German Chancellor Merz Rejects "America First"
stance at the Munich Security Conference 2026
德国总理默茨在2026年慕尼黑安全会议上拒绝“美国优先”政策
Merz stated: "The culture war of the MAGA movement has nothing to do
with us. Freedom of speech stops when it comes to human dignity and the
Basic Law. We don't believe in tariffs and protectionism; we only believe in
free trade. We support climate agreements & World Health Organization."
默茨说得：“MAGA运动的文化战争与我们无关。当言论针对人类尊严和基本法时,
言论自由就止步于此。我们不相信关税和保护主义，我们只相信自由贸易。我们
支持气候协议和世界卫生组织。”
German Foreign Minister Wadephul after the speech of US Foreign Secretary Rubio. He praises Rubio's acknowledgement of a long-standing transatlantic partnership between EU and US. But even he cannot ignore an obvious change in US policies under the Trump administration. As other observers of the conference already noted, the "new world order" under Trump has to be accepted by European partners, if partnership has a chance to survive.
At the same time, 250.000 supporters of regime change in Iran assembled in Munich on the vast Oktoberfest space. Their new idol being Reza Pahlavi, son of the late Shah of Persia overthrown in 1979. Pahlavi II was raised in America and is seen by many supporters as the new saviour of Iran.
Editor's Comment: I remember that Pahlavi I, the father, had been driven out because of his oppressive politics, using his secret service SAVAG for torturing opponents. During his visit to West-Berlin civil unrest broke out. Lots of infuriated protesters, mostly students, assembled in front of the German Opera House where Pahlavi and Farah Diba, his wife, were to attend a special event. This evening the Shah's security men became known as the "Beating Persians" (Prügelperser) when they lashed out at the front line of protesters with extra-long beating sticks, right above the heads of our policemen who didn't really realize what was happening. As the local edition of BILD, one of the big German media, was expected to deliver a fairy-tale society report the next day, some protesters decided to prevent the nightly delivery of the paper to its readers. The follwing morning, I could still see a torched newspaper van in front of the editor's building.
In 1979, when Ayatollah Khomeini took over from Shah Pahlavi, he was celebrated by Iranian citizens. Pretty girls, meanwhile used to the mini-skirt, now deliberately changed to the Chador and covered up their bodies. At the time, I happend, by chance, to pass the Iranian embassy in Bonn-Bad Godesberg. All of the windows were flung open, and young folks were sitting on the window-ledges, trying to fix big posters with Arabic-Persian scripture to the outside of the multi-storey building. Those were the days of the Islamic Revolution. Now, that Iranian citizens are fed up again of their leadership, let's hope they might be more lucky next time.
