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"Would" is a strong word. "Might" seems a bit more reasonable. There is currently an escalating war in Europe and Germany has already rolled over and accepted t
by roenxi 3y ago
"Would" is a strong word. "Might" seems a bit more reasonable. There is currently an escalating war in Europe and Germany has already rolled over and accepted the Nord Stream pipe as an act of God. Well, I don't actually know where their investigation is up to, but they're not acting like their infrastructure was attacked by a military. They're just taking it on the chin, probably some strongly worded diplomatic protests. If that was a pipeline heading in to the continental US a country would have been removed from the map by now.
With that so large in the rear view mirror, are they really in a position to start defying the US on extraditions? The US will claim this is a special case and Germany will probably go with it in practice.
- tim333 3y ago>If that was a pipeline heading in to the continental US a country would have been removed from the map by now The problem is which country? No one seems to know who did it.
- flerchin 3y agoHuh, I always figured it was the Germans themselves that blew it up. To remove the blackmail angle.
- roenxi 3y agoThat is the most outrageous theory I've ever heard on the subject. I don't believe it but I do like the audacity of it.
- simiones 3y agoProbably the Germans and the Russians working together, I would say. Makes the most sense, after all, what losing the billions they invested together in building it would hurt everyone else the most, right?
- RandomLensman 3y agoGiven that the US has turned itself into an unreliable defense partner, not sure why they wouldn't stick to German law in Germany, not like the government can just bypass the courts. Also, if a hypothetical US pipeline had been attacked by a large nuclear armed adversary, pretty sure that country would still be on the map...
- roenxi 3y ago> Also, if a hypothetical US pipeline had been attacked by a large nuclear armed adversary, pretty sure that country would still be on the map... Doesn't have to be the same country. There is a bit of history in recent times; US went in to Afghanistan to find Osama and Iraq to find WMD. Turned out both were only to be found in Pakistan.
- RandomLensman 3y agoI'd say by who is in charge in Afghanistan now again, the place is still on the map. Nuclear weapons in Pakistan isn't anything new (but the US was surprised quite a while back when Pakistan tested a fusion weapon).
- Tomte 3y agoYou don‘t seem to be aware of the concept of an independent judiciary.
- roenxi 3y agoI dunno, is the German judiciary powerful enough to be independent of the US? In theory the entire country has independent sovereignty but it doesn't isn't in a position to exercise it to full effect. It doesn't come up very often, but in physical reality the judiciary's independence rests on the beliefs of a country's police chiefs and generals. The US has a history of just doing what it wants in Europe when it comes to renditions (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordinary_rendition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordinary_rendition [0]). It isn't out of the question that they just grab these people and the judiciary can go sort itself out. There were reports that they were considering assassinating Assange and being done with it. I assume the fact he isn't much of a threat going forward and that his miserable existence is an object lesson in defying the US stood him in good stead against those ideas. [0] I liked the 2006 resolution that called on that the US to stop doing these things and apologise. The good old fashioned sternly worded letter is one of my favourite parts of politics.
- Tomte 3y agoWhy do you think extraordinary renditions happen (rarely, but sometimes)? If a German district judge would just read the newspaper, conclude that "America wants https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khalid_El-Masri https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khalid_El-Masri" and obediently judges accordingly, America wouldn't have gone to all that trouble.
- roenxi 3y agoIf your argument is that the judiciary can afford to be independent because the US will ignore them and just take anyone who they think is important to their interests then yes, I can see that as a reasonable possibility. But it is also a reasonable possibility that the courts cave in. It depends what sort of pressure the US brings in to play. If you're arguing that the German judiciary had influence over the fate of Khaled El-Masri then I'm not sure how the argument is meant to hang together. They seem to have been powerless in that instance. The outcome depended on the CIA's judgement.