If choosing a U.S. president were up to the French, the Germans, and the British, Barack Obama would have a lock on the presidency. As Gallup reports today, large majorities in three countries the Illinois senator plans to visit this week would rather see Obama elected than John McCain. They also say that which candidate wins "makes a difference" to their country.

This poll fits well our intuitions about Europe's big three: They tend to favor Democrats, and they don't like George W. Bush. In 2007, Gallup found that approval of U.S. leadership in those countries had sunk to disturbing depths: -- reaching just 8 percent in Germany, 9 percent in France, and 20 percent in Britain. Gallup attributes the low numbers to the Iraq war, the U.S. stance on climate change, and anger over Guantánamo.

The differences between Obama and McCain on these issues, at least on a superficial level, appear to be narrowing. Both Obama and McCain have pledged to withdraw troops from Iraq -- they are now arguing over whether to set an explicit timetable for doing so or whether to allow "conditions on the ground" to be the determining factor. Both Obama and McCain want to join international efforts to combat global warming, though Obama would push for greater emissions cuts. And both senators would like to see Guantánamo shut down. From a European perspective, either senator would be a step up from Bush (or at least the Bush of 2004).

If Obama does win in November, the great expectations he is setting in Europe could come back to haunt him. As Anne-Marie Slaughter, quoting a German friend, wrote last year, "Underneath every America-hater is a disappointed America-lover." Last week, one European diplomat shared with me his fear that the real Obama can't possibly live up to the hype. (Try, for instance, counting the votes in the Senate for a climate-change bill with real teeth.) This is the moment, then, for Obama to tell Europeans that he is going to let them down. Better they hear it from his own lips now than figure it out on their own, two years down the road.

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Billed as a clash of Germany's "two national teams," today's match between Germany and Turkey in the semifinals of the European Championship exemplifies the deep, yet often tense, ties between the two countries.

An estimated 2.7 million people of Turkish origin live in Germany, comprising the country's largest minority. Many Turkish immigrants, however, say they are not fully accepted in German society. Perhaps it's not surprising, then, that most Germans of Turkish origin are backing their blood and supporting Turkey in today's match. Said Kahan Abay, who has lived in Germany his whole life:

It's all about heart, blood and passion. I'm preparing myself for defeat though, which is kind of symbolic of Turkish life over here.''

The leaders of both countries haven't done much to help the tensions, either. Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan told ethnic Turks at a rally in Germany in February that "assimilation is a crime against humanity," and German PM Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union Party opposes adding Turkey to the European Union.

Although most with Turkish ties will be rooting against Germany, some Germans are switching loyalties to support the Turkish team, which is something of a Cinderella after pulling off dramatic come-from-behind victories upsets over Switzerland, the Czech Republic, and Croatia. "It's only fair," one German told the New York Times while shopping for a Turkey T-shirt. "They've never won the tournament."

German police say they are "prepared for anything," but there are signs of calm and coexistence. The editors of the German Bild and Turkish Hürriyet newspapers co-wrote an edtiorial calling on fans to support the winner of today's match in the final against Spain or Russia on Sunday. Meanwhile, Merkel and Erdogan are scheduled to sit together at the match.

Hamit Altintop, one of two German citizens on the Turkish national team, told Spiegel online he hoped the game would be "another step toward the much-discussed goal of integration," but doesn't quite consider himself German at heart:

No. Maybe I'm both."

Germany is sending an additional 1,000 troops to Afghanistan.

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If you want to become a German citizen, you'll have to pass a new citizenship test as of September 1. The test has 33 questions on the country's politics, history, and society. To pass, you have to answer 17 questions correctly (52 percent of the total 33).

Seven sample multiple-choice questions were unveiled this week. I took the mini-test here and passed, but just barely (I got four questions right). How did you all score? Feel free to leave comments below.

