[Peace-discuss] Fw: A Singer Sings, a President Resigns, an Attack Sends Signals

[unionyes]

The German President spilled the beans and stated the REAL reason for NATO 
and U.S. troops occupying Afganistan.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <moderator at PORTSIDE.ORG>
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Sent: Saturday, June 05, 2010 10:09 AM
Subject: A Singer Sings, a President Resigns, an Attack Sends Signals


>A Singer Sings, a President Resigns, an Attack Sends
> Signals
>
> By Victor Grossman
>
> June 1, 2010
>
> Berlin
>
> Over the weekend much of Germany went temporarily
> berserk when one of its own, little black-haired high
> school senior Lena, performing in Oslo, won the Grand
> Prix in the huge annual Eurovision song contest. It was
> Germany's first win since 1982, when another young lady
> won out with her plaintive call for "A little peace".
> This time the winning song was about Love, and a
> million German flags waved to mark the victory for a
> musical rendition of that emotion by someone from
> Hanover.
>
> Yet before the euphoria could settle down a sudden
> announcement rocked souls in a far more sober manner.
> On the first such occasion in German history, President
> Horst Koehler, 67, only a year into his second term,
> told a sudden, awed press conference that he was
> immediately resigning. A very melancholy Koehler
> permitted no questions. Although presidents are largely
> ceremonial figures, with the chancellor - now Angela
> Merkel - the political leader, Koehler's friendly
> nature had made him quite popular, not so much with
> politicians but with the population at large. Total
> surprise was almost universal.
>
> What was the immediate cause of his resignation? He had
> spilled the beans!
>
> In a radio statement on May 22nd after a surprise visit
> to German troops in Afghanistan Koehler stated, in his
> complicated style:
>
> "However, in my estimation, we are coming closer by and
> large to an understanding by broad sections of our
> society that a country of our size, with its foreign
> trade orientation, hence its dependence on exports,
> must realize that in cases of doubt, in cases of
> emergency, it is also necessary to use military
> deployment so as to defend our interests, free trade
> routes for example or, for example, to prevent regional
> instability which would surely react negatively on our
> chances in trade, jobs and income."
>
> Cut down to simpler wording, this means: In order to
> support our economic interests we are ready to send in
> the military and "keep the natives in line".
>
> Actually this was nothing new. A White Book published
> by the Bundeswehr (armed forces) in 2006 stated sharp
> and clear: "...disturbances in international commerce
> and disturbances in the flow of raw materials and
> commodities...must be met with diplomatic, economic,
> developmental policy, police and military means,
> including armed intervention."
>
> But that statement was not so widely known. More
> important, Koehler had broadcast this open secret at a
> time when over seventy percent of the country opposed
> using troops in Afghanistan but the ruling government
> of Christian Democrats and Free Democrats had pushed
> through another "surge" anyway, with almost complete
> support by the Social Democrats and abstention votes by
> most of the Greens, the two parties who had sent troops
> there in the first place. Only the Left was in full
> opposition, but support for the war within the other
> parties was troubled, especially after the death of
> over 100 Afghan civilians in an air raid last
> September. Now Koehler's perhaps unreflected words
> revealed the truth behind high-flown phrases about
> democracy or women's rights used to justify a growing
> numbers of German troops.
>
> A leader of the Social Democratic caucus in the
> Bundestag said almost whiningly:  "Köhler is damaging
> acceptance of the Bundeswehr's foreign missions." And
> Juergen Trittin, head of the Greens in the Bundestag,
> tried to offer Koehler an escape route: "We can hope,
> in his favor, that he just galloped off in the wrong
> direction." Otherwise, he warned, he would not be on
> constitutional grounds. Koehler tried to back down to
> counter the wave of worried attacks by claiming he had
> been misunderstood; he had not been thinking of
> Afghanistan at all but of ships fighting Somali
> pirates.
>
> But Klaus Ernst, the recently-elected co-chairperson of
> The Left, pulled no punches:
>
> "Koehler said something openly which cannot be denied.
> Soldiers of the Bundeswehr are risking life and limb
> for the export interests of giant corporations."
>
> In his brief words of resignation, Koehler voiced his
> regret that none of the political leaders had come to
> his defense. He missed the proper respect due the
> country's president. He was obviously hitting at
> Chancellor Merkel and Foreign Minister Westerwelle,
> whom he had brusquely informed of his decision by
> telephone two hours before his press conference,
> astounding both of them. There was soon no lack of
> conjecture that it was by no means only his taboo-
> buster in the Afghanistan debate which caused the
> affair. Though a conservative, once a leading banker
> and former head of the World Monetary Fund, Koehler had
> occasionally dared to express non-orthodox views on a
> variety of issues, some on hardships now threatening on
> the domestic economic scene, some on surveillance
> methods. He had also supported a less selfish policy
> toward African countries, and generally been more
> independent than was expected - like the British queen
> - of a symbolic president.
>
> German politics is now in turmoil anyway. The coalition
> between Merkel's Christian Democrats and the Free
> Democrats, even further to the right, is visibly
> falling apart with disputes about taxing, health care
> and other economic and personal matters. Both parties
> have dropped severely in opinion polls. In North Rhine-
> Westphalia, where Merkel supporters hoped to keep a
> Christian Democrat as government head, the Free
> Democrats are again considering a coalition with the
> Social Democrats and Greens, after their rejection of
> The Left as a partner. Since each party has a color
> symbol in Germany, this would be a "traffic light
> coalition," with red (SPD), yellow (FDP) and green. It
> could also mean burying many of the voters' hopes, but
> also those of the Merkel party. It is still undecided.
>
> In a way, some may not miss the sometimes awkward
> Koehler. But now a national body made up of all
> legislators must choose a new president by June 30, and
> the field is still wide open.
>
> All this pushed another event into the background: the
> seizure of the Gaza support flotilla in the
> Mediterranean. In truth, despite the suspense and drama
> which should have gained it front page coverage, it had
> long been downplayed suspiciously by almost the entire
> media. Now it could no longer be ignored. Among the
> passengers were eleven Germans, two women were members
> of The Left party in the Bundestag, one man was a
> former member and legal expert, the fourth represented
> a peace organization of medical doctors, a fifth was a
> Palestinian resident of Germany.
>
> This very bloody event put the German government into a
> difficult position. It was hard to maintain the support
> of the Netanyahu government which had only recently
> begun to show minor signs of weakening. Germany's
> position on Gaza and Palestine was of key importance in
> the European Union. The Springer newspapers, far to the
> right but with a huge readership for their boulevard
> newspaper "Bild", surprised no one by parroting the
> official Israeli line: the invading commandos had been
> lynched and had killed and wounded the passengers in
> self defense. But many other media commentaries, while
> very cautious about taking sides, could not support a
> policy which some dared to call "piracy on the high
> seas".
>
> Would the German government support an international
> investigation, which might also question its own policy
> as second largest provider of armaments to Israel,
> including potentially atomic-armed submarines stationed
> in the Persian Gulf close to the coast of Iran?
>
> For most Germans, however, the next front page
> headlines were only days away; the world soccer
> championship in South Africa. The flag dealers were
> happily stocking up for a new rush in sales.
>
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