Germany warns of “concrete indications” of planned jihadist attacks on airports, railways
The “misunderstandings” of the Religion of Peace just keep on coming. Funny how that keeps happening, not to mention the uniformity with which Islam is so routinely “misunderstood.” “Germany tightens airport security over attacks threat,” from BBC News, November 17:
Germany is increasing security at airports and railway stations in light of “concrete indications” of terrorist attacks being planned for the end of November.
Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said it followed a tip-off from another, unnamed country.
Germany had information on “sustained efforts” by Islamist extremists to carry out attacks, he said.
He said the extra security would remain in place “until further notice”.
“There are grounds for concern, but not for hysteria,” Mr de Maiziere told a news conference in Berlin.
The federal police force has been ordered to step up checks at airports and train stations, he added.
Yemen connection
Mr de Maiziere said Germany had received a tip-off after two parcel bombs were intercepted en route from Yemen to the United States last month. […]
You’ve lost that dismissive feeling:
The BBC’s Stephen Evans, in Berlin, says a month ago, Germany was dismissive of American warnings of attacks. That feeling has now gone.
At G20, Obama Tastes ‘Bitter Reality’ of America’s Decline: Financial Times Deutschland, Germany
This is a challenging moment in history, and according to columnist Peter Ehrlich of Germany’s Financial Times Deutschland, President Obama is a victim of it: The United States, relative to other nations, is growing comparatively weaker. And with economics rather than military prowess the modern measure of true influence, Ehrlich contends that presidents of the United States, starting with Barack Obama, will have to adjust.
I’d like to insert a personal note on this narrative to say, that what is happening today in terms of the relative drop in U.S. dominance reflects the unalloyed success of American policy since the end of World War II. We encouraged the rest of the world to embrace free markets and personal choice for their own good – and ours. Now that they have, we are relatively weaker – but by no means weak. And as Peter Ehrlich emphasizes, it is a world more characterized by economic competition than military.
For Germany’s Financial Times Deutschland, Peter Ehrlich writes in part:
SEOUL: In times of peace, thankfully, there’s no need for historic battles like those of Trafalgar or Waterloo to change the balance of power in the world. These days, change happens little by little, day by day – only becoming noticeable at meetings like the G20 Summit in Seoul. What we witnessed was the end of American global dominance. The “American Century” is over.
At least since the First World War, the United States has been the most significant power both militarily and economically. Twenty years ago after the collapse of the Soviet bloc, it became the only remaining “superpower.” When then U.S. President George H.W. Bush spoke of a “new world order,” he was thinking of a Pax Americana. But from then on, it was all downhill.
Militarily, the U.S. still dominates, but today, even America can no longer afford to go it alone as it did in Iraq. Economically, it is still by far the most significant nation, but the fate of the global economy now lies in Europe and China. Barack Obama, who in contrast to Bush Jr. advocated a multilateral world order, now must bitterly experience what that means in practice. Once staunch allies like Germany now openly criticize the monetary policy of the U.S. Federal Reserve.
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Germany and China
David Shorr writes from Seoul, South Korea that we should pay more attention to Germany’s trade surplus:
Germany is one of those countries that sells stuff rather than buying. Here’s the point about Chancellor Merkel’s statements: she talks a lot about Germany’s exports as a a success of their competitiveness and not very much about needing Germans to buy more. As with China, Germany is quite happy to chug along with export-led growth, thankyouverymuch. This begs the question — if Americans become less profligate (and households have already shown they can reduce consumer debt — then who will pick up consumer demand where we left off?
I think it’s wrong to put China and Germany in the same box here. The reason is that if you look at the Eurozone as a whole (or the EU-27 as a whole, or various other broader metrics) the overall surplus is pretty small as a share of GDP. Germany is (along with Sweden and the Netherlands) the export-oriented part of Europe sort of like how the Seattle or New York City areas of the United States are the export-oriented parts of our country.
