Our new German problem: lack of effort. Have you really considered how little #Germany has been doing and is prepared to do in the future against #ISIS? Why is this topic continuing to be ignored in Washington and by the U.S. news media?

Our new German problem: lack of effort. Have you really considered how little #Germany has been doing and is prepared to do in the future against #ISIS? Why is this topic continuing to be ignored in Washington and by the U.S. news media?

Have you really considered how little #Germany has been doing and is prepared to do in the future against #ISIS? Why is this topic continuing to be ignored in Washington and by the U.S. news media?

For months I've closely followed the glacial pace of things in Germany largely via DW,
Deutsche Welle, both on TV and in print, since the U.S. news media has seemed to decide to give Germany and their current Ambassador to the U.S., Peter Wittig, a 'hall pass' on all controversial topics, like #Ukraine #Russia #sanctions #ISIS. 
Any one of which, Once Upon a Time in the '70's, '80's or '90's, would have gotten him an invite he could not really turn down.

If you didn't know it, even for something as insignificant as sending 100 German military 
"advisors" to Iraq who would never be put in a position to actually face the enemy, there
was months and months of Sturm und Drang in the Bundestag, in the country 
where Sturm und Drang was born.

As someone who spent LOTS of time over at the German Embassy in Washington, D.C. pre and post Fall of the Berlin Wall, on trade and economic issues, and who made enough 
friends there to attend the party at the Embassy celebrating the unification in 1991 -even bringing a German chocolate cake with the German flag's colors on it that I ordered at the #1 German bakery in greater DC, not far from my house in Arlington County- I was especially aghast last year that Germany's policy was, despite all the evidence to the contrary, to be firmly against arming Ukraine so that it could better defend itself.

Which is how it came to be that back on February 8th, before Chancellor Merkel's visit to DC, I asked the Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, @SenBobCorker - 

How is #Merkel #Germany an ally vs. Isis if sending 100 Bundeswehr 2 TRAIN Iraqis is political crisis? 

http://www.dw.de/german-parliament-concerned-training-mission-in-iraq-could-be-unconstitutional/a-18194846 …

Condescending, patronizing pols in Germany acted like their troops were almost too important to actually deploy them to the Mid-East to accomplish something tangiblethat was in the West's best interests. But did you see anything about this in the newspaper or on network TV at the time?

And not once in all the many long months since the shoot down of the Malaysian flight 
MH17 over Ukraine last August by Russian-armed and trained separatists has the Ambassador Wittig gone on a single American Sunday morning TV chat show to lay out the position of Germany to the American people, whose own sons and daughters, husbands and wives continue to be stationed in Germany in the tens of thousands to defend Germany against the existential threat that President Obama claimed in one of his 2012
debates with Mitt Romney did NOT exist -Putin's Russia.

Well, history has shown us who was right about that question, haven't they?

And the Russia reset, too.

No, these days, the Foreign Ministry geniuses at the German Embassy on Reservoir Road prefer to employ their old standby, checkbook foreign policy, and simply pay for ads on Foreign Policy magazine's email newsletters, like this one I received, below, so they aren't forced to explain or defend their policies in-person to people who know the facts and could pin them down.

Yes, it sort of explains a lot about the current Foreign Policy Establishment and what it just winks at:

http://www.germany.info/Vertretung/usa/en/06__Foreign__Policy__State/03__Europe/HandlingRefugeeInflux.html

And paying for ads also means they don't have to deal with curious ethical issues like this:

#Germany hires ex #Stasi to check #Facebook for critics of #immigration policy. 

https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/3l5f3j/exstasi_agent_will_now_monitor_comments_critical/ 

So, to sum it up, Peter Wittig, the German Amb. to the U.S. has not appeared on one of the most guest-friendly forums he could possibly appear on in all of DC, esp. for an important ally like Germany, Sunday morning chat shows, and been forced to defend Germany's feckless position on all these important matters, even while smaller countries with much less resources are continuing to punch above their weight.

