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Europe old Colonial power: Germany, France, UK, dispute US President ‘Islamic State’ not defeated in Syria

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Germany, France, and the United Kingdom have both said that “Islamic State” remains a threat in Syria. All three appeared to dispute US President Donald Trump’s claimed that the militants had been vanquished.

Washington’s European allies in the fight against “Islamic State” (IS) on Thursday appeared to dispute President Trump’s claim that the jihadi group had been defeated.

While announcing that the US would soon pull troops out of the country, Trump claimed that the IS militant group in Syria had been vanquished.

But international allies in the fight against IS — such as France, Germany and the UK — were somewhat surprised by the optimistic appraisal.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Washington’s “abrupt change of course” had put the fight against IS at risk.

“IS has been pushed back but the threat is not yet over,” Germany’s Foreign Office tweeted. There is a danger that the consequences of this decision will damage the fight against IS and jeopardize the successes already achieved.”

Germany currently has some 1,200 personnel involved in the fight against IS in Syria, including those invovled in refueling, naval, and training operations.

France: IS and its roots endure

Meanwhile, French Defense Minister Florence Parly acknowledged that the group had been significantly weakened, she said the battle was not over.

“Islamic State has not been wiped from the map, nor have its roots elsewhere. The last pockets of this terrorist organization must be defeated militarily once and for all,” Parly said on Twitter.

Some 2,000 US forces are in Syria at present, most of them on a train-and-advise mission for local forces fighting IS. France has an undisclosed number of special forces on the ground in Syria as part of the US-led coalition there, as well as fighter jets in Jordan and artillery along the Syrian border in Iraq.

UK: Still a threat without territory

Britain, which takes part in air strikes as part of the coalition effort, said it was important not to underestimate the threat that IS still poses.

In a statement late Thursday, the British Foreign Office said important advances had been made in recent days, but added that “much remains to be done and we must not lose sight of the threat they pose.”

“Even without territory, Daesh will remain a threat,” the statement said, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

While the Foreign Office statement diplomatically avoided a contradiction of Trump’s assessment, junior Defense Minister Tobias Ellwood was more blunt, saying he “strongly” disagreed.

Germany: Santa Clauses in short supply amid dearth of skilled labor

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Recruiters looking for people to play Santa Claus this Christmas have said there is a lack of people ready to take on the job. The task is more demanding than it would seem at first sight, a Santa agency head told DW.

People who are ready to play Santa Claus in stores or at Christmas markets, even as a paid job, are becoming few and far between in Germany, according to recruitment agencies.

Willi Dahmen, who runs one such agency in the northern German city of Celle, told DW on Wednesday that he and other recruiters across Germany were facing a dearth of willing Santas this year.

Dahmen said one reason was that many young people were not willing to sacrifice their weekends or holidays to do the work.

He also lamented the fact that many Santa Clauses who did take on the job were poorly trained and had cheap costumes that were not up to the role. “What are the children to think?” he said.

Strict training

In his agency, aspiring Santa Clauses received 4-5 hours of training, in which they learn, among other things, the importance of not smoking or using their smartphones while in costume, Dahmen said. They are also encouraged to learn Christmas songs and poems in case they are requested.

In addition, he emphasized the importance of a Santa’s ability to communicate with children, for example, to convey parents’ wishes for certain changes in behavior diplomatically and without inspiring fear.

Dahmen stressed that a well-trained Santa Claus could be a real drawcard, speaking of one store in the western city of Bochum that saw the number of children attending a Christmas event rise by 25 percent after a successful appearance by a skilled proponent of the art.

In Berlin, the student services organization said in a statement on its website that it was stopping its recruitment of Santas because of a lack of candidates. This is despite the fact that it can be quite well-paid, with Santa Clauses in the capital, Berlin, earning as much as €500 ($567) on Christmas Eve, spokeswoman Jana Judisch told DPA news agency.

The Santa shortage comes amid a general lack of skilled labor in Germany.

President Sarkissian introduces Armenia’s investment attractiveness to several leading German companies

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Armenian President Armen Sarkissian, who is in Germany on an official visit, on November 28 had a luncheon with the heads of several leading German companies that operate in Armenia or are interested in cooperating with Armenia, the Presidential Office told Armenpress.

The meeting has been organized by the Armenian Embassy in Germany, OWC publishing house, the Eastern Committee of the German economy and the Eastern Europe: The Union of Small and Medium Entrepreneurs.

