Hay un curioso y significativo ripio de un popular cantautor alemán dedicado a su patria, en el que se hace la pregunta del millón: "¿Por qué los alemanes nos sacamos el carnet de conducir antes siquiera de enamorarnos?". Quizá no sea improcedente pues indagar en el estado anímico actual del pueblo alemán a partir de la quiebra de esta premisa, la de alguien que descubre trágicamente que su primer gran amor, el amor hacia una máquina de cuatro ruedas habilitada con un motor de la violencia y la voz de un volcán, es un amor no correspondido, simulado, plagado de besos y carantoñas que ahora saben a navajazos en los labios.… Seguir leyendo »
In the wake of revelations that the American government tapped the cellphone of Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, trans-Atlantic relations have reached a low point not seen since the Iraq war.
In fact, the current crisis may be worse: Back then it was a question of policy disagreement; this time, it is a matter of broken trust and personal humiliation, the worst thing that can happen to a political leader.
For Germans, it is particularly painful. We remember well the days of the Cold War, when East Germans like Ms. Merkel were spied on by the Stasi. Again, in some ways this is worse: The Stasi wasn’t our friend; America is.… Seguir leyendo »
Germans used to joke that Chancellor Angela Merkel’s penchant for communicating via fleeting text messages effectively marked the end of traditional historiography. Well, at least American spy agencies seem to have kept full track of the behind-the-scenes communications — in Berlin and beyond.
Regrettably U.S. President Barack Obama and his administration have yet to comprehend the scale and severity of the damage caused to America’s credibility among its European allies. The problem is not that countries spy on each other (they all do). Rather, it is the extent of U.S. intelligence gathering and America’s attitude toward allies that is most damaging.… Seguir leyendo »
The Germans play “gotcha” with decidedly Teutonic skill and attitude. The latest victim is Annete Schavan, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s education minister, who resigned her position in a gathering storm of accusations that she plagiarized the doctoral dissertation she wrote 32 years ago. The title sounds particularly apt: “Person and Conscience.”
She held on and fought back for a week. She insists she will sue to regain her title of “doctor,” revoked by Heinrich Heine University in Dusseldorf. In the age of the Internet, obscure dissertations once relegated to the memory hole, out of mind, unread or assigned to a remote dusty shelf in a library illuminated in the dull glow of computer screens, live again to trap the unwary.… Seguir leyendo »
In the week since Annette Schavan, the German education minister, resigned over a plagiarism scandal involving her doctoral thesis, Berlin has been feeling a bit hung over.
Expressions of regret have spread among the political classes, with an undertone of remorse and a tinge of melancholy. Political pundits and academic representatives have stressed Ms. Schavan’s expertise and lauded her accomplishments. Yet no one questions that, especially in an election year, she had to go.
At the same time, the scandal has opened up a conversation about Germany’s hunger for scandal and moral self-flagellation wherever it is found, however minor — a condition that has fed a deep, slow-burning crisis in our political culture.… Seguir leyendo »
Raro es el día en que el ciudadano alemán no se desayune con la noticia de un nuevo escándalo, una nueva mentira, un nuevo arrepentimiento y petición de disculpas del actual presidente de la República Federal de Alemania, el democristiano Christian Wulff, en funciones desde junio de 2010. Por motivos menores dimitió su antecesor, Köhler, un economista a quien bastaron las críticas adversas suscitadas por unas declaraciones suyas sobre el estacionamiento de tropas alemanas en Afganistán para dejar el cargo.
Detalles deshonrosos de la vida privada de Christian Wulff andan estos días en boca de todo el mundo. Asistimos desde diciembre a un despellejamiento diario de su persona en periódicos, cadenas de televisión, emisoras de radio, foros de Internet...… Seguir leyendo »
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