Meanwhile, Germany, the European economic giant opts largely to stay on the sidelines as a spectator in the fight against ISIS, preferring to play the role of pit-crew grease monkey,
and not be one of the actual participants.

How much longer is this kind of unhelpful behavior going to be allowed to continue -and continue to be unremarked upon by the American press?

@GermanyDiplo The very definition of #lackluster: #German planes that WON'T drop bombs on #ISIS, #German troops that WON'T fire upon #ISIS.

— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) December 1, 2015

GER gov’t decided to expand support for int’l anti ISIL coalition with reconnaissance aircraft+tanker planes. Parl. needs to approve. #Syria

— GermanForeignOffice (@GermanyDiplo) December 1, 2015

@instapundit 5/5 do minimum expected of real 'ally' vs #Isis even as US keeps military troops 'defending' #Germany 70 years after WWII. Why?

— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) December 1, 2015

@instapundit 4/5 is shamefull! #German Amb. to US won't appear on Sun. AM TV chat show 2 explain to avg. Americans thr cowardly reticence to

— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) December 1, 2015

@instapundit 3/5 I don't! I've written many times that performance of #German Amb. to US past 18 mos. re #Ukraine #Russia #sanctions #ISIS

— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) December 1, 2015

@instapundit 2/5 IF U consider #German planes NOT dropping bombs on #Isis targets & #German guns/rifles NOT being fired on #Isis "helping.

— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) December 1, 2015

@instapundit 1/5 Today's @ForeignPolicy "Morning Brief" -deceptively- says #Germany is considering "Expanding Anti-ISIS Campaign." That is,

— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) December 1, 2015

To fight or not to fight: Is this the end of German checkbook diplomacy? https://t.co/fk2NgIyLST #dwZone #Syria pic.twitter.com/JPVxZnqG2H

— DW Conflict Zone (@dw_conflictzone) November 27, 2015

Dave 

Twitter: @hbbtruth, https://twitter.com/hbbtruth

https://twitter.com/hbbtruth/with_replies

http://www.hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/

http://www.youtube.com/user/HallandaleBeachBlog

Sen. Marco Rubio's thoughtful speech on the future of U.S. foreign policy before The Brookings Institution -more muscle, less 'realism' dithering! #rubio

Sen. Marco Rubio video: Sen. Marco Rubio's speech on the future of U.S. foreign policy before The Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. April 25, 2012.
http://youtu.be/9Hb31bEa0mg


Sen. Marco Rubio's thoughtful speech on the future of U.S. foreign policy before The Brookings Institution -more muscle, less 'realism' dithering!


See summary of remarks at http://www.brookings.edu/events/2012/0425_rubio.aspx 
or the full transcript at http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/events/2012/0425_rubio/20120425_rubio.pdf

The Washington Post

Marco Rubio’s foreign policy speech stakes out a middle ground in GOP

By Karen DeYoung

Published: April 25, 2012

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) took another step onto the national stage Wednesday with a foreign policy speech that positioned him squarely in the middle between a dying breed of GOP moderates and his partisan brethren who have condemned President Obama as an international weakling.

“The easiest thing for me to do here today is to give a speech on my disagreement with this administration on foreign policy,” Rubio told a packed auditorium at the Brookings Institution. “I have many.”

Read the rest of the article at

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/marco-rubios-foreign-policy-speech-stakes-out-a-middle-ground-in-gop/2012/04/25/gIQAOsLohT_story.html

The Washington Post

PostPartisan blog

Marco Rubio’s foreign policy message for the GOP

By Michael Gerson

Posted at 03:32 PM ET, 04/26/2012

Sen. Marco Rubio’s speech on foreign policy at the Brookings Institution was not oversold. It deserved the designation “major” for its courage, skill and moral seriousness. 

The courage came in criticizing a drift toward isolationism within the Republican Party.

