Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Obabush in his element in the heart of the Land of the Stasi

He is the spy who came in from the West, writes Arnaud Leparmentier in a column in which the Le Monde writer also reminisces about such things as JFK's speech to Berliners (1963) and Ronald Reagan's (1987), as well as Bill Clinton's many official visits to Germany when he was president (1990s).

Und who ish zhis shpy vrom de Vest zat ve are shpeakink apout? Well, about the White House's current resident, aka "Obabush", and his trip to the land of the Stasi. Indeed, this time (in contrast with his 2008 speech), Barack Obama's visit was held in the part of Berlin that was part of the former East Germany.
In the final analysis, the American president is in his element: at the heart of the former communist dictatorship, which spied upon and filed reports on all its citizens with its sinister political police, the Stasi. Shocking? We will not let him off the hook, this president, a curious winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, who refrained from closing Guantanamo, and whose spying on our emails, our phone conversations, and our Facebook accounts has just been discovered. It was a promise, this Democrat was to break with George Bush. Wake up. At least for the present column, we will call him "Obabush."
From Le Monde:
Il est l'espion venu de l'Ouest. Et c'est à Berlin-Est, capitale de l'ancienne RDA, que Barack Obama devait prendre la parole mercredi après-midi 19 juin à Berlin. Non pas devant la porte de Brandebourg, mais derrière, entre les murs de la Pariser Platz. Au fond, le président américain est à sa place : au cœur de l'ancienne dictature communiste, qui espionnait, fichait tous ses concitoyens avec sa sinistre police politique, la Stasi. Schocking ? Nous ne décolérons pas contre ce président, curieux Prix Nobel de la paix, qui n'a pas fermé Guantanamo, et dont on vient de découvrir qu'il espionnait nos mails, nos communications téléphoniques et nos comptes Facebook. C'était promis, ce démocrate devait rompre avec George Bush. Que nenni. L'instant d'une chronique, nous l'appellerons "Obabush".

 … Dans les années 1990, Bill Clinton sillonne l'Allemagne et l'Europe déchirée par la guerre dans les Balkans. "Obabush", rien. Aucune visite officielle lors de son premier mandat. Juste [deux sauts de puce].