FMT:
Germany slams US for ‘downplaying virus issue for a long time’
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German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas says he hopes the US will rethink its international relationships AFP pic |
FRANKFURT: German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has criticised the United States’ handling of the coronavirus outbreak as too slow, the latest sign of tensions between the two allies as they respond to the crisis.
China took “very authoritarian measures, while in the US, the virus was played down for a long time,” Maas said in an interview with Der Spiegel magazine in a preview sent to the media on Friday.
“These are two extremes, neither of which can be a model for Europe,” he said.
Germany was among countries that last week accused the United States of “Wild West” tactics in outbidding or blocking shipments to buyers who had already signed deals for vital medical supplies.
Maas told Der Spiegel that he hoped the United States would rethink its international relationships in light of the coronavirus crisis.
“Let’s see to what extent the actions of the American government will lead to discussions in the US about whether the ‘America First’ model really works,” he said, adding that aggressive trade policies may have hurt the country’s ability to procure protective equipment.
A spokesman for the US embassy in Berlin was not immediately able to respond to a request for comment.
China took “very authoritarian measures, while in the US, the virus was played down for a long time,” Maas said in an interview with Der Spiegel magazine in a preview sent to the media on Friday.
“These are two extremes, neither of which can be a model for Europe,” he said.
Germany was among countries that last week accused the United States of “Wild West” tactics in outbidding or blocking shipments to buyers who had already signed deals for vital medical supplies.
Maas told Der Spiegel that he hoped the United States would rethink its international relationships in light of the coronavirus crisis.
“Let’s see to what extent the actions of the American government will lead to discussions in the US about whether the ‘America First’ model really works,” he said, adding that aggressive trade policies may have hurt the country’s ability to procure protective equipment.
A spokesman for the US embassy in Berlin was not immediately able to respond to a request for comment.
Sounds like the German government, now facing an ever increasing death toll, is also looking for scapegoats..
ReplyDeleteSame-same lah
trump n tedros 2x5, both wanna kiss ccp ass.
ReplyDeletei suspect kt ck n jj oso a ccp asskisser, or dedak eater? or both? i heard ccp increase the reward from 50 cents one comment to now 70 cents, fake news one 2.50. i manyak jealous.
Two of them are RBA earning rewards too.
DeleteWakakakaka…
DeleteCroaking frog know what jealousy is?
All u need is a pool of demoNcratic muddy water mah.
US leads the world...bullying and sanctioning and threatening... mainly by virtue of its military might. All those empty facade of democracy, freedom of speech, human rights, rules of law are just bunkum razzmatazz to fool the naive, the stupids, the gullible and brainwashed who chose to close both eyes to the hypocrisy of it all.
ReplyDeleteThere is no such a thing as allowing gross human rights violation in one country simply because you stand to gain by pretending such violations do not exist, and yet have the audacity to shamelessly claim that you uphold human rights.
There is no such a thing as penalizing a country for not practicing Democracy when in your own country, you afford no Democracy for your own citizens or afford Democracy to those countries who had dealings with you. By such double standards, you lose that claim that you are a Democracy.
Ditto for Freedom of Speech. Spare us the nonsense that just because you allow the ordinary man in the streets to raise his fist at the President of the country and allow cartoons to lampoon him, allow the chatting class to endlessly criticize anyone, and everyone and everything under the sun, then your country is a 'free land', a paragon of freedom of speech. Fools that you are unable to see through this cynical facade to give an illusion of freedom of speech. Where it REALLY MATTERS, when real stuff are revealed....like the murderous underhand devilishly devious shenanigans of the lying, stealing and cheating CIA and their NSA, the deep state where dark secrets of unspeakable and despicable deeds were committed in the name of hegemony...when these real stuff that matters were exposed, suddenly the so-called freedom of speech come to a screeching halt, the brave heroes who exposed have to hide in exile to save his own life, or be charged with false charges in court after being relentlessly hunted down. The fools know about all these shenanigans but pretended not to see or are in denial.
Trump in this current virus crisis is really showing his woeful lack of leadership in the international stage. It is surprising that the German Foreign Minister did not speak up sooner, but of course he will only speak up now when it affected his own country.
What manner of world leadership acted like a pirate to intercept much sought-after goods so desperately needed to save lives in such gangster-like manner ? Are the lives of others of less value than that of the Americans ? Or cynically, does one's rating to win a re-election so much more important even at the cost of the lives of others ? As a comparison, would Obama acted in such a manner ? Would he not have called for the cooperation from all the countries now in such dire straits together, to work out a means to fairly distribute the much-sought-after resource ? This America First is the beginning of the End of America. Bet on it.
The Berlin Interior Minister's accusation last week that the US hijacked their mask shipment at Bangkok airport like pirates has been debunked.
ReplyDeleteChallenged by the Berlin State's opposition, the State Government was unable to produce documents proving there was such a shipment.
Too late, the Yanks had already been tried and found guilty. And the accusation reported as fact repeated millions of times, including on this blog.
It is a classic example of how prejudices, in this case , anti-Americanism , spreads like a virus , facts unnecessary.
Rubbish, you and you suck-america-at-all-cost
DeleteIt's not only Germany but France, Spain, etc who have accused the US of such modern day hijacking
That Orange Buffoon now came out swinging, gloating...to announce that he had used the "hammer to hit hard"...now 3M had to comply. Wow..such great leadership, such world-leader lead by example. Even lap doggie Canadian Trudeau managed to pluck up his pea sized courage to promise retaliation...many Canadian health workers work in US hospitals, hehehehe
Delete"It is a classic example of how prejudices, in this case , anti-Americanism , spreads like a virus , facts unnecessary."
ReplyDeleteHehehe...how does it feels like now that the shoe is on the other foot ? For DECADES now...the American media had been spewing disinformation and even outright lies in a massive and concerted manner, all very slick and well coordinated with highly paid and well-fed "journalists", all cheered on by their allies in European countries, not forgetting that lap dog sheriff in Down Under...really down under lah..sucking up, hehehe
Now that the allies are fighting among themselves, all the scum starts to surface, wakakaka. But of course the first volley started quite a while back, when Trump put trade tariff on his allies "for national security" reasons, hehehe. The Europeans were more than affronted of course...why us ? they ask...we should all gang up on China, those heathens ! So this fighting for face masks is the last straw.
This morning, Trump came out swinging, almost gloating ... "we used the hammer to hit hard"...this is war, each man for himself, hehehe, so 3M has to comply. Now our lap doggie boy Trudeau managed to pluck up that pea-sized courage of his, promising retaliation...is he really pulling out all those Canadian health workers from all the hospitals in the US ? hehe, let's watch the drama unfold.
i agree both usa n china r faker, i condemn both while yr type r not, faker love another faker as long as its yr type.
DeleteWon't u agree there is an even bigger faker?
DeleteYr beloved Formosa!
The Formosa real covid-19 toll will surface, now that the Japanese has given up on hiding/twisting to save the Olympic game.
Hope, u can sleep on it when that need hit the headline.
U r right. Faker loves another faker, especially when one is been mollycoddled & cocoon-minded by the other!
oldest faker we hv one, the 95 years old comnan. bigger how to quantify? using wuahn virus data kah?
DeleteShoo..shoo..cease and desist in your petty yelping, hehehe
DeleteDon't trouble your pretty head over stuff that require step by step explanation just so to get you into the loop. Play far far away hehehehe. Too tiresome to layan some one who thinks that 'winning' consists only of repeated jeering and shooting out senseless one-liner. Pordah la...