In late 2000, they asked me if they could have Bill Clinton, since he was prohibited from havig a third term in the USA. They weren't joking. They said they same about Obama last year.
The Germans are immune to stupidity, either. The SPD is trying to run a smear campaign on Merkel n the media, all of them repeating that she is "alt und verbrucht (old and used up)." It's just a stupid slogan, but I heard it used by and old friend of ours who was German radio news station chief for Moscow for 5 years and should know better. Merkel is anything BUT "used up." She knows full well that, except for Norway and Switzerland (not coincidentally, two European countries that did NOT join the EU), the Germans have it best in Europe. The Danes have the reputation for being the happiest in Europe, but the ones I know always complain that it's hard to either starve or get ahead there, and many leave to escape the monotony.
There is no bigger critic of France than a Frenchman, and yet they STILL don't seem to get a president who exudes confidence AND competence. The last one was Giscard, and he left office in 1981. He used to phone almost daily with his friend, the German Chancellor, Helmut Schmidt. They were both fluent in English, and spoke together in that language. It was sort of like cloning Justin Trudeau, giving the clone an American accent, and installing him in the Oval Office. It gave both France AND Germany a good feeling knowing that they had two guys who were pragmatists, internationalists, knowledgeable about economics and foreign policy, and liked working with each other. Both the French and the German miss that kind of Europe.
In 1973, I remember my first trip through Yugoslavia. In Zagreb, I heard that young people gathered in the evening in Marshal Tito Square. So I walked over and struck up a conversation with some Croatian college students. One of them jokingly said he was almost a foreigner, as he was a Serb. Everyone laughed, and took it as a lighthearted joke. They were all friends. Twenty years later, they would be slitting each other's throats for real. No wonder so many Europeans long for "stable and boring."
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