German Chancellor Angela Merkel joined her country's increasingly acrimonious debate about immigration over the weekend, declaring that multiculturalism in Germany had been a "total failure.
Showing posts with label german chancellor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label german chancellor. Show all posts
Monday, October 18, 2010
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Taboo-breaking Berlin exhibition chronicles Hitler's hold over German society
The knuckle-dusters, truncheons and jackboots in the first case of a new exhibition on 'Hitler and the Germans' in Berlin sets the tone for a stark look at how German society embraced the Nazi regime in all its brutality.
While lots of memorabilia is on show, from SS and Gestapo uniforms to a sideboard from Hitler's office, the exhibition shows how all levels of German society - media, industry, the church, schools -- built up the Hitler cult in the 1930s and clung to it through World War II until defeat was imminent.
Some media have portrayed the show opening on Friday in the German Historical Museum as a taboo-breaking first exhibition on Adolf Hitler himself. But the curators are at pains to stress that their focus is on the society that created the dictator.
While lots of memorabilia is on show, from SS and Gestapo uniforms to a sideboard from Hitler's office, the exhibition shows how all levels of German society - media, industry, the church, schools -- built up the Hitler cult in the 1930s and clung to it through World War II until defeat was imminent.
Some media have portrayed the show opening on Friday in the German Historical Museum as a taboo-breaking first exhibition on Adolf Hitler himself. But the curators are at pains to stress that their focus is on the society that created the dictator.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
'What a beautiful revenge for Wembley 66': Germany celebrates on a scale 'not seen since the fall of the Berlin Wall'
German football fans in Berlin make their glee known during the England match
Germany fans took to the streets to celebrate their historic win in Hamburg
Berlin's Fan Mile became a whirl of German flags
'Thanks lads - that was your revenge for Wembley!'
The headline on the Bild newspaper website last night summed up the arrogance, pride and joy of a nation whose young team steamrollered England out of the World Cup.
'What a beautiful revenge for Wembley,' the paper added, in reference to the 1966 England World Cup goal which most people in the Fatherland refuse to admit was a goal at all.
Amid much other ranting it went on to report, in English, the three cruellest words for the Three Lions; 'Bye, bye England!'
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Egypt president surgery successful gallbladder infection
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is scheduled to undergo gall bladder surgery Saturday in Germany.
Egypt's president has had successful surgery on his gallbladder in Germany.
Hosni Mubarak underwent the operation at Heidelberg University Hospital on Saturday, having earlier issued a decree temporarily handing power to Ahmed Nazif, Egypt's prime minister.
"Prime Minister Dr Ahmed Mahmud Mohammed Nazif assumes all the prerogatives of the president of the republic according to Article 82 of the constitution until he [Mubarak] resumes his responsibilities," the presidential decree said.
Mena, Egypt's state news agency said the president was in the intensive care unit where he was speaking with family members and his medical team.
It had reported days earlier that Mubarak was suffering from "chronic infections in the gallbladder".
The decree temporarily handing power to the prime minister was unusual as the health of Mubarak, who has ruled Egypt since 1981 and who turns 82 this year, is usually a taboo subject in Egypt.
'Concern to many'
Samer Shehata, an Egyptian professor at Georgetown University, told Al Jazeera that since Egypt has no vice-president, news of Mubarak's surgery becomes "a concern to many Egyptians and many outside the country if it does not go well".
"Whenever there is a health issue with [the] president, all of a sudden questions of succession rise to the forefront of Egyptian politics, tremendous speculation, some concern and anxiety, and this is just one of those examples," he said.
Mubarak's fifth six-year term as president will end in 2011 and press reports in Egypt have suggested that his son Gamal is likely to succeed him.
Neither Mubarak nor his son have made any clear statements on the matter.
"The succession issue is one of the most hotly contested issues in Egypt right now. For good reason, it's tied into the issue of democratisation and reform and so on," Shehata said.
Succession concerns
Rawya Rageh, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Cairo, said that both the "timing and the announcement were significant".
"This, of course, is an election year in Egypt. We're expecting parliamentary elections later this year followed by presidential elections in 2011," she said.
"President Hosni Mubarak has, of course, never appointed a vice-president and the issue of succession has always loomed over his presidency.
"All this comes at a time when the country is witnessing a heated political debate with the return of the former head of [the] IAEA, [Mohamed] ElBaradei, who has spoken a lot about reforms in Egypt; about the ability of independent candidates to run as presidential candidates for next year's election."
The IAEA is the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency and ElBaradei, its former head, has said he could stand for president, but only if certain constitutional changes are made.
