Current Event 7/14/12

Joachim Gauck, who has now been in office for over one hundred days, has just appointed his new spokeswoman, Ferdos Forudastan. Ever since former President Christian Wulff resigned in a cloud of scandal that encompassed his spokesman, it has become obvious that the entire history of a spokesperson plays some role in politics.
Forudastan, who will begin her work in September, is half Iranian and half German and attended primary and secondary school in Switzerland and Iran, respectively. After studying political science and law, she became an author and a journalist, acting as a correspondent during the reunification of Germany. She has become well-known for her positions and work regarding immigration, and has penned books on the subject.
It is a clever move of Gauck to appoint this woman as a close aide, because of the current debates on immigration and his relatively paltry experience with the issue. Debates on Islam in Germany will likely also be altered by Forudastan's new position; the new spokeswoman is also married to a German politician, Michael Vesper.
It will be interesting to see how Forudastan's background impacts both Gauck's policies and the public opinion of the new president. In the issue of immigration especially, the new appointment will doubtless make changes in Gauck's plan for the nation and their lack of skilled workers.

http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,16094381,00.html