User talk:Tim Chambers

Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg

I complained to Hayford Pierce about the removal of the Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg article. This is the current conversation. -- Tim Chambers 18:56, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

Hi Tim,

Sorry about the deletion but there was just a single sentence that had been sitting there for a while without any chances at all. CZ has nothing against stubs, but even a stub is supposed to be at least 50 to 150 words and show some indication that it's being worked on.

I just restored this article in order to make certain, and here is the entire text:

Karl Theodor Maria Nikolaus Johann Jacob Philipp Franz Joseph Sylvester Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg is Germany's minister of economic affairs.

I'm afraid that that simply isn't enough to be a CZ article.

But you can copy the above text and put it into your own personal sandbox, of course, and expand it as you like.

Best,

Hayford [2:10, 25 April 2009]

Having no particular experience in this particular issue, it's worth, I think, looking at what can be done. My first question was "what are the responsibilities of the German minister of economic affairs"? For the key U.S. cabinet officials, we had an article on U.S. Secretary of Defense before we had articles on Robert Gates or Robert McNamara; I have not been able to bring myself to write Donald Rumsfeld or comment on Dick Cheney's incumbency in that post.

So, a starting point could well be what I learn, from [1], is the German Ministry of Economics and Technology. Certainly, with Japan, while it no longer exists, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry had immense technology influence independent of their economics ministers.

I note that the Ministry homepage gives his name as Karl-Theodor Freiherr zu Guttenberg, and there's a basic biography at [2]. It wouldn't be unfair to mention the Slashdot issue.

If writing about the man, he was "Spokesman of the CDU/CSU Parliamentary Group on disarmament, non-proliferation and arms control". What positions did he support? He's been in the post since February 10. Has he made any key policy announcements? Perhaps Germany is more sensible than the U.S. demand for complete solutions to all crises within 24 hours, and he has taken steps to decide what to do. I don't know, for example, if this Ministry is responsible for the financial crisis, or other ministries/central banks are involved in Germany. Without any research, the post sounds closer to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce than to the Secretary of the Treasury, the financial minister. Howard C. Berkowitz 17:55, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

Thanks, Hayford and Chris. I'll leave it in my sandbox for now. -- Tim Chambers 18:56, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

Old

See snapshot for my first archive. Also see my reply to Stephen on his page.