Author Archives: Tobias Schwarz

About Tobias Schwarz

German, turned 30 a while ago, balding slowly, hopefully with grace. A carnival junkie, who, after studies in business and politics in Mannheim, Paris, and London, is currently living in his hometown of Mainz, Germany, again. Became New Labourite during a research job at the House of Commons, but difficult to place in German party-political terms. Liberal in the true sense of the term.

His political writing is mostly on A Fistful of Euros and on facebook these days. Occasional Twitter user and songwriter. His personal blog is almost a diary. Even more links at about.me.

Die Wacht am Rhein.

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Brad DeLong agrees with Daniel Drezner that, in a time in which the world’s news agenda is once again dominated by hatred and violence, it is important to remember that keeping up the hope for a peaceful future is not necessarily in vain.

Let us give thanks that the most brutal and blood-soaked border in the world is quiet – a border inhabited on both sides by those bloodthirsty peoples who have been numbers one and two in terms of the most effective killers of foreigners for centuries: the Germans and the French.

It is now 59 years and 9 months since an army crossed the Rhine River bearing fire and sword. This is the longest period of peace on the Rhine since the second century B.C.E., before the Cimbri and the Teutones appeared to challenge the armies of the consul Gaius Marius in the Rhone Valley.

I’m not sure about those 59 years being the longest period of peace since the second century B.C.E., but having lived on the Rhine’s left bank, close to the westward-watching “Wacht am Rhein” (the Niederwalddenkmal or “Germania” – a monument erected after the foundation of the German Reich in 1871), for most of my life, those 59 years are clearly the ones that matter to me.


Franco-German FriendshipAnd, in light of the recent transatlantic history, let me add that the photo of a French friend and myself in front of the memorial was taken by an American tourist – we do remember which fire bearing army made the Franco-German approchement possible.

Irresistible.

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Her Majesty’s government?Some light Saturday reading…

I think Tony Blair will from now on try to leave press conferences before someone gets a chance to ask the last question.

Back in September 2003 in Berlin, a British journalist asked Blair about being embarrassed about being a spokesperson for the American President when talking to Chancellor Schr?der and French President Chirac (afoe post). Blair was visibly surprised by the question, and certainly a little embarrassed that Chirac and Schr?der replied on his behalf.

Yesterday, Mr Blair must thus have sensed some kind of “d?j? vu” when the London Times correspondent asked Mr Bush if he indeed, as suggested by so many British, regarded Tony Blair as his “poodle”, or if he did not think that the US owed something to the UK for Mr Blair’s support. Mr Blair then sort-of-jokingly asked the President not to say “yes”, for that would be, well, difficult, before Mr Bush went on to praise Mr Blair’s leadership and wondered what he should owe a leader “[p]lenty capable of making his own mind.”

Since you’re going to read about this everywhere, you might as well read the original. So in the extended part of this post you can find the (slightly edited by the White House) transcript of that part of the press conference as well as the video footage. For the interesting bits, forward to the last minute or so. Enjoy.
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Irrelevance.

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I suppose Yasir Arafat’s death and the reaction on “the Palestinian street” will give rise to a few discussions about the concept of political “irrelevance”. Benny Morris starts.
Writing in the New York Times, the recently turned hawkish Israeli historian and author of “The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem“, is already missing the man, in spite of his past.

Mr. Arafat’s death most certainly will result in a succession struggle, between the generations inside the Fatah and between the Fatah and the Islamic fundamentalist parties (which may lead to complete anarchy in the Hamas stronghold of Gaza). But it is unclear whether it will bring the Middle East any closer to peace. His disappearance removes a major rejectionist obstacle from the scene.

But it also leaves us with a paradox. For Mr. Arafat was probably the only Palestinian of our time, given his historical and political stature, capable of persuading the Palestinians, or most of them, to accept the concessions necessary to achieve a two-state solution. On the other hand, his successors – Mahmoud Abbas, Ahmed Qurei and some of the younger Fatah leaders – may be more amenable to a territorial compromise but they lack the stature to intimidate or persuade their people to accept a two-state settlement or to crush their terror-minded colleagues. So Yasir Arafat’s death may have done us no good at all.

A Tiny Chip On BusinessWeek’s Shoulder?

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BusinessWeek has joined the ranks of those in the US who are sulking because of international, particularly European, criticism, concern, laughter, and disbelief about both process and result of the US Presidential election. The magazine’s John Rossant is now beating back in this week’s issue, explaining that – even in today’s Europe – life’s not all beer and skittles.

Quite right.
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The Merry Wives of Saxe-Coburg Gotha

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A week after Queen Elisabeth II’s fourth state visit to Germany The Times is stunned that Germans hailed her as one of them (story including statements by the inevitable Nazi), while The Independent takes its readers on a detailed journey through time, attempting to uncover the exact extent to which the Windsors may in fact still be the Saxe-Coburg Gothas (links via Viewropa). Reassuring note to British readers: there’s no need to burn your 1918-1945-1966 t-shirt 😉

Autodaf

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Rocco Buttiglione, who resigned as Italian candidate for EU commissioner last week, now believes he can turn his political defeat into victory and form new religious movement in Europe (see related afoe post here). According to the Guardian –

At a debate entitled “The trial of the Catholic witch” in Milan’s Teatro Nuovo on Saturday, Mr Buttiglione said what happened to him in the EU was “a gift from God”, which he hoped would force debate over the religious discrimination in “politically correct Europe”.

He said he had received thousands of letters of support from sympathisers across Europe and from Muslim and Jewish leaders in Italy. “You can’t have a political community without a conscience and without values,” he said, inspired by the role of the Christian vote in the US election.

Very true. Let me repeat that: You can’t have a political community without a conscience and without values. It’s just that both terms are simply labels whose meanings are as individual as it gets.

And we shall keep it that way.

Good Cop, Bad Cop.

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In addition to being a valuable opportunity for the western world to revisit important enlightenment concepts like religious tolerance and the importance of secular government, the re-election of President Bush could also lead to a more effective transatlantic division of diplomatic labour in the Middle East outside Iraq, as – possibly – indicated by this weekend’s sort-of-agreement between the EU Troika (UK, France, Germany) and Iran, in which the latter pledged to freeze its uranium enrichment programme until a longterm agreement has been reached (see the Guardian).
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Another Brick In The Wall.

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The Berlin Wall.To be sure, this was a busy week for the German Chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder. In addition to the obligations caused by a state visit of Queen Elizabteth II, which, not unexpectedly, took place in an atmosphere of tabloid turmoil on both sides of the channel, the autumn European summit in Brussels, and the political digestion of the US election, he managed to upset pretty much everyone in political Germany – and beyond (Bild.de) – with the most bizarre proposal to – sort of – abolish the German national holiday, October 3, in order to boost GDP growth and, as a consequence, eventually meet the fiscal criteria set out in the stability and growth pact.
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Warning Labels

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Everybody knows cigarette warning labels. They are a fact of life, although evidence of their effectiveness in preventing people from smoking is scarce. Frankly, no one knows if they really have any significant effect given that, these days, everyone already knows about the health endangering nature of smoking. In fact, at least in Europe, warning labels are also supporting scores of accessory designers, who now create and sell special cigarette cases. It’s hard to believe, but they have become something of a fashion item…

Now, after the re-election of President Bush, will the US lead the world in creating another accessory category? Lyssa may well have the definitive “four more years” entry.

Now don’t say Germans can’t be funny.