<story><title>Merkel Grants Turkish Request to Prosecute German Satirist</title><url>http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-15/merkel-allows-probe-of-german-comedian-over-erdogan-satire</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>kafkaesq</author><text>&lt;i&gt;So she &amp;quot;allows prosecution&amp;quot;, as she also can&amp;#x27;t ignore diplomatic implication of doing otherwise.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sure she can.  People snub each other in politics all the time (even when they&amp;#x27;re joined at the hip).  It&amp;#x27;s called &amp;quot;setting boundaries&amp;quot;, and letting people know they can only count on so many indulgences from you.  In fact, it is precisely through their willingness to take a stand (even at the cost of temporarily upsetting their allies or coalition partners) that stronger politicians distinguish themselves.&lt;p&gt;But even if she didn&amp;#x27;t want to offend his sensibilities -- there are bigger issues at play, such as the fact that Erdoğan is not only acting like a bully in this case (as he normally does at home), but is expecting the German government to do his dirty work for him.  And hence, tacitly, to take &amp;quot;his&amp;quot; side in the Great War of Values on openness, and freedom of expression.&lt;p&gt;That&amp;#x27;s why Merkel got it wrong.  What she needs to do is both act to abolish the law &lt;i&gt;and&lt;/i&gt; exercise her discretion in declining to prosecute this case.</text></item><item><author>geff82</author><text>Nobody seems to see how Merkel got this thing very right.
1.) Law says: you may prosecute it. So she &amp;quot;allows prosecution&amp;quot;, as she also can&amp;#x27;t ignore diplomatic implication of doing otherwise.
2.) She also declares that the government will get rid of this law.
3.) She will surely not pressure the justice system in this case...
4.) The case will get dismissed as there is no basis for punishment any more (in Germany, you are entitled to be punished under the lesser harsh law when the law changes, and when the law disappears, there will be no punishment).&lt;p&gt;I think this was an intelligent move. She complied with Erdogans request and in return says a big &amp;quot;F&lt;i&gt;&lt;/i&gt;* Y&lt;i&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&amp;quot; by eliminating the law and saving the comedian.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>andyjohnson0</author><text>Regarding the decision she had to make, Merkel had two choices. If she declined to prosecute then she would be making a quasi-judicial decision in a county where judicial decisions are rightly made by the courts, not politicians. In passing the decision to the courts she is, in my opinion, making a clear statement of German values: &lt;i&gt;this is how we do things - with the rule of law&lt;/i&gt;.&lt;p&gt;Which starkly contrasts with Erdoğan&amp;#x27;s contempt for the rule of law and anything that gets in his way.&lt;p&gt;The German constitution guarantees freedom of expression and the case will undoubtedly be dismissed when it reaches the courts.&lt;p&gt;(And I agree that laws such as this should be abolished.)</text></comment>
<story><title>Merkel Grants Turkish Request to Prosecute German Satirist</title><url>http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-15/merkel-allows-probe-of-german-comedian-over-erdogan-satire</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>kafkaesq</author><text>&lt;i&gt;So she &amp;quot;allows prosecution&amp;quot;, as she also can&amp;#x27;t ignore diplomatic implication of doing otherwise.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sure she can.  People snub each other in politics all the time (even when they&amp;#x27;re joined at the hip).  It&amp;#x27;s called &amp;quot;setting boundaries&amp;quot;, and letting people know they can only count on so many indulgences from you.  In fact, it is precisely through their willingness to take a stand (even at the cost of temporarily upsetting their allies or coalition partners) that stronger politicians distinguish themselves.&lt;p&gt;But even if she didn&amp;#x27;t want to offend his sensibilities -- there are bigger issues at play, such as the fact that Erdoğan is not only acting like a bully in this case (as he normally does at home), but is expecting the German government to do his dirty work for him.  And hence, tacitly, to take &amp;quot;his&amp;quot; side in the Great War of Values on openness, and freedom of expression.&lt;p&gt;That&amp;#x27;s why Merkel got it wrong.  What she needs to do is both act to abolish the law &lt;i&gt;and&lt;/i&gt; exercise her discretion in declining to prosecute this case.</text></item><item><author>geff82</author><text>Nobody seems to see how Merkel got this thing very right.
1.) Law says: you may prosecute it. So she &amp;quot;allows prosecution&amp;quot;, as she also can&amp;#x27;t ignore diplomatic implication of doing otherwise.
2.) She also declares that the government will get rid of this law.
3.) She will surely not pressure the justice system in this case...
4.) The case will get dismissed as there is no basis for punishment any more (in Germany, you are entitled to be punished under the lesser harsh law when the law changes, and when the law disappears, there will be no punishment).&lt;p&gt;I think this was an intelligent move. She complied with Erdogans request and in return says a big &amp;quot;F&lt;i&gt;&lt;/i&gt;* Y&lt;i&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&amp;quot; by eliminating the law and saving the comedian.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>zymhan</author><text>I mean, the main issue is that Germany even had a law allowing someone to be punished for this kind of speech. Merkel can&amp;#x27;t (or won&amp;#x27;t) let Erdogan get the chance to point out even the slightest hypocrisy when it comes to enforcing laws. If she gives him an inch by not enforcing this stupid one, he can make a mockery of the west when they say anything about the journalistic and civil rights abuses committed by his administration.&lt;p&gt;Not that they&amp;#x27;re doing even close to a good job of that right now.</text></comment>