Dialog International

Bush Library: Shrine for a War Criminal

The whitewashing of the most disastrous presidency in American history has begun.  Amnesia was on display at the opening ceremonise for the George W. Bush Presidential Library in Dallas, with the Washington press corps eager to engage in revisionist history:

Coverage of the opening of his presidential library Thursday was wall to wall on cable, and a feeling of affection for him was encouraged, or at least enabled, by the Washington press corps, which doesn't much like Mr. Obama because he's not all that likable, and remembers Mr. Bush with a kind of reluctant fondness because he was.

Only problem is, the disasters of the Bush era will be with us for many years to come: a war based on lies that ruined thousands of families and cost the nation $3 trillion (all borrowed from China), a great city abandoned in a terrible hurricane - still reeling eight years later, a wreck economy still limping back from the precipace.  No, these tragedies cannot be simply swept under the carpet.  Bush and his admirers in the press believe that over time his legacy will be reevaluated, that, like Harry Truman, he will come to be admired as a great president. 

But historians will remember Geortge W. Bush as the president who authorized torture, bringing shame and dishonor to the United States:

Die Museumsmacher in Dallas sind nicht zu beneiden. Bush ist nach wie vor sehr unpopulär; er baut darauf, dass er – ähnlich wie einst Harry Truman – im Verlauf der Zeit (und mit Nachlassen des kollektiven Gedächtnisses seiner Landsleute) immer besser beurteilt wird. Schwerer wiegt, dass gut eine Woche vor der Einweihung der Bibliothek eine mit Angehörigen beider Parteien besetzte Institution, das Constitution Project, explizit von «Folter» während der Bush-Ära gesprochen hat – und nicht die von Cheney und Rumsfeld benutzten verniedlichenden Umschreibungen wie «verstärkte Fragetechnik» anwandte. Das Constitution Project machte deutlich, wo die Verantwortung für die Folter lag: ganz oben, beim Präsidenten.

(The museum developers in Dallas have a difficutl job. Bush remains very unpopular. He's counting on the fact that - like Harry Truman - over time and as the collective memory of the American people fades, he will be judged better. But weighs more heavily is the fact that just a week before the dedication of the library an institution - the Constitution Project - consisting of members of both political parties, spoke explcitiy of "torture" during the Bush era, not using the euphamism "enhanced interrogation" favored by Cheney and Rumsfeld.  The Constitution Project made clear that the responsbility for the torture was at the highest level of the government - with the president.)

No presidential library or effusive newspaper columnist can ever erase the stain of torture from the history books.

German reporter goes underground at Patrick Henry College - America's Madrassa

Amrai Coen, a writer for Die Zeit, wanted to visit Patrick Henry College, but the college administration refused her visit since the school had "bad experiences with foreign journalists."  Undeterred, Amrai posed as a prospective student and showed up on campus on "Visitor's Day".  Her piece on her experience that day provides a rare inside glimpse of life at America's Madrassa, 

Nearly all of the students at Patrick Henry College have been home-schooled by ultra-conservative evangelical Christian parents.  At Patrick Henry these young people can complete their christo-fascist indoctrination before joining right-wing think tanks and media groups in Washington.  Students are taught to kneel before images of Jesus and Ronald Reagan; they attend lecturess on how America can waterboard its way to global dominance. Professors are dismissed if they actually teach science, since students are taught that the earth is only 6000 years old and baby Jesus frolicked with dinosaurs. 

Das College hat eine Mission: Amerika vor dem Untergang retten. Vor dem Abgrund, dem entgegen Barack Obama das Land in ihren Augen in den vergangenen vier Jahren gelenkt hat. Junge, konservative Christen sind die Soldaten in diesem Krieg. Am Patrick Henry College werden sie ausgebildet, um eines Tages an der Front zu kämpfen – als Politiker, Filmemacher oder Unternehmer sollen sie die amerikanische Gesellschaft zurückerobern. Manche von ihnen haben Yale und Harvard verschmäht, um hier zu studieren.

(The college has one mission: to save America from its downfall, from the abyss into which Barack Obama has steered the country in the past four years. Young conservative Christians are the soldiers in this wa. At Patrick Henry College they will be trained to fight one day on the front - as politicians, filmmakers, or entrepreneurs they will win back American society.  Some have rejected Harvard or Yale in order to study here.) 

 Amrai Coen points out the irony of kids who grew up isolated from American society want to be come political activists.

Könnten diese Studenten wirklich eines Tages Amerika regieren, frage ich mich nach ein paar Stunden und vielen Gesprächen auf dem Campus. Die meisten von ihnen kennen nur ihr Wohnzimmer als Klassenraum, nur ihre Geschwister als Mitschüler. Ausgerechnet diese jungen Leute wollen in die Politik, wollen einen Beruf ergreifen, der mit sozialer Verantwortung zu tun hat, wollen Entscheidungen treffen, die das Leben von Millionen Menschen bestimmen.

