Another highlight of the trip was a meeting with the able and articulate German Federal Foreign Minister Dr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD). It is generally agreed that he is going to be the candidate for Chancellor of the SPD opposing the incumbent Chancellor Merkel. As with nearly all the German politicians he spent the first few minutes talking about GM and the need to come up with a solution in the next 24 hours. He felt what was going to happen to Opel was the key because of the great number of German jobs involved. He felt relations with America were going to be much better, especially with the new American President and also the new Secretary of State. He mentioned about President Obama’s second trip to Germany in a relatively short period of time and hoped that the GM bankruptcy would not cause any problems for the trip. He then shifted to foreign affairs, where he indicated that a new strategy was needed in Afghanistan and that he thought President Obama had made a good decision to change course.

Germany has appointed a special representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan (Ambassador Bernd Mützelburg), which shows you the importance the Germans put on both these countries. There is added reason to keep Pakistan stable because of the fact they are a nuclear power. The Foreign Minister said that he has talked a number of times with people in the Pakistani government and wonders if they are aware of how serious the situation is. Pakistan may have a military strategy but has no broad political or economic strategy, especially in the northwest part of the country. The Foreign Minister is hopeful that Pakistan will change this and devote more time and energy to the civilian side.

As with most Germans, the Foreign Minister is very much concerned about Iran and its nuclear power. Obviously Germany is a lot closer to Iran than the United States and thus their missiles come in to play. He agrees that so far attempts to solve the nuclear problem with Iran have not been fruitful, but believes that Iran wants to be taken seriously. He doubts that the elections in Iran will make any changes. He feels that President Obama has started out in the right direction, but he has to show a strong hand. There is a great risk if diplomacy does not work. One of the first steps can be stronger sanctions. To do this you need to get the U.S.S.R. and China to agree. The Minister believes there is a time limit and some success has to be achieved this fall. Foreign Minister Steinmeier hopes that the domestic discussion inside Iran will moderate the positions of the government even when the government is re-elected. He once again said he is not sure how long diplomatic efforts can go before some other acts have to taken, probably by the end of the year.

Foreign Minister Steinmeier is also worried about Korea, especially because of the nuclear issue. What is key is to get China to speak out. He brought Secretary Clinton into the discussion and referred to her by first name and said that she had agreed to “report back” to him after some meetings. The present path of North Korea spells doom. The result will be less trade and less food, dramatic negative consequences for the people in Korea.

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Lou Frey represented Central Florida in the U. S. Congress from 1969 to 1979. In his last election, he received nearly 80% of the vote. He was elected one of five Republican leaders in the House of Representatives during the 93rd and 94th Congress. He served on...