Health scare
Mubarak has said that ElBaradei could run for the presidency, provided he respects the constitution.
Under Egyptian law, a presidential candidate is required to have been a leading member of a party for at least one year and for the party to have existed for at least five years.
ElBaradei, who established the National Association for Change after he returned to Cairo last month has proved popular among Egyptians and enjoys a high profile internationally.
Murbarak's health has been a concern in the past. In 2007, rumours about his poor health were rife to the extent that he was prompted to make an unscheduled public appearance to dispel them.
One year later, Ibrahim Eissa, the editor-in-chief of the independent daily al-Dustur, was sentenced to two months in jail after his newspaper published rumours on Mubarak's health, although he was later granted a presidential pardon.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has handed power temporarily to his prime minister while he is scheduled to undergo gall bladder surgery Saturday in Germany, the state-run MENA news agency reported.
Mubarak has issued a presidential decree delegating Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif executive power until he returns to Cairo, as the constitution requires him to do, according to the report.
State media said on Friday that the president will undergo several medical check-ups in German city of Heidelberg during his visit in Germany.
The operation will take place in Heidelberg, and his wife and two sons including Gamal, as well as Health Minister Hatem el- Gabali, accompanied him, the report said.
President Mubarak is visiting Germany for talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Thousands cheer 20 years since fall of Berlin Wall
Fallen dominos along the former border in front of the Brandenburg Gate are seen after they were made to fall in a symbolic act in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Nov. 9, 2009, during the commemorations of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on Nov.9, 1989.
Giant dominos placed along the former border in front of the Brandenburg Gate fall in a symbolic act in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Nov. 9, 2009, during the commemorations of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on Nov.9, 1989.
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, left, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, center, and former Polish President Lech Walesa, right,at the Bornholmer bridge in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Nov. 9, 2009, during the commemorations of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on Nov. 9, 1989.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, center, and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev cross the Bornholmer bridge in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Nov. 9, 2009, during the commemorations of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on Nov.9, 1989. The Bornholm bridge used to be a border crossing between East and West Berlin in 1989.
Giant domino pieces installed along a stretch of the Berlin Wall's original path are seen at Brandenburg Gate in Berlin Monday, Nov. 9, 2009, during celebrations marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Dominoes symbolizing the Berlin Wall sit on the ground after falling in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Nov. 9, 2009, during the commemorations of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on Nov.9, 1989. Writing on the screens reads "Freedom".
Front row from left, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, German President Horst Koehler, Berlin's Mayor Klaus Wowereit and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wave to the crowd in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Nov. 9, 2009, during the commemorations of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on Nov.9, 1989.
Fireworks illuminate the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin Monday, Nov. 9, 2009, during celebrations marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Ulrich Sauff and his wife stared at the mammoth domino pieces marking the path where the Berlin Wall once stood and reminisced about life in the barrier's shadow.
"It was like a prison," said Sauff, 73, who lived on the Western side of the wall. "For us 'Wessis,' the few kilometers from our old home to our new home (in the East) was unthinkable."
The Sauffs were among those who gathered Monday to celebrate 20 years of unity, marking the day the wall came down. Thousands cheered as 1,000 colorfully decorated dominoes along a mile-long route were toppled to symbolize both the moment the wall came crashing down and the resulting fall of communist governments in Eastern Europe.
It was the finale to a day of memorial services, speeches and events that attracted leaders from around the world, including former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
Chancellor Angela Merkel and 78-year-old Gorbachev stood shoulder to shoulder as they crossed a former fortified border crossing point between East and West Berlin to cheers of "Gorby! Gorby!"
"Looking back, we can see many causes that led to the peaceful revolution, but it still remains a miracle," German President Horst Koehler told the leaders of all 27 European Union countries, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Merkel — Germany's first chancellor to be raised in the former communist East — called the events of Nov. 9, 1989 an "epic" moment in history.
"For me, it was one of the happiest moments of my life," Merkel told a crowd of tens of thousands packed around the Brandenburg Gate.
In a video message screened at the main event, President Barack Obama paid tribute to the dissidents and demonstrators who ushered in the fall of the wall 20 years ago.
"Let us never forget Nov. 9, 1989, nor the sacrifices that made it possible," Obama said to applause and cheers.
Clinton paid tribute to Germany and other countries who shook loose communist bonds.
"We remember the people of the Baltics who joined hands across their land ... we remember the students of Prague who propelled a dissident playwright from a jail cell to the presidency," she said. "And tonight we remember the Germans, and especially the Germans in the East who stood up to say 'No more.'"
