[Chat] German ambassador Wolfgang Ischinger

[Emil Volcheck]

His Excellency Wolfgang Ischinger
Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany
to the United States

Friday, May 2, 2003

Reception 12:30 PM, Address 1:20 PM

The World Trade Center - Constellation Room

(Guest of Member $5, Non-member $15)

"Germany and the United States: Are we drifting apart?"

German and American bonds (ethnic ties, the magnanimity of the Marshall
Plan, decades of shared Cold War interests, profound mutual contemporary
concerns with terrorism, a common desire for a stable world order and
limitations on the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction) are 
blurred by passions over Iraq, by Europe's discomfort with America's
sole superpower status and, perhaps, differences over global strategies.
Most American thinkers believe that the United States needs strong ties
with continental Europe and especially Germany; and that during the
friction of the moment, one must be attentive to that fundamental
long-term requirement.