Sigmar Gabriel - Final Reckoning with Trump

Sigmar Gabriel, in one of his final interviews as German foreign minister, sharply attacked Donald Trump for making the world a more dangerous place.

Published at HANDELSBLATT GLOBAL, October 19, 2017.

written by Christopher Cermak

editing by Earl of Cruise

Sigmar Gabriel - Final Reckoning with Trump DPA

German Foreign Minister, Mr. Sigmar Gabriel seems to have lost patience with the United States - Source: DPA

As he prepares to leave the global stage, Sigmar Gabriel isn’t pulling any punches. In one of his final interviews as German foreign minister, he accused Donald Trump of increasing the risk of conflict in the Middle East, saying a collapse of Iran’s nuclear deal represents the world’s "biggest foreign-policy threat" at the moment.

Mr. Gabriel also charged that new US sanctions being considered for Iran amounted to "an attack on the German export-model." European businesses, which had reentered the country as sanctions were eased after the 2015 nuclear deal was struck, were now worried "that their investments will go up in smoke because of the uncertain political situation."

Earlier this month, Donald Trump refused to certify the Iran nuclear deal to US Congress, although European countries as well as Russia and China have stood by the accord. The US legislature is also looking into imposing additional sanctions on Iran, which is accused of supporting terrorist groups and Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.

"Donald Trump represents anti-modernity."

Sigmar Gabriel, German Foreign Minister

Those threats have also had an effect on German businesses, which are afraid of falling foul of US sanctions. International banks will not issue loans for new investments, Mr. Gabriel said, as new sanctions could in future affect any bank that also does business in the United States. That, in turn, could “de facto” kill the Iran nuclear deal, even if the US administration does not formally end it. While US concerns about Iran’s support for terror groups were justified, he added that ending the existing deal was not the right answer: “The world will not become more secure should Iran, after a collapse of the nuclear deal, make a decision to arm itself with nuclear weapons after all.” Rather, he said, the region will become less stable as regional allies such as Israel consider taking matters into their own hands.

It’s hardly the first time Germany’s foreign minister has criticized the US president, but his barbs in Handelsblatt’s latest interview are some of the most personal he’s ever made. Speaking on a train from Berlin to his home in Braunschweig, Mr. Gabriel sounded freer to speak his mind as he prepares to leave his post, probably by the end of the year.

"Donald Trump represents anti-modernity," Mr. Gabriel charged, adding that much of the US president’s policies were based on domestic politics. "The goal of Donald Trump is to destroy what his predecessor [Barack] Obama took pains to achieve: first healthcare reform, then the international climate deal, and now the nuclear deal with Iran. Foreign policy is thereby being degraded to fulfilling election propaganda."

Mr. Gabriel also accused the US president of leading a fundamentally damaging change in the US outlook. "Instead of cosmopolitanism, there is now isolation from the world. Instead of common responsibility, now we have ‘America first’,” the foreign minister said. “Instead of fair global trade, we have national deals. Instead of strengthening international law, we have the international law of the strongest."

These changes are all the more galling for the German finance minister because, he argues, it was the United States that helped Germany reconnect with the west after World War II and prevent a "counter-reactionary revolution" from emerging here over the last seven decades. "And now, in the United States of all places, reactionary ideas are spreading," he said.

A former party leader and member of the center-left Social Democrats, Mr. Gabriel has been Germany’s foreign minister since the start of this year, but will leave his post once a new governing coalition is formed. Chancellor Angela Merkel is currently negotiating a coalition that could include her Christian Democrats, the Free Democrats and the Greens.

Handelsblatt’s editor in chief Sven Afhüppe, Berlin bureau chief Thomas Sigmund and political correspondent Moritz Koch conducted the interview. Christopher Cermak adapted this story for Handelsblatt Global. To contact the authors: afhueppe@handelsblatt.com and cermak@handelsblatt.com

Fake News Corrected - The US Trade Deficit

Comments

Heritage - Austrian and Hungarian immigrants in USA

Austrian and Hungarian immigrants contributed immense to the US culture and economy. America, after its re-discovering by Christopher Columbus in 1492, was the first place of Austrian and Hungarian to immigrate to. It was the land of hope and possibilities, and the young USA, as the former colony, needed immigrants ... and these immigrants found vast opportunities in a country that was more or less "empitied" of humans, after the first contact with Europeans, and their, unknown to the indigen population and themselves, biological weapons - diseases for that the American natives had nothing to fight against, as they had been unknown to them, after eons of "isolation". by Earl of Cruise Emmigrants in the BALLIN STADT, a center for emmigrants initiated by Albert Ballin, after Cholera epidemiic in Hamburg 1892 - Source: BALLIN STADT Although some estimates suggest that the numbers of Austrians in the United States have represented less than one tenth of 1 p...

