GER politics thread [Archive] - Page 9 - SUBSIM Radio Room Forums

Skybird

07-05-23, 05:22 PM

Were all people nazis in 1933? Some never learn.
The goal to destroy and fight democracy is maybe not written in the AfD's party book, but you hear exactly that from a lot of their leaders.
I am sure their party doctrine does not lie of course, just like Hitler's didn't.
That was not what the article was about.

The party has a Nazi wing. It is influential, it grew since it hijacked the party from its founder. But the party also collects many other opinions, not just Nazis.

Some of its voters may be Nazis. Some. Especially those who saw bigger chance in the AfD and no longer in the NPD.

And even if the Nazi wing over the years would become the openly dominant decision maker in the party - I still do nit line p with the othe roartgies, that much pissed I am by them. And I HATE Nazis. But it seems I hate some others as much.

But most voter,s I simply clkaim that so, aer eno Nazis at all, are just people who arte pissed by the destruction done by the parties in office right now. The CDU today is simply green-left. It is not what it once stood for by claim and understanding. The moderate conservatives find no home in it any more. And they moved to the only alternative there is - the AfD. The AfD collect many of those who got exorcised by Merkel, and the nee dof the CDU today form coaltiions with the Greens, which makes the CDu so far green- and left lenaign that it now is. Or would you tlel me the CDU is an altertnative to the Ampelkoalition? I would disagree - I do not see the differences to understand it as an alternative.

And many people are pissed by it, are completely pissed, and this is no longer just the Eastgermans - it has already reached into the Western states as well. The coalition does so much carnage against Germany and the Germans, that it necessrily rives peope to the AfD. An d the CDU als helps in this becasue the CDU refuses to be an alternative. Merz has failed. Wüst is the continuation of Merkel. Long time people escpaed this drama by not voting, like I have chosen for all my life long. But many of these people, me included, see that as no longer an option. People see that the damage gets done nevertheless. So the move and agree to now supporit the only party that holds an inherent promise to confront and maybe damage these established parties.

I, and many others as well, see the established parties no logner as the lesser evil. And say what you want: the damage they do is done by them, not the AfD.

https://youtu.be/GMjyvdBLHDc

:D ^You get what I mean...?

As I wrote in the France thread, Wagenknecht's new party will take voters away from the AfD. She is popular with many AfD voters. She will weaken the SED and the AfD. But not with my vote's help.

Kai, allein daß ich nach 38 Jahren erwäge, erstmals (!) überhaupt in meinem Leben beim nächsten Mal zu wählen, sollte Hinweis genug sein, wie stinksauer ich bin. Ich habe doch immer die Wahlverweigerung gepredigt! Und die AfD ist wirklich eine Dreckspartei, die ich zum Kotzen finde - da wähle ich doch lieber die als das noch schlimmere Übel!

Fight fire with fire, all that.

Skybird

07-09-23, 06:21 AM

German universities.

https://www-tagesspiegel-de.translate.goog/wissen/im-horsaal-regnets-rein-deutschlands-zerfallende-unis-10107565.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp

(click the left option "Weiter mit Werbung").

If the situation is so dire, why not use the third of the estimated needed funds proposed for "climate policy upgrades" to repair the most necessary damage to the building's physical foundation? We can afford luxuries when the fundamentals are back in place. But they are not, and probably never will be again.

The Green's recipe is als always the same: ever increase debts, do ever more on credit. Money means nothing. Not that the other parties are different, but the Greens have an especially pathologic relation to money.

Skybird

07-10-23, 04:22 AM

The NZZ on the AfD. I give the attempted Google-translator-link and, because I am not certain that it works, the German link as well.

https://www.nzz.ch/international/aufstieg-afd-warum-sind-die-rechten-in-deutschland-so-stark-ld.1745885?_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_sl=auto

https://www.nzz.ch/international/aufstieg-afd-warum-sind-die-rechten-in-deutschland-so-stark-ld.1745885

(...) Alexander Gauland. He uttered the phrase "we will hunt them down" after the AfD entered the German Bundestag for the first time in 2017. He was referring to then-Chancellor Angela Merkel and the established parties. In light of current developments, Gauland's prophecy has come true.

Skybird

07-10-23, 08:35 AM

In so much concentrated denial of reality I, as a former psychologist, definitely recognize a considerable degree of d psychiatrically relevant psychopathology. "Tichy's Einblicke" writes:

The cabinet has again postponed the self-determination law. The Ministry of the Interior has concerns. These show how the ministers involved, Lisa Paus and Marco Buschmann, are fighting reality and reason.

Lisa Paus (Greens, Minister of Family Affairs) and Marco Buschmann (FDP, Minister of Justice) have achieved something great. Something that opens up a career in the PR industry for them after their time as politicians: they have made Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) look like the realist in Olaf Scholz's (SPD) cabinet. That's because, as Der Spiegel reports, she has put a stop for the time being to the self-determination law that the government actually wanted to pass before the summer break.

The Self-Determination Act is intended to facilitate the official gender change. If Andreas wants to become Andrea, he no longer needs any biological requirements. An entry in the registry office is sufficient. Whoever then still calls him Andreas, Paus and Buschmann want to have the public prosecutor prosecute him and impose penalties that threaten his existence. Even if the perpetrators are Andreas' children.

But if Andreas has a criminal record, if there is even a warrant out for his arrest, or if he is registered as the owner of a weapon, then the authorities should also know this information about Andrea. One would think. Should even be self-evident. But apparently not in the draft law by Paus and Buschmann, as reported by Der Spiegel.

To remember the old name and the former identity want Paus and Buschmann as described under penalty. Only in exceptional cases should these be allowed to be disclosed and examined. That would go so far that the forty times previously convicted violent offender Andreas, may define himself as pacifist Andrea. Whoever says otherwise is homophobic. And whoever even wants to execute Andrea's arrest warrant for tax evasion is misanthropic. Because with the self-determination law the felt identity is to apply - no longer the biological one.

This obviously went too far for Faeser (Minister of the Interior). However, this is not the first reality to thwart the self-determination law. Initially, it was the FDP that expressed concerns. It wanted to let the domestic law continue to apply. If Andreas as Andrea wants to show her penis in the women's sauna, the owner should not be prosecuted as a homophobic hate criminal if he wants to keep Andrea outside.

But something as private as a house right goes too far for the green minister Paus. If Andrea and her penis want to go into a women's sauna, it would be transphobic to prevent them from doing so. That would even apply to women's shelters. Or in the given case for women's prisons. That Andreas could abuse the self-determination law, Paus thinks is an absurd idea, as she told the Taz: "That's fuelling fears that have nothing to do with reality."

But reality and Paus are no longer real friends. Shortly after the Green minister spoke to Taz, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) vetoed the self-determination bill. Yes, if Andrea and her penis want to be a woman, it would be transphobic and criminal to doubt that. Unless, of course, a war broke out. Then criminal transphobia would become a reason of state in one fell swoop and Andrea would have to go to the front - perceived identity or not. Complete with rifle.

Paus and Buschmann now have as much time over the summer as Wile. E. Coyote to set a new trap for reality with the next bill. Should be fun to see Roadrunner reality beat her next bargain. If she doesn't succeed, Andrea and her penis will end up in the women's shelter instead - beep, beep.

Meine Fresse... I often think Putin has attacked the wrong country. :o Irrenanstalt. Total bekloppt.

https://www.tichyseinblick.de/daili-es-sentials/selbstbestimmungsgesetz-lisa-paus-realitaet/

Skybird

07-10-23, 10:17 AM

Germany pays Intel subsidies worth 60% of the construction costs for a chip factory in Germany. 10 billion Euros. That means each of the 3000 promised jobs costs 3 million in subsidies.

Now, of course, one can object that there is also a positive output for the taxpayer, namely that jobs are created here. That is correct. But the question here is whether the benefits justify the costs. If it costs 3 million euros to create one new job, then the entire unemployment in Germany could be eliminated for the ridiculous sum of 7.6 trillion euros. That is roughly equivalent to 16 times the federal budget in 2023. Everyone may decide for themselves whether the whole thing is worth it to them.

Further, that a factory is located in a country does not mean that the company owning it sells the products of that factory in the country it is located in. Intel can decide differently. In times of shortages of chips for example the US government may intervene. Or other countries pay better prices for chips.

The profits will go out of Germany. The risks will all be at the cost of the German tax cattle. Because stupid German politicians do not know the stuff they endlessly play around with. And havge no sense of responsibility.

This deal is another evidence for that nobody in this carricature of a government has a clue of sound economics. And of many other things as well.

https://www-novo--argumente-com.translate.goog/artikel/teurer_subventionsdeal?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Click "Ich unterstütze bereits".

Skybird

07-10-23, 01:46 PM

As of this Wednesday (July 12, 2023), the average German is working for his or her own pocketbook.
The average burden of taxes and duties on German employees will fall slightly to 52.7 percent of gross income in 2023. Lets celebrate - not.

52.7% - I already could vomit poison and bile again. Are people really sure that feudalism and servitude have really been abolished?

Catfish

07-10-23, 01:52 PM

^ well i hear you.
It was 10 percent of tributes in the middle ages, so things really have improved :D

I will still not vote for the AfD. Or for the "Die Linke".

Skybird

07-10-23, 04:59 PM

Baerbock is so full of herself about this, but the new Ger,man "Nartional strategy" imo is a failure when I red about it when it was published some days ago. Its a list of shallow phrases and empty holes. The work of naive laymen. The NZZ commented with this:
-----------------------
Germany's National Security Strategy demonstrates strategic naiveté. The roles of the Bundeswehr, the Foreign Service and the Federal Intelligence Service are not defined.

Peace is based on power. It prevails when nations do not fight each other by military means. The strategic question must be how supranational society can develop and international law be strengthened.

After the end of the Second World War, Thomas Mann described the Germans' relationship to the world as "abstract and mystical". This was at a time when Germans were just awakening from hubris and loss of compass. A good twenty years after the lost war, Helmut Schmidt spoke of the "necessity of scientific-rational reflection on foreign policy and security issues" and of the Germans' difficult relationship with strategy.

When Chancellor Olaf Scholz and half his cabinet recently presented the new National Security Strategy (NSS), the self-praise could not have been more pithy: "We've done a great job."

In fact, however, the National Security Strategy raises more questions than it answers. First of all, it is an attempt to describe security threats among the ministries from the perspective of the federal government. Departmental thinking has always been the big brake in Germany when it comes to initiating fundamental changes. Thus, no agreement could be reached on the central issues of organizational adjustments - especially with regard to the establishment of a Council for National Security. The document concludes, "An Integrated Security Policy requires adjustments to our policies to meet new challenges." The strategy is silent on what these structural administrative adjustments or any measures might look like.

What is likely?

Foreign policy is defined in the classical understanding as a statement of the state's will with regard to developments that take place beyond its state borders, i.e., in the international community. Strategy should also not be confused with international relations theory.

Theorists tend to simplify and to have ideal-typical conceptions of reality. A strategy, however, must take into account the logic underlying the behavior of the actors. This means, in particular, to grasp the internal contradictions.

Every action is based on probabilities. In the current situation of the ongoing war, which was triggered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and, like any war, carries the risk of escalation, it is more than useful to remember this. Strategy is the union of diplomacy and military strategy. Any strategy has the task of defining goals, and it must determine the means available to achieve those strategic goals.

It is one of the weaknesses of the NSS presented that the objectives are described in general terms, but a definition of the means is given only in a woolly way. The roles of the instruments - Bundeswehr, Foreign Service, Federal Intelligence Service - are not defined in the text.

The quality of a strategy is measured by Raymond Aron's question, "How can a change in the status quo be avoided without violating the law?" The difficulty of the current world system is its heterogeneity and the increasing influence of technological developments as strategic drivers. Describing reality in a strategic policy document requires understanding strategy in a way that names the geographic and military structural issues and captures the determinants of the relationship among the major actors. Again, there is relatively little in this regard in the present German government document.

Baerbock's naiveté

When Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock writes in the foreword: "For too long we in Germany have believed that our security in Europe is self-evident," and comes to the conclusion: "But our peace order is not set in stone," these sentences can also be interpreted as an admission of strategic naiveté.

In the current situation of strategic uncertainties and especially against the backdrop of the uncertain outcome of the Ukraine war, a fundamental problem is the restoration of peace. In addition, there is the question of how to prevent a change in the status quo from leading to an increase in threats. This is because the classic strategic goal - for example, of an equilibrium strategy in the Cold War - of maintaining the status quo is out of the question in the current situation.

