She sounds pretty pissed. Which is kind of what you'd expect given how she's always been against the entire auto bailout and its inevitable global market distortions. Even so, GM - which predictably filed for bankruptcy on June 1 - convinced Germany to save their European Opel division in a last-minute deal on May 30, in the midst of the company's freefall.

The deal, negotiated personally by Merkel even though it cost her massive political capital, had the German government underwrite Opel with the understanding that GM would sell the division, recoup the losses, and repay the loan. In the meantime tons of German jobs would be saved (as opposed to functionally fired right before Christmas, which is what just happened).

A normal company subject to normal market forces could be expected to follow through on the deal, since burning G8 countries after they extend you billions in currency is generally considered poor form. Apparently the board of our government owned auto corporation has different considerations, and they backed out of the deal. Now Germany is demanding their money back, though not before laying the entire mess at at Obama's feet:

"Without our involvement there would be no Opel today," Merkel told the Frankfurter Allgemeine (FAZ) daily in an interview to be published on Saturday. "We secured Opel's chances of survival." With US parent company GM struggling to survive, Germany gave Opel a "bridging loan" of 1.5 billion euros (2.2 billion dollars) to keep it running and Opel's 25,000 German employees, half the European total, in a job. In September, GM signed a preliminary deal to sell a majority stake in Opel, a deal backed by the German government with three billion euros in state loan guarantees, but last month GM decided not to sell after all. With Merkel having invested considerable political capital in securing the deal, Berlin was not amused. It is now demanding that GM pay back the money. "Now that the final decision has been taken, GM now has to pay back the bridging loan ... It has now taken over the responsibility of financing Opel itself," Merkel told the FAZ.

You'll be glad to know that GM's European spokespeople were pretty cocky about repaying the loan: "if we're asked, GM will repay the bridge loan in question." Sure it's infuriating to see them being generous with US taxpayer money as a way of brushing away their own incompetence. But (a) they're already bragging about paying back US taxpayer debts with money from US taxpayers and (b) they already gave $1 billion in bailout money to Brazil. Given how much Brazil's been flirting with Iran, it'd be churlish not to throw some money toward a reliable ally like Germany.

Maybe we can mollify Merkel by reminding her of all the sound economic reasons Democrats gave for the bailout. Like how not doing it would have been unpatriotic and "un-American." It's difficult to understand how a plan passed in such a nuanced argumentative context could fare so poorly.

References and related after the jump...

Actually I have no idea what message this Liaison Dangereuse commercial is trying to send. It's either "burkas are really sexy" or "you can be sexy despite burkas." Or it might be "sure you're trapped in a suffocating unassimilated ethnic community in the heart of Old Europe, where honor killings are increasingly common and seething anti-Jewish hatred is implicit, but that doesn't mean you can't feel like a woman!"

In any case someone's cruising for a fatwa. Rated mildly NSFW for brief, repeated glimpses of Miriam Wimmer's diabolically perfect ass:

Yeah, like she'd be allowed to rent her own apartment (via AdFreak).

References:
* Germany: Muslim father "abused," brother stabbed to death, 16 year-old girl [Jihad Watch]
* Israeli Flag Now Functionally Illegal In Germany And Britain Because It "Provokes" Violent Anti-Semitic Mobs [MR]

Related Mere Rhetoric Coverage:
* Women In Islam
* Islam In Europe
* Germany Coverage

Here is the text of Reagan's Pointe de Hoc speech in Normandy, one of the great post-WWII panegyrics to the Western legacy of freedom and one of the high water marks of American Presidential oratory:

The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead or on the next. It was the deep knowledge -- and pray God we have not lost it -- that there is a profound moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest. You were here to liberate, not to conquer, and so you and those others did not doubt your cause. And you were right not to doubt. You all knew that some things are worth dying for. One's country is worth dying for, and democracy is worth dying for, because it's the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man. All of you loved liberty. All of you were willing to fight tyranny, and you knew the people of your countries were behind you.

