Angie Baby

Merkel gets it right, sets example for Europe. Many Germans have felt that their country should not engage in international affairs, for fear of rekindling other nations' fears of a meddling Germany. However, if any nation is qualified to warn the international community of dangerous despotic regimes, it would be Germany. It's nice to see Merkel engaged and taking this point of view. This German hesitancy was also seen during the Balkan crisis and the hesitation to send any military support.

Merkel Urges Action to End Iran's Nuclear Program Now
By JUDY DEMPSEY NY Times

MUNICH, Feb. 4 —Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany said Saturday that the world must act now to stop Iran from developing a nuclear bomb, evoking her nation's own history as a cautionary tale of what can happen when threats to peace remain unchecked.

"We want, we must prevent Iran from developing its nuclear program further," Mrs. Merkel told an audience of top security officials and policy makers during a speech to the annual Munich Conference on Security Policy.

Mrs. Merkel, whose speech came on the same day that the International Atomic Energy Agency voted to report Iran's case to the United Nations Security Council, said Germany's own experiences during the 1930's should be a warning over how to deal with Iran.

"Now we see that there were times when we could have acted differently," she said. "For that reason Germany is obliged to make clear what is permissible and what isn't."

Mrs. Merkel, discarding any diplomatic niceties and raising her voice in a tone of frustration, said Iran had "blatantly crossed the red line" — and not only with regard to respecting its international obligations as a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

She said it was also "unacceptable" for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran to deny the Holocaust and say that Israel should be "wiped off the map."

"A president that questions Israel's right to exist, a president that denies the Holocaust, cannot expect to receive any tolerance from Germany," Mrs. Merkel said to applause. "We have learned our history.".