I have tune out of the Republican presidential debates. Too much pandering, too much silly campaign rhetoric. I wrote about their statements on Europe, for instance in Gingrich, Romney rely on Eurobashing to "define their America" and "Europe" is a Dirty Word in the United States. I do, however, tune into official and unoffical campaign music videos. Here are my three favorites so far in this election cycle: The best music video for a presidential candidate (Rick Santorum), the...

Four years ago, Obama campaigned with hope and change. He ran against George W. Bush’s track record, even though Bush was not running again. Today, Republicans campaign with fear and "against Europe", although Europe won’t be on the ballot box in November. For Obama, Bush was "the other" against which he defined himself. For Republicans that "other" is Europe. (See all the Poli Sci literature on collective identities and nationalism) Newt Gingrich in his...

Mitt Romney’s Anti-European rhetoric is stronger than the Anti-American statements by leading German politicians in the last few election campaigns. Romney seems to assume that Republican voters are so stupid, uninformed and Anti-European that he can get their votes with scaremongering. His Europe bashing seems to be his response to the criticism of his "socialist" health care policy in Massachusetts and his French language skills. (Newt Gingrich released the attack ad “The French...

The Taliban had banned music and 99% of everything else that is fun. Now, an Afghan version of the “American Idol” called “Afghan Star” has been broadcasted for seven seasons. Millions are watching and voting for their favorite singers by mobile phone. For many this is their first encounter with democracy. A documentary from 2009 follows “the dramatic stories of four contestants as they risk all to become the nation’s favorite singer.” Watch the latest show...

Why do public school teachers have such a bad reputation in the US and get little pay? That’s one of the things I don’t get. It’s quite different over here. The job is well paid and respected by most folks. As a country with little natural resources, Germany depends on innovation and a smart work force. Education is good for democracy, happiness etc. The children are our future, yade, yade. The US has more natural resources and is better than Germany (Europe) in attracting the...

NATO does very good work every day, but it is "a bit of an anachronism." 9/11 has accelerated the divergence of European and American geostrategic interests. Europe does not need American protection anymore, with the exception of the nuclear guarantee, says Nick Witney, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. He gave an excellent and forthright speech at the Heinrich Boell Foundation’s Annual Foreign Policy Conference on the transatlantic security architecture...

President Obama is to blame for the "hollowing out of the trans-Atlantic partnership", which has degenerated into "empty symbolism" to the effect that "there is no alliance on any of the major issues of the day." This is the thesis of Russell Berman, professor at Stanford and senior policy fellow at the Hoover Institution. Writing for the popular online magazine The Daily Beast, owned in part by Newsweek, he makes factual errors in his criticism of European contributions...

Today is the 67th anniversary of D-Day. 160,000 Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy to fight Nazi Germany on June 6, 1944. Steven Spielberg captured this heroic and scary moment very well in Saving Private Ryan. Today most US experts — with the notable exception of Tom Ricks — do not worry about a war with Germany or a return of militarism and Nazi ideology in Berlin. Instead they are concerned that Germany (and many other European countries) demilitarize so much that we...

I am a big fan of The Economist, but the latest article on Germany’s foreign policy "The unadventurous eagle" leaves me a bit confused. The title suggests that Germany is not going on foreign policy adventures. That’s good, right? The subheading, however, is negative and asserts cautiously "Europe’s biggest economic power seems reluctant to have a foreign policy to match." So what? Japan, China, South Korea, Brazil do not match their economic power with foreign...

Jorge Benitez of the Atlantic Council writes in the New Atlanticist about the new NATO, which "is defined by US caveats, French political will, British leadership, German uncertainty, and a tangible level of commitment by some allies." It’s a good article, but I take issue with some of the harsher criticism against Germany, even though I agree that our foreign minister did not handle this issue well. Jorge writes: Perhaps the most controversial component of the new NATO is Germany....

Conventional wisdom used to be that Europeans envy the rich, while Americans hope to emulate them. Now, Americans are increasingly concerned about rising inequality and the influence of the tiny elite of the super rich. Plutocracy is a very popular topic of discussion in the US media at the moment. I am quite surprised. It can’t be a coincidence that even mainstream and center-right publications like Foreign Affairs, The American Interest and The Atlantic write about it extensively right...

Counterterrorism officials in France, Germany, Britain, and the United States have given warnings this week about the rising threat of attacks by Al Qaeda and its affiliates, especially in Europe. Are our politicians listening? Are you concerned? “Al Qaeda and its allies are taking aim at Europe, according to US and Western intelligence officials, who say there are indications a terrorist plot is in the offing” writes the Washington Times. (HT: ACUS) While FBI Director Robert S. Mueller...

What is common in the United States, is rather rare in Germany: Expressing support of our soldiers in Afghanistan. While most US critics of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan make extra efforts to distinguish between criticism of the strategy/purpose of the wars and the service of the troops, such differentiation usually is not made in Germany. I have never seen a car with the bumper sticker "Support our Troops." The Bundeswehr troops do not get much support from citizens, media, celebrities...

We all need more team spirit. Obama’s Afghanistan team is in disarray. Their egos seem to be as bloated as the ego’s in the French soccer team. While President Obama is angry with McChrystal’s frank comments and perhaps insubordination, President Sarkozy is reportedly furious over the national team’s behaviour inside and outside the soccer stadiums. It was not really a "team." He even cleared his schedule for a one hour meeting with the captain on the day of a general...

Chancellor Merkel is traveling across America this week. She loves the United States, but she is still having trouble connecting with Barack Obama, writes Spiegel International (HT: David). The media loves to personalize politics. I think at the end of the day the problem is not the personal relationship between Obama and Merkel, but its structural. After long descriptions of the well-known differences in Obama’s and Merkel’s style of politics, Spiegel comes to the same conclusion in...

“A spectre is haunting Europe—the spectre of Communism.” Those were the words of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in 1848 and their predictions turned out to be highly accurate, as we all know. Now the spectre of communism is haunting America and the end of the world is near. The conservative media is mega-scared by this spectre and accuses Obama of turning the land of the free and the home of the brave into Russia/Europe/communism/socialism. For instance, Jonah Goldberg, editor-at-large...

President Obama thus far has failed to strengthen relationships with historic allies, focusing instead on a fruitless search for improved relations with adversaries, writes Robert Kagan in the Washington Post (via Atlantic Community): The president who ran against “unilateralism” in the 2008 campaign has worse relations overall with American allies than George W. Bush did in his second term. Israelis shouldn’t feel that they have been singled out. In Britain, people are talking...

Robert Kagan’s thesis “Americans are from Mars and Europeans are from Venus” was not based on transatlantic disagreements in the Bush era, but described developments that became already evident during the Clinton administration. The trend continues during the Obama presidency, even though Obama is often described as very “European.” Germany’s Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle insists on the removal of America’s last remaining nuclear weapons from German territory. At the Munich Security...

PIIGS is a new acronym for Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain, which are euro zone members with big budget deficits and other economic problems, that led to market speculation against the euro.  Greece has the biggest economic woes and is at the center of attention, but the market speculation could spread. The Telegraph accused European leaders of “sparking unease and confusion” on Thursday. The heads of state from the euro zone had pledged “determined and coordinated...

Following the London Conference on Afghanistan, I have interviewed Dr. Bente Scheller, the Director of the Heinrich Boell Foundation’s Kabul office. The German Boell Foundation is independent, but philosophically close to the Green Party, whose voters are more supportive of the Bundeswehr’s Afghanistan mission than those of the other parties. While 50% of the Green voters support the troops’ continued presence, only 46% of the voters of the conservative CDU/CSU agree, according to a poll from...