Read the rest of the post at:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/post/marco-rubios-foreign-policy-message-for-the-gop/2012/04/26/gIQANTAcjT_blog.html


----
http://www.brookings.edu/


http://www.foreignpolicy.com/


http://www.foreignaffairs.com/


http://www.youtube.com/user/SenatorMarcoRubio


http://www.heritage.org/

"Next year in Jerusalem" is right now for FL-17 Rep. Frederica Wilson, courtesy of AIPAC. But that's bad news for Americans, esp. her constituents

"Next year in Jerusalem" is right now for FL-17 Rep. Frederica Wilson, courtesy of AIPAC. But that's bad news for Americans, esp. her constituents.

The very constituents that she ought to be meeting with in-person right now during the summer recess. In places like ocean-side Hallandale Beach, for instance.

A city in the FL-17 CD that she never had a public event at before last August's primary.

Some of you out there in the South Florida part of the blogosphere may've seen this telling little bombshell in the Sun-Sentinel's Broward Politics blog earlier in the week:

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Broward Politics blog

Congresswoman Frederica Wilson in Israel

By Anthony Man August 8, 2011 01:25 PM

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2011/08/congresswoman_frederica_wilson_3.html

Notice what it doesn't say?

Correct, who's paying for Wilson's trip.

Only THE most obvious and important question one could ask.

Somehow, and for whatever reason, THAT answer didn't seem important enough for Anthony Man to include in the small post, that over 72 hours later, still has not drawn a single reader comment.

Assuming he didn't first find out about it from a press release from her office, which is entirely likely given how rarely Rep. Wilson's name ever appears in the Broward Politics blog, this is par for the course here in South Florida as far as the press digging for information goes, and Man in particular.

Actually, her own press release about the trip neglects to mention AIPAC also:

http://wilson.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=49&sectiontree=6,49&itemid=155

Somehow I have a strong feeling that the source of the trip's funding would've come up in the blog post if it had something to do with an oil company PAC for instance, or one representing almost any other corporate interest.

(For the record, I disregard almost everything Anthony Man writes, in large part because over the years I've found so much of what he has written or said on public policy TV shows to be factually incorrect, lacking crucial context, completely unpersuasive, or, as if that wasn't enough, when it comes to the dreaded Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, he's seemed like her trained pet poodle.

Her Boswell.

What Man has written about this FL-20 House member -who has never run in a non-gerrymandered CD and never faced a competitive opponent in a general election, a most-charmed situation!- seems so over-the-top that it was embarrassing to read.

Not unlike Alex Leary's recent story in the St. Pete Times that I commented on recently.)

I first learned about the departure of nearly one-fifth of the U.S. Congress for Israel in The Washington Post on Tuesday and wondered how in the world that could possibly be a good idea for either American public policy, esp. foreign policy, or, their own constituents suffering the slings and arrows of Obama's economic malaise.

Does Rep. Wilson really think going to Israel for the first time is more important than meeting with her constituents?

"Asked and answered, your honor."

Washington Post

House members travel to Israel, courtesy of AIPAC lobby, not taxpayers

By Al Kamen

Published: August 9, 2011

A record 81 House members, about a fifth of the chamber, are spending a week in Israel this month, courtesy of a foundation set up by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobby.

Read the rest of the article at

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/house-members-travel-to-israel-courtesy-of-aipac-lobby-not-taxpayers/2011/08/09/gIQA8xOU5I_story.html

I hadn't had time to read the Broward Politics blog on Monday due to being so busy, but even if I had, which article tells you more?

The Post didn't neglect to discover the source of the funding, they put it right there in the headline so nobody could miss it.

As I have here, too.

The next day, my daily Morning Brief email from Foreign Policy magazine arrived and one of the posts there made all the points I made in my head and planned on sharing here -better than me.