And, for anyone planning to become an American, the United States will be using a redesigned citizenship test as of October 1 that is supposed to focus less on civics trivia and more on fundamentals about the country's government, history, and geography. Ten sample questions are here. I doubt many American-born citizens would know the answers to most of these questions. In fact, Gary Gerstle, a professor of American history at Vanderbilt University, told the New York Times that of those who take the test:

[T]heir knowledge of American history may even exceed the knowledge of millions of American-born citizens.

No word yet on whether the German or American citizenship tests' study materials will include a DVD of gay men kissing and a topless woman on the beach -- images found in the Netherland's test-prep package.

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Polish-born soccer player Lukas Podolski (left) scored the two goals that gave Germany a 2-0 win over Poland last Sunday in the Euro 2008 tournament.

That has enraged far-right Polish politician Miroslaw Orzechowski of the League of Polish Families. He told Polish newspaper Dziennik:

If someone performs in the colors of a foreign state, there's already a desire there to renounce citizenship.

Going a step further, he also told a Polish radio station that Podolski should be stripped of his Polish citizenship and that he would take legal action if the country's president didn't follow through, according to German media reports.

Podolski emigrated from Poland when he was 2 and has Polish and German passports, so he wasn't exactly playing in the colors of a "foreign state." Moreover, he bent over backward to show respect for his country of birth by refraining from cheering exuberantly when he scored his two goals.

The entire incident is an example of the complicated transnational identities that arise in a mobile, globalized, and interconnected world. I have friends who were born to immigrant parents in one country, married someone from another country, and moved to a third country -- mother, father, and child were born on separate continents. "Where are you from?" is no longer a simple question for such people.

Perhaps that's why U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama -- born in Hawaii to an American mother and Kenyan father, and raised for a while in Indonesia -- appeals to so many worldwide. We're entering an era of people with borders.

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HOFSTETTEN, GERMANY - MAY 27: Farmer Jakob Moesl (C) blocks the access to his farm with a empty milk tank and a placard reading 'Stop milk delivery!!! For a fair price' on May 27, 2008 in Hofstetten near Landsberg am Lech, Germany.

Germany's dairy farmers are furious. Many have them have stopped shipping milk to factories because they want 43 eurocents a liter, rather than the 28 to 34 cents they get now. But there's a problem: What to do with all the milk they are still producing? The cows don't go on strike just because the farmers do.

According to Deutsche Welle, "the unsold milk is being fed to calves or dumped in farm-waste tanks."

It's a shame when so many people around the world are struggling to buy food, but Romuald Schaber, who heads an association of some 30,000 dairy farmers, says the boycott is the only tool in the farmers' arsenal:

All we can do now is use our milk as a weapon.... Milk is might, and we have the milk."

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A crane swings over the skeleton of the former Palace of the Republic (Palast der Republik) on April 24, 2008 in Berlin, Germany. The Palace of the Republic is the former parliament building of the former East Germany, and is to be completely disassembled by the end of the year. Many Berliners are against the move, citing the historical importance of the building.

I loved the film Good Bye Lenin! as much as the next guy, but sometimes you just have to move on. I mean, we are talking about a significant eyesore here, and one that's in a prime riverfront spot:

JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP/Getty Images

JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP/Getty Images

JIM WATSON

While NATO allies publicly debate their role in Afghanistan, attendees say a secret memo is circulating around the conference that plans for the alliance's exit from the conflict. Der Spiegel reports that Germany played a major role in drafting the "master plan" for the eventual removal of 47,000 NATO troops.

The document is actually less dramatic than it seems. In the short term it "calls for soldiers to gradually focus their attention more on training Afghan police forces and to hand over responsibility for actual conflict situations 'as soon as external circumstances and Afghan capabilities allow.'"

Wasn't equipping Afghan forces to eventually handle their own security always NATO's plan in Afghanistan? How is this a major change in policy? Der Spiegel hedges that the benchmarks layed out the memo might keep a NATO presence in Afghanistan until 2015, so it's possible that the document is just a fantasy meant to assuage the skeptical German public.

