Word: guttenberg
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Germany, the attack served as a stark reminder of the dangers facing German troops in Afghanistan. The latest deaths bring the number of German soldiers killed in the NATO-led mission to 39 since the Afghan invasion of 2001. For Germany's new Defense Minister, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, who cut short a holiday in South Africa to fly home following the attack, it marked the first time he had to offer condolences to the relatives of fallen soldiers - a grim task for a young, up-and-coming minister. While expressing his deep regret for the deaths, zu Guttenberg broke...
...Afghan mission a "war," given the German public's deep loathing of the concept. But this started to change in February when the government came up with a new way of describing its mission, saying German troops were now engaged in a "non-international armed conflict." Then came zu Guttenberg's admission that the 4,300 German soldiers currently on the ground are actually engaged in what the rest of the world generally considers a war. "In the past, the Afghan mission was sold to Germans as a civilian reconstruction mission but in reality it's a war," says Citha...
...Guttenberg's tenatitive utterance of the "W" word unleashed a heated debate in the German media. The Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper carried the headline "German Army in Afghanistan: At War," while the Süddeutsche newspaper praised the Defense Minister for his honesty, but posed the question: "What does war mean?" War is a tricky subject in Germany. According to the Defense Ministry, German soldiers are forbidden to engage in a "war of aggression" under the German constitution. Each foreign mission that includes the Bundeswehr - the German parliamentary army - is thus governed by a Bundestag mandate. In the case of Afghanistan...
...international contributor after the U.S. and Britain. But the CDU's partners are split over whether to send more. According to media reports, Westerwelle is opposed to a troop increase and would rather focus on efforts to train the Afghan police. But Merkel's Defense Minister, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, a member of the CSU, is reportedly open to the idea of contributing more troops. "The FDP is the problem child of Chancellor Merkel's new government," author Gerd Langguth, who has written a biography of Merkel, tells TIME. "Merkel isn't an ideologue; she's a pragmatist...
...time of the bombing, resigned over the controversy, but other German officials declared that the event galvanized the country's commitment to being a full partner in the conflict, despite the inherent brutality of any war. "We have made clear," said Merkel's new Defense Minister, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, on a visit to Washington in November, "that German soldiers are not any longer in the north only to dig holes for water and to wave at children. More and more, we are also in combat situations." (Read: "German Court Upholds Ban on Extra-Long Names...