HISTORY - The Monster-ships that changed how we Travel at Sea

Our present days sea travel, with its `luxuries´ started with the Monster-ships after the turn from 19th to 20th century, and technical progress and innovations made us think "unbeatable" at sea ... This hybris and belive in the technological progress was destroyed when the TITANIC sank after its encounter off Newfoundland with an iceberg. The beauty salons, fitness rooms, swimming pools, firsts on German liners, and even wireless communications of today’s huge cruise ships all got their start with the `floating palaces´ of a century and a bit ago. by Earl of Cruise ss GREAT WESTERN, of GREAT WESTERN STEAMSHIP COMPANY, constructed by genius Isambard Kingdom Brunel - Sourece: Engineers Walk ss GREAT BRITAIN of GREAT WESTERN STEAMSHIP COMPANY, constructed by genius Isambard Kingdom Brunel - Sourece: ART UK In the first half of 19th century steam started powering ships. No longer tedious and unpredictable voyages at sea. And with the groundbreaking game chan...

Ocean Liners in Movies or Films at Sea (updated Nov 2017)

For liners and the shipping companies movies and films had been a top marketing tool Movies or Films and liners at sea, had been intriguing me since I have read about in my youth in LUXUSLINER - BILDER EINER GROSSEN ZEIT by Lee Server ( THE GOLDEN AGE OF OCEAN LINERS ). But earlier, mot only since my first crossing, I was keen watching movies with liners in it, and disapointed, which was an understatement, when I realized the films have been made in a set ashore in some movie "factory". That was after my first crossing. by Earl of Cruise an essay in progress `Sabrina´, Humphrey Bogart in the office, while LIBERTÉ is sailing out of New York harbor - screenshot Ocean liners, especially those of the luxury category, had been the location of dramas, love stories, thrillers, suspense and catastrophies sinde film was born, or nearly. In this list, the most descriptions are taken from Wikipedia, as I guess no one can expect having seen all these films ... otherwise I w...

Thank You 500,000 readers

HISTORY - ts / ss BREMEN and ts / ss EUROPA

Germany’s two luxury liners, BREMEN and EUROPA , have not only played an important part in their country’s mercantile revival, but have added also an immortal chapter to the history of transatlantic travel. Copy from Shipping Wonders of the World From part 6 , published 17 March 1936 editing by Earl of Cruise ss / ts BREMEN in her early years - Source: Shipping Wonders of the World/Bundespresse Archiv The PRIDE OF A NATION - the NORDDEUTSCHER LLOYD quadruple-screw turbine express liner BREMEN . The keel of this ship was laid in June 1927. Her launch took place in August, 1928. In less than a year later, the Bremen made her first voyage to America, when she crossed the Atlantic from Cherbourg to New York in four days seventeen hours forty-two minutes, thus setting up a new record and gaining the coveted “Blue Riband”. During the passage the Bremen attained an average speed of 27.83 knots. ss / ts BREMEN in her early years - Source: W ikipedia For the pop...

HISTORY - The CUNARD - WHITE STAR Liner rms QUEEN ELIZABETH (1938-1972)

Over years, in my early youth, the QUEEN ELIZABETH was shaping my mind for the perfect ocean liner, despite having made my first experiences with a liner onboard the HANSEATIC (1), ex EMPRESS OF SCOTLAND, ex EMPRESS OF JAPAN. When leaning at the rail of HANSEATIC entering the port, my eyes where every where and I wished to by a camera, I took all in. And when seeing the QUEEN ELIZABETH with my own eyes, the nice behaving young boy turned into a tomboy, that my grandmére was no longer able to tame ... I did draw quite a lot of looks, back then. I found, while on research, this article and thought it interesting publishing in my blog: written and published by John Sheperd at liverpoolships.org editing and comments by Earl of Cruise I ( John Shepard ) joined the CUNARD LINE in March 1962 as an Assistant Purser and sailed the QUEEN ELIZABETH throughout that year, before transferring to the Liverpool-based CARINTHIA in November, where I remained as Crew Purser for the next five...