And here is a story about how Obama refused to travel to Normandy because it might hurt the Germans' feelings. And they were so nice to let him give his incredibly expensive and somewhat creepy, "citizen of the world" Berlin speech. So ix-nay on visiting the troops who defeated them in WWII:

White House officials travelled to France at the start of March to discuss a visit by Mr Obama to Omaha Beach, the site of the American Cemetery, established in 1944 just after D-Day and where 9,387 American personnel are buried... French officials and senior American military officers walked with White House staff through the cemetery discussing how the two presidents might follow the same route... [T]he White House had decided that Mr Obama would not travel there this week. "It wasn't going to happen," said an American official in Washington. "We went through the motions to placate President Sarkozy but giving special treatment to France was not on our agenda... During this trip, we wanted to maintain a balance between the British, German and France".

Technically it would have been "giving special treatment" to the nearly 10,000 Americans who died to liberate Nazi-occupied Europe. But whatever. At least he's using smart power to repair our relationship with the rest of the world!

The French president tried unsuccessfully to meet Mr Obama before he was sworn in after the G20 summit in Washington last November, even stationing a French military plane on 24-hour standby nearby to whisk him to Chicago should the then US president-elect change his mind. He had also hoped Mr Obama would agree to a meeting before attending the G20 summit in London on April 3. The French had suggested that Mr Obama fly from London to Normandy on Friday morning for a stop before the Nato summit. Instead, he is going directly to Strasbourg.

Of course - as Obama pointed out while overseas in France - tense US-European relations are Bush's fault. Now that there's an expert diplomat in the White House who knows how to navigate the turbulent waters of international geopolitics, expect to see US-French relations skyrocketing.

Well, except for how Obama sent send a personal letter to Sarkozy's political opponents implicitly praising them for their opposition to the Iraq War. And how he infuriated Paris by urging the EU to accept Turkey. And except for how his protectionist trade policies are pissing everybody off. And except for how his Secretary of State doesn't know the names of her counterparts.

But except for those things, skyrocketing relations.

References and previously after the jump...

The impromptu German policy of tearing down Israeli flags to chants of "Alluh akbar" is now official police policy. Synagogues are being vandalized. Holocaust memorials are being trashed. So I dunno, maybe?

I would like to know why pacifism gains so much strength every time it is directed against Israel. How come the newspaper pictures of the war are so one-sided and pro-Palestinian? Could it be that anti-Semitism is again prevalent in Germany, only this time it conveniently disguises itself as being anti-Israel? The answer is complex. I have met anti-Semites in this country, but I also ran into a lot of philo-Semites here. Some people here seem to feel less guilty of the German past when Jews "also" act violently. And, of course, there are also those, who reflexively root for the underdog, the Palestinians.

Luckily Berlin's Center for Research on Anti-Semitism has an ambitious plan to deal with all this: they're going to combat Islamophobia. That should do the trick.

References:
* Israeli Flag Now Functionally Illegal In Germany And Britain Because It "Provokes" Violent Anti-Semitic Mobs [MR]
* German police ban Israeli flags [JPost]
* Vandals break windows at synagogue in Germany [TopNews Law]
* German Anti-Zionists Momentarily Forget That They're Not Anti-Semitic, Trash Anti-Nazi Memorial [MR]
* Is German pacifism ignorant or anti-Israeli?
* 'German center ignores Iranian threat' [JPost]

Previously:
* Germany Keeping Iran Afloat Diplomatically And Economically
* Pictures Of German Students' Anti-Semitic Pro-Palestinian Rampage (Plus: Not At All Anti-Semitic Berkeley Protesters Keep Attacking Jews)
* Mecca Pilgrims' Chants Under-Emphasize Peaceful Nature Of Islam

One of the Muqata's readers watched as German police broke into his house to tear an Israeli flag out of his window:

Today, 10.000 people demonstrated against Israel here in my hometown Duisburg (Germany) and to express their solidarity with Hamas. So, my girlfriend and me put two Israel flags out of the windows of our flat in the 3rd floor. During the demonstration which went through our street the police broke into our flat and removed the flag of Israel. The statement of the police was to de-escalate the situation, because many youth demonstrators were on the brink of breaking into our apartment house. Before this they threw snowballs, knifes and stones against our windows and the complete building.

