Clinton: Berlin Wall festivities not just a party
BERLIN — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton congratulated Germans on the 20-year anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall at a meeting Monday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
“I am delighted to be here in Berlin, the city that meant so much, not only to the German people, but to the European and the American people and the world,” Clinton said at the Chancellory.
“I congratulate the chancellor, not only on the very well deserved occasion here, but on the work that she and her government are doing here. It is an honor to be representing the United States.”
Twenty years after the collapse of the wall that divided East and West Berlin, Clinton said Sunday at an earlier event, the hard work that went into ending the Cold War must be channeled to meet fresh challenges, including the fights against extremism and climate change.
As the Obama administration looks to often reluctant European allies to bolster their NATO forces in Afghanistan, Clinton said Monday’s commemoration of Nov. 9, 1989, the night “when history pierced the concrete and concertina wire,” must look forward and not back.
“Our history did not end the night the wall came down, it began anew,” she told a group of U.S. and European dignitaries while accepting a Freedom Award on behalf of the American people from The Atlantic Council, a group that promotes trans-Atlantic ties.
The moment the festivities begin “should be a call to action, not just a commemoration of past actions,” Clinton said. “That call should spur us to continue our cooperation and look for new ways that we can meet the challenges that freedom faces now.”
“We owe it to ourselves and to those who yearn for the same freedoms that are enjoyed and even taken for granted in Berlin today,” she said.
Clinton praised U.S.-European collaboration on ending the world financial crisis as well as steps to cooperate on global warming. She also hailed NATO security operations, from Afghanistan to fighting piracy off the coast of Somalia.
But she said the spirit of the Berlin Wall’s destruction — the symbolic end to the Cold War — had to be reinforced.
“We need to form an even stronger partnership to bring down the walls of the 21st century and to confront those who hide behind them: suicide bombers, those who murder and maim girls whose only wish is to go to school, leaders who chose their own fortune over the fortune of their people.”
Other speakers at The Atlantic Council event on Sunday were more blunt.
Former U.S. national security adviser Brent Scowcroft, who served under Presidents Ford and George H.W. Bush, lamented that trans-Atlantic cooperation and understanding had fallen off in the two decades since the Berlin Wall fell.
Related News
Germany celebrates day Berlin Wall collapsed, paving the way for reunificationNovember 9th, 2009 Germany celebrates fall of Berlin WallBERLIN — With prayers, music and pomp, Germany on Monday remembered the 20th anniversary of the day the Berlin Wall fell, sending East Germans flooding west and setting in motion events that soon led to the country's reunification. Chancellor Angela Merkel — reunited Germany's first leader to grow up in the communist east — started the day with President Horst Koehler and other leaders at a prayer service at a former East Berlin church that was a rallying point for opposition activists in 1989.
Germans, Americans honoured for bringing down Berlin WallNovember 8th, 2009 BERLIN - US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called on leaders Sunday to bring down the walls of the 21st century, as she accepted an award for the role of the American people in the fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago. "There is no wall we cannot topple, and there is no truth we cannot be afraid of," Clinton said, listing terrorism, climate change and nuclear proliferation as today's key challenges.
German parliament commemorates fall of the Berlin WallNovember 8th, 2009 BERLIN - The German parliament Sunday celebrated the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, commemorating the efforts of European civil rights activists which helped end the divide between East and West in Germany and Europe. "The people east of the Iron Curtain only had their large hearts to set against the tanks, but they still were victorious," former Polish prime minister Jerzy Buzek, who currently heads the European Parliament said in his address to the legislators.
Germans' giant dominoes mark former path of Berlin Wall in tribute to its fall 20 years agoNovember 7th, 2009 Giant dominoes form tribute to Berlin Wall's fallBERLIN — Massive colorful dominoes painted by German students were placed Saturday along the former path of the Berlin Wall to mark the 20th anniversary of the opening of the barrier that divided the city for nearly three decades. Many of the upright 7.5-foot-high (2.3-meter-high) plastic foam dominoes carried messages, including "We are one people." The approximately 1,000 dominoes stretching for 1.5 kilometers (1 mile) will be toppled Monday as part of wider celebrations of the wall's fall.