Foreign Policy

How the World Is Really Run blog

The congress is in session, it turns out … in Israel

Posted By David Rothkopf

Wednesday, August 10, 2011 - 11:44 AM

This week's reports that 20 percent of the U.S. Congress will be visiting Israel this month are stunning. Eighty-one members of Congress -- two thirds of them Republicans, 47 of them freshmen -- apparently think it is more important to be visiting Israel than it is to be at home dealing with the worst economic crisis in modern memory. America's economy is in flames and these guys are taking lobbyist-funded trips to what, watch Israelis take to the streets to protest the high-cost of living in that country?

Read the rest of the post at:

http://rothkopf.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/08/10/the_congress_is_in_session_

it_turns_out_in_israel

I acknowledge that it sounds petty but I'd love for someone with a TV camera rolling to ask Rep. Wilson what she thinks of the success or failure so far of Operation New Dawn.

No, it's true, I don't think very highly of Rep. Wilson, and I don't think this cipher in Congress that represents the people in my part of Hallandale Beach would know what that operation is, that is, without prompting.

But it hardly matters.

Frederica Wilson will fight tooth-and-nail over the next year to make sure that she can keep this cushy, no heavy-lifting (or thinking) job of hers that pays $174k a year, and will do anything she can to make sure that the FL-17 congressional district remains nice and gerrymandered so that she NEVER has to run against a competitive candidate in a general election and can stay in office as long as SHE wants.

More soon on what's happening with congressional redistricting and whom I'd love to see run against Wilson next year in a new, more logically-drawn CD that more accurately represents the interests of this area of south Broward and northeast Miami-Dade counties.

And while I'm at it, let me just state that it sure would be nice if a single legitimate reporter or columnist in South Florida reported on what group former City of Miami City Manager Tony Crapp, Jr. is working for now in the redistricting battle on behalf of his new bosses at

GrayRobinson, P.A.

Why is nobody asking or reporting on this?

I feel like I'm pulling teeth sometimes.

-----

See also:

Foreign Policy magazine: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/

The Crespo-Gram Report: http://www.crespogram.com/

Ben Stein: "Arab Spring" is a fraud; David Rothkopf: Obamamandias: the great shrinking superpower in the Middle East

CBS News Sunday Morning video- Ben Stein: "Arab Spring" is a fraud. May 15, 2011.

"Arab Spring" is a fraud. Says street movements in Middle East mean U.S. is losing valuable allies - and Iran is reaping a "gigantic regional coup"

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7366114n&tag=related;photovideo

-----

Did you happen to catch Ben Stein's spot=on comments on Sunday's CBS News 'Sunday Morning' TV program?

It's long been a personal favorite of mine from the day it started due to its smart, lengthy essays on subjects and people that often received little public notice, but who were doing some very interesting things.

If you didn't catch it, the video above will correct that situation toute-de-suite.

Stein is largely right that President Obama's bewildering and feckless Mid-East policy seems to constantly profit Iran at the West's expense, and Israel in particular, as he channels Prof. Obama and lectures everyone, issuing threats to Libya and Syria to change their methods or consider leaving, threats that are completely ignored but which would've been mocked by the U.S. Mainstream Media if Bush 43 had made them.

The very same condescending crowd in the news media, academe and the foreign policy desk of Comedy Central who said that Bush & Co.'s contention that democracy would work in Iraq after the U.S. invasion, were crazy, but who now play the role of Obama sycophants and valets for his bewildering policies that never seem to quite result in anything positive or tangible for the people.

Or did you forget how quiet Obama was when there were genuine street protests for reform, democratic institutions and fair elections in Iran two years ago, and everyone, esp. The American Left, wanted to know why it took Obama so long to recognize what was happening and say something of substance?

I haven't.

Not that I was ever a fan of former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, per se, but he's undeniably a very, very smart and savvy guy who knows how to handle himself.

(I mean he wasn't a federal judge for nothing.)

