geert lovink on Sun, 3 Nov 2002 09:50:10 +0100 (CET) |
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[rohrpost] Let Them Come to Berlin (The NY Times - T. Friedman) |
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------- - > The New York Times - Op Ed Page > > http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/03/opinion/03FRIE.html > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- - > > Sunday, November 3, 2002 > > > Let Them Come to Berlin > By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN > > BERLIN < I haven't been to Berlin since since the opening of the Berlin > Wall, so when I arrived at my hotel near the Brandenburg Gate, my first > question was: Where's the wall? My German friend explained that the only > trace left is a cobblestone path that snakes across Berlin, drawing a line > in the pavement where the wall once ran. It's easy to cross that line > without even knowing it. > > And therein lies the core of the crisis between America and Germany today < > triggered by Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's use of anti-Bush and > anti-Iraq-war rhetoric to win re-election, then fueled by a German minister > comparing President Bush to Hitler and now capped by Mr. Bush's refusal to > answer two letters from the German leader. > > Would somebody please bring back the Berlin Wall? Since World War II, > America and Germany have had many disputes, but always within limits, > because both sides a saw dangerous foe on the other side of that wall < the > Communist totalitarians < and realized we needed to fight together. There is > still a dangerous foe out there < now it is religious totalitarians < and we > still need to fight together. But without the wall clearly defining our side > and the enemy's, all sorts of lines are being crossed. > > What is most shocking about the German election is not how the Chancellor > ran against America, it's how popular that theme was here. Two things are > feeding this. One is the new anti-Americanism, a blend of jealousy and > resentment of America's overwhelming economic and military power < the "Axis > of Envy," as Josef Joffe, editor of Die Zeit, calls it. The other is the new > anti-Bushism < resentment of the often contemptuous, unilateralist, > anti-green instincts of the Bush team < which was crystallized by Dick > Cheney's August speech suggesting that any U.N. inspections of Iraq were > useless and America may have to act alone. "The Cheney speech had a decisive > impact on the German election," said Friedburt Pflueger, a top official of > the pro-U.S. C.D.U. party, which got creamed. > > Bottom line: Many Europeans today fear, or detest, America more than they > fear Saddam. That's crazy, but it explains why Mr. Schröder easily moved > from raising legitimate questions about how to handle Iraq to taking Germany > out of any war against Saddam under any conditions. This put Germany to the > left of Saudi Arabia, which at least says it will support an Iraq war if it > is approved by the U.N. It was the kind of rhetoric that leaves Americans > thinking Europeans won't use force under any conditions, and therefore are a > danger to themselves and to us. > > It is time for both sides to knock it off. We need each other. As Germany's > thoughtful foreign minister, Joschka Fischer, said to me, "We are facing a > new totalitarianism < the totalitarianism of Al Qaeda and bin Laden," which > has emerged from the crisis in Islam. And the goal of these religious > totalitarians "is to destroy the open society everywhere and the economy > that it's based on." > > The war against the religious totalitarians can't be fought with just armies > or walls. It must be fought with police, intelligence sharing, development > aid, peace diplomacy, and military operations. To win this war the open > societies must each play to their strength < America's hard power and > Europe's soft power. > > When Germany says it's willing to provide the peacekeeping force in Kabul, > that is a huge help for us. When Germany funds the expansion of the European > Union to lift from poverty ten new democracies of Eastern Europe, that is a > huge help to us. But at the same time, some things are true even if a Texas > cowboy believes them. I'm still not sure what the right way is to handle > Iraq, but I am sure that ruling out war there, under any conditions, against > a murderous U.N. outlaw like Saddam is wrong. > > With a nod to J.F.K., my motto today is simple: "Ich bin ein New Yorker." We > are all New Yorkers now. Wherever you live, if you believe in the open > society, if you cherish a world of freedom, you are now in World War III < a > war against the new totalitarians, who strike at our businesses, discos, > airports and theaters in an attempt to get us to shut ourselves in and our > societies down. Either we fight this war together, or we lose it together. > To those who forgot what it takes to defend the open society, let them come > to Berlin < let them walk the winding path where the Wall once stood and > recall the collective effort that brought it down. ------------------------------------------------------- rohrpost - deutschsprachige Liste zur Kultur digitaler Medien und Netze Archiv: http://www.nettime.org/rohrpost http://post.openoffice.de/pipermail/rohrpost/ Ent/Subskribieren: http://post.openoffice.de/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/rohrpost/