Obama, Merkel meet under cloud of dispute

Hurriyet Daily News with wires

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President Barack Obama is set to sit down Friday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel under a cloud of disagreement over the way out of the global financial crisis and Germany's role in the U.S.-led Afghan war.

The Germans probably will stand pat on their refusal to increase troop strength significantly to the NATO mission in Afghanistan. Merkel's unusually harsh public criticism of U.S. financial policy appears to be driven by domestic politics - the chancellor's need to appear tough in advance of September elections.

"We will discuss the situation in Iran, the question of North Korea's nuclear program and, of course, our joint efforts toward stabilization and security in Afghanistan," The Associated Press quoted Merkel as telling reporters in Berlin ahead of her departure Thursday.

She said she also hoped to clear a few obstacles on the road toward a landmark United Nations treaty on climate change in Copenhagen in December during her stay in the United States, the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases. "It is about comparing notes on how we can achieve a deal in Copenhagen," she said. "A lot has happened in the United States of America on this issue but there is still an enormous amount of work to do."

Relationship building

Obama and Merkel are in a period of relationship building. Obama, who has promised to restore a multilateral, consultative approach to U.S. foreign policy, is wildly popular among Europeans. He paid a visit to Berlin as a presidential candidate last summer and drew an estimated 200,000 people.

The German and American leaders already have met twice this year in Germany, at an April NATO summit in Baden-Baden and earlier this month in Dresden. They are said to have been mutually impressed by the other's pragmatism and non-ideological view of the world, and that should make for a successful session Friday, despite inherent disagreements.

Iran was expected to sit high on the Obama-Merkel agenda. The chancellor has been tough on the Islamic regime for its crackdown on demonstrators who believe the June 12 election was stolen from reformist presidential challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi. And the German government voiced support for Obama's most recent response to the unrest, in which he condemned attacks on protesters and declared himself "appalled and outraged by the threats, the beatings and imprisonments of the last few days."

A senior German official said Obama's statements Tuesday were "in agreement" with his government's expectations. The official was among a group of government representatives who briefed reporters before the Merkel visit.

On Afghanistan, differences probably will be papered over. The Germans are grateful with Obama's new policies there, applauding his emphasis on nation-building and development assistance for the deeply backward country. U.S. officials are believed to have given up on getting more German help in the war, beyond Berlin's recent agreement to send four AWACS surveillance planes and temporarily deploy 300 troops associated with the mission.

Mark Medish, who worked in the National Security Council of President Bill Clinton, said the U.S. handling of the recent change of command in Afghanistan actually showed the Europeans that Washington has given up on seeking greater NATO participation in the fight.

He said the United States did not consult its NATO partners when Obama decided to replace Gen. David McKiernan with Gen. Stanley McChrystal as commander of the U.S.-led NATO operation in Afghanistan. "The way the McChrystal appointment was handled showed the Europeans he is not really counting on them," Medish said.

On the global financial crisis, the German briefers said Merkel will be looking for agreement on an "exit strategy," a means of moving toward long-term fixes of the global regulatory system and away from short-term crisis management.

Merkel told reporters there were also differences on new international rules for financial markets and against protectionism ahead of the G8 summit July 8-10 and a meeting of the Group of 20 industrialized nations in Pittsburgh in September.

"We will have to surmount some difficulties to work toward fiscally sustainable development in the economy," Agence France-Presse quoted the chancellor as saying.

"We have to draw the right lessons from the economic crisis. The American president, Barack Obama, is of the same opinion."

Merkel earlier in the year criticized Obama's decision to throw money at the problem in the U.S. as a rescue measure while paying less attention to improving the regulatory system that let the crisis run out of control in the first place. Obama successfully fought off a European attempt in April to create a super-regulatory body.