Hi everyone!
This is my initial blog post. I'm from Germany and track Barack Obamas presidency with European eyes and yes I support the change by Obama as good as it gets. I'm 26 y.o. and student of "Economic and Organizational Science" in Munich. Yes, the same Munich vice president Biden visited :-) and also the same Munich known from the Oktoberfest.
Okay here we go! In my blog http://obama-videos.blogspot.com (opens in a new window) I collect videos by and about Barack Obama and his politics. For me it is very interesting and exciting to experience the change that just has begun. Take part on my journey through U.S. politics and write me comments on my videos and even write video/transcript requests or advocacies for new or old videos.
I try to offer the European and esp. the German reactions on the new kind of politics in the United States.
Thanks so far and support my "political journey" by visiting my blog Click here to open the blog in a new window
Amid anti-Semitic storm, Europe’s Jews stand for IsraelBy Dinah Spritzer · 13 January 2009
PRAGUE (JTA) -- Confronting a rising storm of anti-Semitism as the conflict in Gaza intensifies, European Jews are grappling with the best way to express their support for Israel's fight against Hamas.
Recent assaults on Jews in European capitals range from the beating of a Jewish teenager in a Paris suburb by assailants who vowed she would “pay for Israel's acts” to the compilation on an Islamist Web site of a hit list of prominent British Jews. Jewish monuments in France and Sweden have been firebombed. And in Italy, a workers’ political party called for a boycott of Jewish stores.
While Jews have taken to the streets in the hundreds or thousands to demonstrate for peace and Israel’s right to defend itself, they are dwarfed by the tens and hundreds of thousands participating in protests against Israel. In many cases, top European political figures have supported the protests. Sometimes the rallies have turned violent.
The 27-country European Union has approximately 1.8 million Jews and 17 million Muslims, and that difference is keenly visible in the size of events relating to the war in Gaza and southern Israel.
After some 1,000 Jews turned out last week for a rally in Brussels in support of Israel -- held opposite the Embassy of Iran, which funds Hamas -- tens of thousands showed up Sunday for a march against what they called Israel's “massacre in Gaza.” The pro-Palestinian rally was organized by three of the four main political parities in the French-speaking part of Belgium, along with some 100 or so nongovernmental organizations.
Chanting “Death to Jews!” in Arabic, the crowd burned Israeli flags and carried signs calling Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni “Hitler's wife.”
“In a way, Jews feel alone,” said Joel Rubinfeld, the president of the umbrella group of French-speaking Jews in Belgium, known by the acronym CCOJB. “But lots of non-Jews are disgusted, too” with the anti-Semitic messages, he added.
Massive anti-Israel demonstrations last weekend in France, Brussels and Madrid have included anti-Semitic chants such as “Jews to the gas” and swastikas paired with the Star of David.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry, the European Jewish Congress, the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Anti-Defamation League have implored European officials to acknowledge and combat the importing of the Middle East conflict to Europe and the scapegoating of Jews.
Countries with large Muslims populations, including France, Belgium and Britain, have seen the largest number of anti-Semitic incidents.
Britain's Community Security Trust, which monitors Jewish security issues, recorded a huge surge in anti-Semitic attacks -- 80 in total -- since Israel began bombing Hamas targets in Gaza on Dec. 27.
Undeterred, British Jews staged the largest European demonstration in support of Israel's right to security in this conflict. Sunday's demonstration, which also expressed sympathy for Palestinian civilians, drew 17,000 people to London's Trafalgar Square.
“I decided to do something after watching too much television and seeing the huge coverage of the anti-Israel demonstrations,” said one Jewish Londoner, Matt Freelander, who participated in a pro-Israel rally last week.
In France, Nicole Yardeni, the president of the CRIF Jewish umbrella group in Toulouse, decided not to hold a pro-Israel rally in the region after a car filled with Molotov cocktails rammed into the front gate of a synagogue Jan. 5.
