Europe

Möllemann published an anti-Israeli flyer during the federal election campaign last year causing a scandal that cost the FDP (Freie Demokratische Partei) a lot of votes, unfortunately just enough to let Schröder squeak by with a tiny majority of about 6.000. It turned out later that Möllemann may have financed the flyer by illegal campaign contributions and is also possibly guilty of fraud and other offenses. After months of investigations the Bundestag revoked his parliamentary immunity on Thursday, shortly afterwards police raided 25 buildings in four European countries. Less than 30 minutes later Möllemann plummeted to his death while parachuting; since there are no signs that his equipment was sabotaged suicide seems very likely.

Stefan Sharkansky has more; he has kept an eye on Möllemann for over a year and has even devoted a website to him: moellemann.com.

Croatia has just officially applied for membership in the EU. When it finally joins up it will be he second former Yugoslavian republic to do so after Slovenia. It won’t be soon, though, the country doesn’t yet meet all criteria for membership.

I finally saw the footage of Chirac’s alleged outburst at Brussels where he told the East Europeans that they lost a great opportunity to keep quiet. It was anything but an outburst, though, more like a comedic performance. His tone, facial expressions and gesticulation made me laugh, as it did the Presidents and Prime Ministers of the countries he criticized. Their replies were also delivered in good humor without being in the least conciliatory. There is nothing humorous about the situation, though. Chirac’s remarks were coldly calculated, however hilariously delivered. That’s worse than having him blurt out some threats in a fit of pique, he actually thought he could bring New Europe to heel. This speaks of a dangerous level of delusion and makes me wonder if he is even capable of realizing when he is beaten (like right now, for example). He can and probably will do a lot of damage until his own people make him stop. It was a double loss to humanity when he decided to become a politician instead of a comedian. I have tried in vain to find a video stream or file of the event. Should I find one I’ll post the link.

Angela Merkel, the chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the largest opposition party, has written an article for the Washington Post: Schroeder Doesn’t Speak for All Germans. As a citizen of former East-Germany she has as much claim to being a “New European” as any Pole or Czech and never had much time for (West-) Germany’s political establishment. The Schroeder government reacted to the article by accusing her of embarrassing Germany by publicly sucking up to America, or at the very least of taking domestic disputes overseas, basically washing dirty linen in public. In my opinion it is obvious who really embarrassed Germany by his behavior and I myself do not hesitate to let my views on domestic German affairs be known at blogs which are mostly read by Americans. I’m as patriotic as the next fellow, but I won’t defend the indefensible and from a certain point on I have to make my disgust known. As I see it the disagreement over the war on Iraq isn’t really one between nations like Germany and America anyway, rather a left-right policy dispute, one more reason to let my voice as a German conservative be heard here.

Austria has decided to deny the USAF the use of its airspace and also prevents American troop-transports via train to Italy, as long as there is no new resolution by the UN Security Council authorizing the use of force. The troops probably will have to be transported by ship, via Rotterdam in the Netherlands, causing a delay of several days. I have never seen a weaselette myself, but I’m told they are just the right size to clean your pipe with. Sounds handy.