While the paper avoids a specific date for withdrawal, Germany Defense Minister Franz-Josef Jung is optimistic about its implementation:

According to everything I've seen and to everything that other countries have added," Jung said of the paper, "I am very hopeful that it can be achieved in the forseeable future."

Mission accomplished?

You may already have seen this incredible photo from a fire in Ludwigshafen, Germany, an industrial town across the Rhein from Mannheim:

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The photo instantly told a heartwarming, if tragic, story: Fire-trapped Family Throws Baby to Safety.

Nine people died in Sunday's blaze, and a further 60 were injured. But incredibly, the 11-month-old baby survived without injury. In recent days, though, the story has taken a darker turn. Speculation is growing that the fire was not an accident, but racially motivated arson aimed at Turkish or Turkish-origin families living in the building. The accusations have been aired prominently in the Turkish press, and Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan is reportedly meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel today about it. There is some suggestive circumstantial evidence that arson was the motive:

The police confirmed Wednesday that the apartment building had already been daubed with neo-Nazi graffiti before the fire. The word "Hass" ("hate") was written twice on the wall next to the entrance to a Turkish cultural center on the ground floor of the building, with the last two letters written in the style of the Germanic runes of Hitler's SS organization.

Investigators have yet to issue their findings, however. For Germany, this is an extremely delicate topic. There are an estimated 2.5 million ethnic Turks in Germany, a relatively large minority in a nationalistic country of about 82.5 million. The good news? In the most recent state elections in Hesse, voters appeared to reject a xenophobic campaign waged by the incumbent, a Merkel ally. Tensions, of course, could easy flare up as a result of this incident. Stay tuned.

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The excitement aroused by the World Cup soccer tournament in Germany in 2006 may have increased that country's birthrate as much as 15 percent nine months later. But the intensely emotional matches have now also been correlated with a spike in the number of cardiac emergencies.

A study published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine examined the number of cardiac emergencies in the greater Munich area in the summer of 2006. It compared that number with the numbers in similar periods in 2003 and 2005, and for several weeks before and after the 2006 World Cup.

On days when the German team played, the incidence of cardiac emergencies was 2.66 times higher than during the comparison periods. For men, the incidence was 3.26 times higher; for women, it was 1.82 times higher. People with a history of heart disease were particularly affected.

The study's authors say emotional stress was the main trigger, but they add that sleep deprivation, excessive consumption of junk food and alcohol, and smoking might also be contributing factors. They suggest that spectators with heart problems should take preventive measures, such as consulting their doctors about increased medication dosages during intense sports events.

So should Americans be worried about this weekend's Super Bowl? Study author Gerhard Steinbeck says:

It's reasonable to think that something quite similar might happen.

Though if the Vegas odds-makers have it right, the greater danger on Sunday may turn out to be irate New York Giants fans.

Der Spiegel online has posted a candid interview with Germany's top military officer in Afghanistan. He admits that Germany needs to do more, mainly by getting rid of the caveats that restrict where German soldiers can go and what functions they can perform (Germans are posted mainly in the relatively stable north of the country):

The limitations that the Germans have placed upon themselves are not regarded as optimal here. If a country takes over reconstruction responsibilities, its teams can, in an emergency, be replaced by reserve units if the Afghans go into battle. That's what we're really talking about here. When all the countries on a mission go into conflict areas and then a few of them say that they're only going to do something very specific, it becomes difficult.

He also doesn't have much patience for the argument, heard so often in Europe, that the war-fighting element of the mission (largely but not exclusively done by the American-led force called OEF) is getting in the way of gentler peacekeeping and uncontroversial reconstruction.

It bothers the Americans when Europeans accuse them of waging the war in a brutal fashion. If there were no OEF, the insurgency would gain strength in the country and they would consider themselves unopposed here, which could also threaten ISAF's success. Here at ISAF we don't have the forces to go after the extremists alone.

