Translated material
Transatlantic lamb
Bush will do whatever she wants with Merkel
German Chancellor Angela Merkel will spend this weekend visiting American President George W. Bush in Texas. The visit is informal. The highlight of the program will be a joint “transatlantic” grilling at the ranch in Crawford. There, six years ago, in mid-November 2001, President George W. Bush received his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. Then he called him “a friend” and “the leader of a new style.” The owner of the White House bestows the honor of being received in Crawford only on allies and “personal friends.”It is already known that lamb meat and crayfish will simmer on smoldering coals in honor of the guest from Germany. This is how the Bush couple will thank Angela Merkel for the grilled pork party that the Chancellor threw for overseas guests in July 2006. Then the US President, on his way to the G8 summit in St. Petersburg, made a stop in the East German state of Mecklenburg, the former “bear corner” of the GDR.
George Bush is excited about his upcoming visit. He announced this to German television viewers this week in an interview with NTV and RTL television channels. In Crawford, the president promised, he and Merkel will “do what she wants.” True, he immediately considered it necessary to clarify: “If she wants to wander around the area, we will wander.” What disappointed the most impressionable advocates of transatlantic unity among television viewers.
George Bush also said: “America clearly needs German help in solving problems like Iran, so that we can solve it diplomatically.” However, as follows from the interview with the owner of the White House, there are not too many chances for this. Bush reiterated his October warning about the danger of a third world war. “You know, if you want to experience a third world war, then all you have to do is attack Israel with an atomic bomb,” these words were clearly addressed not to the German burghers, but to the Iranian ayatollahs and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. And the next phrase, “That’s why I said it’s time to act,” was intended for Europeans.
Leading German politicians considered the US President's statements about the reality of a third world war "tasteless." The head of the foreign policy committee of the Bundestag and a member of the board of the Christian Democratic Union, Ruprecht Polenz, considered an expert on Iran, told Vremya Novostei: “Responsible politicians must make it clear that they are in search of a solution. Finding a solution to the nuclear dispute with Iran can only be achieved through negotiations.”
German politicians are confident that Chancellor Merkel will come under strong pressure from the American president during the discussion of the Iranian issue. The latter will try to secure its consent to possibly stricter sanctions against Iran.
There were suggestions that in return the United States would support Germany's desire to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council. However, George Bush, on the eve of Angela Merkel’s arrival, made it clear that this is still unlikely: “I have never expressed my attitude (on the issue of new members of the Security Council. - Ed. ) to any country by name, except perhaps Japan, and not I will do this now.” But so as not to offend the Germans, he added that “Germany is an important country for many reasons.”