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2010-09-01
Study: CEO Compensation Totaled $598 Million At The 50 Companies That Laid-Off The Most Workers

Peak Oil And The German Government - Military Study Warns Of Potentially Drastic Oil Crisis

Mystery Over Russian General Found Dead On Turkish Beach

Internet Freedom - Will Russia's Bloggers Survive Censorship Push?

Life In Baghdad's Slums - Fighting to Survive In Sadr City

Moral Bankruptcy At HSH Nordbank - Investigators Look At Frameup And Iniquity At German Bank

Study: Illegal U.S. Immigration Has Slowed Considerably

Inquest Told MI6 Employee's Body Was In Padlocked Bag

Report Claims Andy Coulson, Prime Minister's Media Adviser, Discussed Hacking Phone Calls

Ferrari Recalls 458 Italias After A Spate Of Fires

Probe Of Alyeska Pipeline Spill Uncovers Troubling Pattern

Defiant Dick Fuld Blames False Rumors And The Fed For Lehman Bros. Collapse

U.S. Toll Rising In Afghanistan, 22 Soldiers Killed Since Friday

Charity Oxfam Hit By Fatal Bomb As U.K. Deputy Prime Minister Visits Troops In Afghanistan

Gov. Schwarzenegger Tells Top California State Officials To Stop Hiring

Australian Economy Surges 1.2 Percent In Second Quarter

Police: At Least 1 Hostage Taken At Discovery Channel Headquarters

U.S. Sen. Murkowski Concedes Primary Election Race To Miller

2010-08-31
U.S. Salmonella Scare: Farm Inspections Reveal Manure, Mice And Maggots

U.S. Warns East Coast To Brace For Impact Of Hurricane Earl

Commentary: The Sarrazin Debate - Germany Is Becoming Islamophobic

Commentary: The Sarrazin Debate - Germany Is Becoming Islamophobic

Hell On Earth - The U.N. Documents Congo's Bloodbath

Baghdad On High Alert As U.S. Officially Ends Combat Mission

Mexico Seizes 'La Barbie', Drug Lord Infamous For Beheadings

Greenland's Prime Minister Lambasts Greenpeace For Raiding Arctic Oil Rig

Interview With Ex-CIA Agent Michael Scheuer - 'Only The Taliban Are Not Corrupt'

'I Did Nothing Wrong' - German Gulag Prisoners Recall Their Ordeal

Stock Investors Brace For Another Ugly September

Four Israelis Shot Dead Near Jewish Settlement On Eve Of White House Talks


Pressure Mounts On Germany Merkel Over Afghan Air Strike Debacle
2009-11-30 16:54:16 (39 weeks ago)
Posted By: Intellpuke
(Read 420 times || 0 comments)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is under increasing pressure to explain when she was informed about civilian casualties from September's air raid on two hijacked fuel tankers in Afghanistan. She may face unpleasant questions in a parliamentary inquiry. The opposition parties smell blood.

Chancellor Angela Merkel likely imagined the first week of advent wouldn't start quite like this. On Monday, she was at Bellevue Palace - the residence of German President Horst Kohler - with a forced smile firmly installed on her face. The Christmas tree has already been installed in the palace foyer, but Merkel was not there for festivities. Rather, Monday was when Franz Josef Jung, who resigned from Merkel's cabinet on Friday, was officially released from his duties.

"All the best," Merkel told Jung, who, like the chancellor, is a member of the conservative Christian Democrats. Jung, who had never quite seemed comfortable during his stint at the pinnacle of German politics, seemed almost pleased to relinquish his official duties, relieved to be leaving the Berlin pressure cooker behind. Merkel, for her part, hurried to her car and sped off.

For the chancellor, the pressure only promises to get worse. Jung tripped up over the German-ordered bombing of two tanker-trucks in Afghanistan which resulted in dozens of civilian deaths. He resigned from his position as labor minister, but he was defense minister in early September when the bombing occurred. Jung was the third person to lose his job over the incident - Germany's top soldier, Bundeswehr Inspector General Wolfgang Schneiderhan and Deputy Defense Minister Peter Wichert also resigned last week - but pressure has only grown on Merkel's new Defense Minister Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg. And on Merkel herself.

Merkel sought to avoid the impression that she had forced Jung out. Had she been strident in her critique of her party ally, it may have looked as though further steps were necessary - as though she too carried some responsibility. In the end, Jung resigned of his own accord leaving Merkel the opportunity to praise him for being a "fine man."

(story continues below)




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