Reply #5: same old shit [View All]

[reorg]

with its reports on the German election, "The Guardian" shows once again what has become of a once decent newspaper: a tendencious rag with crappy reporting. While Timothy Garton Ash is wailing that the election outcome is not what was hoped for in London and Warsaw ... let's take a look at this article.

First: these allegations are not at all new. They are embarrassing only for those who would bring them up time and time again to spread innuendo and slander.

Second: "collaborated with the Stasi" - what exactly does that mean? I suspect that outside of Germany, hardly anyone knows, when even in Germany many are confused about it.

An "IM" (unofficial collaborator/member of staff) of the "Stasi" (Ministry of the Interior) normally would enter into a written contract with the Ministry and would receive regular remuneration for his or her services. This is not, however, what the "documents" of Ms. Birthler show.

If, say, Mr. Bisky wrote a report 20 years ago on a conference in the West that he participated in, and such a report would end up somehow, somewhere in the files of the Interior Ministry of the former GDR, then this is now publicly cited as proof of "collaboration". Even if Mr. Bisky consistently claims that he never was an IM, and nobody is able to prove otherwise.

If Mr. Gysi had talks with Stasi officers in his capacity as the attorney of the most notable opponents of the GDR, Havemann and Bahro, in the early eighties - which he was supposed to have - this is brought up again and again and again in order to discredit him, somehow. Why? What did he actually do wrong? Nobody actually knows, but he had "contacts", and this is apparently a bad thing in itself. Gysi has, of course, also consistently denied that he was an "unofficial collaborator/member of staff". What's more, a court of law has ruled in his favor and forbidden to make such claims. This certainly does not stop certain interested parties to continue with the gossip.

The funny thing is: there has been a number of proven (not former, but active) cases of Stasi spies right at the top of ALL Eastern parties, before and during they consorted and merged with their Western counterparts. So how about a thorough investigation and publication of all references to ALL active politicians from East and West in the Stasi files? ? Ain't going to happen, since it would leave little to insinuate and blame the Leftists for.