The NSS finds no real answer to the three central strategic questions that arise after the crisis of the old order and in view of the increasing system rivalry: first, the question of how American power can be guaranteed in a post-American world against the background of the uncertainty of the internal development of the United States. And: what does this mean for the future development and shaping of the European-American relationship, in particular for the further development of the North Atlantic Alliance and its partnership policy or the security policy role of the European Union?

Secondly, the question arises as to how the strategic problem of Russia, which will be a European task especially in the coming years, can be solved. The text does not specify what strategic tasks this poses for German and European policy toward Russia - initially in the context of successful containment and then increasingly with a view to peaceful coexistence and resurgent cooperation.

The China question

Russia is the number one threat today. But after an end to the Ukraine war, it seems more likely that shaping the future relationship with China will be the dominant strategic issue of the next ten to twenty years. China is aptly described in the National Security Strategy as a "partner, competitor, and systemic rival" without explaining the strategic consequences for German security policy.

The dialectic of war and peace and the resulting consequences for security policy must therefore be at the heart of any strategy for national security. This must define, against the specific German background, the relationship between governance, the military as an instrument of politics, and society. The NSS does not do all this. It is more like a rehash of the coalition agreement. The part on nuclear is inherently contradictory.
Maintaining the international order

Particularly in view of the power shifts of the present, a national security strategy should have answered the question of under what conditions a future international order will be maintained and strengthened. This also corresponds to the strategic guideline for the goals of German foreign and security policy as defined in the preamble to the Basic Law: to serve a Europe at peace as an equal member.

Willy Brandt's word that foreign policy is peace policy has its origin here. Peace prevails when nations do not fight each other by military means. Peace is based on power. It is thus linked to the ability to use power to influence others who threaten peace.

Out of the organizational trap

By its very nature, war is a test of wills. The strategic question, on the other hand, must be how supranational society can unfold in the face of increasing heterogeneity in the system and how international law can be strengthened. Declarations of intent on the non-permanent seat on the Security Council and reform of the United Nations do not answer the strategic question about the future of the collective security system.

In a 1953 speech ("The Seven Pillars of Unwisdom"), American Democrat, political strategist, and later security advisor to Ronald Reagan Paul Nitze outlined possible pitfalls to watch out for when writing a national security strategy. First: the organization trap, or more specifically, the danger of overemphasizing international organizations and overestimating the United Nations as a world government. Second: the notion that speeches and declarations of intent alone can bring down the walls of Jericho. Third: the belief in the remedy of personnel exchange.

Fourth, goal attainment through neglect of allies (and thus overestimating one's own prescriptions). Fifth: achieving goals by withdrawing from international tasks and limiting them. (The vague passages on the Bundeswehr's financial resources and the reference to tight budgets could be interpreted in this way). Sixth, the notion that all problems can be solved through the use of personal diplomacy. And finally, Nitze cites as the seventh error the view that technology alone can enable the achievement of goals.

It would be advisable to review Germany's new National Security Strategy for such principles in its incompleteness and statements about the international system that have not been thought through to the end.
--------
Ulrich Schlie is Henry Kissinger Professor of Security and Strategic Studies and Director of the Center for Advanced Security, Strategic and Integration Studies (Cassis) at the University of Bonn.
https://www.nzz.ch/meinung/deutschlands-nationale-sicherheitsstrategie-zeugt-von-strategischer-naivitaet-welche-rollen-bundeswehr-auswaertiger-dienst-und-bundesnachrichtendienst-haben-wird-nicht-definiert-ld.1745495

NZZ runs regional limitations and is not displayed everywhere.

----------------

In another eassy on the German govenrment, the NZZ chosed a title that serves ver well to summarize the value of this German "Security Strategy" very well: arrogance does not solve problems.

As I mentioned repeatedly, German political thinklng and acting lacks the ability oft think in long terms, to think strategically instead of opportunistcially carry from just one legislature to the next, and in even short intervals. This paper they wrote illustrates how very true that deficitm is.

It also illustrates naivety and laymenship. The political craftsman's 101 of skill and techncial base abilities and understandings - is not mastered. Which is another common thread that runs through the entire political activity of this amateur play group called "government" the technical badness of its results, the lousy craftsmanship. Merkel had at least the decency not to deliberately disclose her dillentantism, she knew how to dress it in order to hide it: by pleasing the plebs no matter the longterm costs. The members of the Scholz cabinet lack that much shame. So does Scholz himself.

Skybird

07-11-23, 05:28 AM

A series of small interview snippets with ordinary German people on what they want the Berliner politicans to know and why they have turned away from the established parties and towards the AfD.

The estalbished parties so far are in complete denial of these reasons, and defame them, or arrogantly oppose them with left-ideological reasons or untenable promises of how great things will be in the future. Blasé arrogance is the main characteristic nowadays. Complete disconnection from the normal citizen's everyday life reality. These politicians know nothing about the world anymore. And nothing about profound economics.

https://www-focus-de.translate.goog/politik/mehr-auf-das-volk-hoeren-hallo-politiker-in-der-berliner-blase-so-koennt-ihr-die-afd-waehler-zurueckholen_id_198707909.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Skybird

07-11-23, 07:59 AM

The Germans have discovered their love of stabbing, or rather, they have imported it. The number of actual stabbings is obviously many times higher than announced by the official authorities and reported by the German propaganda media without any objections. The suspicion of deliberate concealment of unwelcome consequences of uncontrolled immigration, and of deliberate deception of the public, is absolutely obvious. The clear majority of knife crimes (over 60 every day) are committed by foreigners with or without German passports.

https://www-tichyseinblick-de.translate.goog/daili-es-sentials/hessen-messerangriffe-2022/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp

You possibly must hit "Ich unterstütze bereits".

Skybird

07-14-23, 05:28 PM

The days of the Tiger combat helicopter are numbered.

https://www.nzz.ch/international/nachfolge-fer-kampfhelikopter-tiger-die-bundeswehr-wird-beim-adac-fuendig-ld.1746936?_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_sl=auto

It was an inferior and now really bad solution from beginning on, because it was a political project from beginning on. The AH-64 Apache Longbow would have been the superior solution, so is the AH-1 Cobra. But politicians wanted to mess thigns up, and so they did.

I hope the article does not disappear behind a paywall, like so often at NZZ.

Using DeepL has become a pain due to its new now extremely small word count limit.

Even the Bundeswehr flew combat helicopters in Afghanistan, but only for a short period of time and almost never in live combat. It was better that way, because the Tiger, as this helicopter was known, did not meet the military's needs even then. Cracks in the fuselage structure, insufficient engine power, inadequate armament, and above all a disproportionately high logistical, technical and financial outlay to get the helicopter airborne for an hour - from the very beginning, the Tiger, which was introduced into the Bundeswehr in 2004, was considered a screw-up.

Even when the helicopter was being developed by Germany and France in the second half of the 1980s, there were voices in the Bundeswehr that would have preferred to buy the American AH-64 Apache. But then-German Chancellor Helmut Kohl wanted to establish a European aerospace group with France and subsidized the development of the military division of today's Airbus Group with tax money and orders.
They now want to buy a civilian machine used by police and the ADAC. Nobody in the armed forces likes this idea, the engine is too weak, and you cannot pick such a civilian thing, hang some - few - weapons to its belly and then think you have a gunship helicopter capable to survive on the modern battlefield. Its being used by special forces, but if it should take those four commandos aboard, it must fly with only half of its fuel, due to weight constraints. Its a stupid idea. And thats is why not a few politicians poress for it.

I think they should go with loitering ammunitions instead. Cheap. Fast to produce in huge quantities. Maintenance does not compare to that needed for manned machines. The Ukraine war writes some new, and even unwanted truths. Loitering ammunitions is one of the biggest problem of the Ukrainian offensive, and soldiers say they currently fear nothing more than these.

Skybird

07-16-23, 04:10 AM

Bureaucracy, taxes, shortage of skilled workers: One in four German SMEs is thinking of giving up

According to a survey, around one in four German SMEs is said to be considering closing down. For some entrepreneurs, a move abroad is also conceivable. There are many reasons for these considerations.

More than one in four medium-sized companies (26 percent) are considering giving up their business, according to a recent industry survey. This is the result of a survey by the Bundesverband mittelständische Wirtschaft (German Association of Small and Medium-Sized Businesses), which was made available to the Deutsche Presse-Agentur. More than one in five SMEs (22 percent) are even thinking about relocating abroad.

Above all, entrepreneurs feel inhibited by too much bureaucracy, with just under a third of respondents citing excessive regulations as a constraint. More than a quarter see high taxes and duties as an obstacle. Likewise, just over a quarter of respondents feel their business is restricted by the worsening shortage of skilled workers.

"The results of our survey are more than just a warning signal," said Markus Jerger, chairman of the association, according to a statement. If homebound, deep-rooted entrepreneurs are thinking about giving up or moving abroad, that "can't leave anyone cold."

Among the SMEs surveyed, there is a strong desire for reliability and predictability with regard to the general conditions. However, just under 40 percent gave a positive assessment of Germany's infrastructure in the survey, while 36 percent praised the country's political stability.

[Focus]

Two things worry me.
First, this rate is constantly climbing to the current level since several years, and it is clear that we have a net brain drain as well whcih accelerated over the past 2 years. Its not a snapshot caused by random chance, but it mounted up over several years.
Second, different to the tone of the article'S last paragraph I find it alarming when only 40% give a posiitive assessment of the infrastructure and only 36% praise the political stablity anymore. Only 40 and 36%...? Red lights blinking all across the panel.

If I were an entrepreneur with a great business idea, I would get out of Germany and Europe before thinking about building a company. No chance I would build a business in Germany, not even if they pay me money.

Skybird

07-17-23, 04:18 AM

Another symptom for Germany's economic troubles: now the German startup scene is collapsing. Fasten your seatbelts, we go vertically.

https://www-welt-de.translate.goog/wirtschaft/article246412938/About-You-Auto1-Flink-Tier-Die-deutsche-Start-up-Blase-platzt.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Jimbuna

07-17-23, 04:32 AM

The German economy has had a good innings over the years though and hopefully it will make a comeback.

Skybird

07-20-23, 06:02 PM

2%? Forget it. You just dont understand German humour.

https://www.nzz.ch/meinung/der-andere-blick/zwei-prozent-ziel-fuer-verteidigung-scholz-drueckt-sich-um-die-wahrheit-ld.1748254?_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_sl=auto

Skybird

07-25-23, 05:22 AM

Solar cell manufacturer Meyer Burger is shipping machines to the U.S. for eastern Germany because of the high subsidies. The lessons are obvious.

It's a blow to everyone who wants to make the domestic photovoltaic industry strong again: Swiss solar module manufacturer Meyer Burger has succumbed to the lure of lavish subsidies in the U.S. and is building a new solar cell plant in Colorado.

For this purpose, production machines that were intended for an expansion in Saxony-Anhalt are now being shipped across the ocean. In America, the capital invested generates a government subsidy return from the start of production. Washington is mercilessly stepping up the pace in its efforts to escape its dependence on Chinese suppliers of future technologies.

For an entrepreneur whose business is in troubled waters, that makes the decision clear. Even if Meyer Burger says the expansion in the East is only postponed, the lessons are obvious: In the competition for scarce production resources, it's not just about the amount of subsidies, but also about ease and speed of implementation. This further drives up the price of rapid independence.

[FAZ]

Skybird

07-25-23, 06:01 AM

Germany becomes the new Easter Island. The Easter Islanders built stone statutes to call the gods. The Germans build windmills to call sustainability and get into climate heaven. Both people in the end will have fallen.

https://www-tichyseinblick-de.translate.goog/kolumnen/neue-wege/ein-irrweg-namens-nachhaltigkeit/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Click on "Ich unterstütze bereits". I hope Google Translator works.

Jimbuna

07-25-23, 06:21 AM

Skybird

07-28-23, 03:04 AM

mapuc

07-28-23, 06:33 AM

How the green-woke terror of sentiment de facto establishes a religous dictatorship.

https://www.nzz.ch/meinung/gender-klima-queer-in-deutschland-dominiert-der-gruene-zeitgeist-ld.1749153?_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_sl=auto

NZZ and Google do not like each other. I hope the translator works.

Following made me smile

" Die Mehrheit der Deutschen denkt anders, aber wen kümmert das?"

A majority of the Germans think otherwise, but who cares(not exactly translated I know)

Secondly you have to register to read the entire article.

