Standing near the Berlin Wall and in front of the Brandenburg Gate in

June of 1987, Ronald Reagan tells Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to

'Tear Down This Wall!' Two years later, it was.

By Failing to Honor Reagan, Berlin's Mayor Shames Germany (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Germany)

"In the year that will see the 50th anniversary of the Berlin Wall, Ronald Reagan would have turned 100, and he is being honored from London, to Prague to Krakow. It is a shame that only a reunited Berlin seems incapable of thanking that pioneer of unity with a brass plaque in front of the Brandenburg Gate."

By Berthold Kohler

Translated By Jonathan Lobsien

February 7, 2011

Germany - Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung - Original Article (German)

Once again, a desperate search is on for a political leader who unwaveringly supports the freedom of oppressed peoples, breaks from convention and unflinchingly demands the seemingly impossible from autocratic rulers. Meanwhile, even many Obama supporters have stopped believing that their idol is capable of such things. But there is one man who did meet such expectations, even if most of us only came to recognize it decades later: Ronald Reagan. His call on Gorbachev to tear down The Wall was way ahead of its time, at a moment in which Germany and Europe were resigned to division.  

Posted by WORLDMEETS.US

It seems however that the red/red Senate in Berlin [the Social Democratic Party color is red] under sitting mayor Klaus Wowereit, still hasn't arrived at the place Ronald Reagan was back in 1987 - even politically. In the year that will see the 50th anniversary of the Berlin Wall, Ronald Reagan would have turned 100, and he is being honored from London, to Prague to Krakow. It is a shame that only a reunited Berlin seems incapable of thanking that pioneer of unity with a brass plaque in front of the Brandenburg Gate. This is nothing but a shameful monument to Wowereit's sordid politics.