Maybe somebody in the Green Party will listen. 

Germany may not be too gung-ho about the war in Iraq, but that doesn't mean the country is not serious about stopping terrorism and extremism. That said, the latest serious tool it has added to its arsenal for fighting extremist Islam is ... a comic book (pdf).

Created by the interior ministry of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the comic book features an adolescent German hero, Andi. Andi's frustrated Muslim friend Murat, a German resident of Turkish heritage, can't find an apprenticeship and blames his difficulties on xenophobia. Murat starts to become brainwashed by Harun, a Muslim youth who takes Murat to meet a radical sheikh who shows them extremist Web sites.

The story has a happy ending after Murat finally comes to his senses when his sister Ayshe—a modern, head-scarf-wearing, Muslim girl who staunchly believes in liberal democracy—is threatened by Harun.

Hamburg is planning to use the comic book in its schools; additionally, a second Andi comic is headed to schools soon. It's unclear how German kids will react, though, or whether the book will succeed in stopping the cultivation of homegrown terrorists, such as the three men—two German citizens who had converted to Islam and one Turkish Muslim resident—who were arrested in September for planning bomb attacks. It wouldn't be surprising if teenagers—being teenagers—find it cheesy and just roll their eyes. More importantly, though, is the impact on Muslims. The 2005-06 Danish cartoon outrage showed that cartoons and Muslims don't often go well together. (At least this comic book doesn't appear to have images of the prophet.) There's bound to be somebody who complains that the comic book depicts distorted caricatures of Muslims in Germany.

If the book gets families talking and makes youth more apt to peer-pressure their friends away from extremist recruiters, though, it may have well served its purpose. Only time will tell if placing the security of Germany on the shoulders of a teenage comic-book hero will protect the country from terrorism.

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A recent report out of Germany indicates that alcohol abuse by elite German soldiers in Afghanistan is rampant. Members of Germany's Kommando Spezialkräfte openly flout alcohol restrictions, drinking heavily and trading booze with U.S. troops for snippets of intelligence and helicopter rides, according to Der Spiegel. One U.S. soldier says beer is a "currency ... To us, the German beer supplies were Big Rock Candy."

And drinking is not limited to rank and file soldiers. The behavior of a drunken German colonel during mission briefings in Kandahar, for instance, prompted complaints from U.S. military officials.

The Germans aren't the only ones with substance-abuse problems. A report in the New York Times earlier this year found that "alcohol- and drug-related charges were involved in more than a third of all Army criminal prosecutions of soldiers" in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It's easy to dismiss the drinking as "boys will be boys" behavior. And you can't blame soldiers for having a drink or two, considering what they go through each day.

But if history is any guide, the heavy drinking could indicate low morale. During Vietnam, substance abuse was widespread and tied to frustration with progress and battlefield stress. This was also the case for the Soviet Union during its occupation of Afghanistan. Facing extended deployments, up to 50 percent of Red Army troops turned to drugs.

Last month, I attended a discussion on the state of the Iraq war. One panelist said the troops still believed in the fight because, unlike Vietnam, they had not yet turned to drugs or alcohol. Unfortunately, these reports suggest otherwise.

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Shimon Peres, Israel's president and former ... everything, denounced Columbia University this morning for hosting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday:

I think that Columbia University made a mistake ... With Hitler there was a dialogue. (British Prime Minister Neville) Chamberlain went to talk to him. What did it help? It helped cover the fact that Hitler prepared concentration camps and death camps."

Sure, Ahmadinejad may be strengthening his domestic position. But notice what happened today at the U.N.: French President Sarkozy called for "combining firmness with dialogue," reiterating his position, "if we allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons, we would incur an unacceptable risk to stability in the region ad the world." And Germany's Angela Merkel came out in support of a new round of sanctions "if [Iran's] behavior doesn't change." She added, "Israel's security isn't negotiable," and referred to Ahmadinejad's history of comments on Israel as "inhumane".

