Germany’s Federal President Horst Koehler spoke in the presence of George Bush, Mikhail Gorbachev and Helmut Kohl in Berlin on October 31.

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Area of security, freedom and prosperity from

Vancouver to Vladivostok

Cultural exchange between Eastern and Western Europe is as vibrant and creative as it was in its heyday. You can sense this particularly here in Berlin, but by far not just here. The number of visits and joint economic projects is growing and growing. And there can be no doubt that West and East can achieve much to the advantage of both sides. If we manage to extend trans-European transport networks, to put energy supplies on a firm footing and strengthen the economic and social convergence and coherence of all European countries, then Europe has an almost unprecedented opportunity to thrive.

The European Union and Russia should commit to such cooperation. If we manage together to tap the natural riches of our continent – first and foremost the talents of its citizens – if we manage together to end the plundering of natural resources and advocate justice and freedom, then Europe will reap global respect and influence and be a key pillar of the new international order.

The new partnership in Europe will also open the way for honest dialogue on democracy and human rights. Frank discussion on these issues is part of a partnership between equals. We also engage in this discussion with all others, with the United States for example, with China and with the Arab world. Our insistence on this is not some kind of bothersome appendage to our economic exchange. It is at the very core of our self-understanding, it is an important part of what we are. We know democracy and the rule of law cannot be imposed from the outside, they have to grow from within. But we also know this is no comfort to those who are forcibly silenced, who are not given a fair hearing, who have no political rights. Those are the people we ask about, it is for them that we push for change, that is something we will never give up… Read the full speech   

haplif – Frank Kalder (Global Haplifnet)

… which, of course, is the title of a Leonard Cohen song – best version by Jennifer Warnes.

In England we have this rather sad envy of all things German. In Germany – so the story goes – everything is top quality, everything works as it is supposed to work, the trains run on time and they all speak English anyway.

Well, they do ‘do’ quality – just look at their buildings. Everything works everywhere – and, if it doesn’t, they put it right very quickly. Most speak English – which can be a little frustrating if you want to work on your German. But - and it is with some relief and a certain Schadenfreude that I report this – the trains no longer run on time.

Or, at least, mine didn’t yesterday. The Deutsche Bundesbahn was late!

I took part in the final ‘pilgrimage’ walk with 1000 people through Kassel, concluding with me and Carla Maurer (from Switzerland and on the right of the picture) sending people on their way home with God’s blessing. This final event also involved Bishop Wolfgang Huber and the President of Germany, Horst Koehler and his wife. So, I sat with them on the stage, had a good conversation with them afterwards (in which I suggested he didn’t come to Berlin Cathedral on Sunday morning) and then had coffee with friends before catching the fast train to Berlin.

It took 90 minutes longer than it should have done. By the time we got into Berlin I had missed the lecture I had planned to go to at the Humboldt University by Professor Dr Christoph Schwoebel. That’s ninety minutes late! So, I checked into the hotel, got a meal and had an early night.

This morning I was preaching at the Berliner Dom and I have worried about this for weeks – probably annoying everyone else by moaning about it too openly. In Kassel a good friend of mine, Christoph Roemhild, helped me with the German; so I was able to mount the extraordinarily enormous and intimidating pulpit with more confidence than I deserved. There was a congregation of (so I was told) around 700. I preached on the raising of Lazarus (you can read the basic text on the Berliner Dom website) and when I finished there was spontaneous applause. That has never happened to me before. I think they were so relieved it was over that they couldn’t contain themselves.

The service was wonderful and nearly had me in tears. The choir and orchestra led the setting by Johann Sebastian Bach and the service was led by the Dompredigerin, Frau Petra Zimmermann, and the EKD Bishop for Ecumenical and Foreign Affairs, Martin Schindehuette.

This service was, however, more than an opportunity to hear an Englishman speak German in public – which is usually good for a laugh. It represented yet another opportunity for German and English Christians to worship and serve together. This month represents a number of anniversaries: 70 years after the outbreak of the Second World War; 60 years of the German Constitution (Grundgesetz); 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall; and almost 20 years of the Meissen Agreement (bringing together the German Protestant Church and the Church of England in a common service of the people of Europe).

In my sermon I did draw attention to the fact that much of the reconciliation after the war was only possible because of the readiness of the churches to admit guilt, reach out and provide a rationale and locus for forgiveness, reconciliation and hope. We take it for granted now, but I found myself deeply moved by the unity we demonstrated and genuinely felt as we worshipped together this morning.

While waiting for the bus to the airport (where I am writing this) I looked again at the Berlin television tower – an embarrassment to the East German authorities during the Communist years. Every time the sun shone on it, the reflection took the form of a cross!

Incidentally, the reason I advised the German President to worship elsewhere this morning was because it is Election Day in Germany and he told me he would normally go to church before voting. I thought he might prefer to hear a German sermon rather than an outsider’s ruminations. I hope he had a good morning – he is a very nice man.