Markus

Skybird

07-28-23, 07:19 AM

:doh: Over here it's just asking for permission to set cookies.

Skybird

07-28-23, 04:59 PM

From Tichys Einblicke:

Some texts present an editorial team with unanswered questions. For example, this article about the next initiative from Robert Habeck's (Greens) Ministry of Economics. Actually, what is happening is so absurd that it can only be adequately presented in a gloss. On the other hand, the absurdity in Habeck's ministry is reality. So TE decided against the gloss. This time. Every word of it reflects reality - the reality of a green-led country, though.

The Ministry of Economics wants to remeasure the country's prosperity. Habeck's office doesn't know exactly how to do that either. That's why it has launched an online survey on the question of what that might look like. The only thing Habeck's people are sure of is that GDP does not adequately represent prosperity.

This is a relief for the Ministry of Economics. After all, since it has been led by a Green, the gross domestic product has not been doing so well. In the last quarter, the national wealth did not grow despite record immigration. Which is good news. Because in the two quarters before that, it declined. High time, then, to redefine wealth.

So until September 6, users are now to vote on what the new wealth looks like. Quite openly, quite impartially. But to ensure that it goes in the right direction, State Secretary Sven Giegold has already set a few guidelines in the Tagesspiegel. Wealth must not be left to the citizens, left-wing parties have always agreed on that.
"Gross domestic product only shows economic performance," says Giegold in the Tagesspiegel. Climate protection and social justice should be included in the recording of prosperity, Giegold gives the respondents what they should please answer. So far, not everyone has benefited equally from the growing wealth, writes the Tagesspiegel. Conversely, this means:
If everyone has nothing, no one is considered poor. Workers' paradises somehow always work the same way.

Now one could increase Giegold and Tagesspiegel into the absurd. Joke: Whoever has nothing to eat, but carries Robert Habeck in his heart, will be considered infinitely rich in the future. And those who starve would reduce CO2 emissions to such an extent that they would be so rich that the SPD, FDP and Left would demand additional taxes from the corpse. But we will refrain from these jokes. After all, the text should not become a gloss simply because a poorer country wants to redefine wealth.

The Ministry of Economics has announced that the online survey will be included in the 2024 Annual Economic Report. The stupid gross domestic product can then decline as much as it wants - no one would simply report on it anymore. Except the OECD or the International Monetary Fund would inform the Germans about it. But that could then also be prevented by law. But to mention this option would turn the text into a gloss. Or a conspiracy theory. Or perhaps soon a description of reality in a green-led country.

-----------------------

Orwellian NewSpeak plus DoubleThink to deconstruct reality. It all gets more and more an open nightmare.

Skybird

07-30-23, 03:25 AM

https://www.nzz.ch/deutschland/der-fall-deutschland/die-bundeswehr-braucht-juengere-soldaten-schlankere-strukturen-und-munition-ld.1747167?_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_sl=auto

The Bundeswehr has just under 182,000 soldiers, including 214 generals and admirals, a good 39,000 officers, 95,000 non-commissioned officers and 46,000 soldiers with enlisted ranks. Never before has it had so few soldiers and at the same time so many organizational areas, staffs, commands and authorities as today. There is a term for this: top-heaviness. It makes for far too many interfaces and makes it difficult to assign and assume responsibility. This is a typical characteristic of a peacetime army. It produces bureaucrats and encourages them.

The Bundeswehr is an administrative army. This is ensured not only by more than 80,000 civilian employees, but also by tens of thousands of soldiers whose activities are more akin to those in large government agencies than to those of a force training for the real thing. These administrative soldiers do not generate combat power. In the event of war, they do not sit in trenches and positions, battle tanks and infantry fighting vehicles, ships and submarines, but they do cost a lot of money. The Bundeswehr now spends half of its budget on personnel. But an army with too many "chiefs" for too few "Indians" is overwhelmed by the new confrontation in Europe. The war in Ukraine shows what matters in a conflict on the eastern flank.
(...)
The Ministry of Defense has been trying to conceal the low ammunition levels for more than a year with reference to national security. Inquiries to this effect from the opposition have come to nothing. But information about the situation keeps leaking out. One is that warships such as the Corvette 130 can only leave with half their cargo of ammunition because there is no more. Another one was recently published by "Der Spiegel". According to the report, the Bundeswehr has only 20,000 artillery shells. To put that in perspective: At the meeting of EU defense ministers in Stockholm in March, Estonia presented a paper stating that Russia consumes between 20,000 and 60,000 artillery shells per day.
(...)
But how do you prepare society and the armed forces in a democracy so that, in the event of war, they do not give up immediately after the first losses? That is a question of political leadership in an existential situation. Perhaps by saying today what would be expected: four percent casualty rate per combat brigade every single day or, in other words, 200 killed and wounded per 5,000 soldiers every day. This is how the Bundeswehr Medical Service predicted it four years ago in an internal study.

Skybird

08-08-23, 06:03 AM

Skybird

08-11-23, 04:07 AM

Recently, the Institute of the German Economy reported that companies had never withdrawn so much money from Germany as they did last year. There was talk of a net outflow of 132 billion euros from Germany - the highest figure ever recorded.

Last year, for example, German companies made direct investments of 143 billion euros abroad, while foreign companies invested only 11 billion euros in Germany.

The chancellor merely grins smugly, giving himself top marks in press interviews at every opportunity and points out how fantastic and benchmark-like this government is for Germany. The "economy" minister says he is completely satisfied, without any self-doubt or remorse. Quietly, the increase in CO2 pricing was once again accelerated ahead of schedule. This week I discover that a bio-shop that I used has closed down because of declining customer numbers who can no longer afford the higher prices for organic products, and the two farms that operated the shop wanted to sell their land as building land, but now they sit deadlocked on growing red numbers because the sale has failed, because no more building investor is found who would be stupid enough to build in Germany: Building is over-regulated and from year to year deliberately more expensive. Public and private debts rise. Public services like transportation must be reduced, because they do not find sufficent employees anymore, the German railway becomes worse and worse with every year, the funding for infrastructure covers not even a fraction of the needed maintenance costs, and recently a whole city council has resigned because the accommodation of migrants, which the federal chaos troop forces them to provide, is consuming the entire municipal budget and there is not even money left over to cover even ongoing costs: they resigned because they said they could no longer decide anything and had no room for maneuver except to take on more and more debt that they could never repay.

https://www.nzz.ch/meinung/der-andere-blick/deutschland-vor-wirtschaftskrise-warum-es-jetzt-eine-reform-braucht-ld.1750807?_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_sl=auto

If all the red warning lights don't start flashing by now, you've really lost your marbles.

Skybird

08-11-23, 02:01 PM

The July statistics show almost a quarter more business failures than a year ago. This is not only due to higher energy costs and interest rates, but also to the lagged effects of the Corona policy. The number of insolvencies has been rising steadily since August 2022. The number of corporate insolvencies in Germany is since then rising rapidly. In July this year, there were almost 24% more corporate insolvencies in Germany than in the same month last year, according to the Federal Statistical Office. In June, the increase was already almost 14 percent.

I expect that the number of small and medium-sized businesses closing down because they can no longer survive in the business climate created by the traffic light government will increase. The Association of Medium-Sized Businesses said a few days ago that about 40% of the businesses are thinking of giving up.

Fourty percent...! In no other industrialised country is the "Mittelstand" (not to be mistaken with middle class) as important as in Germany. It is here that the model of vocational training for industrial and apprenticeable occupations that the rest of the world is so eager to copy from Germany is based. It is now crumbling. In addition, the number of young people entering job training is far too low.

Not in the long temr, but already in the medium term it is desaster looming. This collaps now happening is of a scale that I cannot imagine Germany to ever recover from that. And it is wanted by the Greens who since 40 year slobber for destroying the burgoise social order, free market economy and capitalism. Demography alone would already spell desaster for us, but the Greens are the catalyst that accelerate this process by facors. The chancelor grins, as always, thats what he does best, and its the only thing he does. The economic minister smirks: the Champagne and non-vegan party food is already ordered, the mission after 40 years is finally almost accomplished.

No pity for the Germans, please. They get what they deserve: they let this happen, they let this being done to them, they even applaude, and do not fight back. Dispicable.

Skybird

08-11-23, 05:44 PM

News from the splenid German Zeitenwende. Its practically over. Tagesspiegel has this:

------------------------

Government softens armaments targets: Union sees breach of promise on special assets

The CDU/CSU government wants to change the law on the 100-billion-pot for the Bundeswehr. It will no longer be possible to finance only investments in the future. Commitments on how to meet the NATO funding target will also be watered down.

Against the backdrop of the tight budget situation, the federal government is planning with looser rules for the use of the special assets of the Bundeswehr and lower increases in the defense budget. This emerges from a draft bill for a budget financing law available to the Tagesspiegel, which is to be approved by the federal cabinet next week.
Live on your cell phone Get all the latest news on the Russian attack on Ukraine with the Tagesspiegel app. Download it here for IOS and Android.

"These changes are drastic and contradict the political commitments of the traffic light during the negotiations on the special assets of the Bundeswehr, when the traffic light factions were dependent on the votes of the Union to amend the Basic Law," CDU budget politician Ingo Gädechens told the Tagesspiegel. He spoke of a "breach of promise by the federal government."

Specifically, the passage stating that NATO's two percent spending target will be reached "over a multi-year average of no more than five years" is to be deleted. Had it remained at that, after an estimated 1.57 percent of economic output for defense spending this year and the planned exactly two percent in 2024, the government would have had to reach percentages well above the two percent mark in the year thereafter to meet the average. Instead, the draft now states that the armaments target is to be achieved "annually starting in 2024" - the bottom line is that the government is thus reducing its own commitment.

Because, in the view of CDU man Gädechens, "the political will to make sufficient money available is lacking," this promise is "now simply being cashed in." The government paper, on the other hand, talks about the fact that the amendment to the law would "rule out" such a large "margin of fluctuation" in defense spending.

The new law would also significantly expand the scope of the 100 billion euro special fund, which was set up last summer with precise specifications. Instead of "equipment projects," such as the recent purchase of fighter jets, helicopters and a missile defense system, "projects" in general would be eligible for financing in the future. In theory, this could also include construction measures in the barracks or research projects in defense technology.

"With the change in earmarking," the Union MP said, "it will be easier to cover up the dramatic underfunding in the core budget." From circles of the Ministry of Defense was heard on Friday that it is also a matter of spending the special assets as quickly as possible because of the loss of interest. However, this could not only be done through major projects that would run and be paid off over many years.

-------------------

Nobody must cry that he got surprised by this news. I told you last year's february that Scholz' babbling means nothing and that the fond would be sacked in a creative way.

But Habeck's additional debts to finance green policy got a boost by 300 billion and violates the constitutional debt breake.German goivenrment of today knows no debts anymore, but labels them as "special foinds" and these then arwe no more debts. They ridicule and ,mock the meanign of the law and the constitutionm, make legal reliability a formality without meaning (like the EU does all the time) . Even Corona fonds that were not spent were illegally hijacked by Habeck. Legally it would be mandatorya to give the Corona moneys back to the taxpayer, its without alternative. But the Greens never had respect for law and order - only if these served their ideological views.

Scum. And the Bundeswehr? Will remain to be a running joke for all time to come. Germany has just days ago reported readiness and reserve numbers to the NATO headquarter and planners that simply do not exist, are fictions on paper only.

Here is the one big thing were Trump really was right, always.

Skybird

08-16-23, 07:12 PM

[Die Zeit] The German government has removed the so-called annual NATO quota from its current draft budget. This was reported by the Reuters news agency and the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, citing government representatives. According to a government representative, this was justified by reservations from the Foreign Office [led by Baerbock/Greens, Skybird]

Baerbock also torpedoed the forming of a German national security council when it was clear that it would be headed not by her, but the chancellor's office, like on every other nation with a comparable institution. Baerbock wanted the privilige to funnel defence spendings from the defence budget into development aid in the third world and available to her own ideas of what might be good spending. Nevertheless these moneys should have been counted as part of the defence budget, even if they build roads in Africa or a water purifier in a desaster zone. Thats all increasing German defence power.

Don't ask - its the Germans, stupid. :88)

Skybird

08-17-23, 03:03 AM

[FAZ] Israel says it has received permission from the United States to sell Israel's Arrow 3 missile defense system to Germany. This was announced by the Israeli Defense Ministry on Thursday. This clears the way for the billion-dollar deal.

