Monday, July 27, 2015

German Economics Minister Rushes to Exploit Business Opportunities in Iran

OMG, Germany wants to open up trade with Iran.

The World Socialist Web Site can't contain its outrage :
Rarely in recent years have the foreign travels of a leading German politician caused such a stir as the visit earlier this month to Iran by the German Vice Chancellor and Minister for Economic Affairs Sigmar Gabriel (Social Democratic Party, SPD). With the ink barely dry on the recently-negotiated nuclear program agreement with Iran, Gabriel was already bound for Tehran in the company of a high-level business delegation.
Berlin’s foray into one of the most strategically important and resource-rich countries in the Middle East—Iran has the fourth largest oil and second largest gas reserves in the world—is part of German imperialism’s return to the world stage. Significantly, the visit took place the same week as the federal government enforced a brutal austerity program on Greece and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier visited Cuba with a delegation.
Gabriel’s trip to Iran was so sudden and his related objectives so obvious that even a number of media outlets, which otherwise regularly beat the drum for a more aggressive German participation in world affairs, felt compelled to comment critically on the expedition.
The Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper called it “embarrassing” and warned: “Now the impression has been given that Germany is mainly concerned about its business interests.
  -RW 

3 comments:

  1. Oh no, an Economics Minister doing his job.

    Can't have that, can we?

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  2. Perhaps the whole point of the Iran agreement was to get access to gas for Europe while Russia is totally cut out of the supply chain.

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  3. well as Alexander Pope should have said fools rush in and get all the best seats while the Angel sniffed and said they weren't that interested anyway.

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