FOURTH (REICH) AND LONG:

German Greens Rescue Schroeder, Rack Up Historic Score (Agence France-Presse, 9/23/02)

The jubilant German Greens racked up their best score to date in a national election on Sunday, securing Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder a majority and cementing their status as the country's third biggest party. [...]

They also had a candidate directly elected to parliament for the first time in their history -- a Berlin leftist, Christian Stroebele, who in an open show of disapproval left parliament hall in May when US President George W. Bush addressed the Bundestag during a visit to Berlin.

It's hard to see how this election could have gone any worse for Europe. First it has to call into question the entire Europeanist project when one leader completely abandons the unified foreign policy front they're supposed to be offering in order to truckle to the extremists of his own nation. There's been much talk of the degree to which Schroeder, in playing to Muslim and anti-Semitic sentiment, has estranged himself and his nation from Washington, but that doesn't really matter a whole lot; the German/American relationship has never meant much and is mostly based on our defeating the Imperialists, the Nazis and the Communists of Germany. But France and Britain which are also preparing for action against Iraq are at least
theoretically partners with the Germans in a unified Europe. At some point doesn't Schroeder become estranged from his putative allies Blair and Chirac?
Posted by Orrin Judd at September 23, 2002 10:06 AM