It is the largest arms deal in Israeli history, the ministry's statement said. The U.S. approval was seen as the last major hurdle for the historic deal between Germany and Israel. Negotiations on it had begun after Russia launched a war of aggression in Ukraine last year. Representatives of the Israeli and German defense ministries and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) are expected to sign a declaration of commitment in the next step. After approval by the parliaments of both countries, the final contract is expected to be signed toward the end of the year.
(...)

Its Germany. Just saying. Dont be surprised about anything.

Skybird

08-17-23, 03:18 AM

Ready for a wild roller-coaster-ride through the German Irrenhaus? Enjoy, and dont forget to laugh loud and often. And think twice whether you really would want to invest in Germany. If i were an entrepreneur and would want to found a company, my first decision would be to leave Germany and better the whole EU.

https://www-focus-de.translate.goog/finanzen/buerokratie-irrsinn-auschecken-bei-jedem-klo-gang-chefin-rechnet-mit-deutschem-regel-gaga-ab_id_201991982.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp

When Stella Pazzi wishes an employee a happy birthday, she violates the General Data Protection Regulation (DSGVO). She would first have had to get his consent to know his birthday - because that is protected data.

Jimbuna

08-19-23, 07:32 AM

Germany has been blasted for its “absurd” decision to drop its commitment to reach Nato’s spending pledge.

Olaf Scholz’s Government is instead planning to present interest payment as part of its defence expenses.

Berlin abandoned Nato’s legally binding commitment to spend two per cent of GDP defence on Wednesday.

Germany’s Green Party took exception to the pact’s clause.

The Greens hold significant power in Berlin as environmentalist MPs were called in Scholz’s coalition after the last general election.

The developments came as Germany’s Bild newspaper reported that the country’s defence ministry had been instructed to include debt-servicing payments as military spending for next year.

Germany is forecast to fall €14billion short of its spending commitment in 2024.

Berlin is trying to avoid the humiliating news by adding around €9billion debt servicing to its official expenditure.

Scholz’s Government is also looking to include €4billion of military assistance provided to Ukraine in its defence figures.

The decision has been criticised by an MP from the opposition centre-right CDU party.

Info Gadechens said: “The idea of categorising interest payments as defence expenses is outright absurd.

“While soldiers can protect our nation, interest rates certainly cannot.”

Germany has been criticised for failing to meet Nato’s spending commitments for several years.

Only 11 out of Nato’s 31 member states spend two per cent of GDP on defence spending in 2023.

The United Kingdom, United States, Poland, Greece, Estonia, Lithuania, Finland, Romania, Hungary, Latvia and Slovakia all spent the required amount.

A spokesperson from Germany’s defence ministry told The Telegraph: “In addition to the entire defence budget… defence expenditure according to Nato criteria can sometimes also include expenditure on other individual plans.”
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/germany-blasted-for-absurd-decision-to-drop-nato-spending-pledge/ar-AA1fsILf?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=632cd29c507b44e5a7b056ba8b3826bf&ei=28

ET2SN

08-19-23, 09:21 PM

Taiwanese chip producer TSMC invests billions into a chip factory in Dresden. This news comes shortly after Intel was lured by Germany with subventions worth 10+ bn into building such a factory in germany.

TSMC is spreading itself out due mostly to the PLA threat of invasion but also due to the log jams and shortages that were caused during the pandemic.

I believe they will rename the European fabs under "ESMC".
This also allows them to tailor chip production better to a region's needs.

You'll get better PC-based chips than the US plus they can also build a five year "fuse" into automotive chips for BMW. :O:

Skybird

08-20-23, 01:16 AM

TSMC is spreading itself out due mostly to the PLA threat of invasion but also due to the log jams and shortages that were caused during the pandemic.

I believe they will rename the European fabs under "ESMC".
This also allows them to tailor chip production better to a region's needs.

You'll get better PC-based chips than the US plus they can also build a five year "fuse" into automotive chips for BMW. :O:
They will not build latest chip technology and smallest chips here, but only bigger ones of older tech generation that can be used in car production.

Skybird

08-23-23, 05:58 AM

Tichy's Einblicke writes: https://www.tichyseinblick.de/wirtschaft/global-wealth-report-2023-reichtumszahlen-vermoegen/

Neither on average nor on the mean does the Federal Republic of Germany rank among the top countries internationally in terms of wealth. Even within the EU, it performs poorly. Despite this, left-wing politicians are calling for even higher taxes. The Global Wealth Report 2023, which Credit Suisse uses regularly to measure global wealth distribution, reports two major trends for the past year: First, global inequality grew less strongly than before - but this was mainly because the decline on the stock markets in 2022 caused nominal wealth to shrink slightly overall, especially in the industrialized countries. At the same time, the middle class as a whole continues to grow worldwide, mainly due to the rise of Asian countries. This trend has been going on for more than two decades: Since 2000, the proportion of people globally with per capita net wealth between $10,000 and $100,000 has risen from 13.4 to 34.4 percent.

For Germany, however, the 2023 report shows very modest figures that clearly contradict the myth of the "rich country" that politicians and the media like to promote. The figures on the average and median wealth of the individual countries are interesting above all because they were not collected in such detail in earlier wealth reports. According to the ranking of the "Global Wealth Report," Germany is not among the world's top ten countries in terms of either average or median wealth per capita. Median wealth refers to the boundary that divides the bottom half of wealth owners from the top half. Median wealth refers to the boundary dividing the lower half of wealth holders from the upper half. A median figure therefore says more about the distribution than the pure average figure. According to Credit Suisse data, Germany ranked 16th globally in terms of average wealth in 2022, and 27th in terms of median wealth.

A comparison among industrialized countries in particular shows the differences in both fields. In terms of average wealth, Switzerland leads with an average net wealth of $685,230 per capita, followed by the USA with $551,350. The EU country with the highest average wealth - Denmark with $409,950 - is in fifth place. Germany, on the other hand, has an average wealth of $256,180, which is only slightly more than half as high. Three factors in particular put the Federal Republic relatively far behind in the comparison: First, because of the lowest EU home ownership rate of 51 percent, there are few properties in the hands of individual citizens here. Second, Germans still own far fewer shares than investors in most other industrialized countries. In the long term, securities provide good asset growth. And thirdly, many younger people in Germany in particular find it difficult to build up any assets at all because of the high tax and contribution burden - especially since real estate prices hardly allow average earners in urban centers to buy their own house or condominium.

The differences in median wealth are even more pronounced. Here, Belgium leads internationally with $249,940 per capita. Half of the adults own more than this amount, the other half less. In terms of median wealth, Switzerland ranks sixth with $167,350 per person, making it one of the countries that combine a high average wealth with a relatively broad distribution of wealth. The second, funded pillar of old-age provision, which is mandatory for the Swiss, contributes to this. With a median wealth of $133,630 per capita, France (10th place) also has a level of prosperity that is just over twice that of Germany. In the Federal Republic, median wealth in 2022 was just $66,735.

These figures are in stark contrast to the plans of Green and SPD politicians, who are calling for a wealth levy, justifying this demand with the allegedly high level of wealth in Germany. Recently, both Katrin Göring-Eckardt and SPD leader Saskia Esken have called for a "special levy" - even though the federal, state and local governments expect record tax revenues in 2023.

https://www.ubs.com/global/en/family-office-uhnw/reports/global-wealth-report-2023.html

Jimbuna

08-25-23, 11:25 AM

Germany now 'sick man of Europe' while Brexit Britain outstrips EU giant in growth

Germany has been branded "sick man of Europe" as forecasts from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) suggest the country's economic woes are likely to continue for the foreseeable future.

The IMF predicts the nation's economy will shrink in 2023 which would make it the only G7 country to contract this year.

In the first quarter of 2023, Germany fell into recession after two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth while post-Brexit Britain grew by 0.2 percent in this year's second quarter.

In 1998, Germany previously held the moniker of the "sick man of Europe" as the country struggled with the challenges that arose from the reunification of East and West.

But in Britain, the term is most widely associated with the UK's decline in the 1970s.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/germany-now-sick-man-of-europe-while-brexit-britain-outstrips-eu-giant-in-growth/ar-AA1fLZoO?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=759f4f8d5b89434ca61bdd497e351b82&ei=11

Skybird

09-01-23, 02:03 AM

https://www.nzz.ch/feuilleton/wie-die-politische-dauerberieselung-die-deutsche-gesellschaft-laehmt-ld.1754019?_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_sl=auto

When the political center, whether liberal, conservative, or simply well-educated middle-class, is moved close to the AfD and thus delegitimized by a wave of indignation with every new proposal, for example to change European asylum and immigration law, the firewall [against the AfD] has already become a plank in front of the head [=to be a blockhead, to draw a plan k]

Skybird

09-04-23, 05:21 AM

[FAZ] The German government is missing its targets for the transformation of the automotive market. China has become the lead market for electromobility. Germany, meanwhile, is on a threefold wrong track.

After two years, the interim assessment of the Berlin traffic light coalition for the intended transformation of the automotive industry is sobering. "We will support the transformation process of the German automotive industry against the backdrop of digitalization and decarbonization," wrote the SPD, Greens and FDP in their coalition agreement in 2021. Germany was to become the "lead market for electromobility". With suitable framework conditions and support measures, they wanted to ensure that 15 million electric cars would be on Germany's roads by 2030.

This image-boosting goal is likely to be missed by a wide margin. For example, Stephan Bratzel, head of the Auto Institute CAM, believes that only seven to eight million such e-cars are achievable by 2030. So subsidies for the purchase of e-cars are now being quickly restricted. From September on, the purchase of business electric cars will no longer be subsidized, although more than two-thirds of all new registrations are business cars and company cars.

For private buyers, the subsidy will then be cut in 2024. At the same time, interest rates have risen, including for leasing, which is particularly important for e-cars. This is one of the reasons why Germany is heading for a lull in e-car sales next year. A recession is also on the horizon due to the poor auto economy.

Meanwhile, China has become the lead market for electromobility, although most cars there are charged with coal-fired electricity. China has the raw materials and the battery factories that Germany's industry and politicians have been too late to take care of. As a result, Chinese e-cars can now be built and offered much more cheaply.

Germany lacks the framework conditions both for a faster spread of e-cars and for investments by the auto industry. The network of public charging stations continues to grow very slowly. There is simply not enough power for broadly organized charging in private garages and underground parking lots.

The companies now planning to build battery factories and manufacture electric cars, and thus decide on the industrial locations of the future, lack the prospect of favorable energy prices in this country - not just for a few years, but for the lifetime of new factories. It is no wonder that German companies in the automotive sector are now particularly attracted to the U.S. and its subsidies, and that they are taking a large part of the investments planned for the next four years - almost 400 billion euros - abroad.

Instead of setting off in the direction of progress, Germany and its government's auto policy are on a threefold wrong track: Firstly, Germany's auto industry has been given a mandate to restructure in the direction of e-cars without creating good framework conditions for this. The policy is thus working for the green goal of limiting car traffic and production in Germany. Secondly, green climate policy wants to save the climate with a wide range of regulations for traffic and cars as well.

But even if Germany disappeared from the map, there would be hardly any detectable climate effect. Only with innovations for climate-friendly cars and production could Germany help the world turn the climate around, but we are far from that. Third, Germany would have new opportunities with climate-neutral e-fuels, but so far they have been missed for ideological reasons.

Not only the Berlin government, but also the EU Commission is doing a lot for a future without German car production. Although the ban on the registration of new internal combustion engines will take effect in 2035, the Commission is still quickly demanding an unnecessarily expensive Euro7 standard, planning an anti-innovation rule for artificial intelligence in cars, and calling for a blanket ban on many chemicals. Germany no longer has a vote in the EU Council of Ministers, because the Berlin coalition government is abstaining due to internal disputes. There was also little to be heard from the 96 German members of the European Parliament.

