Gerhard Schroder News, Pictures & Buzz

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo May Be in an Uproar Over Russia's Nord Stream 2 Pipeline, but It Is Hardly the Geopolitical Masterstroke for Putin He Imagines  Foreign Policy

Are we going to see a 'war of sanctions' between EU and U.S. soon?  CGTN

U.S. Nord Stream 2 sanctions encroachment on EU sovereignty – German officials, experts  Clean Energy Wire

Don't Let Putin's Pipe Dreams Become Reality  The American Interest

Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder got involved in a scandal with Ukraine's Ambassador in Germany Andriy Melnyk - Schroeder verbally abuses Ukraine's Ambassador in Germany  112 International

Ex-German Chancellor Urges Lifting ‘Senseless’ Anti-Russian Sanctions Amid COVID-19 Pandemic  Sputnik International

The ECB prepares to act as virus crisis escalates  Financial Times

Get Ready for Armin Laschet, Merkel's Pro-Russia, China-Friendly Successor  Foreign Policy

Former German chancellor criticizes EU for not fulfilling migrant deal promises | Daily Sabah  Daily Sabah

Former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder accuses Angela Merkel of 'fatal mistakes'  DW (English)

'Spectacular' speeches | News, Sports, Jobs  Marshall Independent

Eastern Promises: Our German Problem  Foreign Policy Research Institute

Germany's SPD steps back from pulling plug on Merkel coalition  The Guardian

Travails of German left spell end of a political era  Financial Times

Germany's SPD following Labour's footsteps  City A.M.

Academics condemn 'harassment' of whistleblower by Murdoch University  The Guardian

World leaders gather in Paris for Jacques Chirac's funeral  DW (English)

Jacques Chirac – the human bulldozer  DW (English)

Bugatti Chiron 1 breaks 300 mph barrier on German test track  Deutsche Welle

Former German chancellor sued for adultery in South Korea  The Telegraph

Bl*!&dPool: @IHaveAThought2 @Jarodbreezy @jeannathomas Why d*!&'t you ask Angela Merkle and Ger^##^ Schroder about the German pi… https://t.co/tlY6PwXRLJ

A nation has its allies and its enemies. Let's take the US for example. We are allies with many nations, that is to say, we ally ourselves with the establishment of that nation. But what do we do when two of our allies are in disagreement with another? Who do we support? And as far as neutrality goes, it can also pose problems. The Germans felt an immense betrayal when former chancellor Gerhard Schroder joined the Russians and allied himself with Vladimir Putin. What do we do? Do we say "How dare you Schroder? How dare you join that tyrant?" Or do we just mind our business? Our Saudi friends hate the Yemeni. We supply them with arms. But why? Because of a contract we have with them. Lastly, who do we side with when two of our allies hate each other? We are allies with the Turks and the Kurds and yet the former want to destroy the latter so that they do not pose as a threat. Who do we side with? Having Turkey as an ally has much more benefits than allying with Kurds who barely has an established country.

I was reading this article on-line, what are your views? If not Europe then China or India? Chicago Tribune, 6 January 2002 (bit old but anyway) EU in position to be world’s next superpower by Andrew Reding While U.S. media focus on Europe’s transition to the euro, Washington doesn’t seem to understand the full implication of a unified continent across the Atlantic. The adoption of the euro by 12 European countries signals something far more important than anyone on this side of the Atlantic seems to realize. Europe is gradually emerging as the world’s new superpower. Within a couple of decades, the European Union will equal—if not surpass—the United States as the dominant economic force on the world stage. Consider the arithmetic. The U.S. dollar is used by about 285 million Americans. The euro is beginning to be used by 304 million Europeans with comparable levels of prosperity. When remaining EU members Great Britain, Sweden and Denmark join the euro zone, as now seems inevitable, that sum will rise to 378 million. And that is just the beginning. Another 12 European countries are preparing to join the EU. Their accession in the next decade will bring the total to 483 million, in current figures. Taking a longer view, Turkey, the Balkans and eventually Russia enter the picture. Turkey is already in a customs union with the EU, and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder is advocating bringing Russia into the fold. For his part, Russian President Vladimir Putin is likewise tilting toward Europe. Russia is already a member of the Council of Europe. It is only a matter of time before it joins the EU. Together with the remaining holdouts, that will bring the total to roughly 800 million people in current terms, almost equal to the population of India or China. But the EU is qualitatively different from India and China. It is enormously more prosperous and technologically advanced. It encompasses four of the Big Seven economic powers: Germany, Great Britain, France and Italy. Geopolitically, it includes a unified Germany in further union with its historic rivals, France and Great Britain. Add Russia to the mix and the implications are mind-boggling. Never before has Europe been united through peaceful means. The emergence of the continental superpower raises the prospect of a union more formidable than the United States, stretching from the Atlantic across Eurasia to the Bering Sea. So why aren’t we hearing more about it? Because Washington still doesn’t believe Europeans will be able to overcome linguistic and cultural barriers. Yet border checks have vanished, so that crossing from one country to another is about as eventful as crossing a state line in the United States. The EU already has a functioning parliament, courts, capital city, flag, license plates, passports and now a common currency. Despite all of this, Washington still isn’t taking the EU all that seriously. Where, after all, is the European president? The current European executive has 15 heads, a recipe for gridlock that can only get worse with the admission of more countries. But even that is about to change. The EU is convening a constitutional convention under former French President Valery Giscard d’Estaing to consider a federal structure with an elected president to complement the existing directly elected parliament. Cynics will say that even so, Europe will never match the vitality and the commitment to freedom and free enterprise that has made the United States the world’s greatest-ever economic and technological powerhouse. But all that is changing too. Europe now has its own bill of rights, and a court in Strasbourg, France, to enforce it. Just as tariff barriers are vanishing all across the continent, so are the national monopolies that have until now stifled competition. With a single currency, reduced telecommunications and transport costs and a market larger than the United States, vast new opportunities are opening up for free enterprise. Already, there is a new dynamism in Europe. Futuristic rail lines are spreading across the continent, whisking intercity passengers at 185 m.p.h. Cellphones are more ubiquitous than in the United States. And even Americans are now flying in Airbuses instead of Boeings. And, if you think about it, the adoption of a common parliament, bill of rights, and currency by 12 nations with as many different languages is an even more audacious feat than the union of 13 English-speaking colonies a little more than two centuries ago. PNS associate editor Andrew Reding is a senior fellow of the World Policy Institute in New York. So what should America do?

I was watching John F. Kennedy's funeral on youtube until the voice over guy said that "never before have so many great presidents, kings, and leaders of other countries attended the same funeral before..." Do you know who were the great leaders who attended? Thanks.