Berlin denies "Reagan" Statue to erected on its soil...US have to park it on their embassy

Discussion in 'Latest US & World News' started by Sobo, Nov 6, 2019.

  1. Sobo

    Sobo Banned

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    Since years the americans tried to get a statue of Ronald Reagan installed in Berlin, which was denied. So now they made one and place it on their terrace of their embassy.

    How pathetic. I think it shows perfectly the arrogance. Berlin is the capital of Germany. To demand a statue is a show of absolute narcissm. The creme on the pie is, to then place a tiny one on their embassy and to cry that this is their only option...

    I doubt there is a single statue of any German on USA and Germans did alot over there.

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/berlin-didnt-want-a-reagan-statuebut-its-getting-one-anyway-11573055038

    BERLIN— Ronald Reagan loved Berlin. For the German capital, things are more complicated.

    For years, the city’s successive governments have resisted gentle prodding by U.S. dignitaries to erect a statue of the late president, who famously called in a 1987 speech here on his Soviet counterpart Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Wall that had divided the city since 1961.

    Now, the Trump administration has decided to break the stalemate by simply putting up a Reagan statue on the U.S. Embassy’s terrace overlooking the spot where the speech took place.

    The 7-foot statue, partially visible from the street, will be formally inaugurated by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Nov. 8, a day before the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

    The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, which commissioned the artwork, expressed regret that it couldn’t be placed in a public space, as did former and current U.S. diplomats.

    Some Berlin politicians said there was no need to give Reagan special honors since he had already been made an honorary citizen of the city. The stance partly reflects remnants of the West German left’s fierce opposition in the 1980s to Mr. Reagan’s unapologetic devotion to capitalism and his deployment on German soil of nuclear-capable missiles. His visits to Berlin were accompanied by violent riots from far-left protesters.

    While West Germany was a close ally of the U.S. then, relations have frayed since President Trump, a frequent and blistering critic of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, came to power.

    “There have been many U.S. presidents who could be honored,” said Sabine Bangert, a member of the liberal Green Party and chairwoman of the committee of the Berlin state parliament in charge of monuments. “At least until now.”

    Singling out Mr. Reagan for special remembrance, she said, would be unfair to the many foreign leaders who supported German reunification and to the people of communist East Germany who on their own rose up and tore down the Wall.

    After the end of World War II, Germany was divided into two entities: the Soviet-dominated German Democratic Republic, or GDR, and the Federal Republic of Germany, a combination of the U.S., British and French occupation zones that later became a member of the Western alliance.

    The Berlin Wall, erected in 1961 by the East German government to stop the stream of citizens defecting to the West, became a symbol of that division. Mr. Reagan saw it as his personal task as president to help bring down the barrier in a city he loved, according to John Heubusch, head of the Reagan Foundation. He was the only U.S. president to visit the Berlin Wall twice.

    Clark S. Judge, one of Mr. Reagan’s speechwriters, said the president privately had traveled to Berlin in the late 1970s and was enraged at the injustice of the Wall when he first saw it.

    “We all knew that the president felt very, very strongly about Berlin. He felt Berlin stood for freedom, surrounded by a totalitarian regime, and he saw it as his job to stand by the people of Berlin,” said Mr. Judge, who is now managing director of White House Writers Group Inc.

    In the run-up to the centennial celebration of Mr. Reagan’s birth in 2011, efforts intensified under the patronage of then-President Obama to honor him in Berlin. Reagan statues sprang up across former socialist states in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as in London and even Tbilisi, in the Caucasian nation of Georgia.

    But the Berlin campaign ran aground, said Mr. Heubusch, who has headed the Reagan Foundation since 2009. He enlisted the help of former and serving U.S. ambassadors, he said, to no avail.

    “We met with resistance, and we were told it would be near impossible to make such a statue in Berlin,” he said.


    Berlin authorities eventually endorsed in 2012 a small memorial plaque on the pavement near the spot in the Tiergarten park where Mr. Reagan held his historic speech June 12, 1987.

    This year, the U.S. ambassador to Germany, Richard A. Grenell, named the embassy terrace overlooking the Brandenburg Gate after Mr. Reagan and suggested erecting a sculpture of the former president there.

    The Reagan Foundation agreed and ordered a bronze sculpture from Chas Fagan, the sculptor who made the Reagan statue installed in the Capitol’s Rotunda in Washington in 2009.

    The Berlin statue shows Mr. Reagan holding speech cards bearing the famous quote: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.”

    The artist, who praised the location’s proximity to the site of the speech and that of the former Berlin Wall, integrated pieces of the concrete barrier into his sculpture.

    Frank Henkel, who as a Berlin government official helped secure approval for the plaque despite opposition from center-left parties, said it was a shame the president’s likeness couldn’t be put on German soil.

    “At least this extraordinary leader has been honored in this city that is in his debt,” said Mr. Henkel, now a state legislator with Ms. Merkel’s Christian Democrats.

    A spokesman for Mitte, the Berlin district that is home to the Brandenburg Gate, and a spokeswoman for the city’s mayor said they were unaware of any current request to build a statue.

    “We had to place it on American soil,” Mr. Heubusch said of the embassy site, “but at least that soil is going to reside in the city of Berlin.”
     
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  2. Caligula

    Caligula Well-Known Member

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    three, two, one ...
    Same procedure.
     
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  3. One Mind

    One Mind Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Probably have one or more of Einstein . And given many german immigrants no doubt we have statues of them

    Germany became unified and Reagan is an american that had some role in that given the ussr had to end for this to happen.

    As an American I am not bothered by it. The german people can do as they will.

    Most Americans are happy Germany became unified.

