[El Universal, Mexico]

Die Zeit, Germany

With 'Billy Goat' Bush Now Gone ... Little Has Changed

"The world wants to love America again ... At the Munich Security Conference, Joe Biden received the longest and loudest applause - despite an imperial performance that would have elicited a 'Mamma Mia!' from Mussolini."

By Josef Joffe

Translated By Jonathan Lobsien

February 12, 2009

Germany - Die Zeit - Original Article (German)

The world wants to love America again, Josef Joffe observed in Munich.

At the Munich Conference on Security, Joe Biden received the longest and loudest applause - despite an imperial performance that would have elicited a "Mamma Mia!" from Mussolini [video in photo box, right]. The U.S. Vice President even brought a special lectern with him to the Bavarian court, and half of Munich was paralyzed to permit his 20-car entourage to zip through.

And yet: the collective sigh of relief in the hall was palpable. "We want to love America again" was the silent message. Even Russia's first deputy prime minister, Sergei Ivanov, purred like a kitten compared to Vladimir Putin, who at virtually the same place two years earlier, all but declared the second Cold War .

All of this is reminiscent of the Jewish joke, in which a poor man complains to a rabbi that he has to share his one-room cottage with six children, his wife and his in-laws. The rabbi advises him to bring in a billy goat. After a week the man returns in despair; he can't take it anymore. "Good," says the rabbi, "now take the stinker back out." Days later, the wise man wanted to know how things were going for the man now. "Wonderful!"

The goat (aka George W.) is gone, but the facts remain. America is still the only global power, and Europe is merely the largest peacekeeping force. Even so, the conflicts of interest have faded somewhat, like the many people residing in the cottage. But the inhabitants of the Atlantic House [NATO] want to come together after eight years of Bush. "So we'll engage. We'll listen. We'll consult," Biden called out to the people at Munich. "America needs the world, just as I believe the world needs America."  

Posted by WORLDMEETS.US

The tone makes the music, and thus the former sense of vain unity no longer prevailed at the Bavarian court. The only discordant note came from the fearsome Ali Larijani [video box, below left], the speaker of the Iranian parliament who passes for a "moderate": after the customary torrent of hatred against America, he let it be known that there are "different perspectives" about the Holocaust. (But in the meantime, Catholic bishops like Richard Williamson are saying the same).

The Americans have backed off in tone, but not in action. Biden didn't renounce the missile defense shield in Eastern Europe; he just said America will "consult its allies and the Russians." He did indeed the Iranians talks, but also "pressure and isolation" if they cling to terrorism and The Bomb. And of the Russians? "We will not agree with Russia on everything." Afghanistan? The Obama Administration is no longer demanding more troops from the Germans. But there is still so much that is needed, explained the new U.S. National Security Advisor James Jones: trainers, sappers, helicopters, and reconnaissance aircraft. … Biden also threw "energy security" into play. Of this, we'll shortly hear from Washington: Energy must not only be treated as a climate issue, but one of security as well, and for this, Europe is too dependent on the Russians.

At a private soiree, Henry Kissinger received the warmest applause when he let it be known why he was happy to be in Munich: "This is the only place where no one asks me where my accent comes from."

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[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US February 17, 7:39pm]