First, the Slap in the Face, Then the Kick in the Pants

Published in Der Tagesspiegel
(Germany) on 10 March 2015
by Malte Lehming (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Ron Argentati. Edited by Laurence Bouvard.
It's disturbing how quickly civility can turn into hatefulness in the world's oldest democracy, the United States of America. Secretly inviting Benjamin Netanyahu to address Congress was in itself an insult. With his usual apocalyptic rhetoric — invoking everything from the Amalekites down to the Nazis — the Israeli prime minister dug up everything he could to criticize Obama's Iran policy. Just imagine what the reaction would have been if a Democratic Congress had invited Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to deliver a rant to Congress attacking Guantanamo and George W. Bush's plans to invade Iraq in 2002, shortly before the congressional elections. Republicans would have screamed bloody murder. Now they've gone and broken another diplomatic taboo: In an open letter to the government of Iran, 47 Republican senators told Tehran that any agreements Obama might make regarding Iran's nuclear program could be nullified by the next U.S. government.

Foreign policy in the United States is the province of the president. Members of Congress who seek to insert themselves between Obama and his foreign policies damage the office of the president. First, they slap his face, and now, they kick him in the pants. It doesn't get any shabbier than that.


Erst die Ohrfeige, dann der Tritt
von Malte Lehming
10.03.2015

Es begann mit der dreisten Wahlkampfhilfe für Netanjahu im Kongress, jetzt grätschen die Republikaner ihrem Präsidenten in der Außenpolitik dazwischen. Das ist vor allem eines - schäbig.


Es ist beunruhigend, wie schnell in der ältesten Demokratie der Welt, den Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika, Anstand in Niedertracht umschlagen kann. Schon die Wahlkampfhilfe der Republikaner für Benjamin Netanjahu war ein Affront. In gewohnt apokalyptischer Rhetorik – von den Amalekitern bis zu den Nazis wurde alles aufgefahren – durfte Israels Ministerpräsident im Kongress die Iranpolitik Barack Obamas geißeln. Man stelle sich vor, eine demokratische Kongressmehrheit hätte im Herbst 2002, kurz vor der Bundestagswahl, Bundeskanzler Gerhard Schröder eingeladen, damit dieser in Washington D.C. gegen Guantanamo und die Irakkriegspläne von Präsident George W. Bush wettern kann. Zeter und Mordio hätten die Republikaner gebrüllt. Doch nun haben sie gleich ein weiteres Tabu gebrochen. In einem offenen Brief an die Regierung in Teheran schreiben 47 republikanische Senatoren, ein Abkommen mit Obama im Atomstreit könne jederzeit von einer neuen US-Regierung gekippt werden. Außenpolitik ist in Amerika Sache des Präsidenten. Parlamentarier, die ihm auf solch derbe Weise dazwischengrätschen, beschädigen das Amt. Erst die Ohrfeige, dann den Tritt in den Allerwertesten. Schäbiger geht’s kaum noch.
This post appeared on the front page as a direct link to the original article with the above link .

Hot this week

Australia: How a Sloppy Republican Attempt To Ensnare a Trump Enemy Backfired Spectacularly

Germany: Trump’s Threat of Violence against Allies Will Be Felt for a Long Time*

Australia: From Foes to ‘Great Friends’ in a Year — Has China’s Xi Jinping Tamed Donald Trump?

Australia: The Reserve Bank of Australia Has No Choice but To Hike Rates as US Currency Crown Slips

Topics

Canada: The Price of Words

Canada: When Exactly Did Americans Decide To Normalize Crazy?

Australia: How a Sloppy Republican Attempt To Ensnare a Trump Enemy Backfired Spectacularly

Taiwan: As Trump Recognizes CCP’s View of Resistance against Japan, Lai Government Idly Watches ROC’s Legitimacy Be Weakened

Japan: The ICC and US-Japan: The Missing Element in the Prime Minister’s Speech

Germany: Trump’s Threat of Violence against Allies Will Be Felt for a Long Time*

Cuba: The Plague’s Address

Related Articles

Mexico: Comrade Trump

Iraq: US and Its Imagined Enemy

Austria: Iranians Are Welcome in New York, Palestinians Are Not

Saudi Arabia: Trump’s Positions Are Dictated by the Midterms, and Options Are Running Out in the Face of Protracted Conflict

United Kingdom: So That We Stop Underestimating Trump