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| Europe |
| Germany: Schröder criticized for blaming Russian conflict on Georgia |
| 2008-08-18 |
| Several German politicians on Monday criticized former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder for blaming Georgia for the conflict with Russia over South Ossetia in an interview published this week. Schröder, known for close business and personal ties with Russia, called Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili a gambler in an interview with German newsmagazine Der Spiegel and said he sparked the conflict by marching troops into South Ossetia. The former chancellor said he thought Georgia's chances of joining NATO had moved "even further into the distance" following the fighting with Russian forces. Critics on Monday noted that Schröder took a job with Russian energy giant Gazprom immediately after leaving office. The former chancellor now oversees the Russian-German operating company that is building a new Baltic Sea pipeline for natural gas, set to link western Siberia and Germany in 2010. Gazprom has a 51 percent stake in the more than €4 billion project. "I get more and more of a feeling that the former chancellor has a faulty relationship with his former position. As soon as Russia comes into play, his judgment becomes disproportionate and unreasonable in the highest degree," conservative parliamentarian Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg told German newspaper Passauer Neue Presse. Guttenberg, who heads the foreign policy committee for the Christian Social Union (CSU) of Bavaria, told the paper that Schröder should also consider himself a gambler for contradicting German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who belongs to Schröder's centre-left Social Democratic Party. "Schröder has become Moscow's most prominent voice in Germany," Eckard von Klaeden, foreign policy spokesman for the CSU's national sister party, the Christian Democrats (CDU), told the newspaper. Schröder said in his interview that Russia was not pursuing an annexation policy in the Caucasus, adding that he saw no reason for the concept of “strategic partnership” between Germany and Russia to be affected by the war. “I reject the idea of demonizing Russia. I consider Russia as a part of Europe,” he said. CSU chief Erwin Huber said Schröder's comments did a disservice to human rights and weakened the position of the West. "The strategic partnership between Germany and Russia requires a thorough review. It still has its roots in the time of the red-green alliance," Huber said, referring to Schröder's coalition of Social Democrats and the Green party. That government was replaced by Chancellor Angela Merkel's current coalition of Christian Democrats and Social Democrats. Huber said Russia today is presenting itself as a military power that does not recognize the sovereignty of neighboring states. "Europe can't accept that without acting. The Russians must be told: 'You cannot act like this,'" he said. And thus endeth the lesson on the limits of "Soft Power". |
| Posted by:mrp |
| #10 Sorry, big guy. Part of what happens when the mods take out the trash. No problems Sir.. great job you guys are doing today BTW, we've been flooded with piss ant trolls... Thanks! |
| Posted by: Red Dawg 2008-08-18 23:19 |
| #9 Sorry, big guy. Part of what happens when the mods take out the trash. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2008-08-18 23:08 |
| #8 TW I waz referring to those Damn trolls who's number and comment were completely wiped off the boards!! They had a comment in-between you and me but since it waz taken away it looks like I was talking to you... :) |
| Posted by: Red Dawg 2008-08-18 23:05 |
| #7 Looky here it's a retarded child saying naughty woids when his mama is out hustling tricks!! LOL poor child! ~:) |
| Posted by: Red Dawg 2008-08-18 17:00 |
| #6 Russian oil and gas go to Europe, not the U.S., so this impacts us only in as much as fungible oil from elsewhere goes to the highest bidder.Fortunately, it's only August, so there is some time yet before winter cold starts to bite in the non-southern countries of Europe. They many want to finance the building of more nuclear power plants in France to offset Russian brinkmanship. But I do agree that we need to drill here, now. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-08-18 16:05 |
| #5 This is all the more reason the US MUST be energy independent sooner rather than later. |
| Posted by: Danielle 2008-08-18 15:01 |
| #4 Former Chancellor Schroeder? How would he know what the inner circles at the Kremlin are planning? He was only hired for his contacts in the West, after all, and that only of the main Russian petroleum producer. Really, you'd think the man would finally learn his place! |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-08-18 10:13 |
| #3 AU - Not only that, but the Wiki article on the Nord Stream gas pipeline project does a nice job of pointing out the political ramifications of the pipeline: 1) After completion, current gas pipeline transit countries - Ukraine, Poland, Slovakia, Belarus, CR will face the possibility of having gas re-routed to the Nord Stream pipeline, leaving them even more vulnerable to Russian coercion. Not to mention a reduction in transit fees. 2) The Nord Stream pipeline will include an extensive array of sensors and repeaters networked via fiber-optic cable. |
| Posted by: mrp 2008-08-18 10:10 |
| #2 That pipeline's gonna be like a hypodermic needle pumping junk into Germany's veins. Russia gets 'em addicted and they'll do whatever their masters in Moscow want. |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2008-08-18 09:49 |
| #1 hmmm? Step 1 in using soft power is uniting the players, and slapping down Schroeder is the first step to Germany coming on board. There does seem to be definitional confusion though. Does economic power constitute soft power, or hard power? Seems supporters of soft power like to include it, and those who deride soft power like to consider economic power part of hard power. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2008-08-18 09:04 |