    No one fears a 4th Reich. And we dont want you to be a lap dog. Does Germany want lapdogs?
     
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  4. LangleyMan

    LangleyMan Well-Known Member

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    Last edited: Nov 6, 2019
  5. Darthcervantes

    Darthcervantes Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I wouldn't care if america had some statues honoring famous German politicians. Why not?
    On tje other hand, it won't happen. We can't even keep our own statues because some of their sister's husband's uncle's fifth cousin's great grandfathers had slaves.
     
  6. zoom_copter66

    zoom_copter66 Well-Known Member

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    No appreciation it seems from the Krauts.....so much for "Mr. Gorbachev....tear down this wall!?!".....and I'm German American myself!:confused:
     
  7. Thedimon

    Thedimon Well-Known Member

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    How do you manage to find such petty crap?
     
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  8. Sobo

    Sobo Banned

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    Your gay Ambassador in Germany spews it out daily.
     
  9. US Conservative

    US Conservative Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Your posts are too long, imo.

    Reagan was the best thing that ever happened to you, sobo.

    You'd be suckling on Marx's teat even harder if not for him.
     
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  10. Cari

    Cari Active Member

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    We have hundreds of statues including some very doubtful members from the past. General Haig for example who was known as ‘Butcher Haig’ who was responsible for hundreds of thousand deaths in WW1 and ought to have stood trial for mass murder but instead the far right made a statue of him, but no one cares, we walk past them daily and no one gives a ****.
     
  11. US Conservative

    US Conservative Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Well even in the US we grasp the myriad of doubtful Germans from the past.

    But Reagan isn't close.

    Honestly, Germany might need a few more decades in rubble scrambling for chocolate.

    What say you?

    And Carl, talk to Sobo.
     
  12. Jeannette

    Jeannette Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    And what has Einstein contributed to the US - and/or the world? It shows how heavily politics are involved. Where are the statues of Nikola Tesla who has given us everything that we enjoy today including radio, the alternating electric current, remote control, etc., etc.

    Instead, the people who stole his patents like Edison and Marconi are glorified in school books. Unlike Einstein who contributed to the destruction of the world with the atom bomb, he gave his everything to stop wars through free energy - so of course they destroyed him.


    Tesla said that Einstein's theory of relativity is wrong. He also said people are enlightened and influenced by outside forces - which is part of our Christian belief. He was also called crazy for saying that with the gadget in his hand, he could split the world. The geologists realized he was right with the large earthquake in Chile. I guess it has something to do with the vibration.

    Anyway this is not to lessen Albert Einstein and his mathematical brilliance, but rather to give recognition to the more positive contributions in this world of Nikola Tesla.

    Sorry Sobo for going off topic.



    God is passe', now it's: 'In Money We Trust.'
    [​IMG]


     
    Last edited: Nov 7, 2019
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  13. Jeannette

    Jeannette Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Sobo just a suggestion. Next time the Germans decide to kill the Serbs, think of what Nikola Tesla has given you.
     
  14. Jeannette

    Jeannette Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    To add to this: Without the opportunity that the US gave to Nikola Tesla, he would not have been able to develop his ideas and put them to work. He always recognized this and considered his American citizenship papers his proudest possession.
     
  15. Dayton3

    Dayton3 Well-Known Member

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    I really wish Germans knew their place in the world. You'd think having their asses kicked repeatedly would've done that.
     
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  16. Blaster3

    Blaster3 Well-Known Member

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    no doubt
     
  17. Cari

    Cari Active Member

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    Don’t judge all Germans on Sobo's rants, most are decent enough. Sobo just gets itchy toes when he hears the word Poland mentioned.
     
    Last edited: Nov 7, 2019
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  18. Blaster3

    Blaster3 Well-Known Member

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    we owe everything to germans, without them we'd still be living in the stone ages, & without medicines... german scientists were the most brilliant of the times and helped all future scientific advances... yes, i'm american & i'm not advocating for germany, i'm giving credit where it's do...
     
  19. LangleyMan

    LangleyMan Well-Known Member

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    Einstein
    [​IMG]
    Tesla Monument, Niagara Falls, NY
    Einstein didn't create the atomic bomb.
    There's no evidence for the god of the Bible.
     
    Last edited: Nov 7, 2019
  20. Doofenshmirtz

    Doofenshmirtz Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    It should be a statue of Stalin. You have to please the Russians now that you depend on them for oil.
     
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  21. LangleyMan

    LangleyMan Well-Known Member

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    Einstein contributed relativity.
    [​IMG]
    Tesla Monument, Niagara Falls, NY
    Einstein didn't create the atomic bomb.
    There's no evidence for the god of the Bible.
     
    Last edited: Nov 7, 2019
  22. gnoib

    gnoib Well-Known Member

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    The left government of the city of Berlin has shown again what a bunch of idiots they are. Reagan's speech was one the best or greatest given in front of the wall. He put down the seed which made the Soviet Empire collapse.
    He was a great friend of West Germany and deserves to have his monument at the former wall.
     
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  23. gnoib

    gnoib Well-Known Member

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    We know our place in the world and have learned our lesson, at least I hope so.

    But a question between friends, does the US. Since 1945 it has gotten its ars kicked so often, that it is not funny any more, Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq and sadly now Syria...………………….
     
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  24. Right is the way

    Right is the way Well-Known Member

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    What great german politician should the USA make? The only two the average person even knows is Hitler and Wilhelm ll, I doubt either would be a popular choice. You can throw Merkel in there but she is still alive and has not done squat to the benefit of the USA.
     
  25. Dayton3

    Dayton3 Well-Known Member

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    -
    The U.S. won in all of those except for Vietnam.
     

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