A German far-right leader on trial for praising the 11 September attacks continued to lash out at the US in his first court appearance on Monday.
Horst Mahler, a leading ideologue of the extreme-right National Democratic Party, is accused of condoning an illegal act.
Nine days after the attacks in September 2001 he said in an interview on the ARD television network they were “cruel” but “justified” and said the perpetrators had his full sympathy.
In court in Hamburg he said Arabs had a right to retribution against the United States, which he described as “the bloodiest and most imperialist power the world has ever seen”.
In the words of Indiana Jones, “Nazis. I hate these guys.” But in all honesty, these statements don’t seem especially unusual — haven’t a lot of non-Nazi Europeans been saying basically the same thing?