Fanatics that are "provoked" by visible Judaism seem to be a bit of a thing in Britain as well. Far from following the Germans' example and letting venomous anti-Semitic Muslim mobs erode centuries-old Western rights, British police are... well no, actually, they're doing the exact same thing:

I was there last night - in fact me and my mate were one of the first to arrive. As we crossed from the station and walked towards the embassy, we were greeted by lunatics waving Hamas and Hezbollah flags. In front of us walked a young man, wearing a kippah. He got out of his bag an Israeli flag and was immediately taken to the side by two police officers. After questioning him for about 10 minutes, he was issued a caution. After he was released we went up to talk to him - he showed us the police caution - and I kid you not - it stated that by getting out an Israeli flag he was causing provocation to the pro Palestinian demonstration.

A picture of the Israeli flag being torn down in Germany:

A picture of Hezbollah's flag being raised in Britain during Lebanon II:

Metaphorical, no?

References:
* Day 16 of the War, Sunday, January 11, 2009 [Muqata]
* Violent Gaza protests reveal how gentle civilised Britain has changed into something very ugly indeed [Phillips / Daily Mail]

Previously:
* Britain Has the Highest Number Of Anti-Semitic Attacks In Europe: "Are You English Or A Jew"? [Video]
* This Week's Anti-Semitic Chic
* Anti-Jewish Violence Skyrockets In Europe - Maybe It's Not Just Anti-Zionism After All

Are they doing this on purpose? First top politicians feted Khatami in Germany despite the mullah's charming declaration that Israel is "an old, incurable wound on the body of Islam, a wound that really possesses demonic, stinking, contagious blood." Potentially embarrassing questions about internal Iranian politics - like the ones that cracked Ahmadinejad in NYC - were prohibited. Naturally.

On the economic side it's almost like Germans are going out of their way to flaunt sanctions and keep Iran's economy afloat:

While the United States reacts to reports that Iran had enriched enough uranium for a nuclear weapon with concern and calls for tighter sanctions, in Germany it is business as usual. Today, many of the leading lights of German-Iranian trade will be meeting at a conference in Hamburg in order to discuss how further to promote the "success" of German business with Iran... the Hamburg-based German-Iranian Chamber of Commerce... continues to work with the Iranian Saderat Bank: a bank that was blacklisted by the United States in September 2006 on account of its relations with terrorist groups like Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad... The list of conference participants reads like a “Who’s Who” of German-Iranian trade relations.

Strong German-Iranian ties are apparently a matter of... achem... "tradition." Although economic relations are hardly the only common interest shared by contemporary Germans and Iranians. German Jews are actually experiencing anti-Semitic attacks that you couldn't even get away with in Iran (albeit only for technical halal reasons - it's not like the sentiment would be unrecognizable).

Maybe this is just Germany's attempt to reach out to their large, unassimilated Muslim populations. "Interfaith dialogue" and spirited theological disputation kind of spectacularly backfired. So maybe cozying up to the genocidal Iranian regime was their next best option. That and selling cutting edge subs to Egypt.

References:
* Jews slam Germany for hosting Khatami [JPost]
* Sanctions? What Sanctions? German-Iranian Trade Booms [PJM]
* Berlin hearts Iran III [WSJ]
* Pictures Of German Students' Anti-Semitic Pro-Palestinian Rampage (Plus: Not At All Anti-Semitic Berkeley Protesters Keep Attacking Jews) [MR]
* Vandals hang severed pig's head outside entrance to Jewish cemetery in Germany [Ha'aretz]
* German outreach to Muslims backfires [Hot Air]
* Germany-Egypt sub sale worries Israel [JPost]

Previously:
* Rabbis Are Again Being Attacked And Stabbed On German Streets
* Wherein We Almost Entirely Decline To Comment On Iran's Major Trading Partner
* German Anti-Zionists Momentarily Forget That They're Not Anti-Semitic, Trash Anti-Nazi Memorial

Via Jihad I Malmo's coverage here and here and with a tip of the hat to MR reader EN, some pics of those pro-Palestinian German leftists who somehow got confused between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism:

Similar nudge-wink anti-Zionist thuggery was on display at Berkeley last Thursday.

The Arab students unfurled the large flag on a balcony above the outdoor site where the concert was taking place, inciting a provocation right in front of the concert-goers, who were enjoying the event as part of the campus' Israel Liberation Week. Several Jewish concertgoers went into the building to ask the Arabs to remove the flag – but were viciously attacked, with one male concertgoer knocked down from a blow on the back of his head, witnesses said.

See also: Muslim Student Association, pathological anti-Jewish bigotry of.