That’s not to say the relationship between Germany, the Eurozone, and the world is unproblematic. On the contrary, it’s a total disaster. The Irish situation is a mess, and the Eurozone-wide growth rate is abysmal which means there’ll be more trouble ahead for Greece, Portugal, Spain, and Italy soon too. When the Euro was proposed, skeptics posited that the labor market wasn’t nearly integrated enough to make it work, but most European leaders forged ahead anyway. The result is an urgent problem, but it’s a very different one from the China situation.
Europe Baffled By Midterm Defeat of ‘Bloodless’ Obama: Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Germany
As we’ve seen, Europe’s reaction to the Tea Party, with the exception of Spain and some in Great Britain, has been tepid at best. Right up until now, Obama reigns supreme and as far as Europeans are concerned, is one of the most popular leaders in the world.
Which is why, according to Sueddeutsche Zeitung columnist Christian Wernicke, the midterm election results have thrown most of Europe for a loop.
For Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Christian Wernicke seeks to explain this befuddling turn of events to German readers. He writes in part:
They’re crazy, those Yanks! That’s what they’re whispering in Europe. After all, who can make sense of it? Illuminated by Obama’s bright light, Washington had only just reemerged from eight years of political darkness. The smart Black president achieved great things. First he saved the world from sinking into a global depression; then he gave his nation historic health reform. But for this, and precisely for this, his people are now punishing him – with a disaster in the congressional elections. No one can possibly understand this level of ingratitude, at least not on the European side of the Atlantic.
Germans have reacted especially strongly, which is understandable when they hear an Alaskan senator-to-be [Joe Miller] recommending the East German model for dealing with illegal immigrants at the Rio Grande to his countrymen, shoot-on-sight orders included. Or when we see photos of a candidate for the House of Representatives who likes to play war games in his off-hours back in Ohio – wearing the uniform of a Waffen SS division that took part in the Holocaust. But what’s overlooked by many Europeans is the fact that neither man was elected on Tuesday.
Still, from such anecdotes, many Europeans, too many, paint themselves a caricature of an America that is confused and has lost its way. Only this distorted image is inaccurate. Europeans must first understand that America is just plain different – and different from what they’d like it to be.
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There is More at Stake than Obama’s Presidency: Tages Anzeiger, Germany
Does the result of the midterm elections threaten the very future of the United States? Correspondent Martin Kilian of Germany’s Tages Anzeiger outlines for readers his concern that the apparent gridlock in the American system could threaten not only America’s future – but the world.
For the Tages Anzeiger, Martin Kilian writes in part:
Instead of paving the way for a long overdue rehabilitation of this ailing superpower, whose citizens are plagued by fear of social decline and national collapse, this new balance of power could throw Washington into fresh chaos.
At stake here is not just the presidency of Barack Obama. Given its many unresolved problems, the future of the United States itself is threatened. If in the wake of their electoral success, rather than taking political responsibility, Republicans were to engage in the politics of obstruction and denial for the next two years – and with all eyes already on the 2012 elections – governing in Washington could become well nigh impossible. The consequences would be far reaching.
READ ON AT WORLDMEETS.US, your most trusted translator and aggregator of foreign news and views about our nation.
There is More at Stake than Obama’s Presidency: Tages Anzeiger, Germany
Does the result of the midterm elections threaten the very future of the United States? Correspondent Martin Kilian of Germany’s Tages Anzeiger outlines for readers his concern that the apparent gridlock in the American system could threaten not only America’s future – but the world.
For the Tages Anzeiger, Martin Kilian writes in part:
Instead of paving the way for a long overdue rehabilitation of this ailing superpower, whose citizens are plagued by fear of social decline and national collapse, this new balance of power could throw Washington into fresh chaos.
At stake here is not just the presidency of Barack Obama. Given its many unresolved problems, the future of the United States itself is threatened. If in the wake of their electoral success, rather than taking political responsibility, Republicans were to engage in the politics of obstruction and denial for the next two years – and with all eyes already on the 2012 elections – governing in Washington could become well nigh impossible. The consequences would be far reaching.
READ ON AT WORLDMEETS.US, your most trusted translator and aggregator of foreign news and views about our nation.