Even in a more favorable regulatory environment, it would still be far from certain that Germany would remain a major player on the global automotive market. This is where the fact that captains of industry and politicians were not as far-sighted in the past as they should have been from today's perspective takes its toll. The 2021 IAA auto show, opened at that time by Chancellor Angela Merkel, represented a late but hopeful departure in the direction of the e-car. The IAA 2023, opened this Tuesday by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, could be the beginning of a German decline.

https://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaft/auto-verkehr/automesse-iaa-steht-die-deutsche-autobranche-vor-dem-niedergang-19147656.html

------------------------------

FYI, the industry energy prices in Germany are ~3.5 times higher than in the US and 2.7 times higher than the global average, electricity for private housholds costs 174% more in Germany than in the rets of the world (source: Verivox) - and is further climbing, planned and intentionally and preset. If you want to destroy the industry of a country and chase investments away - German thinking found the most effient way to acchieve that in no time it. German efficiency monsters! :haha:

Skybird

09-05-23, 01:45 PM

https://m-focus-de.translate.goog/panorama/buerger-denunzieren-buerger-berlins-anschwaerz-portal-lesen-sie-mal-welche-meldungen-dort-einlaufen_id_203781786.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Linker, ekelhafter Dreck. It's not by random chance if this reminds you of the Third Reich, the GDR, or the novel 1984.

Skybird

09-09-23, 05:42 PM

[Tichy's Einblicke, Septembre 9th 2023] In the first half of 2023, we generated 233.9 billion kilowatt hours of electricity in Germany and fed it into our grids. Sounds like a lot, but it's not: In fact, it's 11.4% less than in the first half of 2022.

Unsurprisingly, we also exported just under a fifth less electricity in the first six months of this year (- 18.1%). By contrast, our electricity imports have virtually exploded, by almost a third (+ 30.8%).

In the second quarter of this year - i.e. in the months April to June 2023 - the last three nuclear power plants in operation supplied almost no more electricity to us, as they were shut down on April 15. During this period, we imported 18.5 billion kWh of electricity, which is significantly more than we exported (11.4 billion kWh).

In addition, destatis [German Statistical Data Office] now writes, quote:

"This import surplus of 7.1 billion kilowatt hours corresponds roughly to the amount of electricity that was still fed in by the three nuclear power plants in Q2 2022 (7.3 billion kilowatt hours)."

So we're getting virtually all the electricity we previously produced ourselves with our nuclear power plants from abroad now.

In the case of electricity imports, the statistics do not provide any information on the energy sources used abroad to generate electricity. Instead, we know exactly where the electricity we buy elsewhere comes from.

Brief review: In the first six months of last year, imports from France were down sharply - according to destatits because of "problems at the nuclear power plants there." At that time, we actually sent more electricity to France than France sent to us.

Now, as we know, the nuclear power plants there are running smoothly and at full speed again. Our electricity imports from France promptly increased more than from any other country: by a whopping 147.8%. In France alone, we bought 4.4 billion kWh in the first half of 2023.

We shut down our nuclear power plants. France generates well over two-thirds of its electricity from its nuclear power plants. What does all this tell us?

Sometimes just a few numbers are enough.

Skybird

09-10-23, 07:06 PM

The German government wages an economic war against the German people.

https://www-welt-de.translate.goog/finanzen/immobilien/article247389246/Heizungsgesetz-Buerger-Demokratie-und-Klima-sind-die-Verlierer.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Skybird

09-10-23, 07:12 PM

A new party is being founded in Germany, the head is a Stalinist with great acceptance from all camps of society. She is unfortunately very intelligent, this and her radical ideological background once made me call her in some thread thd most dangerous woman in Germany. Projections show the party could from start win elections with 20-25% results.

The fall of Germany wins in speed.

https://m-focus-de.translate.goog/politik/deutschland/warum-und-fuer-wen-eine-wagenknecht-partei-so-gefaehrlich-ist_id_204238915.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp

August

09-13-23, 09:31 PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qb-k6TEhX90

Skybird

09-24-23, 07:01 AM

https://www-welt-de.translate.goog/politik/deutschland/article247640566/Bundeswehr-Ruestung-Milliarden-fuer-neue-Funkgeraete-die-im-Regal-verstauben.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp

No comment...

Jimbuna

09-25-23, 01:34 PM

Par for the course.

Skybird

10-05-23, 02:09 AM

[Neue Zürcher Zeitung] According to calculations by the ministry [of economics], German electricity traders were still able to generate export revenues of €1.9 billion from the beginning of the year to April 15, 2023. In the same period, this sum was offset by expenditure on electricity imports amounting to €1.3 billion. After that, the picture changed to an import surplus: By August 31, export revenues were 0.42 billion euros, while import expenditures were 2.64 billion euros. That's according to the ministry's response to a parliamentary question from the AfD parliamentary group.

If one balances all electricity exchanges of Germany with its neighbors, it can be stated for 2023 "that with the change from winter to summer, Germany went from being a net exporter to a net importer," the ministry writes. The German government puts the trade surplus in favor of foreign countries for the second quarter at a total of 2.5 terawatt hours. In the three months before, German electricity traders were still able to realize an export surplus of 4.7 terawatt hours.

-----------

What also happened in April beside the change form winter to summer was the switching-off of the last three nuclear powerplants which in 2022 had a annual energy production of 4.4 terawatt hours.

Habeck the Destroyer still claims that the switching off had no effect on the German energy balance and that Germany could easily handle it.

At a cost, of course.

That he forgot to mention, of course.

Which is a pattern in this man's political acting. His politics is full of costly details, which he never forgets not to mention.

He should be thrown in jail. And the rest of this cabinet of horrors, too.

Jimbuna

10-05-23, 06:32 AM

Poland election turns Germany into punchbag, straining Western alliance

WARSAW/BERLIN (Reuters) - Fighting to win an unprecedented third term in office, Poland's nationalist government has seized on a target close to home: Germany, its NATO ally and biggest trading partner.

In a tight race ahead of Poland's Oct. 15 election, leaders of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party have accused Germany of trying to dictate Polish government policy from Berlin on anything from migration to gas.

The feud has frayed Europe's broadly united front supporting Ukraine against Russia's invasion, shredding a plan for a joint Polish-German tank repair plant for Kyiv's benefit.

The populist PiS leadership also says Germany is plotting to install the party's main electoral opponent, the liberal former prime minister Donald Tusk, back in power.

PiS has tapped into a mistrust towards Germany that still runs high in part of the electorate, above all elderly conservatives who remember the devastation of World War Two.

"Do you know where you can read the (opposition's campaign) programme? In German newspapers," Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told a campaign event.

His party casts Tusk, who said his grandfather was forcibly conscripted into the Nazi Wehrmacht during World War Two before escaping to the Allied side, as a German puppet and the "political husband" of former German chancellor Angela Merkel. A campaign video also mocked Merkel's successor Olaf Scholz.
Months of spats between the two neighbours have tested the solidarity of the Western alliance that rallied around Ukraine after the Russian invasion last year. They have come at a time when other issues, including the election of a pro-Russian leader in EU member state Slovakia, are threatening disruption.

IMPACT ON UKRAINE

The quarrel has already impacted efforts to help Ukraine.

In April the defence ministers of Germany and Poland, with a smile and hug of solidarity, announced the creation of a joint hub in Poland to repair German-made Leopard tanks damaged in battle in Ukraine.

But the deal quickly collapsed. In another dispute, Warsaw resisted a German offer to station Patriot missile air defence units in Poland before eventually agreeing to it.

"It's very unhelpful that Poland, the people from the Law and Justice Party, continues to criticize Germany in such a harsh public way," U.S. General Ben Hodges, who commanded U.S. Army forces in Europe in 2014-17, told Reuters.

"It's unhelpful because it puts strain on the relationship between two NATO allies, which therefore puts strain on the overall cohesion of NATO."

The tank plant would have been a joint effort by German manufacturers Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and Rheinmetall, neither of which responded to a request for comment, and the Polish defence conglomerate Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa (PGZ).

Among the sticking points, one German source said Poland was asking for too much money for the repair works. Another source, a German diplomat, said the talks failed partly because German companies were reluctant to share technical information.

"But it also showed a little bit the same thing we had for the Patriots, a general mistrust on the part of the Poles and a sort of being in the habit of treating a partner in a way that is not usual for a partnership in the EU or in an alliance."

As things stand, PGZ is repairing some Leopard tanks using spare parts supplied from Germany.

"To some extent, it depended on the speed of action and decisiveness of the German side. We were negotiating. Unfortunately, we have a slightly different view of what it should look like," Sebastian Chwalek, PGZ's CEO, told Reuters.

Other tanks will be repaired elsewhere, "which is maybe a little bit more costly and maybe a little bit more time consuming but it's happening anyway," the German diplomat said.

"It's a sign of the present relationship that we cannot agree on such things."

Polish government officials did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

A German Foreign Office spokesperson said Berlin and Warsaw work closely together on European security and defence but declined comment on "current domestic political debates in Poland".

SOURING RELATIONS

While ties between Poland and Germany have been frosty since PiS first came to power in 2015, Poles now see them worsening. Just 47% think relations are good, according to a German Polish barometer poll this year, down from 72% in 2020.

Many Poles, included 56% of respondents in the opinion poll, feel Germany has not done enough to compensate for the damage inflicted by the war. PiS has called on Germany to pay over 1 trillion euros in reparations, which Berlin rejected.

A PiS source who requested anonymity described relations as "competitive", saying Berlin and Warsaw "could work together on many issues" but others were divisive, including reparations.

Two German lawmakers privately told Reuters that Berlin could have been more forthcoming in addressing Polish concerns and take conciliatory steps over the issue of reparations.

"I think we should be looking beyond the cartoonish (Polish policy) that this (election) campaign has put in front of us. It's the moment for Germany to look into the mirror," said Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff of the German Marshall Fund.

Scholz's government has largely brushed off the attacks from PiS. A government source said Berlin was extra cautious not to even inadvertently provoke Warsaw.

"We're treading on egg shells," the source said.

To be sure, some analysts believe the Polish rhetoric towards Berlin could be dialled down after the elections.

But irritants on both sides are likely to persist, including over migration, which again mushroomed into a flashpoint over a cash-for-visas scandal in Poland last month.

"Now, to be honest, what I hope will happen is that my president will invite the two leaders kind of the way he did the leaders from Japan and South Korea, invited them to Camp David,” Hodges said.

"You know, maybe at some point President (Joe) Biden meets President (Andrzej) Duda and Chancellor Scholz and says: Fellows, we have got to fix it."
(Reporting by Justyna Pawlak, Marek Strzelecki, Anna Koper, Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk, Alan Charlish in Warsaw; Sarah Marsh, Sabine Siebold and Andreas Rinke in Berlin; writing by Matthias Williams; editing by Mark Heinrich)
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/poland-election-turns-germany-into-punchbag-straining-western-alliance/ar-AA1hJeSB?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=54b76eaba6334cccb1be0549e6f6785b&ei=11

Skybird

10-08-23, 03:45 AM

Tichy's Einblicke writes on the Hamas-launched war:

Germany plays a shabby role again

This government has also supported Hamas in Gaza with hundreds of millions of euros. The whereabouts of these funds are now becoming apparent. It certainly was not invested in school projects or in building an Islamic queer community.

In the first German cities, such as Berlin, supporters of Hamas are already cheering again the murders of Jewish civilians.

The Berlin police are watching, you know the drill: a politicized police force no longer protects law and order, but follows the Hamas-friendly line set by Olaf Scholz. Both he and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock made their kowtows to the violence-prone Palestinian organizations before signing the checks.

ARD [first channel of the German state propaganda broadcaster] conceptually spares the terrorists, who rape women, abduct and humiliate the elderly, and gun down civilians, as "fighters." War begins with words. The presenters of the ARD relativize the murders, it is unbearable that we are forced to finance this with our fees. The Süddeutsche Zeitung goes so far as to make the Israeli government responsible for the terror of Hamas - as the Aiwanger affair at the latest shows: this newspaper is completely lost.

The Minister of the Interior is pushing the migration of young Mohammedans and undermining every demand for limitation. She deceives the population when she talks about control. The Minister of the Interior obstructs every real limitation and every real border protection with rejection. Germany is the country that willingly allows itself to be deceived when it comes to the identity of migrants. There are hundreds of thousands on their way to Germany; the ships are ready, financed by the federal government and the state churches. More and more are also making their way by land. Germany's inconceivable self-deception is escalating into a policy of suicide: it is bringing enemies into the country because it has given up control. We do not know who is there, just as we do not know who is coming.

Germany may experience something similar this fall as it did before the September 11 attack: it is the retreat and resting place for Palestinian terror, which is also celebrated in Berlin's Sonnenallee and notoriously downplayed by left-wing and green politicians. Jews are not only hunted in Israel, but also on our streets.

mapuc

10-09-23, 04:42 PM

This is scary indeed, if it goes through the EU-Parliament

https://www.patrick-breyer.de/en/posts/chat-control/

Markus

Skybird

10-09-23, 05:33 PM

The EU is walking down paths completely unabashedly along the lines of China's example. Social scoring is also on the way. And I predicted to shcin 15 years ago that the criminalization of criticism of the EU and its decisions will also be implemented at some point. They want criticism to have to be submitted beforehand to an EU-appointed panel that will decide whether it is valid and whether it can be brought forward and expressed publicly.

