Günter Gaus

Günter Gaus (23 November 1929 – 14 May 2004) was a prominent German journalist-commentator who became a diplomat and (very briefly) a regional politician in Berlin. Once he had moved on – as he probably assumed, permanently – from the worlds of print journalism and television, in 1976 Günter Gaus joined the Social Democratic Party. The party's leader (and former chancellor), Willy Brandt, was a close political ally and a friend. Gaus let it be known that he had resigned his party membership towards the end of 2001, after Chancellor Schröder had incautiously – and "without consulting the party" – pledged "unconditional/unlimited solidarity" ("bedingungslose/uneingeschränkte Solidarität") with the United States of America during the build-up to that year's United States invasion of Afghanistan.