Merkel also recalled the tragic side of Nov. 9 for Germans — the Nazis' Kristallnacht, or Night of Broken Glass — an anti-Semitic pogrom 71 years ago. At least 91 German Jews were killed, hundreds of synagogues destroyed and thousands of Jewish businesses vandalized and looted in the state-sanctioned riots that night.
"Both show that freedom is not self evident," Merkel said. "Freedom must be fought for. Freedom must be defended time and again."
Uwe Kross, a 65-year-old retiree, fought back tears as he recalled watching the drama unfold two decades ago, hours after a confused announcement that East Germany was lifting travel restrictions.
"That night, you couldn't stop people," Kross said. "They lifted the barrier and everyone poured through. We saw it first on TV, normally it was very quiet up here, but that night we could hear the footsteps of those crossing, tap, tap, tap."
Merkel, who was one of thousands to cross that night, recalled that "before the joy of freedom came, many people suffered."
She lauded Gorbachev, with whom she shared an umbrella amid a crush of hundreds, eager for a glimpse of the man many still consider a hero for his role in pushing reform in the Soviet Union.
"You made this possible — you courageously let things happen, and that was much more than we could expect," she said.
Later, Merkel also thanked Germany's neighbors to the east. She welcomed several leaders who dared to stand up for democracy, including Poland's 1980s pro-democracy leader, Lech Walesa, and Miklos Nemeth, Hungary's last prime minister before communism collapsed. The two men were tapped to push the first domino.
Music from Bon Jovi and Beethoven recalled the joy of the border's opening, which led to German reunification less than a year later and the swift demolition of most of the wall — which snaked for 96 miles around West Berlin, a capitalist enclave deep inside East Germany.
In the decades it stood, 136 people were killed trying to make their way across the border and the wall came to represent the split in ideologies between the communist East and the democratic West.
"This wall divided not only a single country but, as we realize today, all of Europe," Medvedev said, taking his turn in a series of speeches by leaders gathered at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate for the ceremonies.
He said the wall was "destined to fall" amid reforms that were gaining momentum in the Communist Soviet Union and other countries in Eastern Europe, which was dominated by Moscow. "The role of the Soviet Union in that period was truly decisive."
By the Brandenburg Gate, which stood in a no man's land behind the wall for nearly three decades, Dieter Mohnka, 74, and his wife Helga, 71, shared a bowl of French fries on Monday afternoon and recalled the night the wall was opened.
"We were shocked when we heard that announced, simply astounded," Helga Mohnka said. "The next morning we went straight to visit my aunt in the West."
Dieter Mohnka, a high school teacher at the time, said he had long been fascinated with West Germany.
"I was born in East Germany, I went to school in East Germany. I was supposed to teach the kids about the wonderfulness of the East, when I was secretly watching TV from the West," he said.
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Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Airstrikes in Afghanistan drop by almost half -"Destroying a home or property jeopardizes the livelihood of an entire family — and creates more insurg
Gen. Stanley McChrystal new doctrine , discourage use of air power , reduce collateral damage and civilian casualties. However , this put more troops on the ground and expose to troop casualities.
Graphic shows monthly U.S. troop deaths in the Afghanistan war
Airstrikes by coalition forces in Afghanistan have dropped dramatically in the three months Gen. Stanley McChrystal has led the war effort there, reflecting his new emphasis on avoiding civilian casualties and protecting the population.
NATO fixed-wing aircraft dropped 1,211 bombs and other munitions during the past three months — the peak of the fighting season — compared with 2,366 during the same period last year, according to military statistics. The nearly 50% decline in airstrikes comes with an influx of more than 20,000 U.S. troops this year and an increase in insurgent attacks.
The shift is the result of McChrystal's new directives, said Air Force Col. Mark Waite, an official at the air operations center in southwest Asia. Ground troops are less inclined to call for bombing or strafing runs, though they often have an aircraft conduct a "show of force," a flyby to scare off insurgents, or use planes for surveillance, Waite said.
The decrease in air attacks may also be the result of having more ground troops, Waite said. Air attacks are often used when ground forces aren't available to secure an area or seize an objective.
Protecting civilians is generally more effective than large combat operations, McChrystal said in counterinsurgency directives issued to NATO forces in Afghanistan. "Destroying a home or property jeopardizes the livelihood of an entire family — and creates more insurgents," McChrystal wrote. "We sow the seeds of our own demise."
Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said civilian casualties have been "dramatically reduced."
Airstrikes that accidently killed civilians have angered the population, undermining efforts to win over civilians.
