By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
German Chancellor Angela Merkel keeps digging herself deeper with her latest statement regarding her government’s prosecution of satirist Jan Böhmermann at the behest of Turkish President. Now, the chancellor expresses her regrets for offering support to President Erdoğan at the expense of her countryman, claiming it was a “mistake”.
Last weekend I featured an article HERE describing how the all too eager German Federal Government initiated a prosecution against one of its own private citizens who criticized Turkish President Erdoğan in a poem he regarded as personally insulting. The most likely explanation for the lack of defense of her own citizen was to throw him under the bus to entreat Erdoğan and garner favorable action on the refugee situation in Germany.
A few weeks ago, Chancellor Merkel mentioned to the Turkish President during a telephone conversation that Mr. Böhmermann’s poem, televised on German television, was “deliberately offensive”. But now, she states “In hindsight, that was a mistake”.
If that was not enough she continued:
“I believe [allowing the investigation] to be correct, same as before. It allows German courts to decide, taking into account the presumption of innocence.”
[Freedom of Expression] is important to me, and it will continue to be important to me, and that guides me in all talks.”
Her remarks were made just prior to a scheduled state visit to Turkey where she will meet with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu to discuss the refugee crisis. She will not meet with Erdoğan. It seems that despite her kowtowing to Turkey’s president demand to prosecute Mr. Böhmermann, he wouldn’t even grant a visit, but then again “sic semper tyrannis”. I doubt Mr. Böhmermann feels any sense of justice in that.
Nevertheless the German government continues to allow these injustices against its own citizens. And, now that its citizens are outraged, it has committed itself to a situation for which Ms. Merkel is certain to fail in digging herself out. Despite her claim that it is now in the hands of the court, there is no mention of reversing the process and leaving this man alone.
It seems Chancellor Merkel in washing her hands she sealed her political fate.
By Darren Smith
Source” Deutsche Welle
The views expressed in this posting are the author’s alone and not those of the blog, the host, or other weekend bloggers. As an open forum, weekend bloggers post independently without pre-approval or review. Content and any displays or art are solely their decision and responsibility.
And, yes, different points of view are welcome here. Even though I may vigorously try to explain my position and change your mind.
Dieter:
I struggle to explain why massive immigration from nonWestern countries is a bad idea.
Let me try this:
Do you recall that story when gay men were tossed off of buildings to their deaths, while the crowd below cheered? Do you support gay rights? If so, how would you feel if that entire crowd was granted refugee status and settled in San Francisco, right after they had their kill-the-gays party? What do you anticipate would happen if a thousand people who just cheered at the murder of gay men were suddenly living en masse in a city known for its friendliness to LGBT? How would you feel if violence against gays skyrocketed?
Would you still feel that massive immigration was the de facto most tolerant route? The people being victimized by that immigration in SF should just shut up?
Wouldn’t it have made more sense to rescue just those 2 gay men before they were murdered, and left the jeering crowd behind? Or the poets and journalists sentenced to death for criticizing dictators, or women sentenced to flogging for visiting their uncle unchaperoned? That is what “asylum” means, and we already have a system for it. The refugee crisis occurred because we didn’t step in to stabilize the region. It makes more sense to ensure these people can remain, safe, in Syria rather than import all of them here, where we will be overwhelmed, as Germany has been.
Statistically, if you move most of a population of a region infamous for terrorism, extremism, violence against women and gays, and general abuses of human rights, to Western nations, it is obvious that they will take their values and abuses with them.
Instead of only rescuing the victims, you just move the whole neighborhood, which is overwhelmingly persecutor.
Understand?
Darn autocorrect! “Operation” was supposed to be “opposition.”
Past behavior predicts future. I believe she’s been quite clear in her operation to Free Speech. So we can expect that she will continue to fight against it, all while claiming to be superior and tolerant. She brought the immigration/refugee problem on herself. Perhaps she should be forced to walk through the streets where her German female citizens feel so unsafe, to grasp the problem.
