(05-10-2016 11:23 AM)georgewebb Wrote: One impression I get whenever I hear folks from our fellow First World countries speak at events like this is that, regardless of which parties are in power in either country, there is a great deal of diplomatic, military, intelligence and scientific cooperation that is no one hears about, but that is really solid. And that's pretty cool.
As if on cue, Ambassador Wittig started off his talk describing how strong the diplomatic cooperation is between the US and Germany. He also gave a heartfelt salute, meant on behalf of the German people, to President George Bush and Secretary James Baker for their roles in the helping to steer the elimination of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany -- "without one shot being fired". He said it was one of the greatest feats of statecraft in history. That tribute from a German, coming as it did in Baker's institute, just a few yards from a section of that infamous wall, was quite moving. It's probably hard for us Americans to appreciate just how significant that event was in the history of Germany -- and of Europe, and of freedom.
He gave a passionate (by German standards :) ) defense of free trade and advocacy of the Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership (T-TIP). He expressed dismay, bordering on disbelief, that both parties in the US seem hell-bent on attacking free trade.
Not surprisingly, he identified the related problems of ISIL and refugees as compelling challenges. It was interesting that the very first phrase he used in reference to ISIL was "Islamic radicalism", a phrase which he used several more times. He also stressed the need for "secure borders" and for improved documentation of migrants, and he spoke approvingly of the military (naval) operations being used to stem the flow of seaborne immigration in the Mediterranean and Aegean. He spoke of the need to "fight" ISIL and other movements that are "incompatible with our common Western values."
(And I thought that "Islamic radicalism", "border security" and "common Western values" were the execrable code phrases of racists. Certainly they were brave words to utter on an American college campus.)
On Eastern Europe, he spoke of the renewed importance of NATO and of Germany's recent increase in defense spending. He said that Russia's Crimean gambit was a wake-up call, and that Germany has drawn a "red line" on the forward borders of its allies which must be defended.
Let's see: a career diplomat, smart but soft-spoken, a strong believer in free trade, border control, military strength, collective security, and the defense of Western values. Why can't we have a guy like that?!
The audience questions were a little pricklier than I expected. Several questions were of the form "Here's what I think's wrong in American policy/politics; don't you agree?" And I was surprised that no one asked him about the upcoming "Brexit" referendum.