DINOSAURS BITE BACK, CONTINUED: Gerhard Schroeder, chancellor of Germany, appears to be the kind of politician who will say or do anything to win an election. In 2002, he effectively destroyed his country's relationship with the U.S. by campaigning against President Bush and the war in Iraq. He was rewarded with an election victory. This weekend, Schroeder is facing an election he may well lose in the state of North Rhein-Westphalia, which his party has governed for 39 years. Already, as I noted in a previous post, his party chief has accused foreign investors of being "locusts." This TNR Online article, titled "Gerhard Schroeder's Vile Strategy," provides context and a preview of what may happen if, as the polls now suggest, Schroeder's SPD party goes down in defeat. Expect increasingly rabid anti-capitalism and anti-Americanism, as Schroeder positions himself for the general elections in 2006 by appealing to the nostalgia among Germans for a kind of Jurassic Park socialism. It may work for him again.
10:44:31 PM 
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