The meeting in particular was attended by the heads of Zeppelin, Siemens, SAP, Nokia, Schneider Group, Airbus Group and other companies.

President Sarkissian said a number of companies with the German capital are successfully operating in different sectors of Armenia’s economy and expressed confidence that there is a great potential to expand these sectors and deepen the mutual cooperation.

The President said the 21st century is an era of rapid changes, adding that Armenia is a right country because it’s in the right place at a right time. “It’s the right time as we live in the 21st century. It’s an era where everything changes quite rapidly. It’s not a secret that I have completed my book recently which is called “The Quantum Behavior of Global Risks”. By saying quantum I don’t mean that the rules of quantum mechanics can be applied. Quantum supposes that that behavior is no longer the classical one. In the 21st century the changes are dynamic, drastic and dramatic. The measures, which enable to manage and describe the risks in the 21st century, are also not the classical ones and will not be. From this perspective it’s the high time for Armenia”, the President said.

Armen Sarkissian said Armenia has been in the crossroads of civilizations for thousands of years. “This crossroad today can become a bridge as today Armenia is the only country that is a member of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), which means that the country has a market worth over 200 million, rather than 3 million, which includes Central Asia, Russia. In addition, Armenia has also signed deep and comprehensive agreement with the EU, and we want to deepen the relations with this structure. In  other words, Armenia is the only country that has deep relations both with the East and the West. Our country is in the right place”, Armen Sarkissian said.

The President introduced the businessmen on key directions of Armenia’s economy, the investment attractiveness and business environment, the competitive advantages on running a business in Armenia. “Armenia is an interesting place to make an investment. The country has a great potential in different sectors, starting from agriculture up to light industry, banking sector and information technologies”, he said.

At the meeting the heads of the companies operating in Armenia briefed their ongoing programs, as well as the opportunities to expand them.

The President proposed the remaining businessmen of the meeting to visit Armenia to observe and discuss the mutually beneficial cooperation prospects.

 

President Sarkissian invites German President to pay an official visit to Armenia

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The official meeting ceremony of President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian and Mrs. Nouneh Sarkissian took place today at the Presidential Palace of Germany, Bellevue Palace.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Mrs. Elke Büdenbender met Armen Sarkissian and Nouneh Sarkissian at the gates of the Palace.

Armenian and German state anthems were performed by the military orchestra.

Afterwards, Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Armen Sarkissian had a private conversation, followed by an expanded-format meeting with the participation of the delegations.

The German President welcomed Armen Sarkissian and saluted his first official visit to Germany. He also talked about the recent changes in Armenia and saluted their peaceful manner.

President Sarkissian noted in his speech that he is lad to be in Germany on an official visit. “I am glad to be hosted in friendly Germany in the sidelines of my first official visit. Germany is Armenia’s friend and a key economic partner, as well as an important supporter of Armenia-EU agenda. Germany is interesting for us also as a model of parliamentary model of government and for us the German experience in parliamentary democracy is very important and can serve as an example”, Armen Sarkissian said.

Highly appreciating Germany for the financial-technical and economic assistance of Germany provided to Armenia, as well as the support to implementing democratic and legal reforms, President Sarkissian highlighted the expansion of cooperation in science, education and culture. Particularly, the cooperation in the sphere of high technologies and IT were assessed as promising.

President Sarkissian invited his German counterpart to pay an official visit to Armenia, which was accepted by Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

 

World War II reparations: Germany must show ‘willingness’

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The question of WWII reparations is still open, and Germany should pay up, says historian Karl Heinz Roth. But Poland, Greece and other countries would have to cooperate.

DW: The governments in Athens and Warsaw do not consider the issue of reparations to be over. What are the most significant differences in reparations policy and debt between Greece and Poland?

Karl Heinz Roth: The destruction in Poland was undoubtedly greatest where the Germans invaded with systematic planning. Under the Generalplan Ost, they wanted to Germanize Poland. The situation was different in Greece, where the Germans only sought to set up naval and air bases in Thessaloniki and Crete. They were also searching for potential collaborators on the side. The Nazis were overwhelmed by the vehemence of the [Greek] resistance and responded with senseless massacres. But [unlike in Poland] there was no planning behind their actions.

In addition, there are the figures. In Poland, 5.4 million civilians were killed by the Nazis, in Greece it was 330,000. The quantitative difference also applies to other aspects. Both Poland and Greece have suffered the fate of the so-called “little allies.” They were pushed to the margins in reparations policy, the effects of which are still felt today.