These statements may well have been worked out on Friday, when the permanent five members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany met in Washington to discuss the sanctions issue. But it sure was easier for Germany to toughen its stance after yesterday's farce at Columbia. Ahmadinejad had a chance to come across as a moderate, undercutting the unity of the EU3. Instead, he came across as a buffoon not ready for prime time. We'll see if he acquits himself better here at the U.N. in a few minutes, but suffice it to say that Iran is back on its heels today.

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On the right: A young boy in a traditional Bavarian costume Oktober-rests in a cart during the Costume and Rifleman's Parade Sunday in Munich, Germany. The procession, which features oompah bands and people in Bavarian costumes, takes place annually on the first Sunday of Munich's Oktoberfest beer festival, which this year began on Saturday and lasts until Oct. 7.

Other highlights from the opening weekend include:

• 500,000 liters of beer gulped
• 11 oxen devoured
• 60 "beer corpses" (though a spokeswoman for the Munich police said the actual number of people who drank themselves unconscious was probably higher)
• An out-of-control American man who threw a carrot, injuring a Chilean woman near the eye
• An inebriated Swiss man who got scared by a mechanical ghost and attacked it.

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Recently, Passport noted a very interesting tidbit from Der Spiegel: French President Nicholas Sarkozy apparently suggested that "perhaps the Germans would consider taking a political stake in the French atomic arsenal."

Der Spiegel appears to be the only source for this assertion, which could actually have several interpretations. Der Spiegel itself interpreted it as a suggestion that France might physically host nuclear weapons on German soil, but derided the idea as "pointless" and just another in a series of Sarkozy’s gaffes that have "surprised, stymied, annoyed, and flabbergasted" German leaders.

The magazine failed to note, however, that such an offer would not be without precedent, since Germany has hosted U.S. nuclear warheads for decades (for use by NATO forces). All but a handful have been withdrawn, but somewhere around 20 remain, probably at Ramstein Air Force Base. Hosting French nuclear weapons in a similar manner would not suddenly make Germany a nuclear power—which makes the German response, that "Germany did not seek to become a nuclear power," all the more perplexing.

Perhaps this incident is really a story about European integration, which has often been driven forward by a Franco-German "engine" of cooperation. One of the most difficult sticking points of integration in the European Union has always been defense capabilities—of which nuclear weapons are perhaps the most difficult, for obvious reasons.

Even in the context of integration, though, the facts on this incident are too vague to come to any firm conclusions. Perhaps Sarkozy is trying to jumpstart the integration process, in the face of possible new referendums on a new EU constitution. Perhaps he was trying to position France, as opposed to Britain, as the critical guarantor of the EU's security. Either way, the nuclear aspect of cooperation in Europe will be an area to watch in coming years.

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The French and the Germans have cooperated on many fronts since the end of World War II. Their partnership is largely credited with driving economic growth in Europe, and both countries champion further European integration. Now, French President Nicolas Sarkozy wants to take the relationship to a whole new level.

According to a report in Der Spiegel, Sarkozy, in a recent meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, asked if Germany would be interested in some French nuclear weapons. Der Spiegel explains the German reaction thusly:

Both the chancellor and her foreign minister were speechless. The idea of possessing nuclear weapons is taboo in Germany. Sarzoky's predecessor Jacques Chirac cautiously brought up the issue 12 years ago, but he quickly realized it was pointless to pursue it.

Steinmeier eventually explained that as Germany had signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty; it wasn't interested in French nukes. Merkel said nothing. 

Sarkozy's offer is the latest in a series of odd incidents between the French and the Germans. For instance, Sarkozy asked Merkel to force German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück to publicly apologize for contradicting the French president at an EU meeting over the independence of the Central European Bank. Merkel told Sarkozy she couldn't reprimand Steinbrück, as he was articulating German policy. 

