by Michael Winkler |
Due
to recent events I would like to postpone the already advertised e-mail
regarding “American foreign policy/affairs”. America’s policy won’t
change that fast, so it can wait a little bit J
At
the beginning of this week a friend of mine sent me the following quotation
taken from the well-known German Newspaper „Die Zeit“ (July 18th 2002, ed.
30/2002). For me this wasn’t necessarily something really surprising and in
the middle of all this e-mail writing I have probably underestimated the
importance of this quotation – but this should be made up for now:
The
quotation was found on page 2 – rubric „Words of the Week“:
"He hadn’t prepared the actions strategically, assumedly he didn’t even
know about all the details of the preparations.”
August
Hanning (Head of the BND – sort of the German Secret Service – about the
role of Osama bin Laden regarding the attacks of September 11th )
She
(my friend) continues: “.. it’s really just this little. And therefore it
is even more astonishing, that they dedicated just two lines as indemnification
for all the wrong accusations to that specific man who was accused to be
responsible for the most sensational act of terrorism of the past years.”
Well,
one can’t hardly add anything and I am always thankful for such hints. And
what does that mean now? If NOT Bin Laden, WHO ELSE DID IT THEN?
Well,
the filter methods worked quite good – though there are 2 lines in one
newspaper for the official denial and approximately 100,000 lines in 10
newspapers for the accusation. At least, no-one could claim, that the public
wasn’t sufficiently informed.
If
it wasn’t Bin Laden, was it maybe his twin brother? Did they mistake his
identity due to the “flurry of excitement”? We all are just human beings –
“shit happens”, doesn’t it? Or must NOT happen?
Those
who remember the eminently remarkable essay “The algebra of infinite justice”
by the Indian writer Arundhati Roy (e.g. well-known because of her book „The
God of the small Things“) published on September 28 2001 (The Guardian, FAZ),
will have noticed that the term „Twin Brother“ gets a completely new
dimension if you read the whole article (Link at the end of the quotation):
“But
who is Osama bin Laden really? Let me rephrase that. What is Osama bin Laden?
He's America's family secret. He is the American president's dark doppelgänger.
The savage twin of all that purports to be beautiful and civilised. He has been
sculpted from the spare rib of a world laid to waste by America's foreign policy
…”
Since
this whole “September 11th“ story brings, in a certain way, a lot
of fun to me, for otherwise I wouldn’t write e-mails in such a „penetrating
manner“ J,
I would like to continue in this context. As Hermann Hesse once said it
significantly: „The world is outside of the madhouses not less funny than
inside of them“ (it’s not
exactly a quotation due to my loose memory)
Yesterday
the following headline on the main page of SPIEGEL-Online attracted my attention:
Scharping didn’t come to
Struck’s taking the oath
Peter Struck was put on oath as the new
Minister of Defence in the Bundestag (German Parliament). The SPD politician
made it clear, that Germany is still prepared for military actions of the
Bundeswehr (German Army) abroad.
The
article (Link: http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/0,1518,206701,00.html)
seems to me as a „normal human being” and yet still able to read, slightly
confusing:
Well,
what does our new Minister of Defence or the SPIEGEL want to tell us then? Does
he admonish the critics or does he agree with them? What does he actually want
at all? What do the critics want? Well, again I had to find out, that the
language of the politicians and newspapers is simply too complicated for me to
get to the point. J
But that’s nothing new, I know.
And
all of a sudden something else came to my mind and for some of you it may have
come as well. Struck ? Struck ?!? Struck!!! Oh yes, Peter Struck – the
„German American“. See also Mail „Hint No. 2“ – „Today we are all
Americans!“ (Link: http://www.das-parlament.de/2001/39/bundestag/p_a_44.html).
Well,
„September 11th“ really seems to abrogate any natural law. For the first
time in my life I really hope, that a politician would NOT remember what he said
once. For if he will remember what he said then only one thing comes to my mind:
„Good night, Germany!“
I
would like to wish you a nice, sunny weekend. Yours, Michael.
PS:
Next time – „American foreign policy/affairs“ – only if Chancellor
Gerhard Schröder would announce in the Bundestag, that they had made some tiny
mistakes in view of the shocking effects of the terror attacks last year, but
still are willing to correct „their mistakes“ till the German elections this
September.