You opened your book with the topic of reparations for Greece at the beginning of the debt crisis and you posed the idea that the debt be settled in accordance with the loans forced on the Greek national bank by the Nazis during WWII. How realistic was that suggestion?

The idea had some things going for it but I have moved on. The proposal came from economists, among others, who wanted to remind Berlin of the massive debt relief [the then-German government received]. In the London Debt Agreement, over 50 percent of all the German government’s debt was canceled.

Meanwhile, I have come to believe that there are different factors at play. Compensation is an ethical issue and should not be linked to current economic problems. In the new edition [of the book], I am also in discussion with economists who, when calculating their reparation debt, converted the calculated value of the destruction and humanitarian damage into a fictitious loan and then added interest. This commercializes the reparation debt. We have refrained from including interest in our own calculations. This [omission] is sometimes disadvantageous for reparation creditors, but [doing so] is indisputable.

Germany Welcome Erdogan with the red carpet and opening mega Turkish Mosque in Cologne

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Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is scheduled to open a new central mosque in Cologne. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is scheduled to open a new central mosque in Cologne. DITIB, a controversial Turkish-Islamic umbrella group, provides the financing and imams. What is DITIB?

Mosque association with strong links to Turkey

The Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB) is the largest umbrella organization of mosques in Germany. DITIB manages about 900 mosques in Germany, including the central mosque in Cologne, and has about 800,000 members throughout Germany. Its ties to Turkey are very strong. According to the official research service for the German Bundestag, which has created a register of Islamic organizations in Germany, its charter states that DITIB is “linked to the Turkish government’s Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet).” The Diyanet sends Turkish imams to DITIB mosques; the imams’ salaries are then paid by the respective Turkish consulate general for the duration of their stay. In other words, the Diyanet determines the theological guidelines behind what is preached in the mosques.

Influential force in Ankara

The Diyanet is a state body for the administration of religious affairs in Turkey and answers directly to President Erdogan. Created in 1924 by state founder Kemal Ataturk, the Diyanet was long known for its moderate interpretation of Islam and widely respected throughout Turkey. However, in recent years the Diyanet has shifted away from its previously rather restrained function: particulary under Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Islamic conservative AKP government, the institution has gained considerably in significance.

Today, the Ankara-based organization has about 120,000 employees who, among other tasks, are responsible for the content of the weekly Friday prayers in Turkey’s 85,000 mosques. With an annual budget of more than €1 billion ($1.17 billion), the Diyanet has more money at its disposal than either Turkey’s interior or foreign ministries.

Conservative structures

DITIB has come under repeated criticism in recent years, partly because of the Diyanet’s influence on it. Following the Turkish army’s invasion of northern Syria in January 2018, the head of the Diyanet urged mosque worshippers to pray for Turkey’s victory. DITIB mosques in Germany showed videos of preschoolers in uniform, and events held there in commemoration of World War I seem to have featured re-enacted battles and the praise of “martyrs” as part of proceedings.

Last year, DITIB refused to take part in a protest organized by Muslim associations in Cologne against Islamist terror. Also in 2017, the complete board of the national DITIB youth organization (BDMJ) resigned, accusing the association of suppressing any tendencies toward liberalization.

Authorities wary of DITIB

As early as the summer of 2016, the extent to which the DITIB’s internal structures are aligned with domestic political events in Turkey became clear in the aftermath of the failed coup there. DITIB imams allegedly spied on backers of Fethullah Gulen, whom Turkey holds responsible for the attempted coup, within their German congregations. Germany’s federal public prosecutor investigated 19 imams.

And most recently, German media reported in September that the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), the domestic intelligence agency, was apparently considering keeping DITIB under observation.

DW: Germany has largest trade in South Caucasus with Armenia

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In the first half of 2018, Germany’s trade relations with Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan are developing with dynamism, and Chancellor Angela Merkel will visit these three countries, from Thursday to Saturday, reported Deutsche Welle (DW).

Germany’s trade with these three South Caucasus republics grew by 17.1 percent and reached €1.2 billion, the German Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations announced on Wednesday.

And from these three countries, Germany’s trade has increased the most with Armenia—by 41 percent, and reached up to €171 million.

“The political changes, which took place in [Armenia’s capital city of] Yerevan in Spring 2018, seem to contribute to the dynamic development of the [country’s] economy,” the aforesaid committee also noted, in particular.

 

Germany poised to set world’s largest trade surplus

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Germany is on track to record the world’s largest trade surplus for a third consecutive year. The country’s $299 billion surplus is poised to attract criticism, however, both at home and internationally.