Disputes over more substantive issues like Iraq have also emerged. The Germans were miffed when French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner visited Baghdad recently to express support for U.S. policy. Berlin was also upset by France's nuclear agreement with Libya. Both were done without consultation.

What does this new dynamic between France and Germany mean for the rest of Europe? Der Speigel says it best: "It's possible that Europe's legendary Franco-German motor might shift into neutral for a while."

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The murder of six men outside a pizza parlor in Duisberg, Germany last week has focused new attention on the globalization of the Italian mafia. Authorities claim that the shooting was linked to a feud between rival families of the 'Ndrangheta, a Calabrian crime syndicate that has in recent years eclipsed the better-known Sicilian Cosa Nostra. The 'Ndrangheta's presence in Germany has been well documented for some time now. Mafia groups own a significant amount of property in Germany for money-laundering purposes. As one of Europe's leading cocaine importers, the group also has ties in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, the Balkans, Eastern Europe and South America, according to a report by the Italian premier's office. However, this is the first crime of such magnitude to be committed outside of Italy, and many Germans are worried that the violence may continue. These fears seemed justified on Friday, when a statue of two clenched fists—a mafia symbol for revenge—was placed at the crime scene.

Meanwhile, the half-million Italians who live in Germany, particularly those involved involved in the restaurant business are concerned about the stigma of mafia involvement. Dubious German media reports have stated that around 30 percent of German pizza restaurants are mafia controlled. (The number is closer to 3 percent, restaurateurs say.) Seventeen Duisberg restaurant owners have issued an anti-mafia statement in order to reassure customers, but the 'Ndrangheta has certainly not helped their fellow Italians with blunt statements such as this one:

 The Germans must realize that where there is pizza, there's the Mafia."

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Germans love to travel. Every year, some 44 million of them trek overseas. For hoteliers in places like the French Riviera, this mass exodus is a cash cow. For the Teutonic state, it's an untapped resource.

The government of Angela Merkel is appealing to German citizens traveling abroad to "look beyond the palm trees" and pester people about their governments' human rights records—from the moment they step off the aircraft. Günter Nooke, human rights envoy for the German foreign ministry, even wants in-flight magazines to profile the human rights record of destination countries. Many German tourists are oblivious to human rights abuses, he complains, and "[t]oo many travellers are uncritical, or have a false solidarity with the governments of the countries they visit."

So what might Nooke have German tourists do? For example, visitors to Turkey could "engage" the people on the problems with the country's press freedoms and legal system; tourists in Egypt could ask their taxi drivers why emergency powers have been in place for decades; and Olympic fans could organize "private meetings" with local citizens' groups in Beijing. Businessmen traveling to Dubai could also query luxury hotels about the employment conditions of their migrant workers.

Aside from the obvious criticism that this approach could endanger citizens as well as travelers, which Nooke acknowledges, it also smacks of arrogance. Think about it: How would the staff at JFK airport or the Waldorf Astoria react to being browbeaten about Iraq or Guantánamo? They'd probably become about as welcoming as Yankee Stadium on the night the Red Sox are in town.

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That's a quote from a very distraught Andreas Jacobs, the chief owner of one of the world's largest chocolate manufacturers, Barry Callebaut of Switzerland. Marc Kowalsky explains why for Der Spiegel, which is becoming kind of obsessed with stories like this one:

Globalization has now hit the chocolate sector with full force. Just like Barry Callebaut, other chocolate producers are also suffering from the poor hazelnut harvest in Turkey, the growing demand for milk in China and the wheat shortage in the United States -- this last caused by more and more of the grain being used to produce biofuel. Meanwhile packaging and transport costs have increased at the same time.

Germany's critical gummy-bear industry is in trouble, too. The escalating drumbeat of stories about rising food prices around the world is enough to make Niall Ferguson pen a somber ode to Thomas Malthus. But if the upshot of this trend is less consumption of gummy bears, chocolate, and beer, perhaps everything will balance out in the end.