(By Ray D.)
Just last Wednesday, June 15, 2005, Gerhard Schroeder was the guest of honor and keynote speaker at the opening of IG Metall’s enormous new headquarters in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Schroeder, whose Social Democratic party has long been a close ally of Germany’s largest trade-union, gave a hearty handshake to IG Metall’s First Chairman Juergen Peters and made a speech at the opening ceremony. Below are the photos:
Schroeder Speaks to Potential Voters: IG Metall Boss Juergen Peters Greets the Bundeskanzler
Remember: This is the same Juergen Peters and the same IG Metall that published this just last month in the official union magazine ‘metall’ (circulation 2 million):
The Magazine’s Cover Reads: “US-Firms in Germany: The (Blood-) Suckers”
Of course Mr. Schroeder made absolutely no attempt to scold or criticize IG Metall for its over-the-top, anti-American racism despite the fact that he will be visiting the White House in a week. He was much too busy trying to win the union-members’ votes and convince them about his government’s reforms.
In fact, the General Secretary of Mr. Schroeder’s SPD, Klaus Uwe Benneter, attacked FDP leaders’ criticisms of the unions and the ‘metall’ cover as “near anti-democratic populism.” And in the meantime, Schroeder’s party Chairman, Franz Muentefering, (who has been a member of IG Metall since 1967,) has been busily attacking firms, most of them US-owned, as “capitalist locusts.” But of course that is not populist or even “near anti-democratic populism” to the SPD. It is simply the party getting back to its Socialist roots.
Schroeder Wants to Have His Cake and Eat it Too
But none of that seems to bother the Chancellor in his attempts to pander to the American people. During his June 27 visit to Washington, DC, Schroeder will make a speech to the US Chamber of Commerce. He will have an entire captive audience of “capitalist locusts” to preach to on the virtues of buying German-export power-drills and luxury cars. And the Schroeder government has been running full page ads in US newspapers to convince Americans that he really does support the war on terror…REALLY:
Now that’s convincing! The German government must be extremely confident that it is a good partner to the US if it feels the need to take out full-page ads in the Miami Herald…
Diplomacy at its Finest: The German-American “Friendship Bus” in DC
And if that doesn’t convince Americans that Germany really is a good partner, they can be pandered to some more on German Ambassador Wolfgang Ischinger’s German-American “Friendship Bus” down in Washington, DC. But let us give fair warning: Anyone wishing to board this bus should be sure to take along plenty of Dramamine, the ride might just make you sick to your stomach…
