*FROM THE RIVER SPREE*

*NEWS IN EUROPE*

*WORLD CUP WARS*

Guten Tag from Berli?&.I told Ernie, the supervisor at the Lufthansa counter in Newark about the various times I had flown through Frankfurt to destinations in Germany only to have my bag not there when I was. He listened. He commiserated, and loyal to the inflexibility of the Red Baron’s “regulations,” my rollon was pronounced still too heavy for the main cabin, and sentenced to steerage. The result: it missed the connection, was held hostage in Frankfurt, only to turn up damaged beyond repair.

Welcome to the Europe in the age of the Euro. The consolation has been the weather, which is excellent.

I am here for part two of a conference on globalization under the auspices of Benjamin Barber and the Democratic Collaborative of the University of Maryland, in league with the American Academy in Berlin. Some sucker foundation (thank you!) is footing the bill for all the jet-setting academics, who see the world on the strength of fellowships and footnotes.

It is an impressive operation. The American Academy, now four years old, is situated in a beautiful villa on the lake where the Nazis, decades earlier, signed off on the Final Solution. That knowledge dimmed a certain enthusiasm for this beautiful location.

WALKING IN BUSH’S FOOTSTEPS

I flew in on the footsteps of mein president, Herr GW Bush, who was greeted with protests. Writing in TIME’s International edition, Jossef Joffe, the editor of the German weekly Die Zeit, summed up the feelings this way: “They (the Americans) throw their weight around. They don’t respect neither treaties nor traditions…They bestride the world as if it were the Rose Garden of the White House — all theirs.”

He cites the activist response, singling out the funniest poster. “Peace for the World, Pretzels for Bush.” Funny isn’t it, how an American magazine carries this viewpoint in its European edition but not in the USA? It’s as if Americans have to be kept from how their allies really see them.

Bush survived Germany but it doesn’t appear as if his visit won any hearts and minds the way Kennedy’s or even Reagan’s had. Explains Jofee, who compares Bush to the mythic Gulliver amidst the Lilliputians, “In its Glory Days, US diplomacy was a lot smarter…Today the US is more prone to rend than to mend the international fabric.”

Berlin’s left-wing newspaper published an empty front page to signal its view that Bush had nothing to say.

GRUMBLES IN BERLIN

In my own interactions with Berliners, I found annoyance and indifference. At “Die Eins” (The Number One), a café near the Reichstag, Germany’s super-modern Parliament building, I met Sabine, a waitress who told me that they were shut down for three days during the visit — without pay! “This never happened when Clinton came,” she complained with a shrug.

At another restaurant, later that night, in the now revitalized, hip and happening streets of East Berlin–once sealed off from the rest of the city by the WALL–a waitress told me that her boyfriend, a cop, was forced to put in three days of overtime with no pay, save some days off. He and his colleagues were not pleased.

My friend, Andy, added a personal observation, telling me that he watched a 150-car motorcade (with 200 plus motorcycles) mobilized for Bush to go from one location to the next.

HAIDER: ON THE RIGHT

This voce is a moderate one compared to others in Europe. BBC Word was showing a rally in Vienna by supporters of Far Right parties on the anniversary of their defeat in World War II. They were mourning the loss. Anti-fascist rallies were held as counter protests. There was an interview with Mr. Heider, right wing champion of anti-immigration, speaking in the name of his Freedom Party. He expressed confidence that he will become Austria’s next Chancellor.

Also interesting was a feature story on an Austrian school visited by two African entertainers, who showed the kids, through a touching exercise, that their skin color was not sprayed on. It is part of a curriculum aimed at promoting tolerance.

PILGER: ON THE LEFT

On the other side of the spectrum, there’s UK-based but Australian-born journalist, John Pilger, whose new book “The New Rulers of the World” (Verso) I skimmed on the plane over. I will tell you more about his analysis, but it incorporates a passionate media critique as well as a well-documented slam on the war on terrorism.

He argues the war on terrorism ‘is terrorism. The most potent weapon in this war is ‘pseudo information,’ different only in form from what Orwell described, consigning to oblivion unacceptable truths and historical sense. Dissent is permissible within ‘consensual’ boundaries, reinforcing the illusion that information and speech are ‘free.’”

Where is Pilger’s voice in TIME, theirs or ours?

INDIA: TOURISM DOWN

CNN finally got around to showing peace activists rallying in India, land of Gandhi–but in the context of a story on a fall off of tourism as the US and UN order/advise their citizens/employees to leave. “They all afraid of being nuked,” says a young man with a good sound bite.

Segue to footage of a peace rally and a sensible, if buried, comment by Anduradti Roy, the critic of globalization and her own government.

WORLD CUP MADNESS

And while TV news focuses on peacemaking attempts between India and Pakistan, where there are signs of a cooling off, the big news is more explosive and not in the news. It is in the sports. The World Cup is on with the first games in Korea and Japan.

The Germans were thrilled when France’s former colony, Senegal, beat the world champs out of old Paree. And even more thrilled when they massacred Saudia Arabia Saturday 8-0. They delivered a blow to the Kingdom of Oil on the football field, one that bin Laden has yet to deliver on the political. And, not to be outdone, on Sunday, tiny Costa Rica defeated the mighty United States. Speak of Lilliputians and Gulliver!

And this just in from an original member of the Axis of Evil, North Korea TV pirated some of the matches and ran them without paying fat license fees to the Kirch Media Group. Now that could mean war.

Remind me not to bring my MAC to Europe again. Getting on line here is a nightmare. But, I hope some of these comments are of some value. That’s all for now.

Auf W from Berlin from your news disssector. Comments welcome. Write dissector@mediachannel.org.