(Could these students really govern America some day? I ask myself after a few hours and many conversations on campus.  Most of them have only experienced their own living rooms as their classroom and their siblings as classmates. And these are the students who want to into politics, to pursue a career that is involved in social responsibility, to make decisions that impact the lives of millions of people.) 

She sees the students as mostly naive or just misguided.  I see something rather more sinister: as the college puts on its Web site, the school is engaged in a war on secular society and seeks to overturn the separation of church and state which is at the core of the American experience:

"But when such a government 1) commands disobedience to God, 2) enjoins the right and duty of human beings to worship God, 3) denies other God-ordained rights by extreme oppression and tyranny, or 4) "when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object (tyranny), evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism" it is the right and duty of godly men and women "to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security." Importantly, this action must be taken in accordance with God's laws and in submission to other legitimate authorities, anarchy being as illegitimate as tyranny."

Der Untergang .... von Mitt Romney

Team Romney ....er, Hitler ... get the election results on November 6.....

Ohne Mitt

A friend teaches German language at a local university and found this image quite useful to instruct beginner-level students in the use of prepostions. 

Triumphant Obama: "The best is yet to come."

In the end, Democracy prevailed over the money the billionaires poured into the the election to defeat a president they hate.  The campaign of lies, race-baiting, Donald Trump-birtherism, and fear-mongering proved to be totally ineffective.  Barack Obama has built a bullet-proof coaltion of young people, African-American, Latinos, and women fed up with "legitimate rape" rhetoric.  Yes, Romney carried the former the slave-states, but even there the demographics are shifting rapidly and one can envision Texas as a swing-state in 2016.  The US Republican Party is ideologically bankrupt and faces growing irrelevance unless it can reinvent itself and address the realities of the new American electorate. 

Reading the German press this morning, I do detect a collective sigh of relief, even though in the last days some commentators suggested that America is lost and there is no real difference between Romney and Obama.  I agree with the sentiments expressed by Wolfgang Blau in Die Zeit: 

"In Deutschland – und auch in den Leserkommentaren auf ZEIT ONLINE – war in den vergangenen Wochen oft zu lesen, dass es doch eh kein Unterschied sei, wer diese Wahl gewinne, Obama oder Romney. Wir können Obama dankbar sein, dass Romney gar nicht erst die Gelegenheit bekam, das Gegenteil zu beweisen.

Wenn Obama jetzt auch noch mehr Mut fasst, ist heute ein guter Tag für Amerika. Be bold, Mister President!"

(In Germany - and also in the readers' commentary in Zeit OnLINE - one could often read that it made no difference who would win the election, Obama or Romney.  We are grateful to Obama that Romney won't have the opportunity to prove otherwise. If Obama is able to move forward boldly, then this is a happy day for America.  Be bold, Mr. President!)

Augstein: GOP is the "Taliban of the West"

Jakob Augstein has an opinion piece (English,  Deutsch) in Der Spiegel which is worth reading.  Augstein has some choice words concerning the party of Mitt Romney: 

"Wir wollen glauben, dass Obama an den Rechten im eigenen Land gescheitert ist. Und tatsächlich: die Fanatiker, von denen Mitt Romney sich abhängig gemacht hat, haben alles über Bord geworfen, was den Westen ausgezeichnet hat: Wissenschaft und Logik, Vernunft und Mäßigung oder einfach Anstand. Sie hassen die Schwulen, die Schwachen und den Staat, sie unterdrücken die Frauen und verfolgen die Einwanderer, und ihr Abtreibungsmoralismus macht auch vor den Opfern von Vergewaltigung nicht halt. Sie sind die Taliban des Westens."

(We want to believe that Obama failed because of the conservatives inside his own country. Indeed, the fanatics that Mitt Romney depends on have jettisoned everything that distinguishes the West: science and logic, reason and moderation, even simple decency. They hate homosexuals, the weak and the state. They oppress women and persecute immigrants. Their moralizing about abortion doesn't even spare the victims of rape. They are the Taliban of the West.)

But, in general, I don't agree with Augstein's conclusion that "the winner doesn't make any difference to Europe."  Surely it is an advantage to have a partner in the US tha shares broadly the values of the European Union. 

Romney's Endgame - Lies and More Lies

The Romney campaign looks desperate in the final days before the election and so has been filling the airwaves across the US with ads that, at best, distort the truth or are outright lies: 

Mit Werbespots schürt er Ängste, die Chrysler-Marke Jeep wolle die Produktion eines besonders erfolgreichen Geländewagens nach China auslagern. Das sei eine Lüge, schoss der Konzern umgehend zurück.