This reminds me of Pope Francis’ comments that building walls is unChristian. He was very brave in South America, but that is a Christian region. He had at least some protection of faith. I thought of what it would be like for him to stroll through areas in Western Europe where the flood of immigrants from misogynistic countries with poor human rights. I imagine him wringing his hands while women are groped, raped, robbed, beaten…in Western nations now. Where Jews fear to walk. Perhaps he could visit Brussels, which is now comparable to Syria as a hotbed of terrorism. Sit in on all of the centers that have opened now to deal with abused women or girls forced to undergo female genital mutilation. Or he could go on ride alongs in CA, AZ, or TX, and witness firsthand the drug cartels, Mexican gangs, human trafficking, and all the other vice and violence that streams across our open border. I think he might just have a cathartic moment, that we must protect the weak, not encourage the abusers. That we DO, in fact, need borders or walls or drones or whatever else it takes to ensure only good, decent people of any faith get in, and keep all the persecutors out.
Even ancient persecuted Christians locked their doors.
Dieter may even not know, that in the US enough immigrants flooding the country
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Diplomatic problem? If the EU policy has Merkel between a rock (civil liberties) and a hard place (diplomacy) then the problem begins and ends with the policy.
Merkel has a diplomatic problem: She needs Turkey’s cooperation in order to implement the new EU policy related to Syrian and other refugees. If she were to just tell Erdogan to suck it up because free speech trumps his feelings, she might lose that cooperation, so she’s stuck between a rock and a hard place.
The insane are truly in charge of the West-throw this warped traitor posing as a leader of the great German people under the bus already
If Merkel truly believed at her core that…
“[Freedom of Expression] is important to me, and it will continue to be important to me, and that guides me in all talks.”,
…then no outside forces would have have had any influence in her decision-making process. It is so rare these days to find anyone in government that would take a stand on the side of liberty, freedom and unalienable rights when they know to do so could cost them their seat. Merkel and the German government do not get a pass on violating the rights of their citizens just because they are compassionate on Muslim immigration, or any other utilitarian purpose. The only reason governments exist is to secure the unalienable rights of ALL their citizens. So NO, there is no legitimate reason possible that would excuse a government’s violations of their citizen’s rights. PERIOD!
Dieter: You are correct about the law in question and its historical justification. No more Hitler symbols on the wall. And Germany needed laws to keep down the resurgence of Nazi thought and behavior. You are also totally right about the flood of refugees and the problems which Germany faces. I do not want those people coming to America. Keep on posting on the blog. We need points of view from around the world– not just from Ferguson.
An ambidextrous panderer.
It is cheap to criticize Chancellor Merkel from a country which does not have to house, feed, and retrain millions of refugees as the Germans are now doing. Dirt cheap.
And lest you were too young to know, when this law was passed it was applauded around the world as another sign that fascism was being rooted out by Germany. No more “Der Jud’ Suess” right? Or painting swastika’s on shop windows.
Of all the European countries which are receiving (or not receiving) refugees Germany is by far the most humane and that is at least in part due to Chancellor Merkel’s policies Have you listened to what she has publicly said about the refugees coming to Germany?
Yes she has made a big gaffe here but shame on you Mr. Smith.
Dieter – shame on you for not knowing the law was written in the 1890s, not after WWII. And I think other European countries are starting to blame Merkle for the immigration crisis and the crime it has brought.
A part of “her record” needs to be mentioned. It explains, in part, her reckless attitude toward freedom. She was born in East Germany. My computer will not “highlight” or “underline” a word. That is EAST Germany. The Wall fell down after 1989. East Germany merged with West Germany. Yet the tyranny mindset did not evaporate. Had she been born in Munich or someplace West of The Wall she might have turned out different.
That being said, the German citizens need to resolve this particular prosecution right now. The citizens need to march in the streets in front of the German Parliament. Bundestag? or somesuch place. It used to be called The Reichstag back in the old days before it got burned. The prosecutor who filed the charge should be fired. The case dismissed. Any judge who has not dismissed it yet should be fired. America should consider kicking Germany out of NATO.
Ms. Merkel: The times they are a changing.
She should have thought about the consequences, before turning into Erdogans puppet. This error of judgement, is always going to be part of her resume and record now… A large part of it, actually.!!!!! and just like the US thinking Trump and his antics can be ” erased” and ” forgotten”…….. Angela, will always be remembered for this.
Has anyone noticed the the Turkish Airlines is a “partner” of the Batman v. Superman movie? Weird, I think. Very weird.
She has left to the prosecution, not the court. However, I agree that she is losing popularity points.
How quickly the mighty have fallen….engaging with theocrats and megalomaniacs is dangerous for ones political health it seems. I’m sitting in Regensburg Germany right now and I’ve seen some amazing headlines and a t-shirt that read Je suis Böhmermann.
Merkel shows little strength of character, as well as no backbone! Pathetic.
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