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OP ed by Daniela Schwarzer | 07/08/2017 | Financial Times
The next government must decide the price to pay for safeguarding the existing order
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Quotes of Eberhard Sandschneider | 28/10/2015 | Deutsche Welle
Despite some areas of disagreement, Sino-German ties are currently enjoying their best period ever, said Eberhard Sandschneider. One of the major irritants in the bilateral relationship is China's poor record on human rights. The issue is expected to figure in Merkel's talks with President Xi Jinping, Sandschneider said, noting that "it is part of the strategic dialogue. Although economic issues are the main focus of Merkel's visit, that doesn't mean other topics will disappear from the agenda."
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Interview with Johannes Kadura | 28/10/2015 | Xinhua
Johannes Kadura believes that it is justified to speak of a "special" relationship at least since President Xi Jinping's visit to Germany at the end of March 2014 and the joint declaration of establishing an all-round strategic partnership between the two countries. "Germany has become China's most important economic partner in Europe in 2014 with a trading volume of over 150 billion euros (165 billion U.S.$); China is Germany's most important trading partner in Asia," Kadura said.
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Interview with Julian Rappold | 22/10/2015 | World Politics Review
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has become Europe’s moral voice during the refugee crisis that has seen over 710,000 people reach the European Union’s borders so far this year, with more on the way. They are fleeing war, violence, and poverty. In a press conference in late August, Merkel said, “If Europe fails on the question of refugees, if this close link with universal civil rights is broken, then we won’t have the Europe we wished for.”
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Op-ed by Dr. Stefan Meister | 19/10/2015 | Berlin Policy Journal
Despite President Vladimir Putin’s statements to the contrary, Russia’s airstrikes in Syria have more to do with shoring up Bashar al-Assad – and undermining the United States – than fighting the Islamic State, says Stefan Meister, head of the program on Eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP).
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Interview with Anne Langhorst | 13/10/2015 | Chinaandgreece.com
The EU member states – including Germany – generally have a positive attitude towards Outward-Forward-Direct-Investment from China in Greece, says Anne Langhorst, Associate Fellow at DGAP's China Program.
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Quotes of Magdalena Kirchner | 01/10/2015 | Huffington Post
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Interview with Stefan Meister | 28/09/2015 | Financial Times
“We are observing an alienation between Germany and central and eastern Europe — a growing misunderstanding and even mistrust,” says Stefan Meister of DGAP, a Berlin think-tank.
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Quotes of Magdalena Kirchner | 25/09/2015 | Bloomberg
Syria has spurred “a rethink in German foreign policy,” Magdalena Kirchner, a Middle East analyst at the German Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin, said by phone. “As the refugee crisis developed, the view took hold that this conflict can no longer be fenced off or ignored. With her stance on the crisis, Merkel may be prodding other European leaders toward a bigger international engagement.”
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Citations of Julian Rappold | 18/09/2015 | International Business Times
Greek voters are set to take to the polls Sunday to elect a new parliament. “These elections are important because they will either pave the way for stability or political instability in the country,” said Julian Rappold, the expert on Greece at the DGAP. “The previous Tsipras government agreed to an extremely tight corset in regard to debt. They do not have lots of potential to really shape policies; it’s rather actually who can administer the reforms.”
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Citations of Claudia Schmucker | 17/09/2015 | Politico
The EU Commissioner for Trade, Cecilia Malström, is recognizing a public outcry over the once-obscure element of international trade agreements known as Investor-State Dispute Settlement. “Germans are distrustful of this kind of arbitration,” explains Claudia Schmucker. “ISDS is one of the things most contested (in TTIP), together with data privacy and GMOs,” she added. “[The people] fear that companies could find a way in through the back door to lower standards and interfere with legislation.”
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TV interview with Henning Riecke | 08/09/2015 | Al Jazeera
In an interview with Al Jazeera he comments on the latest developments of the refugee crisis. Riecke blames extremists, as well as despots who allow shooting at their own people. The treatment of refugees demonstrated whether Europe takes its values seriously. The focus on the protection of the Mediterranean coast for such a long time was embarrassing, he said. But now the awareness for political responsibility was increasing. For Riecke, an EU quota trading system for refugees is obligatory.
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Citation of Julian Rappold | 05/09/2015 | Newsweek
The memories of 1989, when tens of thousands of East Germans fled through Hungary to the West, are helping drive Germany’s response to this crisis, says Julian Rappold, of the German Council on Foreign Relations. “The German media is referencing the experience of 1989 and the solidarity that East Germans received when they arrived in Hungary and Czechoslovakia.”
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Citation of Kristian Brakel | 16/08/2015 | Deutsche Welle
Polarization in Turkey appears not to have been thrown off track by the peace process. Both sides, the nationalists and the Kurds, have a point, said Kristian Brakel, an associate fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations. "Without a doubt," Brakel said, "the PKK terminated the peace process." But Turkey's government has overstepped the boundary as well, Brakel said: "The wave of arrests and the bombardments of PKK positions is a puffing up of a conflict abroad that is primarily an internal one."
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Citation of Ali Fathollah-Nejad | 20/07/2015 | Wall Street Journal
Analysts say however that political opposition from Israel is unlikely to derail Germany’s attempts at economic normalization with a major West Asian economy. ”We’re heading in the direction that Germany and Israel will entertain good relations, and on the other hand there will be a rapprochement between Iran and European countries—both processes in tandem despite Israel’s objections,” said Ali Fathollah-Nejad, a Middle East expert at the German Council on Foreign Relations.
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Citation of Almut Möller | 19/07/2015 | Süddeutsche Zeitung International
The reality requires a major new dose of what we call “public diplomacy”. Almut Möller has, since the beginning of the crisis, pointed out the importance of public diplomacy. “Berlin has to develop a convincing public diplomacy towards other states in crisis,” says Möller. She suggests that the Federal Government should approach opinion leaders in the media and EU think tanks to justify their positions during the financial crisis – and to also respond directly to any criticisms.
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Interview with Fathollah-Nejad | 13/07/2015 | Qantara, Deutsche Welle
Has Iran really undergone fundamental change since President Hassan Rouhani took office? Observers shouldn't allow themselves to be deceived by the current trend towards rosy political analyses, warns Ali Fathollah-Nejad, a German–Iranian political scientist and Associate Fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP).
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Interview with Julian Rappold | 09/07/2015 | Washington Post
Angela Merkel said “a classic haircut” would be a nonstarter. Analysts said her comments indicated that she was ruling out a plan that simply cut the total amount of debt. “Merkel chose this wording, because in the past five years, she has always publicly rejected a debt haircut,” said Julian Rappold. “She has to justify to the German population that their tax money will be lost. It has been a mistake in communication to always say, ‘No, this is not going to happen, these are only loans.’”
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Interview with Julian Rappold | 06/07/2015 | Handelsblatt Global Edition
While dissatisfaction with the European Union often has domestic roots, including disgust with corruption, the austerity policy, framed by Ms. Merkel and others in Europe as having no alternative, has contributed to this fragmentation. “The way the euro crisis was dealt with, putting forward a policy which is sold to the public as being without alternatives…and not offering space for political debate about it, has certainly disillusioned many parts of society,” said Julian Rappold of the DGAP.
Interview with Julian Rappold | 05/07/2015 | The Economic Times (AFP)
The closely fought vote on the greek referendum on austerity is an indicator for future negotiations, said Julian Rappold of the DGAP. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is "faced with a dilemma", he said. If Greece were to leave the euro, it would signify the failure of Europe's crisis management that Merkel has championed though years of economic turbulence. "She would not like it to be said that she pushed Greece out of the euro," he added.
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