From last week’s “Parade Magazine”
There was a letter in last Sunday’s “Parade Magazine” newspaper insert. It went like this.
A. Yes. In fact, the next elections in both countries may well lead to the emergence of new, friendlier leaders. In Germany, Angela Merkel, leader of the pro-American Christian Democratic Union, is expected to take over as chancellor. And in France, Nicolas Sarkozy, a staunch ally of America, is expected to replace the consistently anti-American President Jacques Chirac.
I’m pondering the question and the answer. It seems to come from a sort of myopia of how other nations’ politicians shoud acceptably behave… which is, to follow lock-stop behind the interests of the American elites. What the heck is “anti-American” about Jacques Chirac and Schroeder? Both of them politically tapped into anti-Iraq War sentiment, largely cynically, to prolong their political careers. Anything less would make them terrible at pandering.
I recall during the Iraq War, probably right after the statue-falling triumph, someone commenting that “Turkey made a huge mistake by not letting Americans use their land.” This made no sense to me. Beyond anything else, Turkey is as democratic a state as there is in the Muslim world.
Once again, a myopia as to what a state gains or doesn’t gain from these things.