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| Europe |
| Head of Germany’s special forces axed in Jewish row |
| 2003-11-04 |
| Looks like the Olympics shouldn’t be staged in Germany for a few more years yet. The head of Germany’s special forces has been sacked for allegedly backing an MP who is accused of anti-Semitism. Defence Minister Peter Struck fired Brigadier General Reinhard Guenzel for apparently praising MP Martin Hohmann. Mr Hohmann has caused a national row with comments comparing the actions of Jews in the 1917 Russian revolution with those of the Nazis. General Guenzel is said to have written to Mr Hohmann, praising his "courage". Mr Struck insisted that General Guenzel’s views were not widespread in the armed forces. "This is about a lone, confused general who agreed with an even more confused statement made by a conservative member of parliament," he said. You can’t help wondering why the German special forces employ ’lonely’ and ’confused’ people as Generals...? Should make the Eurocorps an even more entertaining troupe, I suppose. Mr Hohmann sparked a furore when he suggested it might be possible to consider Jews as a "Taetervolk", or race of perpetrators, as Germans are seen, because of Jewish actions during the Bolshevik revolution. Well that sure makes sense. I’ll bet there must’ve been some red-heads in the Waffen SS. Does that make red-heads Taetervolk too? In an interview for ZDF’s Frontal 21 programme Mr Hohmann, an MP for the opposition right-wing CDU, read out the letter of support from General Guenzel. "It was an excellent speech, of a courage truth and clarity which one seldom hears or reads in our country," Mr Hohmann quoted the letter as saying. "Even though all those who support this view or who articulate it loud and clear are categorised by public opinion as right-wing extremists, you can be sure that you are doubtless speaking for the majority of the population," he also quoted the general as writing. Any other idiots want to commit career suicide? |
| Posted by:Bulldog |
| #8 Let a man hold his tongue, and he will pass for a sage. But some of us are smarter than that - and we will see he has spit on his fingers. Yucky, but effective. Only The Shadow knows what stupidity lurks in the hearts of men. Besides their mistresses, of course. And prolly their bartenders. |
| Posted by: .com 2003-11-4 6:15:04 PM |
| #7 Zhang Fei> I believe Germany has proportional representation. http://www.germany-info.org/relaunch/info/facts/facts/questions_en/poldevelopment/parties4.html "The German election system combines majority and proportional representation. Each voter has two votes. The first vote is cast for a specific candidate running in the voter's electoral district. The winner of a plurality of these votes represents that electoral district in the Bundestag. The second vote is cast for a party. A list of candidates for this vote is drawn up by each party in each of the federal states. " Either way, I don't think that an MP could be ousted by his party once elected, regardless of whether he was elected through the proportional or the majority system. |
| Posted by: Aris Katsaris 2003-11-4 6:09:21 PM |
| #6 MP's have to be voted out of office by their constituancy. I believe Germany has proportional representation. My understanding is that MP's in Germany aren't selected by a specific area's voters - seats are apportioned based on party seniority and the total number of seats assigned to a given party depends on the percentage of votes that party receives. The MP in question could be ousted by his party's honchos, but not by voters. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2003-11-4 1:39:27 PM |
| #5 The good general apparently read too many books from the German "history war" of a decade or so ago. |
| Posted by: Hiryu 2003-11-4 1:37:04 PM |
| #4 Misha - the government can fire generals quite easily - RE Wesley Clark as NATO chief. MP's have to be voted out of office by their constituancy. Bit harder, especially in Germany. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2003-11-4 1:17:06 PM |
| #3 Somebody will draw a parallel between Boykin and this guy. I know it will happen; I can feel my gag reflex starting... |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2003-11-4 12:01:48 PM |
| #2 So an MP makes some outrageously anti-Semitic statements, an idiot general backs him up and the general is fired, but the MP is still and MP? How very... German. |
| Posted by: Emperor Misha I 2003-11-4 11:43:56 AM |
| #1 It's those darn Jooos again. If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be making these idiotic comments. |
| Posted by: Daniel King 2003-11-4 10:03:24 AM |