German Media and Administration

　　Germany has been one of my favorite countries since I began learning German in my medical school and now I often enjoy netsurfing on Germany. The other day, I was really surprised to read some reports on Japan's atomic plant's accident published by various German news media. This unhappy accident was made a political issue by the German opposition party. I have written about the SPD before.
　　The atomic power station's collapse is broadcast hysterically in Germany, where those facilities have been reportedly decreased by the government in the not so distant future. Germany seems to have increased the import of natural gas from Russia. The natural gas pipeline through the Baltic Sea is under construction and is not being interfered with by other countries on the way to Germany. In other words, they are shifting the source of power from atomic power to natural gas. They say, "The replacement is for safety." Don't they think of improving the safety of atomic power plants? Japan will do it, I believe.
　　Russia will sell the natural gas to Germany because it's more profitable than they use it domestically. On the other hand, Russia gets power from atomic power plants. It means that the German efforts to abolish the atomic power plants are nonsense from the global viewpoint.
　　What's more, the French atomic plants are lined up near the border with Germany. If an accident occurred in these plants, Germany would be surely affected because of the west wind.
　　The German reaction might be due to the fear of an accident in Chernobyl though the structure of the reactor, the running system and the measures taken against the accident are totally different from those of Japan. In Japan, the price of one's life is unbelievably high in comparison with that of Russia. The Environment Agency set the ambient criteria strictly and with enough margin of safety. If several data exceed the allowable limit set by the Agency a little, you don't have to panic. I'd like the German media to keep their head and check the real data carefully.
　　Eventually, they are just making political capital out of the unhappy accident in Japan. The Prime Minister, Merkel, might be sorry for the current of thought as she is originally a physical scientist from East Germany and knows more about atomic plants.
　　A friend in need is a friend indeed. Germany wasn't a real friend of Japan. The German rescue team went back home at once without heading for the devastated areas while 18 teams from all over the world are working there. Lots of the Japanese are grateful for those countries from the bottom of their heart. The present administration must be so, though their policy originally was anti-U.S. How about Germany? This year is the 150th anniversary of entering diplomatic relations between Germany and Japan. I was so disappointed.

(Vocabulary)
Chernobyl  チェルノブイリ
exceed the allowable limits set by the Environment Agency 環境基準を超える
ambient criteria / standard  環境基準
margin of safety〔【略】MOS〕 / safety margin  安全域
keep your head   (困難な状況などで) 冷静さを保つ
make capital out of sth ＜…＞を利用する, に乗じる
a current of thought 支配的な思想［考え方］, 思潮
enter diplomatic relations  国交を結ぶ

ドイツでの日本の報道について

ドイツは大好きな国の一つで、時折ドイツ国内のネットサーフィンを楽しむ。日本の地震の報道については本当に驚いた。日本の自然災害が政争の具にされているのだ。

ドイツの原発事情；

日本の事故がヒステリックに報道されている。
ドイツでは原発を減らすという。そしてロシアからのガスを買う。他国に影響されぬようバルト海ルートが造られているという。ロシアは自国で消費するよりも高く売れるのでガスを売り、自国では原子力発電を行う。地球レベルで見ればなんの環境対策にもなっていない。
フランスの原発はドイツとの国境近くに建設されている。何かあれば、ドイツに影響があるだろう。
チェルノブイリの後遺症か？　日本と比べたらその構造も、管理体制も、対応も全く異なるのに。日本の厳しすぎる環境基準、ロシアと比べて命の価値の違う日本。
結局は、ドイツで原発を減らすというのはＳＰＤ（ドイツの民主党）の政争の具である。物理学者のメルケルさん、さぞや頭の痛いことだろう。

結局ドイツは友人ではなかった；

ドイツからの救援隊は何もすることなく帰国した。１８地域からの救援隊は今なお活動しているにもかかわらず。アメリカには借りができたなと国民の誰もが感じている。アメリカ嫌いの現政権もなにも言葉はあるまい。果たしてドイツに対してはどうか？今年は国交開始１５０周年という節目である。ドイツには失望した。

Comments

[KUMO]

Hi, YL

Yes, my German friends are friendly and are really concerned about Japan.

My statement might be too fierce against Germany. I'd like to add several words. I still like Germany, especially German people and I'll visit the country many times in the future.

The condition of Japan is not so bad as it is reported worldwide. I don't understand what the present Japanese Government wants to do.

[YL]

Charles de Gaulle's famous statement - Les hommes peuvent avoir des amis, pas les hommes d'Etat (Men can have friends, statesmen cannot) - is even more true for governments. The German government, like all other governments, acts according to its perceived interests. The perception of a government may be wise, may be shortsighted, may be totally mistaken but never based on friendship or, sadly, even on ethics. Equally importantly, government policies seldom reflect the true sentiments of their own countrymen. If the German people itself had turned a cold shoulder to Japan, that would have been really disappointing—but that does not seem to be the case. Just visiting the German blogosphere gave me the opposite impression: I saw an outpouring of calls for support, to help, to donate. You might wish to peek in at a few German bulletin boards discussing Japan and I think you will feel a bit more warmly about Germans.