At times like this it's important to remember what liberal Jewish groups like the NJDC and JStreet - to say nothing of American Reform Jews - constantly insist: the real threat to world Jewry comes from evangelical Christians.

References and previously after the jump...

Well these things happen. Easy mistake to make:

Roughly 1,000 pupils and left-wing activists who unlawfully occupied Humboldt University (HU) and some of whom destroyed an anti-Nazi exhibition on Wednesday were reacting to the university's close ties to Israel, the university president has said. Christoph Markschies told The Jerusalem Post that one of the protesters in the lobby of the university said "Damn Israel" when asked by another student to "stop" vandalizing the exhibit "Betrayed and Sold," about the plundering of Jewish businesses under the Nazis. "Friendship with Israel is part of the HU's identity," said Markschies, adding that "no one can tell me that the exhibit was damaged because it was a mistake."... He said the vandalism and alleged statement were not driven by anti-Semitism, but that the expression "Damn Israel" highlights the "problems of the State of Israel."

In today's Germany academics insist that the Palestinians are the real victims of the Holocaust. The German Parliament can't even bring itself to unto unequivocally condemn Kristallnacht. But no worries: those are merely anti-Zionist stances on accont of how Kristallnacht and the Holocaust were targeted at Israel.

References:
* German kids destroy anti-Nazi exhibit [JPost]
* German intellectuals: Israel's creation made Palestinians victims of Holocaust [Ha'aretz]
* German Politicians Divided over Anti-Semitism [Speigel]

Previously:
* Wherein We Almost Entirely Decline To Comment On Iran's Major Trading Partner
* Merkel To Putin: Iran Is Kind Of Crazy, Shouldn't Get Nukes (Plus: Yup, Operation Orchard Hit A Nuke Facility)
* Germans Hosting Concert Of Nazi Icon In Nazi Concert Hall To Raise Money For Modern Day Nazis

We tried to be subtle in the headline, but honestly - really?

As if performing a Wagner opera in a Nazi-era theater by an orchestra comprised of Israeli and Arab musicians was not an unlikely enough a concept, the organizer of the event said Wednesday that proceeds from the show will go to building a concert hall in Ramallah... The orchestra is scheduled to perform Wagner's "Die Walkuere" on August 23 at Berlin's Waldbuehne - an arena built as part of the complex for the 1936 Olympics by the Nazis... He said a concert hall in Ramallah would go far in improving the daily lives of Palestinians. "Political negotiations are important, but everyday life is even more important," he said. If the concert hall gets built in Ramallah, Barenboim says that he would help organize a concert there every four to six weeks.

Ramallah, of course, is where Abbas recently pushed back against Hamas's Islamist popularity by trying to impose sharia law. A veritable cosmopolitan metropolis, that place is.

In all fairness, calling the Palestinians modern day Nazis is probably out of line. The Nazis had infrastructure.

References:
* Wagner show in Nazi-era hall to raise funds for Ramallah venue [Ha'aretz]
* Abbas Pushes Back Against Hamas By Imposing Sharia In Ramallah [MR]

Previously:
* Holocaust Denying State Department Darling Accuses Israel Of "Holocaust" In Gaza (Plus: NYT Bias Right On Cue)
* Arab-Israeli Peace in Practice
* Germany And Russia Get Together For Talks... About Israel?

Lots of people are having fun with the entirely predictable but still totally batshit crazy DKos comments about the fire in Cheney's office. But for truly heavy-handed ugliness, check out this contribution from a thread about Lieberman's endorsement of McCain:

Is Lieberman a Democrat NO !
Is Lieberman a Republican NO !
Lieberman is a Likud Jew.
They are the hated ones from Germany.
They are the German/Jew Fascists.
They are the ones that make it bad for the
"good Jews" in this World.
If you want to know what Lieberman is going
to do next, see which way the wind is blowing---
in Tel Aviv.

