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| Europe |
| Iran's German Enablers |
| 2007-09-24 |
| From the Wall Street Journal's OpinionJournal.com. You have to register, but it's free and well worth it, I think. lotp, it looks like you were right to be concerned, and I was wrong. Here's a taste: Business opportunities in Iran were the theme of a German government-sponsored conference last week in Darmstadt, Germany. "Iran is accustomed to crises," the conference invitation delicately noted, "but somehow always keeps going forward." In fact, Iran's resilience is made possible in no small measure by Germany itself, which remains one of Iran's largest trading partners. Now Berlin is balking at international attempts to intensify economic sanctions against the Tehran regime for its nuclear program. Just how discordant Germany's Iranian policy is even within the European Union was made clear to me last spring, when I participated in a "roving seminar" on Iran and nuclear weapons that visited Paris, Brussels and Berlin. As the sole Israeli participant in the seminar--jointly sponsored by the German Marshall Fund and the American Enterprise Institute--I assumed that my role was to play the heavy, reminding naïve and self-righteous Europeans of the unpleasant truths of the Middle East. Instead, I encountered sobriety about the Iranian threat, loathing for the Ahmadinejad regime and sympathy for Israel's fears. The Europeans I met were keenly aware of the danger of a nuclear arms race in the Arab world triggered by fear of a Shiite bomb. ...Everywhere, that is, but Berlin. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #3 "Iran is accustomed to crises," the conference invitation delicately noted, "but somehow always keeps going forward." Seems to me that it wasn't too long ago they might have said the same thing about Iraq. Didn't Germany end up having to forgive the debt? |
| Posted by: gorb 2007-09-24 16:11 |
| #2 Thatcher was right. Re-unification was an error. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2007-09-24 15:12 |
| #1 Germans enabling genocide against the Jews. You could knock me over with a feather. We should have kicked their asses harder. |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2007-09-24 14:18 |