(In campaign ads he stirs up fear that Chrysler Jeep is planning to transfer production of its highly successful sport untility vehicle to China.  The company immediately shot back that this is a lie.)

It all got to be too much for the editorial board of the Washington Post, which over the weekend accused Romney of blatent dishonesty:

"And then there has been his chronic, baldly dishonest defense of mathematically impossible budget proposals. He promised to cut income tax rates without exploding the deficit or tilting the tax code toward the rich — but he refused to say how he could bring that off. When challenged, he cited “studies” that he maintained proved him right. But the studies were a mix of rhetoric, unrealistic growth projections and more serious economics that actually proved him wrong."

But the biggest lie of the Romney campaign is that Mitt Romney has a record of creating jobs and cutting debt. Worth reading in this respect is this piece in the Handelsblatt:  Romney the Robber. The article discusses the tactics of Romney's old firm Bain Capital which provided rich returns to its investors by cutting jobs and loading portfolio companies with debt:

Das Ganze ist nicht ohne Ironie. Denn in seinem Wahlkampf verkauft sich Romney gerne als den Vorstandschef, der durch seine wirtschaftliche Kompetenz Amerikas Wirtschaft wieder richten will. Gerne greift er Präsident Barack Obama als Schuldenmacher an, der den US-Haushalt in die roten Zahlen getrieben habe.

Dabei verschuldete Romney und seine Untergebenen bei Bain Capital ihre Gesellschaften bis zum Anschlag. Noch lange Zeit profitierte Romney auch nach seinem Abgang 1999 von den Sonderdividenden, wie die Autoren Rauch und Fürth herausfanden: "Er hielt Anteile an den entsprechenden Investmentfunds".

(The whole thing is not without irony.  For in his campaign he sells himself as the chief executive who through his business skills will put America's economy back on a strong footing.  He likes to portray President Obama as someone who just creates more and more debt and who drove the budget deep into the red.  But Romney and his subordinates leveraged their companies to the hilt.  He could profit from the special dividends for a long time, even after he left Bain in 1999, the authors Rauch and Fuerth learned. "He continued to participate in the respective investment funds.")

Will the "low information" white working class voters in Ohio and Pennsylvania fall for Romney's dishonest tactics?  We'll know soon enough. 

 

Der Standard: Blame Obama for Hurricane Sandy Devastation

The east coast of the United States is reeling from Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath.  The Republican governor of New Jersey, which took a direct hit from Sandy, is praising President Obama for his leadership and swift action in providing emergency storm relief.  But, according to the Austrian daily Der Standard, all of this terrible damage could have been avoided if Obama were a better president: 

Die amerikanische Infrastruktur ist in einem für ein so hochtechnologisiertes Land gefährlich schlechten Zustand. Es bedarf gar keiner chinesischer Superhacker, um die Stromversorgung in weiten Teilen der USA abzudrehen. Es genügen auch ein paar auf Oberleitungen gefallene Bäume, damit sieben Millionen Menschen an der Ostküste tagelang ohne Energieversorgung dastehen. Das gilt nicht nur bei einem Ereignis der Größenordnung Sandys, ähnliche Zustände sind auch bei viel geringeren Stürmen an der Tagesordnung. Der Grund dafür ist schlichtweg, dass die Stromleitungen oberirdisch verlaufen. [...] Obamas größtes Versäumnis der vergangenen vier Jahre war es indes, die Amerikaner nicht davon zu überzeugen, dass es eben auch eine Bundesregierung braucht, die Entscheidungen gegen individuelle Interessen und für das höhere Gemeinwohl trifft - ob es nun um die Gesundheitsreform geht, den Katastrophenschutz, Infrastrukturprojekte von nationalem Interesse oder die Kreditwirtschaft.

("The American infrastructure is in a dangerously poor state of repair for such a highly technologised country. It doesn't take a Chinese super-hacker to switch off the power in large parts of the US. All it takes is for a couple of trees to fall on the power lines. ... The reason is simply that the power lines run above ground. No one wants to use (taxpayers') money to put them underground. They prefer to put up with a national emergency every time a big storm hits. ... Obama's biggest omission in the last four years was to fail to convince Americans that they need a federal government to make decisions against individual interests and for the common good - whether it be on healthcare reform, disaster control, infrastructural projects of national interest or the credit services sector.")

This criticism is wrong on so many levels.  First, power has been knocked out in New York City in part because the electrical infrastructure is UNDERGROUND which was flooded by the storm surge. Second, Sandy is the most powerful storm to hit the most populous region of the US.  I live 500 miles to the north of where Sandy made landfall and lost power due to the high winds.  Even if we had built a 20 foot seawall along 1000 miles of coastline it would have done little to slow the fury of the storm.  As for President Obama, he used a large chunk of his $750 billion stimulus package to upgrade and repair the US infrastructure.  Do I need to point out that this stimulus was opposed by EVERY SINGLE REPUBLICAN member of the US Congress?  And during the presidential campaign Obama is being excoriated for his "collectivist/socialist" stimulus? 