Well, he's bailing out as Obama's Mid-East policy czar, trouble-shooter and general explainer of things that make no sense coming out of C Street, the U.S. State Dept.

Who's his replacement?

Don't expect to get that answer soon or even any educated guesses anytime soon in the Herald or Sun-Sentinel.

-----

Foreign Policy magazine blog

Obamamandias: the great shrinking superpower in the Middle East

Posted by David Rothkopf Wednesday, May 18, 2011 - 4:06 PM

http://rothkopf.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/05/18/obamamandias_the_great_shrinking_superpower_in_the_middle_east

Foreign Policy magazine blog

Another major policy speech on the Middle East? Yawn

Posted by Stephen M. Walt Thursday, May 19, 2011 - 10:44 AM

http://walt.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/05/19/another_major_policy_speech_on_the_middle_east_yawn

Foreign Policy magazine

Discord in the Rebel Capital

Benghazi may seem like an island in the storm, but beneath the surface lies confusion and disharmony.

By Portia Walker

May 18, 2011

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/05/18/discord_in_the_rebel_capital

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/

New York Times video: New York Times Op-Ed columnist Roger Cohen's hopes for President Obama's Middle East peace efforts.

http://youtu.be/H0m2WJjKHeQ

Marco Rubio is crystal clear in Foreign Policy magazine - "How America Must Respond to the Massacre in Syria"

Foreign Policy
How America Must Respond to the Massacre in Syria
It’s time for President Obama to back up his rhetoric with firm action.
The first step: Recall the U.S. ambassador from Damascus.
By Marco Rubio
April 28, 2011

In recent days, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime has used its army to murder hundreds of innocent civilians as part of a vicious campaign of violence against unarmed Syrian demonstrators. What we are witnessing in Syria is another tragic outrage in the Middle East that requires immediate condemnation backed by specific measures from the United States and the international community. U.S. President Barack Obama needs to make clear whose side America is on, back up our rhetoric with action, and clearly articulate why Syria matters to the United States.

Read the rest of the article at:
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/04/28/how_america_must_respond_to_the_massacre_in_syria

Rania Abouzeid in Foreign Policy Magazine: The World's Worst Place for Women Just Got Worse

The World's Worst Place for Women?

So many possible "winners" but the answer is Pakistan.

-----

FOREIGN POLICY

What the Waters Washed Away
The rural, conservative refugees from Pakistan’s floods have not only lost their homes, but also their entire way of life.

By Rania Abouzeid
September 17, 2010

CHARSADDA, Pakistan-Zeynat wipes her tears away with the edge of her donated, cream-colored dupatta. Her family was separated shortly after raging floodwaters destroyed her modest, mud-brick home, and it has been well over a month since she last saw her three teenage daughters. For the past week, Zeynat and her mother-in-law have been sharing a tent with her friend and former neighbor, Bach Sultan, and four of Sultan's children, in a makeshift settlement here in Charsadda, in the socially conservative and insurgency-plagued Khyber Pakhtunkwa province bordering Afghanistan.

Zeynat's tent, which lies just feet away from the dozens of others pitched alongside Charsadda's Sugar Mill mosque, is sweltering inside. The front and back tent flaps are kept open in the hope of attracting a breeze, but they merely serve to expose the women to the view of passersby. The women say that custom prevents them from idly sitting outside. The camp's proximity to the mosque means that the building's bathrooms are available for use by the flood victims. This ensures them a modicum of privacy absent from many other camps, which lack sanitation or rely on outdoor toilets.

Read the rest of the post at:
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/09/17/what_the_waters_washed_away


See also:
Foreign Policy
New attacks stun Pakistan
By Imtiaz Gul
September 10, 2010
http://www.imtiazgul.com/Sep_10_2010.html

http://www.imtiazgul.com/

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/

-----

U.S. Fund for UNICEF: Alyssa Milano on Pakistan flooding

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjIhTici7JM