Sunday 9-27-09 Germany's Election Day

dpa

All smiles: German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeir at their only televised political debate on Sunday before the election on Sept. 27.

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Ron FraserColumnist

German Election—Each-Way Bet

September 14, 2009 | From theTrumpet.com

In two weeks, the German electorate will cast their vote for the government that will rule their nation over the next four years. The result of that election is now anyone’s guess.

Ron Fraser

Talk about a seesaw! German polls indicate that the upcoming federal election is going to be a nail-biter.

That the result will lead to another cobbling together of an unwieldy coalition of uncomfortable bedmates seems a foregone conclusion. But who will ally with whom remains an open question.

Chancellor Merkel has gone public with her intentions to dump Germany’s left-of-center Social Democrats in favor of the business-oriented Free Democratic Party (fdp). The fdp’s East German orientation may be more within her comfort zone, as she hails from Germany’s east herself.

The real question is, if more of the vote on polling day goes to the Social Democratic Party (sdp) leader, Frank Walter Steinmeier, which parties he will choose to engage with in coalition. If he looks further left and engages the Green Party and the current opposition Left Party (at present a seemingly unlikely proposition), then the most recent polls indicate the combined vote would marginally exceed that of a Christian Democrat/Christian Socialist/fdp alliance.

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Merkel-Steinmeier Election Debate

'You're Like an Old Married Couple!'

By David Crossland

Sunday's TV debate between Chancellor Angela Merkel and her challenger Frank-Walter Steinmeier was billed as the highlight of the election campaign, but turned into a snore as the two uncharismatic contenders praised their cooperation over the last four years and avoided direct confrontation.

German voters had hoped that Sunday's much-hyped television debate between Chancellor Angela Merkel and her Social Democratic Party (SPD) challenger Frank-Walter Steinmeier would breathe life into the tepid election campaign that has been likened to a cotton wool fight.

Their hopes were dashed. The 90-minute encounter billed as a "TV duel" between the dispassionate German leader dubbed "Mutti" or Mummy and the gray-haired career bureaucrat was almost over when one of the four interviewers uttered in exasperation: "You're like a harmonious old married couple!"


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Germany Remembers And Reflects On Tomorrow: 1929 & 2009's Frightful Twins

Current Crisis Shows Uncanny Parallels to Great Depression

By SPIEGEL Staff

Is history repeating itself? The current global downturn has many parallels to the Great Depression. And if the current massive bailout packages fail, the effect on the world's economies could be similarly drastic.

The Germans have always had a penchant for looking to America to gain a glimpse into the future.

They marveled at the Apollo 11 mission to the moon. They admired the gray but affordable Commodore personal computer. And they succumbed to the spell of an Internet company with the odd name of Google.

Will the current crisis be as bad as the Great Depression?

Now the Germans are looking across the Atlantic once again, but this time they see images that remind them of their own past, images of sad-looking people standing in long lines, hoping for work.

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Germany Anticipated This Financial Crisis—60 Years Ago

Brad MacdonaldColumnist

Germany Anticipated This Financial Crisis—60 Years Ago

March 19, 2009 | From theTrumpet.com

Some Germans are not in the least bit surprised by the global economic collapse. Here’s why.

Brad Macdonald

The Trumpet keeps a keen eye on Germany. For nearly two decades, the Trumpet staff has waited, watched and written about the emergence of a globally dominant, German-led bloc of European states. We have warned specifically that a spectacular global financial crisis, centered in the United States, will likely bring this event to fruition.

We are not entirely alone in this expectation.

The following is a snippet from a secret memorandum written by high-ranking German officers and distributed among an elite group of German leaders in Bonn and other parts of the world. It is an electrifying picture of current events.

Economic difficulties will one day plunge the United States down from its present dizzy heights. Such a catastrophe can be brought about through crafty manipulations and through artificially engendered crises. Such maneuvers are routine measures which have already been employed in international power struggle and will be used again and again as long as economic rivals fight for power positions and markets in the world.

It is quite conceivable that America, weakened by a depression, will one day seek support from a resurrected Germany. Such a prospect would open tremendous possibilities for the future power position of a bloc introducing a new order in the world.

That was written in 1950. It can be found in T.H. Tetens’ 1953 book, Germany Plots With the Kremlin.

It’s prescience is chilling.

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Watch Munich This Weekend For The Tide To Turn in the Atlantic Alliance - Ron Fraser Reports

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier arrive to speak to the press at the State Department in Washington, D.C., on February 3 after a working lunch. Steinmeier has been persistent in seeking the ear of Clinton. (NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)

Steinmeier, Clinton and EU/U.S. Foreign Policy

February 6, 2009 | From theTrumpet.com

Germany’s foreign minister, Vice Chancellor Frank-Walter Steinmeier, lost no time in muscling in on President Obama’s foreign-policy agenda. By Ron Fraser....

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