Perhaps Der Standard doesn't realize that the US is not a dictatorship where the president can simply impose his will on the public. 

BAYER steps up big for Mitt Romney

Which German firm has given the most money to the Romney campaign?  It turns out that BAYER AG is placing its bets on Romney, in the hopes that a Romney administration will repeal existing regulations pertaining to drug and pesticide safety: 

Der Leverkusener BAYER-Konzern gehört traditionell zu den wichtigsten ausländischen Spendern im US-Wahlkampf. Aktuell schlägt sich BAYER - wie in den vergangenen Wahlkämpfen - auf die Seite der Republikaner. Mit Spenden in Höhe von 261.000 Dollar ist das Leverkusener Unternehmen größter deutscher Förderer der Republikaner, gefolgt von der Deutschen Telekom mit 193.500 Dollar und der BASF mit 128.000 Dollar.

(The BAYER corporation in Leverkusen has traditionally been a major foriegn contributor in US elections. This time - as in past elections - BAYER is on the side of the Republicans.  With donations reaching $261,000 the Leverkusen corporation is the largest backer of the Republicans, followed by Deutsche Telekom with 193,500 and BASF with 178,000.)

Philipp Mimkes of the Coalition gegen BAYER Gefahren explains why BAYER's intervention in US politics poses a threat: 

“American politics are in a stranglehold of lobbyists and powerful donors. This prevents improvements of environmental and consumer protection. The noble ideal of “One Man, One Vote” in the American constitution has turned into a disdainful “One Dollar, One Vote”.” The Coalition demands laws stopping companies from donating to parties, politicians and think tanks.

During the mid-term elections in 2010, BAYER, BASF and the German electric provider E.ON specifically backed candidates who deny climate change or block effective climate laws. BAYER is also one of the supporters of the American Heartland Institute, which denies the existence of climate change and was instrumental in the rise of the reactionary ‘Tea Party’. The institute collects donations from the industrial sector and uses them, amongst other things, to finance blogs and pay seemingly neutral organisations – all with the aim of planting doubt about climate change.

Welcome to post-Citizens United America, where we have the best democracy money can buy.

 

Junge Freiheit, Politically Incorrect endorse Mitt Romney

While Barack Obama remains relatively popular in Germany, some of the media outlets on the right have expressed support for Mitt Romney.  The Berlin weekly Junge Freiheit, mouthpiece of the neo-fascist "Neue Rechte"  (New Right), chastises fellow Germans for their pro-Obama sentiments: 

Aus den heimischen Medien wurden sie fast nur über „Pleiten, Pech und Pannen“ Romneys aufgeklärt. Eine ernsthafte Auseinandersetzung mit dem Republikaner und seinem Programm suchte man zumeist vergebens. Konservativ und irgendwie rückständig, dieses Bild wurde vermittelt. Dabei spricht auch aus deutscher Sicht viel für den Republikaner. [...]Trotzdem geben 90 Prozent der Deutschen an, sie würden Obama wählen. Sie kennen den Scherbenhaufen nicht, den er nach vier Jahren hinterläßt: hohe Arbeitslosigkeit, Armut und Rekordpreise für Energie. Für die Deutschen bleibt Obama dagegen der ewige Popstar und Friedensnobelpreisträger, der irgendwann mal eine Rede an der Siegessäule gehalten hat. (ho)

(The German media only reports on Romney's "bankruptcies, bad luck and gaffes". There is no serious discussion of the Republican and his policies.  They just project the image of him as conservative and somewhat backward-lookig. But Romney has much to offer Germany....Still, 90% of Germans say they would vote for Obama.  They don't know the wreckage he has left behind after four years: high unemployment, poverty and record-high energy prices. For Germans Obama is still the eternal popstar and Nobel Prize-winner who once gave a speech at the Berlin Victory Column.)

Not to be outdone, the "pro-American" hate blog Politically Correct - one of the most popular German blogs in terms of daily hit volume - recently attacked President Obama and Hilary Clinton for their criticism of the crude anti-Islam YouTube video that led to a spasm of violence across the Middle East:

Die randalierenden und marodierenden mohammedanischen Araber haben bestimmt nicht daran gedacht, aber sie helfen dem Republikaner Mitt Romney dabei, Präsident zu werden. Wir würden uns freuen!

(The rampaging and marauding Mohammedan Arabs were certainly not intending to, but they are helping the Republican Mitt Romney win the presidency.  We would be delighted!) 

I'm still waiting to see who the neo-Nazi NPD will endorse once they realize that their friend David Duke is not on the ballot this year.