PHOTO: Lennart Preiss/ddp
Well this is unexpected. I’d like to send thanks to the people at Zerohedge.com for bringing this article to my attention. Man oh man it looks like lots of things are heating up around the world. You got North Korea officially renouncing all ties with South Korea, that new incident that happened with the Israel army boarding a Turkish aid ship bound for Palestine which resulted in several casualties, riots in Greece, Romania and Italy… and now this.
German President Horst Köhler, under fire for controversial comments he made about Germany’s mission in Afghanistan, resigned with immediate effect on Monday in a shock announcement that comes as the latest in a series of blows to Chancellor Angela Merkel.
German President Horst Köhler announced his resignation on Monday in response to fierce criticism of comments he made about Germany’s military mission in Afghanistan.
“I declare my resignation from the office of president — with immediate effect,” Köhler, with tears in his eyes and speaking in a faltering voice, said in a statement, flanked by his wife Eva-Luise.
The president is the head of state and his duties are largely ceremonial. But the resignation is the latest in a string of setbacks for Chancellor Angela Merkel since her re-election last September. The German federal assembly — made up of parliamentary MPs and delegates appointed by the country’s 16 federal states — will have to vote for a successor to Köhler within 30 days, according to the federal constitution.
The president had become the target of intense criticism following remarks he made during a surprise visit to soldiers of the Bundeswehr German army in Afghanistan on May 22. In an interview with a German radio reporter who accompanied him on the trip, he seemed to justify his country’s military missions abroad with the need to protect economic interests.
– Spiegel.de
Related posts:
