Bielefeld does not exist

My primary news source is spiegel.de and every once in a while I read an article in their English section as well, where they sometimes provide a good overview of current events and stories, mixed with a little bit of commentary. Today I read an article about conspiracy theories involving the US, which quotes two members of the Green Party as follows:

For their part, German politicians have done much to fuel the conspiracy theories. In an interview with SPIEGEL ONLINE on Monday, Green Party bigwig Fritz Kuhn said: "If there's something to the allegations, they must be investigated. If not, one has to ask the question why such stories are systematically coming out of the US at sensitive points in time." A conservative member of the parliamentary intelligence oversight committee told the Süddeutsche that he considers the report "disinformation." Renate Künast, of the Greens, told the New YorkTimes: "We also have to ask who gains from the reports coming out of Washington. What are their interests? They might be very conservative people who maybe want to discredit the former German government. It is hard to say."

Hm, interesting. Generally, I try no to pay too much attention to any conspiracy theories, as appealling as they may be. Do people get screwed because people in positions of power abuse this power? Yes indeed. Do people in positions of power all come together to try and take over the world? Not likely. Apparently, not everyone agrees with me:

"I can really imagine that Bush had something to do with the attacks," a German ninth-grader told this reporter at the crest of the 9/11 conspiracy theory wave. "It could, of course, be a coincidence -- but a really good one for Bush; it is too good an excuse for his wars. The Americans needed a good reason to attack so that they could exploit other countries for oil or whatever."

I'm real proud of this kid for the critical analysis of current events. And I'm even more proud of the good example our top politicians are setting. I mean, I can "imagine" a whole bunch of things, and so can the author of that article:

It is indeed hard to say. Just as it's hard to say whether the US actually landed on the moon in 1969. Or what, exactly, goes on at Area 51 in Roswell, New Mexico. And then there's the Kennedy assassination.

Anyway, for me, this shows two things:

1. The Green Party should stick to the stuff they're good at, i.e. environmental issues and to some extent family politics, maybe even integration issues. The other stuff they pretty much screw up.

2. For some people, nothing sounds too far-fetched, as long as it fuels anti-American sentiments.

So go ahead and read the article for yourself. But be careful, Dick Cheney himself might have planted it there in order to divide the German people.