Germans celebrate 20 years of unity

[pampango]

Source: Al Jazeera

Germans are celebrating 20 years since reunification of the capitalist West and the communist East, which merged after decades of Cold War division that ended with the fall of the Berlin Wall. Several hundred thousand people were expected in the northern city of Bremen on Sunday for a series of street parties and official events led by Chancellor Angela Merkel, herself brought up in East Germany.

Barack Obama, the US president, congratulated Germany, praising "the courage and conviction of the German people that brought down the Berlin Wall, ending decades of painful and artificial separation". "The peaceful reunification of East and West Germany was a "historic achievement," Obama said.

On October 3, 1990, just under a year after the Wall was brought down in a bloodless revolution, the reunification treaty bringing the two halves of the country together came into effect amid joyful scenes.

In a recent poll, 84 per cent of Germans said that they believed national unification after four decades of division had been the right decision, despite a lingering economic gap between east and west.

Read more: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/10/20101039320963774.html

[sarge43]

1. 20 years already. Amazing.

Congratulations. Well done.

[rug]

2. And World War I officially ends today.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=9234740

[defendandprotect]

3. Wow ... 20 years since the Berlin Wall fell....remember the "peace dividend" ....

remember Colin Power and Condi Rice -- ON VIDEO -- discussing the fact that the world

was so free of enemies that we'd practically have to INVENT them???

And POOF! we did!

Evidently, Obama recently said that DOMESTIC terrorists were more of a threat than

foreign terrorists????

Likely that has a lot to do with Homeland Security MONEY creating new categories of

peace demonstrators and anti-war activists as "terrorists" -- !!!



:evilgrin: