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“Game of battleships!” ForTageszeitung, the scandal that has erupted over the Gorch Fock training vessel will compromise the reputation of the German navy and the country’s up-and-coming Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg. On 25 January, a parliamentary report publicised the abusive treatment meted out to cadets on the “legendary tall ship,” where four crew members have died since 2008. “Drunkenness, sexual harassment, and the captain wearing swimming trunks:” the report quoted by the Berlin daily raises the issue of hazing in the German military, and the defence minister’s failure to exercise sufficient control. The pacifist daily argues that the scandal will be “a moment of truth” for Guttenberg who has made no secret of his ambition to become a future German chancellor. It also insists that the Bundeswehr should review its training techniques and internal management procedures.
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