Posted on 05/07/2014 6:46:52 AM PDT by mac_truck
Parliamentary Leaders Decline to Discipline Opponents of Sanctions, Military Monitoring
BERLIN—German Chancellor Angela Merkel's efforts to pressure Russia aren't facing only resistant businesses and skeptical voters. Her own party is now having misgivings too.
Ms. Merkel threatened Moscow with sweeping economic sanctions after meeting with President Barack Obama in Washington on Friday. Yet on Tuesday, the parliamentary leadership of her conservative parties declined to discipline its foreign-policy spokesman—an opponent of sanctions against Russia—for attending a birthday party alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg last week.
Another senior conservative lawmaker, who criticized a German-led military-monitoring mission to eastern Ukraine after its members and accompanying Ukrainian officers were abducted last month, also escaped a reprimand from parliamentary leaders at their regular meeting on Tuesday.
The refusal of Ms. Merkel's party colleagues to crack down on internal dissenters despite a media uproar over the lawmaker's unscripted encounter with the Russian president underlines the fine line the chancellor is treading as she seeks to maintain a joint front with the U.S. and European allies against Moscow for allegedly fueling unrest in Ukraine.
Such vocal dissent is also reminiscent of the difficulties Ms. Merkel faced as head of the previous government in closing her own ranks behind her policy to extend financial support to cash-strapped euro-zone countries in exchange for pledges of economic reforms.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Molotov-Ribbontrop 2.0. We’ve seen this movie before. It’s got a bad ending.
Its becoming increasingly clear that the Europeans themselves don’t share (and aren’t fooled by) the narrow minded, simplistic neo-conservative world view that currently drives the American led sanctions policy.
Whether that translates into changes in European governments or not remains to be seen, but the trend is favorable.
That was 65 years ago, but I’ll bite, who is Molotov-Ribbontrop today?
Oh, these are the same folks who spend 1.4% of GDP on defense while we spend 4% and do ALL of the heavy lifting.
It's time for a National Debate on the US role in NATO.
Maybe the leaders should listen to the people.
Oh, these are the same folks who spend 1.4% of GDP on defense while we spend 4% and do ALL of the heavy lifting.
It's time for a National Debate on the US role in NATO.
Concurring bump.
American conservatives who support this type of national defense 'socialization' should reconsider.
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