Germany is expected to set a €264 billion ($299 billion) trade surplus this year, far more than its closest export rivals Japan and the Netherlands, according to research published Monday by Munich-based economic research institute Ifo.

However, the latest surplus figures indicate a slight dip as a proportion of Germany’s total economic performance compared to 2017, falling from 7.9 percent to 7.8 percent.

Ifo’s report takes into account trade in goods, services and income from foreign assets. Trade in goods is the runaway driving factor behind Germany’s surplus at over €200 billion, while income from assets is also expected to add up to around €63 billion. Germany is expected to run a €18 billion deficit in services, according to IFO.

Unbalanced payments

The latest numbers reinforce Germany’s dominant export strength in the world and are likely to spark criticism from other leading nations. The US in particularly has chided Germany for its trade surplus, with President Donald Trump singling out the country as one of the main culprits for America’s $460 billion trade deficit.

Berlin defends surplus

However, a spokeswoman for Germany’s Federal Ministry of the Economy insisted on Monday that achieving a high surplus was not a “political target” and that government policy could only have a limited influence. It was also Berlin’s goal to lower the surplus by strengthening consumer demand, she added.

Volker Treier, chief foreign trade analyst at the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DIHK), said Germany’s trade success was reason to celebrate and that the gains were going towards positive investments. “(The trade surplus) is an indicator of German companies’ performance and the attractiveness of their products — and all this in a difficult international environment,” he said.

“The complaint that Germany is flooding the world with its goods is only superficially true,” Treier added, explaining that many German companies use their capital surplus to finance worldwide investments. German firms are estimated to employ a million people in China and more than 850,000 in the US.

Trump has also threatened to slap tariffs on foreign automobiles in the US, Germany’s most important export item.

There has also been criticism back at home, with several groups demanding that the federal government use its current account surplus to spur consumer demand and stimulate investment. For example, trade unions have long been calling for a rise in wages.

“The fact is that we have an import deficit because consumers and investors in Germany are not asking enough questions,” said Gustav Horn, director at Germany’s IMK Institute.

Genocide in Namibia: Germany remains at odds with its colonial legacy

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Genocide in Namibia

Namibia’s Herero people have filed a lawsuit in the US against Germany over a genocide in the early 20th century. The case, to be heard on Tuesday, shows how Germany is still struggling with its colonial past.

“We Germans acknowledge our historical, political, moral and ethical responsibility and the guilt that Germans brought upon themselves,” said Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul during a visit to Namibia back in 2004. Speaking at the Waterberg, where Emperor Wilhelm II’s troops had mercilessly put down a rebellion against German colonial rule a hundred years earlier, the then German minister for development aid was close to tears.

Tens of thousands of Herero and Nama people were killed by the so-called “protective troops” or died in concentration camps in the years after the 1904 battle. It was the first genocide of the 20th century, historians say.

Namibia had waited a long time for such words, but the German government of the time backed off, saying Wieczorek-Zeul had spoken as a private person. The backpedaling fitted a decades-old pattern: No matter what government happened to be in power, the country won international respect for coming to terms with the Holocaust, while at the same time its colonial past was ignored.

Government pledges to deal with colonial past

Finally, however, a cautious change of heart seems to be on the horizon.

A look at the current government’s coalition agreement shows “a willingness that has not previously been publicly declared in this form” by the government to devote itself to the colonial issues, says colonialism expert Henning Melber, a senior adviser at the Dag Hammarskjold Foundation.

For the first time, the German government has pledged a willingness to deal with its colonial past. “We want to build a bridge from the past via the present to the future,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas promised in May on a visit to Tanzania.

The remark is a reflexive response given that the public discussion about colonial heritage has gained in importance, says Jürgen Zimmerer, Professor of African History at the University of Hamburg. “On the other hand, it has become clear that we need to deal with our colonial history just like we did with East German history and National Socialism.”

The debate about the German colonial era and its consequences has become louder in recent years. Heated discussions have led an increasing number of museums and archives to check whether objects from the former colonies have entered their collections legally or illegally. The most prominent example: a gigantic brachiosaurus skeleton in Berlin’s Museum of Natural History that was brought to Berlin in colonial times from what is now Tanzania. Tanzanian activists demand its return; Tanzania’s government does not.

There is also an ongoing emotional debate about thousands of human bones stored in museums and archives, brought to Germany from its past colonies for questionable research. Some of the institutions are planning to return the items. And activists are critical of the planned Humboldt Forum ethnological collection, a prestigious federal government project scheduled to open in Berlin next year.