HISTORY - Traveling with airliner LZ 129 HINDENBURG was the most luxurious airtravel

The real airliner LZ 129 HINDENBURG enabled the most luxurious airtravel for decades. Imagine, gliding through the air while the landscape or the sea below can be seen ... LZ 129 HINDENBURG marks the climax of airship construction. On May 6, 1937, the story of civilian airship ended in a tragedy. In Lakehurst, New Jersey, the largest flying object and has been with the similar sized LZ 130 GRAF ZEPPELIN II the most luxurious of all time. How this came about can be reconstructed logically, a series of fatal physics concatenations . The airship LZ 129 HINDENBURG marks the climax of airship construction. It was in its time the fastest and most exclusive traveling object between Europe and America. The challenges of the construction of the giant of the heaven were immense. by Earl of Cruise LZ 129 HINDENBURG, 1936, in Lakehurst - digital copy of a coloured cover photo, originally by Bill Schneider, published in Dan Grossman´s book ` ZEPPELIN HINDENBURG: AN ILLUSTRATED HI...

ss NORMANDIE 1935 - 1942 IX

s s / te NORMANDIE starting from cold Owners: COMPAGNIE GÉNÉRALE TRANSATLANTIQUE BUILDERS: PENH Ö ET, St. Nazaire, France by Stephen Carey © , editing by Earl of Cruise This document is almost exclusively about the engineering aspects of NORMANDIE , mainly on how to start her up from cold. If you are looking for photos of the passenger spaces, there is a plethora of them on the web, in Facebook groups - Admirers of the ss Normandie , ss Normandie photographic file , The French Ocean Liners / Les Paquebots Fran ç ais , ss Normandie , GREAT LINERS OF THE PAST & PRESENT , and others, Pinterest and in articles about NORMANDIE here in the blog, please see at the end of the article. Using "ss" for NORMANDIE is quite incorrect, as NORMANDIE was a Turbo Electric vessel and not a steamship, therefore NORMANDIE should be adressed as "te". by Earl of Cruise te / ss NORMANDIE berthed in Le Havre, Gare Maritime May 29th, 1935 - colouring courtesy ...

HISTORY - FRENCH LINE - COMPAGNIE GÉNÉRALE TRANSATLANTIQUE, a review - Part II Belle Epoque

The COMPAGNIE GÉNÉRALE TRANSATLANTIQUE, known since the Belle Epoque as FRENCH LINE in the English speaking world (or TRANSAT or CGT), had its origins in 1861. by Earl of Cruise E mperor Napoléon III. wanted strengthening the French primacy on the oceans and an adequate mail line for the French mail. The 1855 established COMPAGNIE GÉNÉRALE MARITIME of the Péreire brothers was the core for the new company. This company´s headquarter was, as any major business in France, situated in Paris, while the homeport of the vessels had been Le Havre for the North Atlantic and Marseille for the route to the Orient and Africa. Houseflag of COMPAGNIE GÉNÉRALE TRANSATLANTIQUE S.A. - soure: ebay "On limited space, we put our country on display", a crewmember declared once. And no other line put in more of its national personality into its product than COMPAGNIE GÉNÉRALE TRANSATLANTIQUE . After the French - Prussian/German war of 1870/71 France had to sig...

HISTORY - PACIFIC MAIL STEAMSHIP COMPANY

The PACIFIC MAIL STEAMSHIP COMANY was existing for "just" one hundred years and was in her heydays a backbone for the development of the US West. The PACIFIC MAIL STEAMSHIP COMPANY was founded April 18, 1848, as a joint stock company under the laws of the State of New York by a group of New York City merchants, William H. Aspinwall , Edwin Bartlett, Henry Chauncey, Mr. Alsop, G.G. Howland and S.S. Howland. These merchants had acquired the right to transport mail under contract from the United States Government from the Isthmusof Panama to California awarded in 1847 to one Arnold Harris. The company was sold 1938 last to AMERICAN PRESIDENT LINES , existing only on the paper, was closed down in 1949. by Earl of Cruise CALIFORNIA , PACIFIC MAIL's first ship - Source: Wikipedia CALIFORNIAwas the first steamer built by the PACIFIC MAIL STEAMSHIP COMPANY and she was launched May 19, 1848. She sailed from New York for Panama, via Cape Horn, on October 6, 1848...

Search This Blog

Thank You 500,000 readers