In this mailing: - Soeren Kern: Germany: Meet Angela Merkel's Second Successor
- Burak Bekdil: Turkey and Greece: Still More Peace Talks
by Soeren Kern • January 27, 2021 at 5:00 am "You get the impression that Armin Laschet still believes in a partnership with Putin's Russia. He ignores the fact that there simultaneously is both a geopolitical and a value conflict with Moscow. This conflict requires a certain degree of severity, a policy of deterrence and also a policy of sanctions. It is wishful thinking that all foreign policy conflicts can be resolved through dialogue and goodwill." — Ralf Fücks, former Green Party politician and head of the think tank, Center for Liberal Modernity. "Mr Laschet's first priority will be uniting the party. It will not be easy. He beat Mr Merz by 53 to 47 per cent of the vote. There is a large minority in the party who want it to take a clearer conservative direction. When he lost the 2018 leadership contest, Mr Merz retreated. This time, he seems determined to weigh on the party's future." — Editorial Board, Financial Times. "The new CDU chairman faces a difficult task of maintaining coherence in a party that is struggling to find its identity while simultaneously trying to lure voters from the environmentalist Green Party and the right-wing AfD." — Oliver Hackel, senior financial strategist, Kaiser Partner Privatbank. "German politics is drifting away from Mrs. Merkel's breed of consensus. Despite winning a leadership election among delegates to the CDU party conference, Mr. Laschet's soft foreign-policy views are increasingly at odds with prominent CDU figures who advocate a sterner approach to Russia and China. The Greens are on the rise as a mainstream center-left party on the back of their foreign-policy hawkishness and hostility to crony capitalism at home." — Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal.
 Armin Laschet (pictured), premier of North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany's most populous state, has been chosen as the new leader of the ruling Christian Democratic Union. (Photo by Michael Sohn/Poll/AFP via Getty Images) Armin Laschet, premier of North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany's most populous state, has been chosen as the new leader of the ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He is now in a position to succeed Angela Merkel as German chancellor after general elections this September. Laschet, a Merkel loyalist and continuity candidate, narrowly beat conservative Friedrich Merz by 521 to 466 votes in a run-off vote by party delegates on January 16. The CDU had previously chosen Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer to succeed Merkel, but she stepped down as party leader in January 2020 after a series of regional electoral defeats cast doubt on her ability to retain the chancellorship. Like Merkel, Laschet is pro-EU, pro-Russia and pro-China. Past statements suggest that he hails from the realist school of international relations, which often prioritizes economic interests over human rights concerns when dealing with authoritarian countries. Continue Reading Article by Burak Bekdil • January 27, 2021 at 4:00 am Ankara and Athens, starting in 2002, held 60 rounds of talks before their exploratory efforts came to a halt in 2016. After a five-year-long pause the rivals agreed to resume talks on January 25, starting the 61st round. "The idea that a strategic — so-called strategic — partner of ours would actually be in line with one of our biggest strategic competitors in Russia is not acceptable." — Antony Blinken, President Joe Biden's then-nominee for Secretary of State, Arab News, January 26, 2021. "Turkey has adopted a strongly militaristic approach, making efforts toward conflict resolution increasingly unlikely." — Dimitris Tsarouhas, a professor of international relations, a Scientific Council member of the Foundation for European Progressive Studies in Brussels, and a World Bank consultant, Arab News, January 26, 2021.
 (Image source: iStock) When traditional Aegean rivals, Turkey and Greece, agreed to launch "exploratory talks" to resolve their disputes, Iraq's president was Saddam Hussein, U.S. President George W. Bush called for a regime change in Iraq, 9/11 was only months in the past, the euro had just become the official currency of 12 of the European Union's members, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and the Mars Odyssey had found signs of water ice deposits on Mars. Ankara and Athens, starting in 2002, held 60 rounds of talks before their exploratory efforts came to a halt in 2016. After a five-year-long pause, the rivals agreed to resume talks on January 25, starting the 61st round. Rounds 61 and onward will probably be the most fragile of all peace talks for a number of reasons. Continue Reading Article |
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