But why this in the Germany thread, mapuc? :) It is very relevant because it changes the way we are allowed to communicate and express ourselves - thats what they really are after, to gag free speech. It would have deserved its own thread.

Maybe Jim reads this.

mapuc

10-09-23, 05:36 PM

Jimbuna

10-10-23, 01:25 PM

I'll leave it here for now thanks.

Rockstar

10-14-23, 12:29 PM

You’re not alone though Germany. I think the U.S. has made the same mistake. On the bright side it seems Germany has an idea how many migrants they have and who they are. Whereas pretty much our entire southern border is wide open some we catch some we don’t. It’s been said we have over a million got-aways and don’t have a clue who they are or where they went. It’s a mess.

Henry Kissinger on Hamas attacks fallout: Germany let in too many foreigners

As a minority in Berlin cheer Hamas’ attacks on Israel, former top US diplomat says mass immigration was a ‘grave mistake.’

https://www.politico.eu/article/henry-kissinger-germany-let-in-way-too-many-foreigners/

Hamas’ attack against Israel being celebrated on the streets of Berlin indicates that Germany has let too many foreigners into the country, according to former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

“It was a grave mistake to let in so many people of totally different culture and religion and concepts, because it creates a pressure group inside each country that does that,” the 100-year-old ex-top American diplomat said in an interview with Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner for Germany’s Welt TV. Axel Springer is POLITICO’s parent company.

German-born Kissinger — who fled Nazi Germany with his family in 1938, and went on to become the architect of American foreign policy during the Vietnam War — said that it was “painful,” in response to a question about seeing Arabs in Berlin celebrating last weekend’s assault on Israel.

In a surprise attack that started on Saturday morning, Hamas militants stormed out of the Gaza Strip, killing more than 1,200 Israelis and abducting dozens more, while firing rockets at cities including Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Israel has since hit back by commencing a siege of Gaza and firing its own barrage of retaliatory missiles, killing hundreds of Palestinians.

Hamas’ “open act of aggression” must be met with “some penalty,” Kissinger said — while warning about the potential for dangerous escalation in the region.

“The Middle East conflict has the danger of escalating and bringing in other Arab countries under the pressure of their public opinion,” Kissinger warned, while pointing to the lessons learned from the 1973 Yom Kippur War, during which an Arab coalition led by Egypt and Syria attacked Israel.

The real goal of Hamas and its supporters “can only be to mobilize the Arab world against Israel and to get off the track of peaceful negotiations,” Kissinger said.

It is also “possible” that Israel could take action against Iran, if it considers Tehran to have had a hand in perpetrating the attack, the former top diplomat added.

More broadly, Kissinger said, Russia’s ongoing aggression in Ukraine coupled with Hamas’ attack on Israel represent a “fundamental attack on the international system.”

Skybird

10-18-23, 05:32 PM

https://www-focus-de.translate.goog/politik/deutschland/analyse-von-ulrich-reitz-nur-sahra-wagenknecht-kann-die-afd-jetzt-noch-stoppen_id_197555951.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp

She may be able to half the voters for the AfD and make these her own. But nevertheless one thing must not be forgotten though: she is in her core and essence still a Marxist-Stalinist (in clever disguise), and quite russophile and supportive of Putin (like the AfD).

In other words, I do not trust her one bit more than the AfD, the Greens, the SPD, the CDU, the FDP. Means: I trust none of them at all.

Rockstar

10-22-23, 07:05 PM

Wow did Olaf finally grow a pair? “We must finally deport on a large scale those who have no right to stay in Germany”, says German Chancellor Olaf Scholtz in interview, reversing the open door policy of his predecessor Angela Merkel.

https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/interview-with-german-chancellor-olaf-scholz-we-have-to-deport-people-more-often-and-faster-a-790a033c-a658-4be5-8611-285086d39d38

I heard little Slovenia recently enacted border controls to prevent influx of migrants too.

Sounds racist too me. :hmmm: :haha:

Skybird

10-27-23, 05:05 AM

https://www-focus-de.translate.goog/politik/experten/gastbeitrag-von-gabor-steingart-auf-60-seiten-zerlegen-habecks-spitzenbeamte-seine-politik_id_233008218.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp

The Economics Minister's top officials have presented an industrial strategy that is actually a damage assessment. In it, they settle accounts with the government's actions and also with Robert Habeck.

"Subversive art is an act of resistance and a call for change," says street artist Banksy. As an expression of his own subversiveness, he never appears in public. He does appear, but as a phenomenon. He lets art speak for itself.

The top officials of the Minister of Economics have now done the same to Banksy. Under the cover name Robert Habeck, they have presented an industrial strategy that is in fact a damage assessment.

Rockstar

10-29-23, 06:47 PM

These days in Germany, the native Germans are more likely to be arrested for showing the German flag because it might offend migrants and make them feel unwelcome or unsafe.

That is how ridiculous Europe has become.

https://i.postimg.cc/zGV5w3Jb/IMG-3084.jpg

Skybird

10-30-23, 05:34 PM

A German church official is quoted as saying that Germany has the capacity for many, many more migrants. There can be no talk of the absorption capacity being exhausted until the limit of national self-sacrifice has been crossed.

The stupidity of the self-righteous is truly boundless. The Protestant Church is now even more left-wing than the left-wing political parties. The last Protestant church congresses were really Green party congresses. The number of people leaving the church is at an all-time high in both denominations. I predict that both denominations will degenerate into insignificance in Germany around the middle of the century, because the Catholics have to deal with their paedophile problem and don't get it solved.

And both churches even will no longer be needed. Instead, the new churches of faith have a massive influx amongst the young who were politically indoctoinated since their Kindergarden days: the climate sect, Fridays for the Future and The Last Generation. They believe in all sorts of nonsense until the head smokes and the soul starves.

Switching off thinking and just believing seems to be a basic human need. What would Mr Spock say?

Rockstar

11-02-23, 11:36 AM

So Skybird did you hear Pakistan recently forced 1.7 million Afghan refugees out of their country? Not a German political topic now, but any bets on where they’re probably heading? :D

Jimbuna

11-03-23, 07:13 AM

Armed police officers wave cars off the motorway going from Poland to Germany.

They're searching for people-smugglers and their desperate cargo.

This is the German government's latest bid to show it is getting a grip on rising levels of irregular migration.

But, as we found in a rural border district, there's little sense of control.

Altenberg is a small town in Saxony, right by the Czech Republic.

Families race down a toboggan run that weaves through the forest and, when winter's here, there's even a small ski resort.

The local mayor, Markus Wiesenberg, says that - in this area alone - smugglers drop off people as often as once a day.

"The trafficker disappears and probably picks up the next load."

New arrivals put a strain on local services, he says, as well as local people.

"Sometimes they find sleeping bags and campfires in the woods and they are worried for their children."

Migration is looming large in the national debate after the far right is seen to have capitalized on the issue, fuelling recent gains in regional elections.

Ministers ordered "temporary" checks last month on Germany's land borders with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland.

The controls were renewed this week, as they have been for years on the border with Austria, and they are all within the EU's supposedly border-free Schengen Zone.

Registered illegal entries into Germany this year are set to be their highest since 2016.

The country remains a top destination for asylum seekers.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-67238144

Skybird

11-07-23, 05:24 PM

The renwables have created a planned eocnoym scheme in Germany that costs the tax payer additonal billions. As if energy prices here would not already cost the industry three times and more than in the US, for example.

https://www-faz-net.translate.goog/aktuell/wirtschaft/warum-deutschland-strom-verschenkt-und-dann-teuer-zurueckkauft-19294859.html?printPagedArticle=true&_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp#pageIndex_2

Rockstar

11-24-23, 11:36 AM

Germany's high court strikes down up to $840 billion in government spending. Throwing the ruling coalition into chaos and freezing all public spending "for the rest of the year."

Germany's GDP is already shrinking. This could make it worse.

https://youtu.be/IcZewZnOzls?feature=shared

Skybird

11-27-23, 03:21 AM

^ So far the discussion covers only slushfunds of a total of some 60 + ~200 billions, but the whole principle by which the left wants to circumvent the constitutional debt limit to spend more than there is money, stinks to heaven. Point is the CDU-government of federal states also in parts want to ease the brake - first, to advertise themselves as available to the SPD as a grand coalition partner if the SPD - the chancellor party - would fire the Green chaotic ones, and second many CDU minister presidents want to spend beyond the limits, too.

I think in the medium and long run they all will agree to give up the debt brake. That equals the habit in the US to every year extend the debt ceiling in the US. In other words: everywhere you see that the self-obligation of states to limit their increasing of debts get bypassed. Its all just theatre and stage play to please some of the electorate that knows that this endless spending frenzy must destroy the financial fundament of the state and society. Alibi.

Especially despicable is that the Greens claim the financial turmoils now to be due to the Ukraine war, which is not true, but it is due to their murdering of the basis of the German economy for green follies. The lion'S share of the raises in energy prices in Germany are state-driven and Green-wanted, Putin just added a bit to what the Germans decided for all by themselves. Energy prices in germany for the industry are more than three times as high as in the US, for private househiolds they are amongst the most expensive prices in the world, too. Days ago a huge industry association reported that the ammount of medium and big businesses in Germany considering to give up and either shut down or leave the country, has climbed from 26% before summer to now 46 or 48%. The number of shut down stores in the city centre is also visible here in my hometown. One third of individual restaurants has shut down, bakers die out, in the past ten years around half of the bakers in my vicinty have given up - you see, that is a long lasting trend with basic roots, not just a temporary hickup. Long running family businesses with tradition in the region have given up. Lacking workers due to demographic factors and a huge raise to state-paid financial incentives to not work at all so that even those migrants who got a working permission do not want to work, add to the mess. The pool of labourers erodes. Specialists get scared away by overboarding bureaucracy, too.

Germany is in free fall. Since years. The fall just accelerates. Nobody there being realistic about it. I dont expect to see it drastically reversing that again in my life (both education level from schools and working mentality are dramatically changing for the worse, too, so where should the change come from?), since I see it as a fundamental civilizational decline. The ammount of inner rotting and corruption is such that it compares to a biological body having formed blood and bone cancer. The metastases are everywhere, in every single sentence spoken and in every decision made by politicians - they now even get distributed through the air. The total implicit debt of the German state is several hundred percent above the officially published numbers.

Skybird

11-27-23, 03:54 AM

https://think--again-org.translate.goog/wahnhafte-storungen-nationaler-tragweite/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Delusion is a false assessment of reality to which the person concerned adamantly adheres. He will then interpret observations that serve his erroneous conviction as evidence, and those that contradict it as a conspiracy. But he is not a liar, he is just sick.

These psychological disorders are harmless as long as they concern issues that have no relevance to the practical conduct of life. However, if they lead to actions that harm the person concerned, or even outsiders, then society must take care of the person.

For example, if your mistress is convinced that her dachshund is a corgi from the royal English court, you can safely leave her in this belief. But if she also believes that she lives in England and therefore has to drive on the left-hand side of the road, then intervention is necessary.

In German politics, the symptoms of delusional disorders have been becoming increasingly clear for years now. Clearly, decisions and actions are increasingly characterized by a denial of reality, and there is no doubt that said actions also have consequences for outsiders. Civil society should therefore take up the cause.

(...)

----------------------

This year, there have already been 45 insolvencies of Germany's largest industrial companies, which is more than twice as many as in each of the last two years (2022: 26, 2021: 17) and corresponds to the record level from the first year of coronavirus, when many things generally collapsed. Only this time it's not corona, but political intention. A study by a major insurer compares the extent of the destruction with the consequences that can otherwise only be observed as consequences of war.

Skybird

12-01-23, 07:00 AM

He nails three topics that probably will bring down Germany in the next 20-30 years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmEhTFjQB1g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2-0OTx004k

Skybird

12-02-23, 08:32 AM

On Bu(/a)bble man. Yes, he is struck with his head in an alternate reality bubble.
Yes, he babbles twisted garlands of words and meaningless phrases. He has always believed himself to be above the law, above the constitution, beyond any obligation. He is also blasé, devious, self-important, a dazzler. And in all his incompetence: above all dangerous. To wreak so much destruction in just two years would normally require a major war with an external enemy. Germany's greatest enemies are within - and they have the bridge: helm, nav, comms, weapons, everything.

https://www-focus-de.translate.goog/politik/meinung/jan-fleischhauer-der-hasardeur_id_256307196.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp

The Federal Constitutional Court and another high court have now found three serious violations of the constitution within a few days. And the gang of criminals announces that it will simply carry on as before and counter this with further violations of the constitution.

