Page 8 - ARUBA TODAY

A8 WORLD NEWS
Friday 5 april 2019

Glaring US absences raise questions about relevance of G-7

tion issues and human traf- deal with domestic border
ficking kicked off the G-7 issues. Canadian Foreign
interior ministers’ meetings Minister Chrystia Freeland,
Thursday in Paris. France, meanwhile, announced
which took over the G-7’s she is attending both the
presidency in January, is NATO meeting in Washing-
hosting the two-day meet- ton and the G-7 summit in
ing, which overlaps with a Dinard.
summit of G-7 foreign minis- Still, alliances are fraying ev-
ters Friday and Saturday in erywhere, even at NATO as
the French Atlantic resort of Pompeo shines a spotlight
Dinard. on America’s involvement
U.S. President Donald in the military alliance.
Trump has made no secret NATO Secretary-General
of his disdain for the G-7, Jens Stoltenberg acknowl-
especially since Russia was edged internal NATO dis-
pushed out of the gather- agreements this week on
ing of major world econo- trade, climate change
mies after its annexation of and the Iran nuclear deal,
Crimea in 2014. In addition but insisted the 29 allies are
to the U.S., the G-7 includes united in their commitment
France, Canada, Japan, to defend each other.
Germany, Italy and the U.K. U.S. Homeland Security of-
Pompeo is in Washington ficial Claire Grady is stand-
U.S. Homeland Security official Claire Grady, left, is welcomed by French Interior Minister Christophe this week, far from French ing in for Nielsen at the inte-
Castaner for a G7 meeting at ministerial level in Paris, Thursday April 4, 2019. shores, hosting NATO’s for- rior ministers’ meetings and
Associated Press eign ministers to mark the Deputy Secretary of State
By THOMAS ADAMSON Group of Seven countries man trafficking. alliance’s 70th anniversary. John J. Sullivan will stand in
SYLVIE CORBET gather to try to find solu- A lunch focusing on migra- Nielsen is staying behind to for Pompeo.q
Associated Press tions to world security chal-
PARIS (AP) — Two key Amer- lenges.
ican officials — U.S. Secre- The move raises questions German lawmakers reject far-right
tary of State Mike Pompeo about the G-7’s effective-
Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen international issues it has deputy speaker candidate
and Homeland Security ness at solving some of the

— are skipping meetings deemed crucial, including
in France this week as the fighting terrorism and hu- of voting in which an ab-
solute majority of the 709
lawmakers in parliament
was necessary. Several
prominent lawmakers from
other parties said ahead of
the vote that they planned
to back her, arguing that
AfD shouldn’t be given the
chance to portray them-
selves as martyrs. In spite of
her defeat, Harder-Kuehnel
received more than twice
the number of votes as
her party has lawmakers in
parliament. Her colleague
Albrecht Glaser, who was
Lawmaker Armin-Paul Hampel, right, comforts Mariana Harder-
Kuehnel during a meeting of the German federal parliament, first nominated by AfD in
Bundestag, at the Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany, April 2017, was also rejected
4, 2019. three times after suggest-
Associated Press ing that freedom of religion
Associated Press maker. Alternative for Ger- shouldn’t apply to Islam.
BERLIN (AP) — German many, which is known by its Ahead of the vote, Hard-
lawmakers rejected Thurs- German acronym of AfD, er-Kuehnel had sought to
day for the third time the has insisted it has the right present herself as a mod-
far-right Alternative for Ger- to name a deputy since it’s erate voice in her party.
many’s proposed candi- the biggest opposition par- A lawyer by training, she
date for deputy speaker of ty in the current parliament. has advocated conserva-
parliament, a posting that The party’s candidate, tive Christian family values.
would have bolstered its in- Mariana Harder-Kuehnel, However, Hamburg-based
fluence and respectability. received 199 votes in favor weekly Der Spiegel has re-
It is customary for each par- and 423 votes against in a ported that Harder-Kueh-
ty in the Bundestag to have secret ballot. The 44-year- nel also has ties to an ultra-
a deputy alongside speak- old would have required nationalist wing of her party
er Wolfgang Schaeuble, a only a simple majority, fol- that has caught the atten-
veteran conservative law- lowing two previous rounds tion of security agencies. q