Despite the reduction in airstrikes, a U.S. aircraft attacked two fuel tankers that had been hijacked by the Taliban last week in northern Afghanistan, killing civilians.
McChrystal has appointed a high-level commission to investigate the attack. An initial assessment concluded that civilians had been killed or injured in the blast, according to a statement issued Tuesday by NATO forces in Afghanistan.
The strike was authorized by German forces operating in the area. Tuesday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned against rushing to judgment regarding the airstrike.
U.S. forces have been told to exercise extreme caution before ordering airstrikes.
By exercising so much restraint, the U.S. military may sacrifice a key firepower advantage on the battlefield and expose ground troops to more risk, some officers and analysts say.
"There is a tradeoff," said Col. Gian Gentile, a former battalion commander in Iraq who has publicly criticized counterinsurgency doctrine. "You reduce civilian casualties, but you potentially increase your own casualties."
Doug Macgregor, a retired Army colonel and military historian, says the emphasis on having conventional forces trying to win over the population is futile.
"You surrender whatever military advantage you have by compelling the U.S. conventional soldier or Marine to fight on terms that favor the enemy, not the American soldier or Marine," Macgregor said.
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Chancellor Angela Merkel defends German mission in Afghanistan
Site of 2 fuel petrol that were hijacked by insurgents , part near the river Kunduz. It is believed that insurgent and villager surround the tanker to siphon the previous fuel , when German requested a air strike.Killing those around.
German chancellor Angela Merkel addresses the German parliament Bundestag in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2009. Merkel has told the German parliament that the government will not accept "premature judgments" on a German-requested airstrike in northern Afghanistan last week that may have killed civilians and has drawn international criticism.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel makes a point during her speech at the German lower house of parliament Bundestag in Berlin, on Tuesday.
German ISAF soldiers get ready for a mission outside Kunduz, Afghanistan, Tuesday
German chancellor Angela Merkel, with furor at home over a deadly Afghan airstrike ordered by a German commander, told parliament today she “deeply regrets” the loss of innocent life but said the case should not be “prejudged” – an effort to push the radioactive issue past Sept. 27 elections, analysts say.
The airstrike ordered by Col. Georg Klein in Kunduz, Afghanistan, killed civilians as well as Taliban, according to a NATO report Tuesday. The deadliest use of German military force since World War II has injected an intense, emotional debate about the war in Afghanistan into a German election that had been devoid of the subject until now.
Germany and other European nations are unlikely to abruptly change their Afghan missions in the short term, despite high levels of public dissatisfaction. But German, French, and British leaders this week began to signal that their commitment is not indefinite.
“I can’t imagine any scenario where European forces are precipitously withdrawn… I don’t believe public opinion will drive this,” says Thomas Klau of the European Council of Foreign Relations in Paris. “But neither would I bank on a strong European presence a year from now.”
Berlin is an advocate of civil reform – “Afghanization” – and nonmilitary solutions to Afghanistan’s problems. It has also been the European state least publicly engaged and most shielded from war realities.
“In Germany, they aren’t even calling Afghanistan a war,” says Mr. Klau.
Across Europe, politicians may be chary of raising the unpopular war with the public, but they strongly back the UN and NATO deployment. French defense minister Hervé Morin, when asked Sept. 3 if there should be a debate on the French mission, said the debate had already taken place in parliament.
“What would happen if the international community left?,” Mr. Morin asked. “The bell would toll … there would be absolute chaos in Afghanistan,” he said, and the state could again be a terrorism stronghold.
In recent polls, 66 percent of the British and 64 percent of the French electorate said they wanted the Afghan mission ended. Some 22 percent of Italians want an immediate withdrawal, and 34 percent favor gradual withdrawal.
Of the 100,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, 17,000 come from France, Britain, and Germany. The 4,500 German forces in Afghanistan have led civil reconstruction efforts in the north, away from the fighting – until now.
“We will help with training and civilian reconstruction, but the goal is not to lose sight of a sustainable security structure in Afghanistan,” Merkel said after the meeting, and in the wake of the Kunduz airstrike. ““We must move forward decisively on this, and as the Afghans take on more responsibility for their security, then the international engagement can be reduced.”
“You have the Brits on the one hand and the Germans on the other, both looking at this differently,” says François Heisbourg, special advisor to the Foundation for Strategic Research in Paris. “But there’s a questioning on both sides of the Atlantic – what should we do next? Karzai is looking like a South Vietnamese dictator – vote fraud, corruption. It’s getting tricky.”
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