Just received an interesting email from a contact in Germany giving a little run-down on some of the goings-on over there. Thought some of you might enjoy it. *Warning:* Contains some harsh language which I have left in:

The trouble with Germans (and I don't think this is just politicos, but also a substantial share of the populace) is that they regard Rumsfeld and Bush and Powell to be "dumb" Yanks.


Who's Powell? Some black ex-army guy who was involved in Desert Shield/Storm. Must be the Whitehouse's token nigger. No more, no less.


I mean, he was in the army FFS. And "nobody" loathes the army like the Germans


Rumsfeld? Who's he? Oh, former US ambassador to NATO? Where's that? Never heard of it ... somewhere in Africa?


They seem to discount Rumsfeld as a belligerent red-neck "yankee" (their terms of endearment, not mine).


They totally fail to see what the guy is capable of with just a few well-picked words.


They could learn a lot. He really knows how to play the game on the stage of world politics. Simple, but devastatingly effective.


OK, perhaps they're starting to notice it now, but it's probably too late.


Schröder's latest grasp for a straw is to claim that his current actions/decisions will prove to be of "monumental importance" to the next 10-15 years of European political history.


He's basically stating to the world that Germany - which "he" embodies - is not obligated to any other government (OK, that could also be called sovereignty). The current issue regarding war with Iraq will, in his opinion, determine whether future world policy is decided on a multilateral basis, or merely dictated by the US (again, he's probably not far off the mark there, considering how UN-effective a certain global policymaking body has become...)


But at the end of the day, it's basically just more of the "counter-balance to the US now that the Sov Bloc is gone" rhetoric.


I guess whether you're pro or contra to such a stance depends on whether or not you really deem such a counterweight a necessity ...


Mind you, Schröder's certainly an achiever.


Not only has he managed to totally ruin Germany's domestic economy in the past 4 years, he's now also fucked up beyond all recognition all of the work that genuine German statesmen like Genscher and Kohl put into building up US/German relations. Well done, Gerhard.