World from Berlin: Obama Visit Highlights 'Genuine Trans-Atlantic Dissonance'

[xchrom]

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/german-press-reactions-to-us-president-obama-berlin-visit-a-906894.html

***SNIP

German commentators on Thursday, however, seemed largely immune to the charm offensive.

The left-leaning Die Tageszeitung writes:

&quot The speech) was a disappointment for those who hope for … for what actually? Clearly these phrases for the history books, which in themselves imply the claim of the US to lead the western World, don't exist anymore."

"But there was something else. There was a proposition made by the American president. Obama used the Brandenburg Gate, he used Berlin, and he used Angela Merkel and her East German heritage to send a clear signal to Russia. With his proposal to reduce the US nuclear weapon arsenal by one-third, he ventured into possibly the only foreign policy area in which he can initiate something positive -- and that is worldwide nuclear disarmament."

***SNIP

Conservative daily Die Welt writes:

"Barack Obama's visit to Berlin was warm, extremely warm. But it didn't touch the Germans, neither warmly or coolly. Even the massive security measures that shut down the city center were largely accepted with a shrug. ...The indifference with which Obama was received is not an indication that Germans don't like Obama anymore. ... Rather, the American president himself signalled with all of his appearances on Wednesday that the moral and emotional chapter of the Cold War is finished. We are now getting into the fine print."

"America has become more foreign to us, too, and it doesn't help to evoke the great period of bonding during the Cold War. But Europeans have also become more foreign to Americans. How should Americans know and understand that which we ourselves don't know or understand? There is still a great lack of clarity about where the partially unified, partially divided continent of Europe is headed politically. Europe is complicated. Germany, the shame-faced regional power, is too. Europe could be extremely powerful internationally, but hasn't found a way to get there without sacrificing its traditional particularities. And last but not least: Angela Merkel insists stubbornly but with good reason that austerity and growth have to go hand-in-hand, but that austerity is non-negotiable. Obama doesn't like that and it has created genuine trans-Atlantic dissonance."