I don’t think Joschka Fischer, the German Foreign Minister, was entirely mistaken when he mentioned in a BBC radio interview (2:35 min real audio) on Wednesday that “[i]f you want to learn how the traditional Prussian goose-step works, you have to watch British TV, because in Germany, in the younger generation – even in my generation – nobody knows how to perform it.” Well, it’s certainly possible to learn it without the help of British tv, but Fawlty Tower re-runs help a lot.
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Author Archives: Tobias Schwarz
Buttiglione on his way out?
While most observers still expect a compromise between incoming Commission president Barroso and those groups in the EP which threatened to block his entire team over the Buttiglione row – Mr Barroso will meet with leading MEPs tomorrow -, according to EUPolitix.com’s press review, the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita reports that Rocco Buttiglione may “resign” today and be “replaced by Italy?s highly regarded foreign minister Franco Frattini.”
Update from EUPolitix:
Further pressure on Barroso to reshuffle his team came on Wednesday afternoon from parliament?s Greens who said Buttiglione was ?unacceptable? as a commissioner. One solution doing the rounds in parliament?s corridors late on Wednesday is for a three way swap of portfolios between the Italian, Dutch and French commissioners-designates. Buttiglione would take over the transport portfolio, Neelie Kroes would move to justice and Jacques Barrot would take on the competition dossier.
Update: After meeting with leading MEPs incoming commission president Barroso decided to take a chance with an unchanged commission line-up, including Mr Buttiglione. Without an apology, the latter once again regretted his comments that will now lead to a stand-off with the European Parliament on October 27. Even though Mr Barroso’s commission has backing from the center-right European People’s Party, Josep Borrell, the Parliament’s president said that with Socialist, Green and Liberal Parliamentary groups opposed it’s far from certain that Mr Barroso will win the vote. Given the institutional problems involved – as well as Mr Barroso’s offer to set up a cross-departmental working group on human rights – the latter Parliamentary parties haven’t ruled out voting for it yet – but remain highly critical. More here.
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Ever Closer Union.
Over on Crooked Timber, Henry Farrell comments on the istitutional implications of the Buttiglione affair. While we are shocked to learn that The Economist does not like the recent self-confident behavior of the European Parliament with respect to the Commission hearings, Kieran Healy – duly apologetic – makes a fair point in the comments thread – “sorry to lower the tone of the discussion, but if he doesn?t get the job he should move to the San Fernando Valley: ?Rocco Buttiglione? is a Porn-Star Name, par execellence.” The producers of “Oral Office” will probably read this with pleasure…
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Special Relationships.
In every relationship, it is said, there’s one who does the running. And certainly in a special relationship. This is at least how many British Parlamentarians must have felt after being told that the US government has asked the British military to redeploy several hundred soldiers from the relatively safe British-led occupation zone in the South closer to Baghdad – to relieve US troops fighting terrorists. However, other reports stipulate the redeployment might be necessary to avoid utter chaos caused by American military staging mutinies right before the Presidential election (see here).
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Facts & Faith, European Style.
After linking to Ron Suskind’s critique of the Bush administration’s faith based decision style, it is only appropriate to mention that Rocco Buttiglione, Silvio Berlusconi’s nominee as Italy’s European commissioner, is causing a similar debate on this side of the pond – one with possibly important cnostitutional repercussions.
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Scary Reading.
For all its amazing sensoric and analytical abilities, more often than not the human mind is simply overwhelmed with the world’s complexity, confused by its uncertainty. Philosophers have dreamed of an easy life without the pain inflicted by their insatiable urge to reflect, to question everything, to leave no stone unturned.
Of course, no philosopher is needed to understand that such a tendency is not necessarily helpful when it comes to making decisions. A good decision today is usually preferable to an optimal one at some unspecified time in the future. However, the opposite – confidence to decide appropriately that is not founded on facts – is at least as bad, and probably worse. Balancing reflection and decisiveness based on intuition or ideological determination is above all important for political leadership.
Talking Points. I have a plan.
Alright gentle readers, the last Kerry-Bush exchange of talking points has begun. And at this point I would like to mention that I, too, have a plan – and I will even talk about its specificties: I will try to occasionally update this post with my impressions – as this is what really matters ;). Nick Barlow is blogging the event over on his nicely redesigned blog “What you can get away with“.
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State of Mind.
This post might not pass any seriousness test, yet when a friend sent me the photo below I could not help but feel that this clearly unindented design is a subconscious consequence of the embryonic German desire to actually look into the future and reap the benefits of the socio-economic changes (“Hartz IV”) as well as of the periodically reappearing shadows of the pasts (Bernd Eichinger’s movie “Der Untergang“) and as such rather well describes the current German state of mind, for the minute assuming that there is such a thing… (for the non-Germanophones, the text on the additional red Stern cover-layer reads: “how to become your own boss”).
Nudity.
Since I actually stayed up to watch the debate between US president and Senator John Kerry, I have decided to share my favorite line.
“I just know how this world works.”
I leave it up to you who stated that… you’re right: the nude guy.
Kerry was no Jed Bartlet tonight, but I think it is hard to claim that Bush had any substantial message simply because he managed to drop a foreign leader’s name here and there and insisted adamantly that not mentioning mistakes is the smart thing to do, in order not to hurt the feelings of those who are busy dealing with their consequences in Falludja. Actually, that was the answer he gave to almost every question.
By the way, does anyone beside me find it even remotely strange that three German channels broadcast this debate live while only two at a time broadcast the debates between Chancellor Schroeder and his challenger Edmund Stoiber in 2002?
Update by David:
I liveblogged the whole thing over at Europundit. Short version: Kerry won.
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The German Marshall Fund of the United States and the Compagnia di San Paolo have released the 2004 edition of “transatlantic trends”, an extensive survey of public opinion on a range of foreign policy issues. Polls were conducted in the US, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Great Britain, as well as in Slovakia and Turkey. So if you’re interested in the latest update on “the rift” in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Slovak, or Turkish, click here (.pdf plugin required).