Are U.S. - German Relations In Tatters?

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stands next to his airplane before boarding it to Beirut at Ben Gurion airport near Lod, Israel March 22, 2019. REUTERS/Jim Young/Pool

Matthew Karnitschnig, Politico: Pompeo is dead to Berlin

US secretary of state had better things to do than go to Germany, and it hasn’t gone down well.

BERLIN — Everyone knows Germans hate tardiness. But if you want to really push a Teuton over the edge, cancel a meeting at the last minute.

Just ask U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who canceled a trip to Berlin Tuesday, jilting Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Heiko Maas.

"This is difficult to excuse," the Süddeutsche Zeitung, the daily bulletin of Germany's bobo elite, seethed. What could be more "pressing" than what would have been Pompeo's first official visit to Berlin as secretary of state, the paper wondered.

That the answer to that question, at least in Pompeo's view, was Iran, only enraged the Germans more. Berlin continues to cling to the illusion that Europe can save the nuclear deal with Iran that the U.S. abandoned a year ago and regards U.S. policy toward Tehran as belligerent.

The fact that Pompeo skipped Berlin to indulge in some serious saber-rattling vis-à-vis Iran from Baghdad only added insult to injury.

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WNU Editor: Washington and Berlin do not see eye-to-eye on many issues. But quite frankly the U.S. is not alone. Many countries in Europe have an unfavourable view of the German government right now and its policies .... from immigration, economics, military spending, and being too cosy with Moscow.