International Herald Tribune Editorial - Merkel's advice on Iran
Merkel's advice on Iran
Copyright by The International Herald Tribune
TUESDAY, MAY 9, 2006
Angela Merkel has steadily emerged as the European leader to watch. Partly that's by default - Tony Blair and Jacques Chirac have been moved into the lame-duck folder, and Italy's Romano Prodi is barely in office.
But since she moved into the German chancellor's office last November, the physicist from East Germany has demonstrated a real skill in effective, low-key diplomacy. It worked in Europe, where she brokered a key compromise on the European Union budget last January; it worked in New York on Thursday when she became the first German chancellor to address an annual meeting of the American Jewish Committee, and it seems to be working in Washington, where Merkel has gained President George W. Bush's ear with her candor and her "excellent overview of the international situation" (his words).
During last week's visit to the United States, she talked about Iran, and we hope Bush listened. Merkel's basic message has been that the best chance of persuading Iran to drop its nuclear-weapons program is patient, step-by-step diplomacy, including direct talks between Washington and Tehran. That makes sense to us, especially since Merkel came to Washington a week after she met in Russia with President Vladimir Putin and two weeks before a meeting in China with President Hu Jintao, the two leaders most resistant to any sanctions against Iran, and therefore the two who would really make a difference if they were to join a common front against Iran.
Merkel is not ambivalent about Iran's nukes: Under no circumstances, she says, can Tehran get the weapon. Nor is she against UN Security Council action against Iran, so long as it has as much support as possible. But she is equally clear in arguing that threatening military action against Iran only makes matters more difficult.
These are wise words. Bush should see that unlike her predecessor, Gerhard Schröder, Merkel is not playing a cheap anti-American card, and that on Iran, she does represent a far broader consensus than ever existed on Iraq.
Copyright by The International Herald Tribune
TUESDAY, MAY 9, 2006
Angela Merkel has steadily emerged as the European leader to watch. Partly that's by default - Tony Blair and Jacques Chirac have been moved into the lame-duck folder, and Italy's Romano Prodi is barely in office.
But since she moved into the German chancellor's office last November, the physicist from East Germany has demonstrated a real skill in effective, low-key diplomacy. It worked in Europe, where she brokered a key compromise on the European Union budget last January; it worked in New York on Thursday when she became the first German chancellor to address an annual meeting of the American Jewish Committee, and it seems to be working in Washington, where Merkel has gained President George W. Bush's ear with her candor and her "excellent overview of the international situation" (his words).
During last week's visit to the United States, she talked about Iran, and we hope Bush listened. Merkel's basic message has been that the best chance of persuading Iran to drop its nuclear-weapons program is patient, step-by-step diplomacy, including direct talks between Washington and Tehran. That makes sense to us, especially since Merkel came to Washington a week after she met in Russia with President Vladimir Putin and two weeks before a meeting in China with President Hu Jintao, the two leaders most resistant to any sanctions against Iran, and therefore the two who would really make a difference if they were to join a common front against Iran.
Merkel is not ambivalent about Iran's nukes: Under no circumstances, she says, can Tehran get the weapon. Nor is she against UN Security Council action against Iran, so long as it has as much support as possible. But she is equally clear in arguing that threatening military action against Iran only makes matters more difficult.
These are wise words. Bush should see that unlike her predecessor, Gerhard Schröder, Merkel is not playing a cheap anti-American card, and that on Iran, she does represent a far broader consensus than ever existed on Iraq.
posted by Carlos T Mock at 9:03 AM
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