The Insubordinate Ally

Chancellor Schröder reaffirms his opposition to a US-led attack on Iraq in the second round of Germany's first "TV Duel"

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The evidently imminent attack on Iraq brewing in the bowels of Washington makes the cover not only of the current issues of Time and Newsweek, but also of their German counterpart, Der Spiegel.

On the Web, the Newsweek cover package offers a cute little interactive chart under the rubric, "Who stands where on Iraq?" Since the "Who" refers to other countries, it might as well have been titled, "Who's with us?" The chart's broken down into three categories: "The sooner the better", "When push comes to shove" and "Forget about it". Germany is the only European country listed in the third category, noted as the "loudest among the European allies in criticizing US plans." Indeed, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder has been making his case so loud and clear that the Spiegel package includes an article addressing the question, "Will the German showdown with America lead to isolation?" German newspapers, particularly the conservative ones, have been urging the chancellor to pick up the phone, call George W. Bush and talk things over, work it out.

Elections in Germany are just two weeks away now, and in the second and final nationally televised debate on Sunday evening (see Shooting for the Chancellorship: Round 1), Edmund Stoiber, the man campaigning for Schröder's job, claimed he would have done just that by now. Stoiber has decided that he can win points by playing on fears that Schröder is damaging the relationship between Germany and the US. A generous number of issues were addressed in the 75-minute debate, but in his closing remarks, Stoiber returned to this one and insisted that Germany's future is bound and tied to the well-being of that relationship.

Schröder has clarified his stand most eloquently to the English-speaking world in an interview for the New York Times (link-wise, you can choose the summary or the complete interview). Unfortunately, the format of the "TV Duel" required that he reduce his argument to bulleted talking points. Gone missing, for example, was the vital point that he's already proven his solidarity with the US when he believes in what the world's only superpower is up to by putting his own governing coalition on the line when it came to overthrowing the Taliban regime in Afghanistan (see Confidence Man). He did manage to get across, however, that the fragile international coalition fighting the nebulous War on Terror still hasn't accomplished what it set out to do - "the Taliban has not been defeated," he said; perhaps he meant al-Qaeda? - and that a full-blown invasion of a sovereign country could well exhaust the coalition's resources.

Most importantly, though, Schröder focused on the invasion's potential to inflame the entire region, handing the terrorists precisely the war they were looking for in the first place (an argument also made by, among others, Salman Rushdie). Solid as that argument may be, a cynic might ask what points Schröder hopes to score making it. In short, he's after the vote of all those who'd generally agree with the statement: When America sets itself dumb goals, we reserve the right to disagree.

Polls conducted immediately after the debate found Schröder not only more "likable" but also, and more importantly come September 22, more "competent".

Elsewhere

Leo Carey in The New Yorker on Arthur Schnitzler.