One of the P5+1 has spoken out on the issue of when the sanctions against Iran will be lifted. Germany has indicated that ti will stand with the US on the terms of the political agreement that says the sanctions will be lifted when Iran has “fulfilled its commitments.” This position differs from the Iranian position that argues that the sanctions should be lifted when the final agreement is signed. On the other hand, the Reuters article also indicates that German firms are eager for the sanctions to be removed which indicates that Congressional footdragging on the issue will likely not be supported by Germany.
The University of Capetown, South Africa, has temporarily removed a statue of Cecil Rhodes, the British colonizer of much of Africa, from its campus. The statue is to be placed in a museum of South African history, but it will no longer hold a prominent place in the South African landscape. The student body voted to remove the statue in a near-unanimous vote, but there were some South African citizens who objected to the action. The removal of the statue raises interesting questions about how a state remembers it history when the past is so conflictual. The debate parallels many of the discussions in the US about the display of the flag of the Confederate States of America .
The town of Troeglitz in eastern Germany had set up a center to receive refugees and asylum seekers, but the shelter was burned down in what some believe was an act of arson. Germany has received a very large number of refugees from a large number of places, including Kosovo, Syria, Serbia, Albania, Iraq and Afghanistan. Right wing groups have protested against the movement of refugees into the country out of fears of large numbers of Muslims as well as fears of low wage workers displacing German workers.
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