Bush administration apparently trying to prevent Obama speech at Brandenburg Gate

[Satyagrahi]

According to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, an unnamed Bush aide met Christoph Heusgen (Merkel's "chief foreign policy adviser, according to the BBC) at the at the G-8 summit in Japan and told him in no uncertain terms ("angeblafft worden") that the Bush administration wasn't very pleased about Obama's plans to speak at the Brandenburg Gate.

Nun wurde die skeptische Haltung des Bundeskanzleramts zu Obamas Plänen öffentlich. Es heißt, der außenpolitische Berater der Bundeskanzlerin, Christoph Heusgen, sei auf dem G-8-Gipfel in Japan von einem Berater Bushs angeblafft worden wegen Obamas Plänen.

Obama vor dem Brandenburger Tor
Von Wulf Schmiese
http://www.faz.net/s/Rub0A1169E18C724B0980CCD7215BCFAE4F/Doc~EAB6B74C273154FD99FA59D8AD147065D~ATpl~Ecommon~Scontent.html

According to the Berliner Zeitung, a member of the administration (possibly Deputy Treasury Secretary Robert Kimmitt?) conveyed the same message to the Germans on occasion of the opening of the new US embassy in Berlin.

Möglich ist, dass es eine gewisse Missstimmung in Teilen der Bundesregierung gibt. Vielleicht aber will das Kanzleramt mit solchen Bemerkungen die US-Regierung von George W. Bush beruhigen. (...) Offenbar gab es aus der US-Regierung bei den Feiern zur Eröffnung der neuen US-Botschaft vergangene Woche auch entsprechende Hinweise an die Deutschen.

Tormann Obama
Von Damir Fras, Tobias Miller Andreas Kopietz und Ulrich Paul
http://www.berlinonline.de/berliner-zeitung/berlin/104605/index.php

Kimmitt also expressed his displeasure in an interview with the German daily Bild:

"Meanwhile, all the recent attention Obama has been getting in Germany has ruffled some feathers with the Bush administration. "It would be nice if the German government would intensify the contacts with us again and not already look over our shoulders at our successors," Deputy U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Kimmitt told the German daily Bild."

Obama's Berlin Visit Sparks Debate Among German Politicians And Irks Bush Administration
http://blogs.dw-world.de/acrossthepond/michael/1.6788.html

As a result, the German chancellery is now trying to prevent a speech at the Brandenburg Gate (but apparently the decision lies with the Berlin Senate and the Mayor):

Chancellor, Berlin Mayor Bicker over Obama Visit

Barack Obama wants to hold a speech at the Brandenburg Gate when he comes to Berlin later this month. The city's mayor wants to grant him his wish, but the German chancellor has misgivings.

More:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,564635,00.html