Wife of convicted Misunderstander of Islam on trial in Germany for jihad plot against U.S. targets
Yet another convert to Islam, Fritz Gelowicz, misunderstands his new, peaceful religion, and apparently has also led his wife, who seems to have grown up Muslim, to misunderstand it as well. One wonders why there is such an abysmal quality of religious instruction among the adherents of the Religion of Peace, and why no one seems to notice or care. “Wife of convicted terrorist on trial in Germany,” by David Rising for the Associated Press, November 5 (thanks to Maxwell):
BERLIN – The wife of a German convert to Islam who was convicted of plotting a thwarted attack on U.S. targets in Germany went on trial herself Friday on charges of supporting terrorist organizations.
Filiz Gelowicz, 28, is accused of supporting the Islamic Jihad Union and the German Taliban Mujahideen by helping provide euro3,000 ($ 4,225) to fund terrorist training camps in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region between 2009 and 2010. She faces up to five years in prison.
One of two male co-defendants, identified only as 21-year-old Alican T., also went on trial in the Berlin state court on suspicion of supporting the same terrorist organizations. The other, Fatih K., 31, is in Turkish custody awaiting extradition to Germany.
When they were charged in August, prosecutors said in addition to raising the money that Alican T. posted 16 radical Islamic videos on the Internet trying to recruit new members for jihad, or holy war, while Filiz G. posted more than 1,000 videos, comments and texts online. In six contributions, Filiz F. specifically asked Muslims in Germany to join Islamic Jihad Union, the German Taliban Mujahideen and al-Qaida.
Gelowicz’s husband Fritz Gelowicz was convicted in March in Duesseldorf state court of plotting with three other members of the Islamic Jihad Union to attack American soldiers and citizens at facilities including the U.S. Air Force’s Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
The four men operated as a German cell of the radical Islamic Jihad Union, a group the U.S. State Department has said has ties to Osama bin Laden and fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Omar, the court found.
Had they succeeded, “there would have been a terrible bloodbath with an incredibly high of number of dead and injured, above all members of the U.S. army but also civilians,” the court said…..
The ‘Service’ WikiLeaks Provides is No Treason: Berliner Zeitung, Germany
Is WikiLeaks a treasonous enterprise that should be outlawed – or is it an emerging bulwark of democracy? The conversation that commenced last summer with WikiLeaks’ release of a trove a classified documents about Afghanistan has begun all over again with the release of the Iraq War logs, which is being called the largest release of classified military information in history.
For Germany’s Berliner Zeitung, columnist Uwe Vorkotter writes that WikiLeaks is an asset to democratic society, and cites Beijing’s tantrum over news that a Chinese WikiLeaks is being planned as evidence of its cleansing power. Vorkotter writes in part:
The fact that nearly 400,000 documents were uploaded last weekend doesn’t mean that the history of the Iraq War is now being rewritten. The reports and logs of the troops have nothing to do with the pivotal political lie George W. Bush told to justify the war before the United Nations and the global public
Nor are these Pentagon documents central to the political miscalculation of the previous American administration or it’s coalition of the willing: removing Saddam Hussein from power meant bringing peace and democracy to Iraq and the entire Arab world. This crusade of the Christian West has failed and the chief crusader has been driven from the White House. Here again, there are no new insights.
Nevertheless, the publication of the documents is invaluable. … A democracy’s strength lies not least in the capacity to address it’s darkest hours. The Iraq War was one of U.S. democracy’s darkest hours. The Chinese government, it was reported yesterday, is concerned that a local WikiLeaks-style organization could soon be launched. That concern is well founded. After all, the power of authoritarian governments depends on the ability to decide what is secret and what is public – on what people can learn and what remains with officials. Precisely for this reason, it is essential for this to be done.
In fact, WikiLeaks is not guilty of high treason, but of providing a service to democracy.
READ ON AT WORLDMEETS.US, your most trusted translator and aggregator of foreign news and views about our nation.
New MSNBC talking point: This Rand Paul incident is reminiscent of 1930s Germany
Nuance.
Can I quote myself here? From the Behar post published this afternoon: We are, after all, now seven short days away from Election Day, which means Refudiation Week has officially begun. And needless to say, as the reality of the wave crashes in, I suspect we’re going to see some mighty interesting coping mechanisms playing […]
