The rhetoric from Germany regarding Iran gets stronger by the day. The latest from Merkel is:
Merkel likens Iran threat to Nazi eraMUNICH, Germany (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel likened Iran’s nuclear plans on Saturday to the threat posed by the Nazis in their early days, as top U.S. officials urged a tough line to stop Tehran from making an atomic bomb.
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld accused the Islamic republic of being the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism, a charge his Iranian counterpart rejected as “ridiculous” and “outrageous”.
Addressing the annual Munich security conference, Merkel said countries around the world had underestimated the Nazi threat as Adolf Hitler rose to power.
“Looking back to German history in the early 1930s when National Socialism (Nazism) was on the rise, there were many outside Germany who said ‘It’s only rhetoric—don’t get excited’,” she told the assembled world defense policy makers.
“There were times when people could have reacted differently and, in my view, Germany is obliged to do something at the early stages ... We want to, we must prevent Iran from developing its nuclear program.”
As she was speaking a few hundred metres (yards) from the Munich pub where Hitler launched his “Beer Hall Putsch” in 1923, the board of governors of the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency voted in Vienna to report Iran to the U.N. Security Council over concerns it is secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons.
Wow. Tomorrow the second installment of The Magical Merkel Tour will be posted. I postponed it so I could add recent events to the summary.
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COMMENTS / 5 COMMENTS
ComingAnarchy.com » Blog Archive » The Chorus Grows added these pithy words on Feb 17 06 at 8:14 pm[...] For a time, America was the only one pointing out the obvious, that the Iranian nuclear program’s real aim is to develop nuclear weapons, not energy. Israel understood too and the Europeans’ refrain was involved “worry” and “suspicion.” Merkel upgraded Germany’s concern to “Germany is obliged to do something at the early stages … We want to, we must prevent Iran from developing its nuclear program.” France finally came out and accused Tehran of pursuing nuclear weapons. And today, Germany’s Foreign Minister finally uttered the magic words: [...]
ComingAnarchy.com » Blog Archive » Falling in Love Again added these pithy words on May 08 06 at 5:51 pm[...] Their talk was an important step in German-US relations and against Iran. Bush tones down the threats a little, emphasizing diplomacy and multilateralism while showing Americans that he didn’t ruin our relations with Europe and instead that Europe is coming back to us. Merkel scores points at home for helping to “tame” American rhetoric while emphasizing Germany’s wish to rely on diplomacy, but as before, was able to make veiled threats of force to please America and show that Europe won’t bend over as Schröder and Chirac would want. [...]
StrategyUnit added these pithy words on 05 Feb 06 at 7:37 amI was very much surprised by Merkel’s words. But, I havent seen any articles or blogs that can explain such rhetoic. What is driving it? Personality? Party Ideaology? Domestic Politics?
Mi-Hwa added these pithy words on 05 Feb 06 at 11:12 amMerkel is pro-US, whereas Germany under Schroeder was anti-US. She’s aligning with American policy towards Iran. She is also coming down hard on Iran for its anti-Israel stance.
yan added these pithy words on 06 Feb 06 at 11:17 amMunich stands for the ultimate failure of appeasement policies – literally handing a whole country over to an aggressive dictator in return for some vague promises of peaceful behaviour that would be broken only months later.
I think Merkels point is that multilateral diplomacy can only work if all sides are interested in finding a solution. If one side is only interested in escalating the crisis, compromises will make the situation only worse. Sometimes, burning the bridges is less dangerous than trying to find an ostensible compromise.