Berlin inaugurates repainted stretch of Wall, bringing new life to historical remnantNovember 6th, 2009 Berlin inaugurates repainted Wall sectionBERLIN — The Berlin Wall's longest remaining stretch has been restored to its state of nearly two decades ago after artists repainted the colorful murals they created in the aftermath of the notorious barrier's opening. Berlin on Friday inaugurated the restored section of the concrete wall, which is known as the East Side Gallery and snakes along the bank of the Spree river for three quarters of a mile (1.3 kilometers).
White House says Hillary Clinton will lead US delegation to anniversary of Berlin Wall's fallNovember 6th, 2009 more images
more imagesHillary Clinton will represent US at Berlin WallWASHINGTON — The White House says Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will lead a U.S. delegation to Germany for the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Hillary Clinton to lead US delegation to anniversary of Berlin Wall's fall, travel to AsiaNovember 6th, 2009 more images
more imagesHillary Clinton to represent US at Berlin WallWASHINGTON — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will lead a U.S. delegation to Germany for next week's 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the White House said Friday.
City of Berlin wins Spanish Prince of Asturias prize for promoting harmonySeptember 10th, 2009 City of Berlin wins Spanish peace prizeMADRID — Berlin, reunited as one city after decades of division during the Cold War, won Spain's prestigious Prince of Asturias prize on Thursday for its contribution to promoting peace and harmony. Organizers said the German capital had earned the "concord" prize for improving world relations following the fall of the Berlin Wall some 20 years ago.
In bid to draw attention to global warming, 1,000 mini ice men melt away in BerlinSeptember 2nd, 2009 Climate spotlight: 1,000 ice men melt in BerlinBERLIN — A thousand miniature people have slowly melted away in a Berlin square in an effort by the World Wildlife Fund to draw attention to melting ice caps in Greenland and Antarctica. Brazilian artist Nele Azevedo carved the figures out of ice and placed them on steps in the central Gendarmenmarkt square where they began to melt within about half an hour.
German satirical political party campaigns to rebuild Berlin WallAugust 12th, 2009 Satirical party campaigns to rebuild Berlin WallBERLIN — A satirical political party that calls for rebuilding the Berlin Wall has launched a campaign fronting a chancellor candidate chosen at a casting call to add pizzaz and humor to Germany's largely predictable parliamentary election. Called simply The Party, the group is so small — in 2004 they won only 0.4 percent of the vote — it has been barred from appearing on the Sept.
Mumbai attackers should meet day of reckoning: ClintonJuly 19th, 2009 GURGAON - Without naming Pakistan, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Sunday said she hoped that the action will be taken and the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attacks will meet "their day of reckoning". We expect every nation to take action against terrorism.
Fashion collection inspired by the murals of the Berlin Wall makes its debutJune 9th, 2009 Berlin Wall murals inspire fashion collectionBERLIN — Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall some of its enduring murals, like one depicting East Germany's Erich Honecker engaged in a fraternal kiss with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, are inspiring a different sort of art. Images from the East Side Gallery — a surviving stretch of the wall that artists decorated with colorful paintings after the 1989 opening of the border — are the inspiration for a fashion collection unveiled Tuesday called Mauerkleider, or "Wall Clothes."
Daniel Rodan has reproduced some of the images from the East Side Gallery on leather clothes ranging from evening gowns and trench coats to T-shirts and jackets.
That 3 o'clock phone call? Clinton says Obama has shown that he can handle itJune 7th, 2009 Clinton: Obama can handle that 3 o'clock callWASHINGTON — Hillary Rodham Clinton says that if the phone rings at 3 a.m. at the White House, she's certain that President Barack Obama will know what to do.
Contractor apparently commits suicide in US Embassy in BerlinApril 24th, 2009 Apparent suicide at US Embassy in BerlinBERLIN — The U.S. Embassy in Berlin says a German contractor apparently has committed suicide inside the embassy building.
Berlin wall's famous Honecker-Brezhnev kiss painting erasedMarch 28th, 2009 BERLIN - The famous painting on the Berlin Wall, which depicted the kiss between East German leader Erich Honecker and his Soviet counterpart Leonid Brezhnev, has been erased as a part of a clean-up of the surviving sections of the wall. The Berlin authorities remain unconcerned on the issue as the artist of the masterpiece, Dmitri Vrubel has been told: "You can always paint a new one."
Expressing anger at the authorities, Vrubel, a Moscow based artist said, "These barbarians! My painting has been destroyed."
"I have no problem with restoration, but I cannot simply paint a new picture like making a sandwich!" said Vrubel.
Loading ...