Berlin brushes off US 'no' - seeks UN seat

[Kellanved]

BERLIN - The German government Friday brushed off a report quoting a US diplomat as saying Washington would block Berlin's bid to win a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council.

"The German government stands by its position that the United Nations Security Council should be reformed," said Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's deputy spokesman, Hans Langguth. He added: "Germany is ready to take up its responsibility as permanent member of the UN Security Council."

Langguth side-stepped a report in the Financial Times Deutschland, the paper's German language edition, quoting an unnamed US diplomat as saying Washington did not want Germany in the Security Council.
...

Germany's ambassador to the UN, Gunter Pleuger, is disliked in Washington, the report said and the diplomat was quoted as calling him a "nit-picker."

http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=26&story_id=9587


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Report: U.S. Opposes German Security Council Seat


BERLIN (Reuters) - The United States opposes Germany becoming a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, a German newspaper Friday quoted a U.S. diplomat as saying.

"Now is not the time that Germany should apply for a permanent seat," the unnamed diplomat was quoted as telling the Financial Times Deutschland.

Germany's stints as a non-permanent member of the Security Council had been "very problematic," indeed there were "more problems than ever," the diplomat said.

Germany's push to remove immunity from prosecution in the International Criminal Court for U.S. peacekeepers was cited as an example. The Pentagon said earlier this month it was pulling small numbers of troops out of two U.N. peacekeeping operations because they now can be prosecuted in the court at The Hague in the Netherlands.

...

http://wireservice.wired.com/wired/story.asp?section=Breaking&storyId=893993&tw=wn_wire_story


Edit: added Wired story.

[russian33]

1. Well, at least they are consistent with pissing off the rest of the world

I personally don't see what the big problem is in having Germany join the Security Council.

[ugarte]

2. The U.S. demands a group-think world

Independent thinking will be punished.

[Kellanved]

3. At least Group Think was not the destiny the SC got formed for

It never was about being one happy family.

Well, we'll see.