Horst Köhler, the German President, has been reelected to another 5-year term in office, ahead of the national elections in September. He is from the same party as Chancellor Angela Merkel, the Christian Democrats (CDU), and he defeated the Social Democrat (SPD) challenger Gesine Schwan for the second time (she was also the SPD candidate at the time of the last presidential election in 2004) by 613 votes to 503. The BBC call this a “slim margin”. Rubbish – it was actually an improvement on the last ballot, where Köhler only won by 604 votes to 580, an indication, I suspect, of latent voter dissatisfaction with the conduct of the SPD members of the governing coalition.

Though the position of President is largely symbolic relative to that of the Chancellor, it carries quite substantive moral authority, which Köhler has amplified through being one of the few points of order and reason in the midst of a squabbling Grand Coalition. He is by far one of the most popular and trusted politicians in Germany, and he has recently argued for increased powers for the post of President to balance the current system of Kanzlerdemokratie – given his new 5-year mandate, and a projection of a large shift of the centre-left voters away from the SPD towards the more radical Die Linke end of the spectrum (which would leave the CDU to set up a very familiar governing coalition with the right-liberal FDP, and perhaps even the Greens in a ‘Jamaica coalition‘ to rub the Left’s faces in it), he will probably have full rein to do just that.

Köhler wants something of a return to the Weimar Constitution days of direct election of the President and increased checking and balancing powers for the position relative to the other veto players in the German system (the state parliament’s national and federal chambers, the Land legislatures, the Chancellor and their cabinet, &c &c). As a huge fan of federalism and presidentialism, I can only wriggle with glee in anticipation of a trend towards this system – Germany was set up after WW2 to be a perfect model of limitation of power of any part of the ruling institutions, an ideal towards which my libertarianism obviously makes me sympathetic, so any systemic change that pushed the status quo towards this ideal is very welcome indeed.

Wenn ich den Horst Köhler reden höre, muss ich immer an Matthias Richling denken. Mir ist vollkommen unklar, wer denn hier nun die Karikatur ist und wer das Original.

Today is the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949. The country will observe two days of celebrations in Berlin including a street fair tomorrow. The event began with a ceremony today and a speech by German President Horst Koehler:

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=7654003

Because of the extreme consequences of German nationalism in the past, Germans today are often reluctant to display too much pride in their country. However, this is an occasion that Germans should be justly proud of. Built on a foundation destroyed by war, the FRG has gone from a nation of displaced refugees to become a prosperous, stable, peaceful and widely respected state. In his speech, President Koehler was careful to thank Germany’s western allies for their assistance in the country’s development, singling out the United States for its role in midwifing and defending the young government during the Cold War.

That is not to say that Germany is without its problems. The former communist east continues to lag behind the rest of the country economically. Anti-Semitism and ethnic bigotry remain, although arguably not at greater levels than in Germany’s neighbors. However, these issues merely underscore the point that Germany has become a “normal” nation. Today’s Germany is a stabilizing influence in Europe and the world.

Germany’s role in world history can never and should never be forgotten. But it is right that its great progress should be remembered also. Other nations may not have the indelible stain on their past that Germany does – but how many of them have made so much progress and accomplished so much in the last 60 years?

Le fonds d’Etat du gouvernement  allemand, SoFFin, a proposé d’acheter les actions de  l’établissement de prêts immobiliers Hypo Real Estate (HRE) qui  connaît d’importantes difficultés, ce qui pourrait déboucher sur  la première nationalisation d’une banque depuis les années 1930.  Le prix de l’action, fixé à 1,39 euro (environ 1,84 dollar),  est supérieur de 16% à celui constaté à la clôture des marchés  mercredi soir (1,20 euro, soit 1,59 dollar). Les conditions d’achat doivent encore être discutées.  

        Le président allemand, Horst Koehler

Le président allemand, Horst Koehler, a signé le projet  de loi de nationalisation de la banque, ultime solution pour  stabiliser le marché financier allemand. La HRE, qui est le deuxième établissement prêteur commercial  du pays, a été sévèrement frappée par la crise financière et ses  titres ont perdu 61% de leur valeur cette année. Le premier client de la HRE sont les municipalités qui  empruntent pour construire des autoroutes, des écoles et d’autres  infrastructures. La HRE a reçu environ 102 milliards d’euros (environ 135  milliards de dollars) du gouvernement afin de stabiliser son bilan, mais les résultats ne semblent pas être à la hauteur des  prévisions.

Fireworks, spectacle open Beijing Paralympics

BEIJING, China (AP) — The Paralympic Games opened in Beijing on Saturday with a burst of fireworks as China welcomed another chance to cement its role as a global player to an international audience.

Fireworks at Beijing’s National Stadium greet the opening of the 2008 Paralympics.

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Thousands of cheerleaders and dancers in puffy, rainbow-colored suits performed a dance routine in the center of the field at the National Stadium before athletes from 148 countries were introduced. The crowd cheered and waved flags as China’s Communist Party leaders and foreign dignitaries looked on.

The guest list included Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, German President Horst Koehler and South Korean Prime Minister Han Seung-soo.

