister, despite Schroeder's declaration that he will run with Fischer for a third term. But this is 2006 and a lot will happen until then. Oh, btw Bavaria has elections in a few weeks. When Schroeder says something stupid, it's usually before some elections. Did I mention that the SPD might fall under 20% in Bavaria and the conservative CSU (leader is Schroeder's opponent Stoiber) might snatch a two third majority? Did you also know that Schroeder wanted to campaign for the SPD in Munich and Nurenberg and the local comrades asked him to, err, well, better stay away? |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2003-9-4 2:06:33 PM |
| #4 What? Gerhard pander to popular opinion instead of be a true a leader? Maybe his last name is really Davis. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2003-9-4 10:34:51 AM |
| #3 What? Gerhard pander to popular opinion instead of be a true a leader? I don't believe it! Oh wait, I forgot about his entire election campaign.... |
| Posted by: g wiz 2003-9-4 8:50:07 AM |
| #2 It's pretty sad when the Green Party is the voice of reason. |
| Posted by: Jabba the Nutt 2003-9-4 8:43:35 AM |
| #1 "He used the phrase in a private meeting with MPs of his Social Democratic Party (SPD), adding that the Greens should stop acting as if they were both part of the ruling coalition and an opposition party." If Gerry doesn't watch his back, the Greens may form a coalition with the opposition party and vote him out of office (a motion to sack a sitting Chancellor needs to nominate a new one at the same time). This isn't the first time that Gerry publicly disses his foreign affairs minister. Sooner or later Fischer is going to be fed up with that. |
| Posted by: Peter 2003-9-4 7:55:08 AM |