Today in the German Press

As you'd expect, the German press is all over the various crises that Herr Schröder is causing: in the UN, NATO, his coalition, etc.

Der Spiegel reports that "Germany sees itself in the mainstream of the UN", referring to its insistence on avoiding war in Iraq (=leaving Saddam in power). Not that being in the mainstream of the UN is anything to be proud of...

Klaus Naumann, former Inspector-General of the Bundeswehr and one-time chairman of NATO's military committee has harsh words for the Schröder-Chirac plan to send an army of UN troops to Iraq to disarm and contain Saddam.

I think it's unrealistic. Such a mission could be successful only if Saddam actually wanted inspections. And that's the heart of the problem: Saddam Huessein has never wanted to disarm. You have to realize that these weapons are inseparable from the regime. And I doubt whether he'd give up these weapons voluntarily

Naumann also criticizes Schröder for blindsiding his own foreign and defense ministers who were at the Munich conference when the leaked plan appeared in the press, and had no idea how to respond. "I really feel sorry for Fischer", he says.

On the other hand, it's hard to imagine that Schröder wanted his disarmament plan leaked to begin with. Who would have been motivated to do such a thing to torpedo Schröder? Scott Hanson thinks he knows.

Schröder is apparently being hailed by most of his own (shrinking) party as the leader of the world wide peace movement, and a candidate for a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to peacefully disarm Iraq. (If Viscount Cecil of Chelwood could earn a Nobel for encouraging the British to disarm while Hitler was rearming, and Jimmy the Dhimmi can win a Nobel for peacefully disarming North Korea, then why should the Nobel committee bother to raise its standards?)

But while Schröder is leading the world's Useful Idiots in a chorus of "Kumbaya, Saddam", he's losing friends left and right at home, including some leading foreign policy experts from his own party, who criticize the chancellor for having "irreparably damaged" the relationship with Washington.

According to last week's poll of German voters, Schröder has only a 28% approval rating, and if a new federal election were held today, the opposition Christian Democrats would trounce Schröder's Social Democrats 49% - 27%. The more popular Christian Democrats have come out in support of the US position on Iraq.

(To put Schröder's numbers in context, Bush has a 61% approval rating among US voters and is the early favorite against any potential challengers in 2004)

The best news in today's papers (and not directly related to Schröder) is that our old friend Jürgen Möllemann may finally be leaving the Bundestag. A poll of his party colleagues had 39 in favor of expulsion with 1 against and 5 abstentions. But Möllemann has also, uh, voluntarily announced his resignation. A similar vote in the Nordrhein-Westfalen state parliament allowed him to keep his seat, falling one vote shy of two-thirds majority needed for his expulsion. What could Möllemann do now that he has more time on his hands? I propose he might be very useful as a human shield in Baghdad. Möllemann, president of the German-Arab Friendship Society, was federal commerce minister in the 1980s and helped supply Iraq with materials for its chemical weapons production. He also reportedly attended a party held in Germany to celebrate Saddam's birthday.

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at February 11, 2003 03:37 PM