Transatlantic Relations in the New Decade

Hello again...

I wanted to post something about a very interesting speech that I was able to attend last Friday (12 November). I attended a discussion with the German Ambassador to the US, Dr. Klaus Scharioth (here is a link with a brief synopsis:  http://www.ceuce.com/features/diplomacy.html, and a picture of him in the White House).


His topic was simply "Transatlantic Relations in the New Decade", and in it he basically outlined the 10 most important issues in German-American relations.  It was mostly appealing to my "inner political scientist", but he did touch on one very important language issue toward the end.  This was the issue of language and immigration, something that we also face here in America.  It has been a hot topic in Germany lately, with Chancellor Merkel recently commenting that "multiculturalism has failed in Germany".  She was basically referring to the fact that the German government's policy of integrating Turkish (and other) immigrants has not been successful.  Their new policy is going to be to provide up to 600 (yes, 600) hours of language training to non-German speaking immigrants.  That way, they will have a much easier time assimilating into German society - particularly the German job market.  Not a bad idea, no matter what continent you are on, if you ask me.

Dr. Scharioth had actually studied in Idaho many years ago, so he shared some good stories about travelling through the American West as well - it was a very entertaining hour and a half.

Next on the agenda:  I am going to be in LA visiting clients the week after Thanksgiving, so it's about time to prepare for that.  Hope to see a lot of clients and old friends between Santa Monica, Century City, South Bay, and Orange County.

Best,
Geoff