US to punish German ‘treachery’: in a poorly sourced story, the Observer reports that
The US will withdraw all its troops and bases from there and end military and industrial co-operation between the two countries – moves that could cost the Germans billions of euros.
which echoes the long excerpt from Jim Henley‘s site that Scott ran the other day.
I’ll wager this trial b’loon from Defense gets a big, BIG BIG thumbs up in Germany.
One question, though: Does the U.S. get to keep Daimler-Chrysler? Seems like maybe an end to “industrial co-operation” might make it hard for Benz owners.
AND ANOTHER THING – even if pulling the troops would set off a depression in Germany (the apparent goal of the threat), um, didn’t Europe have a traumatizing few years in the wake of the last time punitive measures were taken against Germany’s economy? Oh, that’s right, it led to a fascist state.
Hilarious. I suppose after Iraq we’ll just have to “fix” the broken democracies of France, Germany, and – OMG – Britain, which obviously needs military reinforcement after this weekend. Of course, it takes a long time to fly a million people out to the North Sea in helicopters and pitch ’em in, a few at a time – but what was tried and tested in Chile is gonna work for Rummy, by God!
Somehow, I doubt that there are gonna be massive troop withdrawals from Germany.
First off, Daimler bought Chrysler, so the question should be “would they still want to keep them?”
Second off, that’s private enterprise that the gubmint can’t do much about (except make life an administrative hell, but that’s another discussion).
Third off, quit trying to draw me offside and into a political discussion with you. The USA is gonna get criticized to hell and back, and the Bushies are gonna get criticized to hell and back, no matter what is done. There’s no right move, not for the entire world to be happy. How it fell to us to make the entire effin’ world happy is kinda moot.
Not tryin’ to draw you offside, Scott. It’s that auto-discovery trackback thingy. 😉
The Benz dealie actually does reflect something I saw over the last day or two – some “boycott the surrender monkeys” stuff someplace. Apparently you can keep toolin’ around in your US-made Benzes and still toe the line.
Still, it’s interesting that this idea surfaced. I guess maybe it’s moot now that the NATO stuff’s been worked out – which puzzled me, I must admit. But what puzzled and amused me more was the immediate emergence of some heated rhetoric on the subject emerginging from the general direction of a certain five-sided building.