Number of top-tier Democratic Presidential candidates who declined to attend this year's YearlyKos convention: 0

References:
* re: White House Fire [NRO Corner]
* Fire in Cheney's Office Causes Leftists to Rant Uncontrollably [LGF]
* Shanda! Lieberman embarrasses his friends. [DKos]

Previously:
* [Video] What You Get When You Vote For Democrats - Empowering Conspiracy Theory Wackos
* Isn't It About Time For Democratic Jews To Stop Electorally Empowering The Ahmadinejad-Supporting Left?
* Hysterical Liberal Calls To Ban Coulter Somewhat Inconsistent With Their "Free Speech" Celebrations Of Ahmadinejad's Columbia Appearance

Some of the images are a little diverse, representing the spectrum of cultural experiences associated with Israel. And some of the images are hard, representing the tragedy of what is done to Israelis and how Israelis have had to protect themselves. But that's what there is:

There are times when Israel is at war and times when Israel is at peace, and there are always opposing voices. This, we suggest to you, is not a particularly common experience in the Middle East.

References:
* Hatikva - Die Hoffnung (the hope) [orchideeeee / YouTube]

Previously:
* Tuesday Hatikva On A Kinnor Lyre [Video]
* Tuesday Hatikva - Enrico Macias's Voice Is More Than Sufficient
* Tuesday Hatikva - Hope At A Rave. Then At Another Rave. Then At A Third Rave. And So On. [Videos]

We're kind of procrastinating on any of the vaguely meaningful posts that we've got lined up for the rest of the day, so here are some happy thoughts:

It sounds like the plot for a scary B-movie: Germs go into space on a rocket and come back stronger and deadlier than ever. Except, it really happened. The germ: Salmonella, best known as a culprit of food poisoning. The trip: Space Shuttle STS-115, September 2006. The reason: Scientists wanted to see how space travel affects germs, so they took some along - carefully wrapped - for the ride. The result: Mice fed the space germs were three times more likely to get sick and died quicker than others fed identical germs that had remained behind on Earth. "Wherever humans go, microbes go, you can't sterilize humans. Wherever we go, under the oceans or orbiting the earth, the microbes go with us, and it's important that we understand ... how they're going to change," explained Cheryl Nickerson, an associate professor at the Center for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology at Arizona State University.

It's the equivalent of "I wonder what'll happen if I push this button." Except, you know, with supergerms.

References:
* Germs Taken to Space Come Back Deadlier [Wired]

Previously:
* Neat - Liquid Moon Mirrors
* Neat - Now We're Teaching Robots To Climb Walls [Video]
* Neat - Autonomous Robots With Weapons Strapped To Them

Looks like all those careful and insincere distinctions between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism aren't having much of an effect on murderous anti-Semitism:

We don't know what the big deal is. He was just expressing "legitimate criticism of the State of Israel." People do that all the time these days, ya know.

References:
* Police: Anti-Semitic insult preceded Frankfurt rabbi stabbing [Ha'aretz]

Previously:
* Germany And Russia Get Together For Talks... About Israel?
* Hey Gals, Check This Out - Pathological Islamism in Germany
* UN Human Rights Commission Makes It Official: They Will Only Monitor, Condemn Israel

Cross-posted to:
* Israpundit

When people irrationally hate the Jewish State you have to ask yourself - what's driving that irrationality? Are they ignorant? Are they stupid?

Are they latent anti-Semites trying to cover over their ideological bias with thin pretexts?

Who can tell?

They must have based their rational, level-headed appraisal on widespread reports of gas chambers and concentration camps in the West Bank. There's no other explanation for their principled, anti-Zionist stance, right?

Oh, and they're so brave for criticizing Israel. Because that's virtually impossible in Europe, right? You never see any criticism of Israel in the European press.

References:
* Yad Vashem slams bishops' comments in letter to German Catholic head

Previously:
* Mainstreaming of Anti-Semitism (Comedy Festival Edition)
* Mainstreaming Of Anti-Semitism, Hollywood Edition
* Mainstreaming Of Global Anti-Semitism, South Korea Edition

The world has this strange obsession with Israel. There's always this pressing urgency to deal with the Israeli question, no matter what the context. And no matter what happens or where it happens in the world, there's always an Israeli angle to be discussed. So it's unsurprising that when the leaders of Germany and Russia get together, they're going to talk about Israel:

You'd think they'd be able to find more important things to talk about. Like, maybe, Putin trying to shut off Europe's oil supply(!!)

But naw - it's obviously more important to figure out what the Jews are up to this week.

Previously: Putin Wins Russian Politician Of The Year, Putin Goes After Chess Master, Opposition Politician Kasparov, Now You've Gone and Done It