Posted on 08/15/2006 3:37:01 PM PDT by Pokey78
You have absolutely no idea about Germany or this issue do you?
No, I guess not. I just seem to remember a couple of little bruhahas you guys decidedto start last century.
Why don't you explain it to me mein fuhrer?
Dear Germans: Do I really need to explain why this is such a bad idea? Put a modern German army next to Israel and they will blow your a$$ off the map if you so much as twitch their direction. They are freakin kidding when they said "Never Again" and some of those people manning the guns had grandparent generation relatives in your gas chambers. The key word here is grandparents generation. Germany has gone through one of the most thorough and respectable vetting of its history than any country in history has ever done. Naturally this is appropriate, but compared to any other country, the willingness of sincerity of Germany to take responsibility for its actions, to teach its children of their responsibility to make sure these things never happen again, and the complete transition from a militaristic society to a knee-jerk peacenik society is unmatched anywhere.
The German government is one of Israel's staunchest allies and strongest supporters. This is the case in word and deed.
Lastly, the entire debate in Germany is about whether or not it would be appropriate for German soldiers to be stationed near Israel for the exact reason you cited: namely the historical precedent. It is a tremendous moral dilemma for Germany despite the fact that they clearly recognize the need to be of assistance both to Israel and the civilized world in helping to establish peace.
Your comments prove that your knowledge of Germany history stops at 1945. Primarily, I would suspect this is a result of ignorance rather than malice, which is why I chose to respond
Agreed ... unlike Japan. As far as knowledge of Germany, granted I do not have a lot insomuch that I have not really been bothered to learn it with the exception of it's role in the Cold War (father was stationed there flying gunships along the W/E German border). He liked Germans, but also noted that some of them still cannot give up anti semitism. He did say the beer was good and most of the people were decent.
The post above was as much a warning to Germans that cannot seem to let go of anti semitism as it was a bad attempt at humor.
Anyway, here's to hoping that everything will work out in the end. Fair enough?
Absolutely fair.
To be honest, with the exception of the 4-5% who will always be neo-nazis, I have never experienced any anti-semitism in Germany whatsoever. And certainly nothing directly to me.
And although I don't wear a yamulka, my name readily identifies me as Jewish. That much said I am also fairly large and muscular.
It is indeed a problem for German millitary to be involved into such a operation. The thing is that it would probably part of the mandate to protect Lebanese civillians (as well as those of Israel) from armed hostillities. This is the reason why the UN peace troop will be no direct "ally" of Israel but a neutral power between Israel and Libanon. Therefore UN troops could be engaged into a conflict with Israeli troops in case of their retaliation for possible terror acts of the Hezzies.
We contemporary Germans stick to the conditions and the words of the treaties we sign. Since we are no "Dutchbatters" (if you remember the Dutch troops that betrayed the civillians they should protect from their Serbian enemies), it is better to stay out a conflict were we a no neutral force. Germany understands itself as a ally of Israel. Since it is completely UNTHINKABLE that German forces have armed hostilities with the troops of Israel my prediction is, that the majority of the German parliament, the German Bundestag, will be against any participation with land based combat troops.
It will be thinkable to help both Israel and Lebanon with armed Federal Policemen (German police was always very effective in such cases) to control the border of Syria and with the deployment of German frigates to check the maritime traffic of Lebanon to chop the weapon deliveries to Hezbollah from Iran and Syria. A direct deployment of German forces between Israels boarder and the Litani river is rather unlikely.
Besides - I heared in German media that it will be difficult to get those 15.000 men togehter, since most nations do simply lip service and want to keep out of this conflict, although the nessecary resources would be availabe in Europe. We will see more tonight when the conference of those nations, who will deploy the troops, will be over. Maybe we undergo a positive surprise.
:-)
You will find 4-5% of scum everywhere in the world's population. Even in Israel. The thing is that there this idiotic fraction tends to another madness.
Sonne strikes me as incredibly naive. There is nothing positive that German troops can contribute in Lebanon that would not be spun against them by the world press. While it might be the right thing to do, they would be better off continuing to use their military resources in Afghanistan and in training Iraqi police where the needs are more critical and potentially more rewarding.
Deployment to Lebanon would also not be good for the German national psychic. One only has to look at their heroic successes in Kosovo that were downplayed by the media or the world condemnation of their efforts to rein in Scientology abuses. It led German prosecutors to take less aggressive stands against al-Qaida agents operating in Germany before 9/11.
Germans are still far too sensitive to criticism for this mission. They still need time to mature as a democracy with a foreign policy that allows a "normal" pursuit of key national interests.
I completely disagree with your post. While I find the hint on the Holocaust rather ridiculous, I think that a participation in the Lebanon mission is our obligation as Israel´s best friend in Europe.
Also, I don´t see how the US (not world) condemnation of our fight against Scientology or the Kosovo mission is related to this current affair.
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