Germany ‘feels like the sorcerer’s apprentice’

Additional pressure has come from abroad. Namibia’s Herero and Nama have long demanded an official apology from the German government for the colonial-era genocide. Individual groups and politicians from Tanzania, once German East Africa, are also demanding compensation — 100,000 to 250,000 people are said to have died in the 1905-1907 Maji Maji Rebellion against German colonial rule.

The German government has also come under indirect pressure from French President Emmanuel Macron, who in November 2017 pledged to return all stolen cultural treasures to France’s ex-colonies within five years. Many Germans say Germany should follow his example.

But Germany’s colonial heritage comprises far more than stolen cultural assets, Zimmerer told DW. “It’s also about the other colonial-era crimes: the armed conflicts, the land expropriations and the genocide in Namibia,” he argues.

But the coalition agreement doesn’t mention the genocide in Namibia, even though an official German apology for that genocide was once regarded as a German government prestige project. Since 2014, Berlin has been negotiating with the Namibian government, and an apology was to have been made before last year’s general elections.

But the two sides could not agree. And while the German government continues to claim that it wants an agreement, frustration is on the rise in Namibia.

As a consequence, various Herero and Nama representatives in 2017 filed a suit in a district court in New York. They want to negotiate compensation directly with the German government. The court has not yet decided whether it has jurisdiction in this case. For a long time, the German government refused to appear in court at all. Now, Berlin has filed a motion to dismiss the action. The court hears the case on Tuesday.

But the mere existence of the lawsuit has clearly increased the pressure on Berlin. “The government probably feels like the proverbial sorcerer’s apprentice, unable to banish the spirits it called,” says Melber. “It has started something and now doesn’t know how to end it in a way that is acceptable for the Namibian side as well.”

Amends but no reparations

Germany is remaining firm regarding compensation. “The German government considers that the use of the term ‘genocide’ does not entail any legal obligation to reparations, but rather political and moral obligations to heal the wounds. We’re sticking to that position,” Ruprecht Polenz, the German negotiator in the Namibia talks, told DW two years ago — and it is unlikely that stance has changed.

There are other means of support than reparations, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas recently said while on a visit to Tanzania in response to calls for compensation coming from that country.

The German government is concerned about creating a precedent if it officially agrees to pay compensation. “Germany was only one colonial power among several and not the only one that wasn’t squeamish when it came to suppressing the people in the colonies,” says Melber. “Other former colonial powers are watching negotiations between Germany and Namibia with great concern; they fear Germany will agree to something that would open the door wide to demands on the other colonial powers.”

Indirectly, the German government has actually been making reparations for years: Namibia has received major development aid payments since independence and Germany has promised additional projects for the Herero and Nama regions. But the plaintiffs, at least, are still not satisfied.

What is more, in the years to come, other ex-colonies could become more vocal in their calls for compensation. Dealing with the colonial past has really only just begun in Berlin — and is likely to take a very long time.

Trump claims Germany ‘totally controlled’ by Russia, airs list of grievances

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By S.A. Miller – The Washington Times – Updated: 8:10 a.m. on Wednesday, July 11, 2018

Opening the NATO summit in Brussels with a bang Wednesday, President Trump blasted Germany for a pipeline project that he said made Germany “totally controlled by Russia.”

“I think it’s very sad when Germany makes a massive oil and gas deal with Russia where we’re supposed to be guarding against Russia,” Mr. Trump said at a breakfast with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.

Mr. Trump said Germany was “captive to Russia” and urged NATO to look into the issue.

“The former chancellor of Germany is head of the pipeline company that’s supplying the gas,” Mr. Trump said. “You tell me, is that appropriate? I’ve been complaining about this from the time I got here.”

The president was calling out the planned Nord Stream 2 pipeline from Russia to Germany’s northeastern Baltic coast, which would bypass Eastern European nations and double the amount of gas that Russia can pipe directly to Germany.

The pipeline already has opponents among some NATO nations.

“Very bad thing for NATO,” Mr. Trump said. “I think we have to talk to Germany about it.”

Mr. Trump’s charges flipped the narrative about Russia, which previously centered on his praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Mr. Trump’s summit next with with Mr. Putin in Helsinki, Finland, has been criticized for giving Moscow and NATO equal billing.

Mr. Trump also criticized Germany for failing to spend the agreed upon 2 percent of GDP on NATO defense.