Just as trans-Atlantic relations appeared to be nearly normal again, a top US congressman stirred controversy Tuesday by saying former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's close business ties to Russia amounted to "political prostitution."I can't help but wonder if that anger is fueled in part by the inconvenient truth that Lantos is a Jew?
The remarks invoked the divisive atmosphere of four years ago, as the US prepared to go to war in Iraq unilaterally after Western Europe refused to support US President George W Bush.
For Congressman Tom Lantos, a Holocaust survivor who chairs the House of Representatives foreign affairs committee, that rebuff apparently still stings.
Speaking at the dedication ceremony for a victims of communism memorial in Washington, Lantos attacked both Schroeder and former French president Jacques Chirac for failing to support the United States in its fight against what he called the next wave of tyranny - Islamic fascism - after all the US had done in saving Europe from Nazism and communism.
Lantos said their exit from office opened the way to a better era of trans-Atlantic relations, adding he would like to call Schroeder "a political prostitute, now that he's taking big cheques from (Russian President Vladimir) Putin."
"But the sex workers in my district objected," he quipped.
His remarks provoked gasps not only of surprise from the crowd of survivors of communism gathered for the dedication in Washington, but also of anger in Germany.
Now, it's nice that Congressman Lantos has called out the French and Germans for their lack of action. However, Lantos was a member of the recent Pelousi tour that included a visit to Damascus to confab with human rights activist Bashir Asshat. As such, Mr. Lantos bears a degree of responsibility for the results of that visit.
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