Four years after Palin: Will Virginia love Ryan?

Posted on August 13, 2012 by Sabine Muscat

Back on the campaign trail this past weekend. And Manassas in 2012 felt a lot like Fairfax in 2008. A long line of people stretched around several blocks in the historic downtown to see Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney’s VP pick. Four years ago cars were lined up bumper to bumper as far as a mile from the park where John McCain presented the populist Sarah Palin as his running mate. Back then, my first instinct was: This is never going to work. But when I saw the crowds in Fairfax, I had second thoughts. Was she the Alaskan Wonder Woman who would help McCain win the election? Continue reading →

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The snob factor: Pitfalls for Europeans in the U.S.

Posted on August 8, 2012 by Sabine Muscat

Rafalca is on her way home, and so is Ann Romney. There is no point hanging out at the London Olympics after her horse did not make it to the medal rounds.  Her husband Mitt needs her at his side to announce his running mate. And he needs her at home – far away from those European snobs. His opponents were already giving him a hard time for being rich. But a wife who rides dressage took the debate to a whole new level. Continue reading →

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Who wants to sip through life? Not Joanne Herring.

Posted on August 1, 2012 by Sabine Muscat

“Should I wear a ball gown?” Joanne Herring wanted to know before the interview. A ball gown in bright daylight? “The magazines always want me to wear ball gowns.” The Texas socialite waltzed with Prince Philip and fought against the Russians in Afghanistan. Her role in pushing the U.S. Congress to finance the CIA’s secret support to the Mujahideen in the 1980s is known to an international audience since the movie “Charlie Wilson’s War” in which Julia Roberts played her part. Continue reading →

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Should Germany debate circumcision?

Posted on August 1, 2012 by Sabine Muscat

Minor protest in front of Washington Convention Center in connection with the American Association of Pediatricians annual meeting © 2005 DB King

I don’t think so. In this piece for The Globalist I argue that Germany should leave this topic to others instead of alienating its Jewish and Muslim minorities by whipping itself into a hysterical debate. The discussion of potential health risks (as well as benefits, such as prevention of HIV/Aids) is justified, but it would be wiser to start it elsewhere — perhaps in the United States, where circumcision is a mainstream tradition but where its popularity has been declining in recent years.

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America’s Mommy Wars: A Transatlantic Perspective

Posted on July 26, 2012 by Sabine Muscat

This commentary was published in The Globalist:

For Marissa Mayer, the newly appointed CEO of Yahoo! and a mother-to-be, and Anne-Marie Slaughter, the former Director of Policy Planning at the U.S. State Department and a mother of two, the big issue is “Can women have it all?” The real question for most working women in the United States, argues journalist Sabine Muscat, is “Why do they have so little?”
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Come on board the American time machine!

Posted on July 5, 2012 by Sabine Muscat

On Independence Day 2012, many Americans are without power–electrical power, that is. A heavy storm a few days earlier knocked down electricity lines all along the East coast and left millions of households without air conditioning in the sweltering heat. It is like a journey in a time machine back to the days of George Washington. Only that the founding father’s household was better prepared: Ice blocks from the Potomac were hauled up to his estate in Mount Vernon in the winter and stored underground so they could be used to make ice-cream in the summer. Continue reading →

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Obama? It’s a shame!

Posted on June 12, 2012 by Sabine Muscat

How did Obama lose the Germans? Up until now, my fellow countrymen were his die-hard fans. 200.000 showed up when the candidate spoke in Berlin in 2008. “We need someone like Obama,” we Germans said – our own politicians seemed so boring. Two years into his term, the Germans defended him when the going got rough  for him at home. “Poor Obama,” they still said when I visited Berlin last summer. “Congress and the Tea Party don’t let him do the things he set out to do. Why don’t they give him a chance?” Continue reading →

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Chinese-German-American Love Song

Posted on May 24, 2012 by Sabine Muscat

A few African-American kids with dreadlocks and sneakers. Two middle-aged Chinese academics. A bearded American professor of literature. A German mother and her son, who is wearing a Chinese silk jacket. When they arrive, the members of this gathering in the basement of the Shaw Library don’t seem to have much in common – except for the fact that they have come to hear a recital of German, Chinese and American poems. Continue reading →

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Chen Guangcheng’s Road Ahead

Posted on May 20, 2012 by Sabine Muscat

Chen Guangcheng, the blind civil rights activist who escaped to the US embassy in Beijing is now in safety in New York.  The Chinese authorities might hope that he will slink into obscurity far away from home. Will he still find ways to make his voice heard? Continue reading →

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Washington’s Berlin Moment

Posted on May 9, 2012 by Sabine Muscat

The American artist Pae White has designed a giant flying carpet for the new international airport in Berlin. It will billow above the check-in counters and put the travelers in the mood for adventures in foreign lands. Just like the magic carpet that brought me to Washington, DC more than four years ago – a place that seemed to be the opposite of Berlin, until I took a closer look. Continue reading →

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