“It's not that we are afraid,” she said of the community of approximately 20,000. But faced with consistent pro-Palestinian rallies that outnumber Toulouse Jews, Yardeni said the community “could not hold its own on the street” and thus could not have a “successful” protest.
In recent days, the CRIF held pro-Israel rallies in Paris, Marseilles and near Lyon.
The Marseilles rally was unusual in that every major local politician joined the crowd of about 4,000. The Paris rally did not have the same political backing. Many attendees said they left family and friends behind because they were afraid of publicly supporting Israel after seeing the violence and virulent anti-Zionism in a pro-Palestinian protest a day earlier.
"Once again, when in trouble, we've found ourselves alone," Patrick Gaubert, the president of the International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism, wrote in a letter published Jan. 8 in a French Jewish weekly.
In Italy, whose prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, has been honored by Jewish groups for being pro-Israel, pro-Israel rallies drew government officials.
In Germany, anti-Israel marches were relatively calm, but some marchers carried signs reading “Out with Jews” or "Israelis are child murderers.”
German Jews have turned out for pro-Israel rallies, too, albeit in small numbers. A rally in Frankfurt drew 2,000, while one in Berlin had 1,500 participants.
“When people see our small group,” said Sharon Adler, who co-organized the Berlin rally on Sunday, "perhaps they will understand that Israel is also a much smaller country than all the Arab countries around it, and that Jews in Germany are also a small minority."
In Stockholm, where the Jewish community numbers 5,000, a peace event in support of Israel held Saturday night at a church drew 800 people -- about half of whom were not Jewish, according to Lena Posner, the president of the Swedish Jewish community.
“There were about 100 people outside the church shouting insults against Israel,” Posner said. “The police had to close off the whole area around the church and we were escorted back to our cars in groups of 15.”
Earlier in the day, 8,000 protesters chanting anti-Israel slogans gathered for a mostly Muslim demonstration in Stockholm that included the head of the Swedish Socialist Party and the country’s former foreign minister. A Liberal Party legislator attended the pro-Israel event.
Elsewhere in the country, a burial chapel in the Jewish cemetery in central Malmo was firebombed for the third time since Israel began its operation in Gaza.
In Spain, violent incidents have been minimal, although an anti-Israel rally there on Saturday was Europe’s biggest such rally thus far, with crowd estimates ranging from 50,000 to 250,000.
Representatives of Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and his ruling Socialist Party were among those who participated. Some participants called for jihad, or holy war, praised Hezbollah and cursed Israel. The Israeli Embassy in Madrid took the rare step of openly chastising the prime minister for fueling anti-Israel anger.
“There was hate speech definitely, and a few marched to the Israeli Embassy and threw stones and the police had to intervene,” said Derek Wise, the general manager of Madrid’s Jewish community. “Our prime minister incited what was going on.''
Wise said Spanish Friends of Israel was planning a public pro-Israel event for Jan. 18.
“I understand there might be people afraid to come," he said, "but we want to show it is not only Jews, it's normal Spaniards who also understand that a democratic state like Israel has a right to defend itself.”
(JTA correspondents Devorah Lauter contributed to this story from Paris, Toby Axelrod from Berlin and Daphna Vardi from London.)
source: http://jewishamericans.barackobama.com/page/community/post/president/gGxbN2
From my interview with Bernard-Henri Lévy for Salon.com:
I think that if Obama is elected, it will be a revolution in the United States.In a way, you can understand it like this. I am in favor of that myself. I hope, if I could pray I would pray, for Obama being elected.Why do Europeans love Obama?I don’t know. I can’t tell you why. I don’t love him, by the way. I wish him to be elected. It’s not a question of love or hate ... This is not the best way to make politics.