This shows not only the criminal attitude of this criminal cabinet, but also Germany's desperate financial situation. What drugs are to the junkie, debts are to the parties. Procurement crime knows no scruples or limits - anything goes if it secures drug consumption for even just the running day.

And Bubble Olaf hails himself for being flawless, superior, unerring, and all he does is wonderful. He has an abundance of applause for himself, unencumbered by any self-doubt.

Never before has there been such a bad government in Germany. And after sixteen years of Merkel's general anaesthetic, that's saying something.

What do we learn from this? It can always get worse.

Skybird

12-05-23, 07:10 AM

[Focus] German pupils performed worse than ever before in the international Pisa performance study in 2022.

In reading, maths and science, these are the lowest scores ever measured for Germany in the Pisa study. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) announced in Berlin on Tuesday that average performance had also fallen drastically internationally.

Skybird

12-15-23, 06:36 AM

Why has Germany become the sick man of Europe?
https://www-andreas--unterberger-at.translate.goog/2023/12/warum-ist-deutschland-zum-kranken-mann-europas-gewordenij/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Skybird

12-21-23, 10:53 AM

[Die Welt] The traffic light coalition wanted to bring forward the coal phase-out to 2030. However, as WELT has now learned, the Federal Network Agency is prohibiting the premature closure of coal-fired power plants. The decision sounds like a vote of no confidence against Economics Minister Habeck's power plant strategy.

Jimbuna

12-21-23, 02:32 PM

It shouldn't be too long before it is revealed Germany is once again obtaining gas from Russia :)

Skybird

12-21-23, 03:40 PM

It shouldn't be too long before it is revealed Germany is once again obtaining gas from Russia :)
Indeed we do. LNG. Russian LNG is on its way to become our biggest LNG supplier. We just pay much more now than via pipeline. I posted on that some days ago.

Its the Germans, stupid. Dont ask for common sense. :doh:

Jimbuna

12-22-23, 06:55 AM

Honestly can't say I'm surprised :hmmm:

Catfish

12-22-23, 04:09 PM

And because Germany wants to get rid of this dirty energy aka coal or nuclear power it shuts down all those plants.
And imports electricity from french nuclear power plants that get the nuclear resources from Russia.
Main thing is we have a clean record :rotfl2:
:shucks:

Skybird

12-23-23, 05:43 PM

Krinner's Christmas tree stand laws - Resting in the graveyard of failed ideas: the Concorde supersonic aircraft, the Transrapid magnetic levitation train, the Suprenum high-performance computer, the Desertec desert power project and the A 380 wide-bodied aircraft. Quite different: Krinner's cable-pulled Christmas tree stand. What revolutionaries can learn from it.

https://www-achgut-com.translate.goog/artikel/die_krinnerschen_christbaum_staender_gesetze?_x_tr _sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Skybird

01-06-24, 07:37 AM

On overconfidence.

https://www-focus-de.translate.goog/politik/deutschland/schwarzer-kanal/der-schwarze-kanal-jan-fleischhauer-hoehoehoe_id_259550050.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Another victim of overconfidence is our Federal Chancellor. Olaf Scholz has been governing the country for two years now. The ship is rocking mightily, crisis after crisis, nothing wants to succeed. But every time the chancellor steps in front of a microphone, you hear him say that people don't need to worry because he is now in the chancelleryThe reports in the newspapers? The scowls of notorious badmouthers. The devastating poll results? Pollster mumbo-jumbo that does not reflect the true mood in the country. The depressing economic data? Snapshots that will be outdated tomorrow.

The strange calm is not faked, Scholz really thinks this way. This also applies to his entourage. I met his head of the chancellery Wolfgang Schmidt in the summer. I have rarely seen a more relaxed head of the chancellery. Even in the summer, the situation was not good. At the end of the evening, I wondered what happy pills they were popping in the Chancellery. No matter what was thrown at him, Schmidt responded with the patient forbearance of someone who knows he is in possession of a truth that is unfortunately still closed to those around him.

Dargo

01-06-24, 08:33 AM

I do not know in Germany in the Netherlands they predicted last year an economic depression did not happen it was because of the workforce shortage that the economy did not grow because we can not handle the work with that few people so they not always got it right.

mapuc

01-06-24, 11:59 AM

Again I'm uncertain

Have read somewhere AfD should be forbidden as party
Someone or somebody would try to see if it was possible to forbid the Party.

Markus

Skybird

01-06-24, 01:07 PM

The AfD is about to sink SPD and CDU in upcoming elections in 3 eastern federal states, thats why they try to forbid it. It is set to become strongest party in at least one state, it is possible that 2024 will see the first AfD minister president , though unlikely. SPD could fly right out of the window in two parliaments. FDP is a zombie pretending to be alive.

Its not even that all AfD sympathisers indeed are sympathisers. They just have the nose full of this established radically left scum in Berlin and the way it destroys Germany and the middle class society from within. West- and Eastgermans are ticking quite differently, the Eastgermans are far more suspicous of the party swamp and its dubious ways, also of the state of democracy in general.

When you notice that those against whom you protest do not listen to your protests and continue to destroy the more traditional social order you want to live in, then you naturally start other forms to express your protest.

I am only surprised that it took so long. But then, Germans are raised and formed to be perfectly servile subjects.

The pendulum has swung for half a century to the extreme left, and beyond the border to severe self-damage, and intentionally beyond the border to self-denial. Now it has started to swing back. In later stages that will become as nasty as the left extreme policy making is. As nasty, only at the other side of the swing. Cause and effect. Push and counter push. Action and reaction. Its the established parties and the current government and the Merkel regime (and the EU agenda) that have brought up and have boosted and fertilized the AfD.

Skybird

01-06-24, 09:15 PM

Three uncomfortable truths about the AfD, and the chances to get 30-35% of the votes in the three state elections in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg this September.

https://www-focus-de.translate.goog/politik/deutschland/landtagswahlen-im-osten-es-gibt-abgestufte-katastrophenfaelle-je-nachdem-wie-stark-die-afd-wird_id_259545029.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Jimbuna

01-07-24, 01:35 PM

Political pressure on Scholz to hand over Taurus to Ukraine growing in Germany

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is under increasing pressure to deliver Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine, according to Rheinische Post.

Politicians from the coalition partner parties, the Greens and Free Democrats (FDP), as well as the opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU), emphasized the need for Taurus and made serious accusations against Scholz.

"The delivery of Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine is long overdue. The most effective defense against Russian air strikes is to fire at targets on Russian territory and in the occupied territories in eastern Ukraine, from where Russia launches its strikes," said Sara Nanni, the Greens' spokesperson on defense in the Bundestag.

She noted that Ukraine does not yet have the necessary equipment to do so, not least because Berlin is not supplying Taurus cruise missiles.
"This reluctance comes mainly from the Federal Chancellor and is not a general position of the German government," Nanni said.

FDP defense expert Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann said Germany must finally deliver the Taurus to cut off Russia's supply lines.

"We should not be afraid of our own courage. This is exactly what (Russian dictator Vladimir - ed.) Putin is waiting for," she said.

For several months now, Ukraine has been asking Germany for Taurus cruise missiles. These weapons are capable of hitting targets at a range of up to 500 kilometers.

In October, German media reported that the German government had no plans to supply Ukraine with long-range Taurus missiles in the near future.

Prior to that, The Wall Street Journal reported that the delivery of the missiles was being postponed because Germany fears a direct confrontation with Russia. Berlin believes that to use the missiles, it will need to send its specialists to Ukraine.

In September, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that the delivery of ATACMS to Ukraine by the United States would not automatically mean that Berlin would "unblock" the issue of the Taurus.

Earlier, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that Ukraine would turn a blind eye to Germany's reluctance to transfer Taurus cruise missiles if Berlin provided Kyiv with additional air defense systems ahead of a difficult winter.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/political-pressure-on-scholz-to-hand-over-taurus-to-ukraine-growing-in-germany/ar-AA1myUWE?ocid=msedgntp&pc=EDGEDSE&cvid=150e02c189b44bd885e2bb4c4cacbbe8&ei=31

mapuc

01-12-24, 06:45 PM

They seems to have some wrong friends these AfD

First the German version
https://correctiv.org/aktuelles/neue-rechte/2024/01/10/geheimplan-remigration-vertreibung-afd-rechtsextreme-november-treffen/

For some reason I can't translate from Germany to English.

Markus

Skybird

01-12-24, 07:34 PM

Yup, its making waves currently. Welcomed opportunity to talk about banning them, now that they promise to become strongest party in the three state elections in autumn this year. According to polls they could get 30-35%.

What CDU, SPD, Greens, FDP all have ignored and will continue to ignore, is that they and their policies and their left ideological aim have made the AfD what it now is. And they still all four do their very best to make the AfD ever stronger.

Thats what happens when you got two vaccination jabs and three boosters against learning effects.

Jimbuna

01-13-24, 08:19 AM

Dargo

01-14-24, 12:54 PM

Skybird

01-19-24, 05:51 AM

Quite spot on.

https://www.nzz.ch/meinung/bauern-proteste-und-ampel-aerger-in-deutschland-ist-der-wurm-drin-ld.1774931?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Skybird

01-19-24, 05:57 AM

My advice against those far right parties do not and really do not cooperate in any way or say you are willing to if you do they will win elections look at the Netherlands one party said during election that they had no problem to talk with the far right that party lost half of it seats to the far right do not make the far right salonfähig take example of Belgium their they have a cordon sanitaire they refuse to cooperate with the far right with success for years.
We had that advice of yours in action the past years, we called it "Brandmauer gegen Rechts" (firewall against the right).

It completely backfired.

There will be three state elections in autumn. In two states at least the AfD promises to become the strongest party with turnouts polled to be between 30 and 35%. On national level the AfD continuesly grows.

You can try to ignore the monsters under your bed, but the crowd under your bed will only grow bigger this way.

One need sot see how the new Wagenknecht party limits AfD gains. Mind you, Wagenknecht is an SED-socialised arch communist in disguise. Why even bankers and economic conservatives fall for her is beyond me. She is dangerous becasue she is clever, but she may stumble over her big ego.

Read the essay I linked just one post above. It has some better advice on this to offer.

A German core problem is that the non-AfD parties offer no real alternatives to the messy coaltiioin there now is. Not in ideology (I do not differentiate between left and right populism anymore, I dispise both equally and see them as situation-dependent two faces of just one actor), not in goals, not in personnel.

The difference is the AfD maybe will do damage. The established parties already have done and still do termendous damage.

A big coalition CDU-SPD or a CDU-Green coalition to me is no alternative: the CDU is no alternative to Greens and socialists, since it is green and socialist itself now. An SPD partner will insist on eroding the state finances even more so than the CDU did and does, and the Greens will insist on their suicidal green deal policy and torpedoing of migration limitations and ending the debt brake at all costs. And in parts the CDU copies even these Green projects.

There are no real constructive alternatives in the German political landscape. All options are a total mess. All established parties are ideologically aligned. In principle we have a pseudo-parliament with unified bloc parties like in the GDR.

And it continues like this internatioanlly, on EU-level. Its a Philip Dickian nightmare.

mapuc

01-19-24, 08:03 AM

Even in Germany they treat the pain and not the cause of it.

There's a reason to why AfD has become so big in the German political Landscape and I don't think it has to do with the political mess which Skybird have described

Take care of the problems behind AfD's grow and they may shrink.

Markus

Skybird

01-19-24, 10:04 AM

But I stick to my earlier assessment, Markus: while the AfD personnel by majority might be Nazis, most people voting for them are NOT Nazis, but angry protest voters who are so sick of the sh!t the other parties serve them all years long thay they see no other alternative to voice their frustration and anger.

