February 21, 2005
DEALING FROM WEAKNESS:
Regional vote deals setback to Schröder (Judy Dempsey, February 21, 2005, International Herald Tribune)
The opposition Christian Democrats led by Angela Merkel were poised Sunday to take power in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein after Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's governing Social Democrats suffered heavy losses in an election campaign dominated by unemployment and the economy.If preliminary results are confirmed, the Christian Democrats, now the largest party in the state, will be able to form a coalition government with the opposition Free Democrats. If so, it will be the first time since 1988 that the Christian Democrats have headed a government in this state of 2.8 million and it will also give Merkel a big lift.
The Christian Democrats have been rife with divisions and infighting for months over whether Merkel could summon enough support from within her own party to challenge Schröder in federal elections next year.
But the mood among Christian Democrats on Sunday was ebullient. "We fought really hard and together," Merkel said. "I am very pleased."
So much for Mr. Schroeder representing the European challenge to George Bush.
MORE:
Germany tightens Jewish immigration rules (Richard Bernstein, February 21, 2005, The New York Times)
Since the beginning of the year, new rules on immigration have had the effect of sharply reducing the numbers of Jews immigrating to Germany, at least temporarily ending a 15-year policy aimed at rebuilding the Jewish community that was destroyed by the Nazis.Posted by Orrin Judd at February 21, 2005 6:26 AMOver the past decade, as a result of the virtual blanket acceptance of Jews from the former Soviet Union, Germany's Jewish population has risen from roughly 29,000 to more than 200,000, which is more than one-third of the prewar total.
The NY Times is reporting today that no one has a majority in Schleswig-Holstein, that control is dependent upon the choice of a small Danish-speaking party.
The Israeli government has been lobbying the Germans for about a decade to allow fewer Eastern Jews permanent residency status in Germany so they will have to go to Israel. Bernstein is incorrect about the numbers though, there were about 50,000 in 1990 and are now about 250,000. Another issue for Jews in Germany is that communal resources have been stretched to the limit because of the Russian immigrants.
Posted by: Bart at February 21, 2005 1:07 PMMan, if I were Jewish the last place I'd want to go to is Holocaust-land.
Posted by: Ali Choudhury at February 21, 2005 1:11 PMAli: You are assuming that these people know anything about the Holocaust, Judaism or Jewish History. This is not a good assumption. The Commies supressed education about all of these things. All they know is that they are Jewish and they know this because it is the nationality listed on their ID cards.
They are poor, discriminated against and want to leave Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, etc. Their choices are the U.S.A., Israel and Germany. They want to go the USA, but they can't get visas, Israel would welcome them, but they have been afraid of the Intifada. Germany had no visa barrier and generous welfare benefits.
In the future they will have to go to Israel.
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at February 21, 2005 7:41 PM