It’s interesting to read European newspapers this morning on Obama’s speech, which were largely favourable – including Rupert Murdoch’s Times of London. Sen. Obama was in an awkward position in delivering a major speech overseas: While American press coverage was critical of the lack of specifics yet if he laid out a policy paper he would have been hit for trying to establish American foreign policy before he is president. Still, he seemed to wow Europeans:
The aim was singular: to present the Europeans with a clear picture of the new challenges of the 20th century. The trans-Atlantic relationship right now needs a new tenor more than it needs new political projects. The degree to which tensions in the relationship have developed in recent years was illustrated by lines Obama gave in his speech that under normal circumstances would be self-evident, like: "The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand. The walls between Christian and Muslim and Jew cannot stand." Or even better: "We will reject torture." But these are not normal times. (Der Spiegel)
The European and American relationship is fraught with multiple suspicions. Obama displayed a new approach to trans-Atlantic relations. (Le Monde)
While countless talking heads on US cable channels and bloggers, especially on the right but also among some liberals and Democrats, criticised even his appearing in Berlin, I suspect it’s mostly because doing so helps maintain the “horse race” story line. Moreover, I wonder how many on cable networks are trying to assuage staffers on the McCain campaign who keep screaming “They love Obama and don’t cover us.”
As Keith Olberman said last night, Obama is creating news and McCain is addressing half-empty halls without saying anything new or different.
Will Obama give public speeches overseas? Should he? Is it wrong for a candidate if it appears to be "rally" on foreign soil? Or, should he limit his visit to discussions with foreign leaders and in private meetings with our commanders on the ground in Iraq and Afganistan?
I think he should give public speeches even if they draw big crowds, and are then questioned when they are called rallies. This will demonstrate how his presidency will be greeted around the globe and will help repair the standing of the U.S. in the world. Some will say it is not proper for a candidate to hold campaign rallies overseas, but I disagree. Global opinion is important, and should be a factor when U.S. voters decide their vote.
I also envision our troops rallying behind Barcack. Will the current adiministration attempt to keep him from speaking to a large gathering of our military? I hope not. I think it is important for us here in the U.S. to see how our troops feel about who should be the next president. While Sen. McCain will always be greeted positively by our troops as a hero, and part of the military family, I think that Barack will be greeted even more favorably for his positions on how we should deploy our military and how we should treat our returning vets.
The many U.S. citizens who live in Europe, and those who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan have the right to hear Obama, and if it appears to be a rally, so be it,
Who is interested in organising an european donation platform?
Who knows people from the Obama-Campaign-Team, who can help us form this idea?
Millions of europeans are willing to support Obama. How we can help them to contribute?
We are talking of millions of donation dollars.
Who ever is interested, please contact me!
I am one of millions of American's living abroad. We are a very large group, yet we often feel ignored. Here is why:
Remember the Boston Tea Party? These legendary colonists got famous because they resisted taxation without representation. Well guess what? Americans living abroad today have ZERO representation and we are taxed. How is that fair? We are offered virtually no services by the US government. We get no roads built for us, we are not even offered special treatment at US embassies. It is estimated that around 7 million US citizens live and work abroad. If you put us all together into one state, US citizens living abroad would be the 13 largest state in the USA!! There are more of us than in New Hampshire, Maine and Idaho COMBINED! But who represents us in congress? Who can we appeal to about the tax policies? The answer is no one.
We make up a very large voting contingency. But which candidate traveled abroad so we could hear them speak on issues important to us? Which candidate even makes us feel like we matter? No one. Where is the discussion in Obama's website about us? I did not find it, did you?
Being that we are so cut off from the US, we must reach out to get better informed. With the internet and with international news channels such as CNN and MSNBC, this is getting easier these days. Yet we are still under-informed.
My suggestion to the Obama team is not to forget about us, neither before nor after the election. We are very poorly organized, this is true. But there are a lot of us. We are highly educated and often influential. A little communication in this direction could go a very long way.
Putin on a roll
Buffer on China only if we keep it European
Enormous potential
Embrace & assist
