German Leader Vows to Intensify U.S. Ties

[ECH1969]

BERLIN (AP) - New German Chancellor Angela Merkel vowed to strengthen relations with the United States and smaller EU nations in remarks released Sunday, a day before her top diplomat heads for Washington.

In an interview with Focus magazine, Merkel also suggested the close links with Russia pursued by her predecessor, Gerhard Schroeder, were a lower priority for the new government.

Merkel, a conservative, has repeatedly signaled her intention to repair traditionally strong German-U.S. ties torn by Schroeder's decision in 2002 to join France and Russia in loudly opposing the war in Iraq. Schroeder's position has also weighed on Berlin's relations with smaller EU nations, such as former communist states like Poland and Hungary, both NATO members which sent troops to Iraq.

http://home.bellsouth.net/s/editorial.dll?pnum=1&bfromind=2219&eeid=4767022&_sitecat=1505&dcatid=0&eetype=article&render=y&ac=-2&ck=&ch=ne

[wookie294]

1. Little Bush won't be happy until she sends German troops to Iraq

Chirac is a conservative, too. And Bush hates him.

[tocqueville]

3. Merkel is the daughter of a protestant preacher from old DDR

but I see her position mostly as a posture. Had she been in charge during the Iraq war, her deeds wouldn't have been very different from Schroeders, because the German opinion doesn't allow anything else.

It's OK for the Germans nowaday to send troops abroad in NATO-UN missions after the symbolic washing of the bad guy image in Kosovo, where they were really welcomed with flowers. But they wouldn't participate in an illegal story like Iraq. Maybe if she had been in charge the criticism against the war would have been turned down, but nothing else.

[Crayson]

8. Which she can't do without losing her face

One of her big promises in Germany on the day she took on her office as chancelor was NOT TO send troops to Iraq.

All she will do is being diplomatic.
Schroeder said "No to Iraq" US-style. No means no. From cowboy to cowboy
She will say the same but be more diplomatic about it.

[patdem]

2. Was this part of her platform during the campaign? Do the German

people agree with that stance? Does the German army want to go to Iraq? I am not familiar enough with German politics and I have not seen Derk(sp?)from Germany lately?

[tocqueville]

4. Read the rest of the press release

The United States has not confirmed the existence of the secret prisons, and Eastern European countries deny knowledge of covert facilities.

Steinmeier, who was Schroeder's chief of staff, and the German justice minister said in recent days they would like the Americans to address the issue. But there was no indication whether Steinmeier would raise it on Tuesday, when he is to meet with Rice.

While Merkel has not spoken out on the matter, a senior member of her Christian Democratic Union party indicated that he hoped the U.S. would change the way it treats detainees.

"I trust in the Americans to realize things themselves," Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble was quoted as saying in the Spiegel news magazine. "The U.S.A. have often shown that they recognize mistakes and correct them."
___________________________________________________________________
with the current administration it's nothing else than whisful thinking - or more likely a good excuse to do nothing.

[Crayson]

9. She is just mending fences

No.
Germany is still as anti war as for the last 50 years.
I think it actually has a constitution that forbids fighting wars in foreign countries.

The use of Germany's Tornado warplanes with their really great radar/sensor capability for reconnaissance in NATO operations and German technical infrastructure buildup troops in Afghanistan is already pushing the boundries. They are allowed selfdefense, but nothing more.
I think they can't go beyond that without changing the constitution that defines post-WWII Germany.

Germany still feels guilty about WWII and that guilt sits deep in their consience, even now as people who actually saw WWII pass away.

This is like expecting a Hippie throwing away his flowers and picking up a Kalashnikow. Won't happen easily.

[daleo]

5. I don't think she has that much sway over the coalition government

She can try to influence it, but her position is not that powerful within the government, which is nearly evenly split in seats.

"However, Merkel's coalition government includes Schroeder's Social Democrats and her foreign minister has said that there will be no change in Germany's refusal to send troops to Iraq."

[punpirate]

6. Her fascination with George Bush...

... has been well-known in Germany. Guess it's time for this one again:

[Crayson]

7. CIA probe...

Yes, she said she wanted to "heal the rift"...

But right now there's a freshly elected German foreign minister knocking on Washington's doors with some mean questions about secret CIA flights deporting "Al'Qaida" prisoners from and to torture countries.

An EU official going after satelite imagery and Eurocontrol flightplans to uncover the secret CIA locations in Eastern Europe.

This certainly won't heal the rift that fast...