Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Cold War thinking?

Quite apart from the argument in question, something struck me about this passage from an article in today's Washington Post about war-fighting in Afghanistan.

Let's see if you can spot it:
When German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited Bush at his Texas ranch in November, U.S. and German officials said, she told him that while Bonn would step up its contribution in quiet northern Afghanistan, any change in Germany's noncombat role would spell political disaster for her conservative government.
Bonn?

2 comments:

Nathanael said...

Of course, I think it is the reporter who is interjecting Bonn as the head of German government. However, if Merkel specifically referred to Bonn, it could have been the Defense ministry, any of the remaining administrative offices, as well as the NGOs that still remain in Bonn that would handle matters in Afghanistan.

JCWood said...

Thanks Nathanael. Hmmm... It's possible that Angie could have been referring to the defence ministry et al. However, I think that'd be rather an odd use of journalistic language. Given the context of the article, I'd still bet on it being the result of a malfunctioning metonymy.