Earlier Saturday, they shook hands and posed for photos with Chinese President Hu Jintao at the Great Hall of the People, the seat of China’s legislature in the heart of Beijing. Hu gave a brief speech and toasted the games.

“Caring for the disabled is an important symbol for social civilization and progress,” Hu said before raising his glass.

“China’s people and government have always attached great importance to the cause of the disabled,” he said in remarks televised on state television. “We insist on putting people first, carrying forward a humanitarian spirit and advocating equality and opposing discrimination.”

Opening just two weeks after the Beijing Olympics ended, the Paralympics are designed to be a parallel games for athletes with a wide range of physical disabilities. The 10-day competition begins Sunday.

Some 4,000-plus athletes will use many of the same Olympic venues, with 148 countries represented and 472 medal events contested — 170 more than the Olympics.

Hosting the Olympics and the Paralympics is a source of national pride for China and a way to showcase the country on the international stage. The Aug. 8-24 Olympics was overshadowed at times by human rights and censorship disputes surrounding the event.

China is keen to use the Paralympics to underscore what is says it has done for the country’s 83 million disabled citizens.

The official Xinhua News Agency said Beijing used much of its US$100 million budget for the Paralympics to improve handicapped facilities in competition venues, airports, the public traffic system, hotels, hospitals and tourist attractions like the Great Wall and the Forbidden City.

An editorial on the front page of the ruling Communist Party’s People Daily newspaper hailed the games as a “stage for the world’s handicapped people to realize their dreams.”

“Remarkable progress has been made in basic living standards, medicare, education and employment for the disabled,” the editorial said, “and the preparation for the Beijing Paralympics … recorded fresh achievement made by China in promoting the cause for the disabled.”

But the country has also had a contentious history with dealing with its disabled population.

The government has long advocated sterilizing mentally handicapped people. In the early 1990s, a draft law was presented to the legislature to reduce the number of disabled through abortion and sterilization, a move that unleashed international criticism.

In 1994, China ratified a law calling for the abortion of fetuses carrying hereditary diseases and restrictions on marriages among people suffering mental problems or contagious diseases.

More recently, Beijing Olympic organizers issued an apology in June for clumsy stereotypes used to describe disabled athletes in an English-language manual compiled for thousands of volunteers.

One section described the physically disabled as “isolated, unsocial and introspective; they usually do not volunteer to contact people. They can be stubborn and controlling.

The German financial system wanted to consume low-quality American assets, but did not want to look on what it was eating. German banks have written down about US$25 billion in securities derived from low-quality (“subprime”) American mortgages, and doubtless will lose a great deal more.

Read the complete Asia Times article here:

Ne “il grande spreco” Maurizio Blondet, direttore di EFFEDIEFFE, cita le parole del presidente della Germania, Horst Koehler:

“Il mercato finanziario globale è divenuto un mostro che va domato”.

Nell’articolo viene presentata in maniera chiara e semplice la storia del come e del perchè siamo arrivati a questo punto e suggerisce, in conclusione, quale causa (educazione-formazione del perfetto consumatore), la natura “individualista” che l’essere umano oggi esprime.

Ecco allora che io insisto di nuovo: associamo a Blondet  Pierluigi Paoletti (padre degli SCEC, buoni locali di solidarietà), così … la cura è servita!

The 75th anniversary of the 1933 book-burning has been marked on Friday by Horst Koehler (photo, from dahw.de), Germany’s president. That event was an emblematic step in the Nazi’s seizure of power.

The president voiced his country’s shame for actions that he said, faced little resistance at the time.

Thousands of books, deemed to be “un-German”, have been burned by students around Germany, on May 10, 1933, little more than three months after Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor.

“We recall today with shame that 75 years ago — not just here in Berlin, but in all of Germany — tens of thousands applauded and cheered as the books of Erich Kaestner, Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, Kurt Tucholsky and many others were thrown into the fire by students” said president Horst Koehler.

In a speech at Berlin’s Academy of Arts, German president said that the book-burning, broadcast on radio, left room for no illusions about the way Nazi-run Germany was headed, coming after a boycott of Jewish businesses weeks earlier.

Torching of the Reichstag

“It was only a small step from the ostracism of Jews to the burning of their books, and again a small step from the burning of books to the burning of human beings” Koehler said. “And there was barely any resistance against the action.”

The book-burning was not even organized by the state, noted Koehler, but by the student body, adding that “academics, students and professors engaged in propaganda against what they viewed as ‘un-German.’“

In 1933, Hitler convinced ailing President Paul von Hindenburg to appoint him chancellor on Jan. 30. A month later, he used the torching of the Reichstag parliament building to strengthen his grip on power. The blame for the fire was put on Dutch communist Marinus van der Lubbe.

Thanks to that event, Hitler suspended civil liberties and cracked down on opposition parties, paving the way for the police state.

Parliament approved the Enabling Act on March 23. It effectively gave Hitler dictatorial powers, as it enabled his Cabinet to issue decrees without the need for approval by lawmakers or the president.