Seems folks are losing their jobs all over the globe, for one reason or another...[quote]German President Horst Koehler resigned suddenly Monday over wha..."/>
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German President resigns
Monday, May 31, 2010 10:03 AM
NIKI2
Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...
Quote:German President Horst Koehler resigned suddenly Monday over what he said was heavy criticism about comments he made on Germany's military role in the world, which he said had been misinterpreted. It was the first time in German history that a president has resigned, the government-funded Deutsche Welle news agency reported. Koehler said May 22 upon his return from a trip to Afghanistan that "in emergencies, military intervention is necessary to uphold our interests, like for example free trade routes, for example to prevent regional instabilities which could have a negative impact on our chances in terms of trade, jobs and income." He later said he meant the protection of shipping routes along the Gulf of Aden against piracy, for example, and not any reference to Germany's role in Afghanistan. But his comments came in for widespread criticism. Crticis said he was framing Germany's involvement in the Afghan war in economic terms having to do with self-interest, rather than as a duty in fulfilling a NATO mission in the fight against terrorism. Others said his comments indicated he would use the military unconstitutionally and for economic reasons. Germany has 4,500 troops in a NATO-led force fighting a Taliban-led insurgency in Afghanistan. Polls show that most Germans oppose the war in Afghanistan, but the government has not set a date for the withdrawal of troops. Koehler, 67, made the surprise resignation announcement at a televised news conference with his wife standing next to him. He appeared visibly emotional, the Deutsche Welle news outlet reported.
Monday, May 31, 2010 3:51 PM
PIRATENEWS
John Lee, conspiracy therapist at Hollywood award-winner History Channel-mocked SNL-spoofed PirateNew.org wooHOO!!!!!!
Quote:Germany’s sovereignty restricted by US and allies, insider’s book claims Russia Today 07 November, 2009 The former head of the West German Military Intelligence has issued a book revealing secret details of a 1949 US-German treaty, alleging America and its allies have been deliberately suppressing the nation’s sovereignty. Twenty years after the Berlin Wall fell and the most painful wounds have healed, there seems to be no more uncomfortable truths left for Germans. Yet some still manage to come up with hot potatoes – and the biggest these days is from the former head of the intelligence service in West Germany. In Gerd-Helmut Komossa’s book “The German Card”, he claims Germany has, until now, been controlled by the United States and its allies, and was even viewed as a possible target. “At a NATO meeting, I realized that a possible plan was for the alliance to hit the largest dam in West Germany with a nuclear bomb. If strikes had taken place, a great number of civilians would have died,” Gerd-Helmut Komossa says in his “The German Card” book. The retired General details a secret pact he alleges was signed in 1949 between Germany and the US, and which will be in force for another 90 years. Komossa says the secret agreement means that all political parties in Germany are supervised by a special Washington-based body, that the country’s army takes part in all NATO missions at first demand and that all German gold reserves are stored in New York. For some though, the content of the book came as nothing surprising. “Remember Prime Minister Putin’s proposal to Germany, to share with Russia natural gas trading throughout Europe? It was made a couple of years ago. And the German leadership answered exactly the same way as the German leadership did in 1952 – with silence. But what is the reason for Germany not to participate in such a lucrative business as trading natural gas throughout Europe? Of course, somebody had to advise them not to rush into it immediately,” says Aleksandr Fomenko, a political analyst from Moscow. Surprisingly, it was a small publisher from Austria – not Germany – who first became interested in the book. “My personal opinion is that it was obviously clear that the Democratic Republic of Germany was not a sovereign country, and that it was really under the rule of the Soviet Union,” says Wolfgang Dvorack-Stocker, publisher of “The German Card”. “And if it comes out that the Federal Republic of Germany also was not a really sovereign country, I think this could change the discussion of history a bit.” Reviews by the first readers quickly turned into heated debates on German Television. The author was bombarded with criticism for doubting the democratic principles brought to the country by the West. As a result, Komossa has refused to give any more interviews and has even apologized for some uncomfortable chapters in the book. It’s not every day that a chief of intelligence discloses secrets about a political regime and, with some good promotion, the book could become a bestseller. But in Germany its distribution is up against some difficulties. The country’s biggest bookshop – Dussmann, which is also “a cultural foundation”, has refused to sell the book at all. The contents of the book, though, will soon be available to millions more readers. “The German Card” has recently been translated into Russian. The publisher expects strong sales and believes the most heated debates are yet to come. http://rt.com/Top_News/2009-11-07/germany-us-pact-komossa.html
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