Palpitation Nation

It has become a pattern of German foreign policy not only to be right all the time but also to let others know so that they can duly acknowledge Berlin’s wisdom.

It rings quite true to all familiar with it, but dispute limiting the observation of this trend to Germany. Punting most any issue, no matter what shadow it seems to cast while pretending to be the humanitarian and the force behind it is now the European norm.

The Germans were playing it carefully, though. In Tunisia, Egypt and Libya they were only demanding things once they seemed to be happening anyway. Before Westerwelle or Merkel started talking about ‘orderly transitions’, the dictator in question had usually packed his suitcase and withdrawn the funds from his Swiss bank account.

In Libya however, Germany’s ingenious strategy backfired. Germany had never been willing to participate in any military operation anyway.

Read it all here. Elsewhere the oddball excuse making and covering-action continues.

The French want to keep NATO out because they want to prove that THEY are the true friends of the Arabs, and they'll keep that bad NATO away.

Continental consensus: try the same old one trick pony baloney

Other noteworthy observations simply look at German attitudes repeating themselves out of simple convenience of the day. Clarsimonius notes the numbingly dull repetition of it all:

In a recent talk show, German Development Minister Dirk Niebel found “it is notable that exactly those countries which are blithely dropping bombs in Libya are still drawing oil from Libya.”

I found his comment quite notable too, but maybe that’s just me. I found it notable to have been placed into a time warp without my expressed written consent and to have landed back in the good old Germany of those good old German Gerhard Schröder days (author of the old saying-no-to-an-allied-attack-on-Saddam-to-get-re-elected trick).

They keep doing this because to a European audience, it actually looks statesmanlike. Going undiscussed is the naked fact that they can't even deal with issues at their geographic perifery.