US President Donald Trump wants to make the former army officer Douglas Macgregor of the U.S. Ambassador in Berlin. The Germany experts and critics to follow Richard Grenell, such as the White house said. The valiant Grenell had resigned in June after only two years. Macgregor now has to be first confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Whether that will still fold before the U.S. presidential election in three months, but is open.
Currently, the Embassy in Berlin is still on a transitional basis, of the professional diplomat Robin Quinville, which keeps out of the German politics completely, is entirely different than Grenell, the attacks, the Federal government, such as none of his predecessors, and the positions trump has aggressively represented.
victorious in the battle of tanks
In Berlin, it is expected that Macgregor would understand his Job in Berlin is hardly any different than Grenell. As Grenell he, too, occurs again and again in the conservative channel Fox News, is considered the favorite channel Trumps. There, he supported the criticism of the President of Germany, especially in terms of defense spending. “The German feel, thanks to us not the obligation, to defend itself. And the President has just said: Look, why the American taxpayer should not have to defend you, if you are willing to defend themselves?“, he said the transmitter, for example, two years ago.
Macgregor was for some time considered a possible successor Grenells in the conversation. According to media reports, he should well have been speaking German and a long time stationed in Germany. Militarily, his greatest success was victory in a tank battle against the Iraqi forces in Kuwait during the Gulf war in 1991.
“expert for the armed forces planning”
The White house said on Monday, the Veteran, author, and consultant as “an expert for the armed forces planning” known. This could help him in this, Trumps Plan to implement, the number of U.S. troops in Germany. The details should be in this week announced. Nearly 10,000 of the nearly 35,000 American soldiers in Germany are to be deducted. Trump wants to punish spending, so Germany also to his low defense.
During his career in the U.S. military, Macgregor has supported the Team of the US special envoy for the Balkans in the peace talks that ended the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina with the Dayton agreement. He was also Director of planning for the commander-in-chief of Nato forces in the Kosovo war. Macgregor, originally from Pennsylvania, has published several books, including, in 1989, of the Alliance of the GDR and the Soviet Union during the Cold war.
“The war is over and we have lost him”
He is an outspoken critic of the Afghanistan mission and in favour of the Trump again and again summoned a withdrawal of troops. “That’s why we have elected him,” said Macgregor at the beginning of the year. Also in January, he appealed to Trump, the remaining US troops from Iraq and Syria to be deducted. “The war is over and we have lost him,” he said.
Macgregor was not the most as the diplomati known, writes to the US media “Politico”. In an article on the state of the Nato, the Colonel, a. D., wrote in March, 2019: “The Nato will not die. She’s a Zombie.“ With the Disappearance of the Soviet threat was assumed to be the life. The military Alliance will only reanimated again and again “”, usually with “Voodoo magic”. “Even Zombies have to die sometime,” said Macgregor.
Only three months time?
all the way To Berlin must overcome Macgregor but still some hurdles to overcome. The Trumps Republican-controlled Senate must confirm. This can take time. A schedule is not yet known. At the beginning of the Trumps tenure there lasted 15 months, until Grenell as the U.S. Ambassador to Germany, was deployed in a record time.
Up to the presidential election on may 3. November, there are now three more months. If Macgregor is not confirmed until then, and Trump loses, the Ex-officer is hardly a Chance for the Post in Berlin. Because traditionally, all the ambassadors offer with the swearing in of a new President, for the Constitution of 20. January after an election, their resignation is specified. Those who are not professional diplomats, are exchanged in the rule.
“I am pleased, if Washington sends someone”
In Berlin, the nomination was initially met with positive resonance. Regardless of qualifications, MacGregor’s, according to the Motto: Any Ambassador is better than none at all. “I welcome the fact that the US Administration does not want to leave the important Post of U.S. Ambassador in Germany, no longer vacant,” said the TRANS-Atlantic coordinator for the Federal government, Peter Beyer, the German press Agency. Similar to the Green expressed foreign politician Omid Nouripour: “Almost half of the term of office Trumps had the US Ambassador in Berlin. Therefore, I look forward to the time when Washington sent anybody at all.“
The dialogue between the two sides is urgently necessary in view of the ever growing list of German-American dispute. Defense spending and the U.S. troop withdrawal are just one of them. The United States torpedo the Nord Stream Baltic sea pipeline 2 with sanctions, threaten with duties. At the Moment restrictions in the light of the Corona pandemic has come for mutual travel, the travel between the two countries almost to a Standstill. Very carefully said: In the German-American relationship is.
- US-policy in the News-Ticker “Corona is there, but the itch in Bulgaria no”: German party holidaymakers on the gold beach, FOCUS Online/Wochit “Corona is there, but the itch in Bulgaria no”: German party holidaymakers on the gold beach
flr/dpa
