DOES THE U.S. STILL CARE ABOUT GERMANY?

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Since I am not yet able to speak German, much less than read German, I rely on Der Spiegel, an international newspaper that gives me German news. It isn't always the news I yearn to read and it isn't comprehensive, by a long shot. But, it does, interestingly enough, give me a German perspective.

So, when I read the headline, "Does the U.S. Still Care About Germany?" it piqued my interest. German Chancellor Angela Merkel was in Washington last week to receive an award for her contributions to trans-Atlantic relations.

It seems the Chancellor was a bit disturbed by the fact that not many U.S. politicians were there at the ceremony while she received her award. Only Alan Greenspan, who is no longer in office, and a Republican senator who left the senate last year to head a foreign policy think tank, Chuck Hagel, were the only politicians present. It seems that out of the 435 members of the House of Representatives, only one bothered to come to see Ms. Merkel.

Does "Europe look to the U.S while America looks elsewhere," as the article stated? I don't know, but I find it fascinating to read about my country from Germany's eyes. In fact, the article went on to say that Merkel hardly mentioned Germany, and in fact, presented herself as European and declared that they speak with a "single voice, 500 million people strong."

That's a bit much, even for me to buy, to be truthful. As far as I know there is no single country called Europe and Europeans are not that united to speak with a single voice. Point in fact, France did not support, nor send troops to Iraq. So, I think it's strange that Germany's Chancellor wants to align herself with a united Europe when it is to her advantage to do so, but will likewise declare German independence from Europe when it suits her.

Just my observation. I look forward to finding out more about America through Germany's (Europes?) eyes....

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