Steinmeier in Boston: “Thank you America”

0
214

The German-American friendship has recently suffered a little. But the relationship between the two countries is still very special. The Federal President of Germany, Steinmeier emphasized to his US trip.

It’s been raining the whole Thursday morning in Boston, and it makes the impression that it would stop soon. But Federal President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier does not spoil the mood. In a good mood, he greeted the guests, with whom he meets at the Intercontinental Hotel for a working Breakfast. The Motto is: “populism and polarisation – challenges on both sides of the Atlantic”.

Steinmeier sits with some of the Bundestag, five social scientists from Germany and the United States. Will talked about how we should be with demagogues in politics, bypass, how to on voters of populist parties, or supporters of populist politicians can go, and what is the role of media in an increasingly polarized society.

The morning discussion is the prelude to a two-day Boston-visit of the Federal President. The stay puts an end to the year of Germany in the United States, which bore the title “Wonderful Together”. Around 12 months the length of the English was celebrated-American friendship. The appreciate also the Federal President.

Populism for Breakfast: Steinmeier at the round-table discussion in Boston

“German-American relations – that is far more spending as a trade dispute, or the dispute over defence”, stressed the Federal President after the Breakfast to journalists. “The interest of the people in our two countries together is preserved.” With his visit, he wanted to show 30 years after the fall of the wall also appreciation of the United States. “Thank you to America for the contribution this country has made, in order to make unity and freedom in the re-United Germany.”

A neglected friendship

The year of Germany, a cooperation of the Goethe-Institut, the Federal foreign office and the Federal Association of German industry, has reached around 1.3 million visitors. In all 50 U.S. States, and events in the fields of science, art, culture, language, economy, and sports took place.

The “Wonderful Together” Initiative had done to the transatlantic relationship, well, says Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook. The German American, who has both passports, directs the Harvard Kennedy School “Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship”.

Good transatlantic relations, NSA or not: Angela Merkel with Barack Obama (2016)

“We have the relationship that you neglected, sometimes with a friendship that has been a long time,” says Clüver Ashbrook. She stresses: “The miss sounds are not caused only under Trump. Under Obama we had, for example, the NSA scandal, the wiretapping of the German Chancellor’s mobile phone. But Obama and Merkel had a very close personal relationship.”

Ratio of head of state, not heads of crucial

You can’t say the same for the German Chancellor and the current US President. Donald Trump referred to Germany as a counter-player in economic issues, and criticised the low level of defence expenditure of the country. On the other side of the Atlantic, the aversion to the US President and his harsh, Twitter-influenced policy is great.

But the leading politicians are not green, does not mean that the Germans and the Americans to keep per se of each other. “The fracture that emanates from the White house, is not reflected in the population,” says Clüver Ashbrook. “There are close Connections between German and American cities and companies.”

“Wonderful Together”: The author Katja Petrowskaja and DW editor David Levitz, Berkeley (may)

The organizers of the German American Conference, held annually at Harvard University on the outskirts of Boston, say that the disagreements in the policy no effect on other Connections. “The true German-American friendship plays out on a much more personal from the higher level,” says Philipp Simon, one of the four heads of the organizing Committee of the German American Conference. “All of the close Connections between communities in the United States and in Germany, whether they are based on friendship, economic cooperation or the exchange of ideas, are in a much better condition than it is to make some believe.”

Data on the Internet: privacy vs. convenience

On Friday, Steinmeier will speak before the participants of the German-American Conference. In the discussion it should go to the “ethics of the digital Transformation” of society. An interesting topic – especially when you consider how differently Germans and Americans of digitization and the Internet giant, which you are promoting are.

“One side appreciates privacy at the highest, and the other is comfort,” says Clüver Ashbrook. “The Germans trust their data to the state and its bureaucratic institutions. The Americans are more willing to provide their data to Google, Amazon and Facebook, if that makes life easier for you.”

Differences such as these can lead to lack of understanding, when observing the other country only in the abstract from the distance. This is exactly why projects such as the Germany year, with his many personal encounters, so important, says Clüver Ashbrook. “It’s a pity that it goes to the end.”