Like these parties also claim you are still free to say what you want in Germany, and by the letter of the law that is correct, althogh certain gender-specific opinions and non-compliant acts now are unde r penalty, which is ourrageosu and shows that madness has become the new normal. Still the practical everyday reality is different, and if you oppose the mainstream opinion at a university, deviate from the gender speech rules in public broadcasting agencies or write or say something in a paper, a book, in a show, you get mobbed, socially boycotted, economcally ruined, you get fired, sanctioned, you get your career ruined, your reputation destroyed, you get defamed and character-assassinated. There is no free speech in Germany anymore, the mob overlooks your words and deeds all the time and punishes you if you try to be not like them. Several polls from the past years again and again showed a majority of polled people anonymously agreeing that you are better advised to not freely speak your views in Germany anmyore, and watch your wordings and self-censor your voiced opinions carefully. The very real death threats you can easily trigger if critizing Muslim migrants, or Islam, or clan crime, not even mentioned, and that is my own experience as well from already two decades ago, as I repeatedly have exlained. Even the police was against me then and threatened me with "procedural consquences" if I would not shut up.

Well. The Islamic mosque we were dealing with back then now is under surveillance by the Staatsschutz and/or Vefassungsschutz I learned some months ago.

Most people voting for AfD are no Nazis. They are angry people who simply see no other way anymore to make themselves heard because the established parties all mistreat and abuse them day in, day out, tell them lies, gag them, betray them, exploit them, break promsies to them, subjugate them to their ideological madness.

Now imagine what would happen if they ban the AfD, as they consider to try (he hurdles are high). I predict that the whole population in the Eastern states would immediately go amiss for the other parties forever, bitterness would cook hot and a dramatic radicalisation would take place and even spill into the Western states of Germany.

Und dann wollen wir mal sehen was wird.

Today I read that some Green federal politician has complaind to the state TV that it did not put the AfD demonstration of the day before on top place in its headlines, but had another news headline first. Thats common in Germany. The state TV is a full state propaganda TV, and when it does not completely deliver on the wanted propaganda and narrative to control the public opinion, the parties immediately intervene. Which they can, since eptocial apparatzus is overrepresented in the control gremia.

The problem is not the AfD, but the underhanded, incompetent, ideologically fanatized leftist dishonest policy-making that has brought it forward and fosters its growth. Like Trump in the US. Both are symptoms, not the causes. The AfD originally was founded by an unrealistic political professor who opposed the Euro as a currency (and said he was pro EU nevertheless, which made me laugh about him from beginning on, its a ridiculous self-contradiction). It was an anti-Euro party, not more. Just later it got hijacked by the Brownies and the good professor was simply too kind a soul as to know how to fight that early on, until it was too late.

mapuc

01-19-24, 10:38 AM

Thank you Marc

I have no doubt that you're right on why some put their vote on AfD.
I think some of them also vote AfD due to your immigration problems

They will grow even bigger and the anti-AfD will not understand why instead they will go after the party and those who vote AfD.

Same in Sweden where Sweden Democrats grew bigger years after years and have now around 25 % and are now the second biggest party in Sweden.

Even here they are going after the party and those who support it.

It seems to be very easy and simple to kill the pain instead of fixing the cause of it.

Markus

Skybird

01-20-24, 12:38 PM

Short after the BSW, another party gets founded, this time a conservative one. It has its roots in a movement inside the CDU whose members did not agree with the softening and even deleting of traditional values by Merkel for which the CDU/CSU once claimed to be representative (before Merkel).

https://www-welt-de.translate.goog/politik/article249639926/Werteunion-ebnet-Maassen-den-Weg-fuer-Parteigruendung.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp

I dont now too much about them. Maaßen was president of the office for the protection of the constitution, but was brought down when after an incident (related to a migrant claiming to "have been chased through the street)" he insisted on that the evaluation of all material the office collected it did not qalify for a description of a "mob chasing a man through the streets". I remember that by all what was published on that event he was right regarding the facts, while everybody around him turned hysterical and blew the event out of proprotion (at least that was as I saw the published details). I concluded for myself that this was most likely another opportunity the mainstream media and certain leftist lobby groups and activists wanted to play the racism card and the wicked white man card to once again defame the West in general and the Germans in special for not being open enough for more and unlimited migration. There was action in the street, no doubt, there were demonstrations going on, but nothing justifying it to describe it as a mob chasing a man through the street. Not by what the media were able to show.

Since then Maaßen gets stigmatized, defamed and they want to silence him at all cost, calling him a rightwing extremist. Which as far as I can say he is not. He is just quite value-conservative in the meaning of what the CDU/CSU once have been - before Merkel turned it into a club of spineless poodles who opportunistically pander to the left-wing Zeitgeist.

However, I am the last to declare him holy, he was and is a politician. So: I am on my guard nevertheless, and expecting nothing.

The potential of this new party is estimated to be in the range of 15%. Interested may come from AfD sympathizers whom the party is too Nazi, and disappointed CDU members whom this party has beocme too left and opportunistic. Seen this way the CDU has all reason to be worried. It will loose more blood to Maaßen's new party, I am sure.

The party landscape in germany is getting quite fractured. Thats dififcult for fomrign coaltiions, and is good for the Greens because it raises chances they make themselves indispensable coalition partners despite being punished at next elections due to their deasastrous record in the Scholz administration. Which is a deasaster for Germany, because the party basis is demandimg to become ever more fundamentalist and uncompromising as a conseqeunce of the last two years. Some say a Green-CDU coalition would be an alternative, to me it is a nightmare scenario. So is a coaliton again bringing Greens and the FDP together, two parties that simply do not belong into a coalition for sure.

There is no government coalition I would favour over the others. There is just an ever growing ocean of lousy options, one worse than the other and none beign wortyh to be supported or even just tolerated.

That predicts nothing good for Germany's future.

Jimbuna

01-20-24, 01:02 PM

Germany's hard-right AfD leader blasted as 'wolf in sheep's clothing' as immigration row erupts

The leader of the hard-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) has been accused of being a "wolf in sheep’s clothing" and warned that mass deportation plans have sparked fear among Germans.

The co-leader of the German Social Democrats (SPD) slammed Alice Weidel and described the AfD as "rightwing extremist".

During a parliamentary debate on "fortifying democracy", Lars Klingbeil said Weidel was a "wolf in sheep’s clothing" after her "teary-eyed" description of what she said was a "smear campaign" against the party.

It comes after private gathering of the party - which took place in November in Potsdam - discussed proposals for a mass deportation.

Klingbeil said revelations about the meeting on “remigration” had triggered concern across the country.
"Your facade is beginning to crumble," he said. "The true face of the AfD is clearly coming to light."

Demonstrators are set to carry out a sixth night of protests across Germany against the AfD.

Klingbeil added: "At kitchen tables across Germany, German citizens are having to discuss with each other whether they should flee their own country."

He also alleged that the AfD wants to "expel those who are not white enough, [or] have the ‘wrong’ surname."

Investigative journalism bureau Correctiv reported the contents of the meeting, which the AfD has confirmed attending, following an inquiry.

However, the party has denied its association with the organisers or the plans discussed to “name the backers planning this coup d’etat with you” at the event and at six other similar gatherings which allegedly took place since autumn 2021.

The latest polls shows the AfD remains the second-strongest political party, with no evidence that its ratings had been damaged by the revelations.

Following a fiery debate, AfD MPs rejected the accusations.

Bernd Baumann, the head of its parliamentary group, described the meeting as "a roundtable of businesses and self-employed people who regularly meet up to exchange thoughts" who had been defamed by the ruling coalition.

He said: "The wind is turning.

"Germany is going to get something new. The AfD is coming for Germany – whether you like it or not".
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/germany-s-hard-right-afd-leader-blasted-as-wolf-in-sheep-s-clothing-as-immigration-row-erupts/ar-BB1gWCCa?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=f069ca8ad6a64beeb7d7ac34b070ee44&ei=51

Jimbuna

01-20-24, 01:47 PM

Germany to revive talks format with France, Poland at defence meet

The chairman of the Munich Security Conference, Christoph Heusgen, wants to bring together the leaders of France, Germany and Poland, namely Emmanuel Macron, Olaf Scholz and Donald Tusk, at the event in mid-February.

This would be a revival of the Weimar Triangle, a regional alliance of France, Germany, and Poland that was created in 1991.
"I think it's very important that we expand the Franco-German pairing to include Poland as the largest country in Eastern Europe. If that succeeds, it would be very nice. The invitation has been extended," Heusgen said during a podcast.

Looking ahead to the security conference itself, he said that despite numerous crises and conflicts around the world, the event should convey a message of diplomacy.

"We are bringing together politicians, the military and representatives of civil society so that they can find out where there is a silver lining on the horizon," Heusgen told the Table.Today podcast made by digital media company Table.Media.

Attendees at the event that is set to run from February 16 to 18 are to include US Vice President Kamala Harris.

As was the case last year, representatives of the Russian administration have not been invited. "[Russian President Vladimir] Putin would be arrested if he came," said Heusgen. He was referring to the fact that the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against Putin last year for alleged war crimes in Moscow's war on Ukraine.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/germany-to-revive-talks-format-with-france-poland-at-defence-meet/ar-BB1gWgua?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=399946ed070040aeb263c723bd47111e&ei=13

Skybird

01-22-24, 07:41 PM

Once again to the point of frenzy, dear Germans...? Really...?

https://www.nzz.ch/der-andere-blick/proteste-gegen-die-afd-regierungen-sollten-gut-regieren-statt-zu-demonstrieren-ld.1775341?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp

I am as repelled by these organized marches as I am by the Nazi idea itself. And I refuse to favor the political left over the right. And for the government, this band of loosers, it is a welcomed opportunity to distract the people from the lousy policy it does and the dangerous goals it persues.

August

01-24-24, 12:53 PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Q35EAtht3A

Skybird

01-24-24, 02:50 PM

https://www-focus-de.translate.goog/earth/analyse/habecks-umstrittener-kraftwerks-plan-steht-jetzt-auf-der-kippe_id_259605220.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp

What kind of idiots are they to realize this just now? That's exactly what I warned about already several years ago in some long-forgotten posting or thread, and without having to read it in a newspaper beforehand, because I am this overly gifted miracle boy who actually figured it out all by myself because it seemed so obvious to me - or is it that maybe I'm not so brilliant at all but it is them who are just too stupid for everything...?

Other German media than the one I linked to speak of a missing ammount of money for Superhabeck's superplan of around 500.000.000.000 (FIVE. HUNDRED. BILLION) supercoins.

Doof. Dööfer. Grün. :har: Diese Trottel.

If you happen to know an energy supply company that feels too well off and wants to crash its finances by building German gas-fired power plants for hundreds of millions and billions of euros, which are only given a limited lifetime permit of a few years and are only allowed to run for a handful of days a year, please give them Germany's business card. We Germans burn every fool we can get! And even then, we still heat too much for our taste. :har:

Skybird

01-28-24, 04:01 PM

Typical British understatement.

https://www-focus-de.translate.goog/politik/deutschland/endlich-zusammenreissen-financial-times-wer-auf-deutschland-blickt-der-sieht-einen-unfall-in-zeitlupe_id_259617242.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Skybird

01-30-24, 07:28 PM

https://www-tichyseinblick-de.translate.goog/daili-es-sentials/abmahnung-correctiv-vosgerau-falschbehauptungen/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Click on "Ich unterstütze bereits" (I already support). Its just a fake paywall.

Skybird

02-03-24, 06:44 PM

Practically no word on this in the German mainstream media, it needs a Swiss paper to write this.

https://www.nzz.ch/international/es-gab-keinen-masterplan-remigration-zu-besuch-im-potsdamer-landhaus-adlon-ld.1775950?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp

It smells intensely of an intrigue from the left-wing populist, state-supporting milieu: there are several elections coming up soon and the AfD is threatening to win at least two of them very clearly, the FDP, Greens and SPD are about to get sunk, the FDP may not even enter parliament, and the CDU is not much better off. And it seems to me that these now revelations and the nationwide mass outrage campaigns that have developed from them have come at just the right time. What a coincidence!

I can't stand right-wing populist rats, but I can't stand the ruling left-wing populist rat pack and the radical left-wing zeitgeist either, and I'm not going to jump to the support of the one against the other. To hell with both. The campaigning that is going on here, in which even school classes are now being commanded to participate and trade unions and professional associations are being ordered to demonstrate by higher-level association structures, and manipulative state media are "interviewing" their own employees as supposedly accidentally targeted participants, now reminds me far too much of the marches in the GDR.

The Germans are hysterical, bipolar romantics, and only ever waver between two extremes, never knowing moderation. Never. Always the same sh... with these collectivist nutcases.

Dangerous, collectivistic, left-ticking nutcases.

Skybird

02-17-24, 05:27 PM

In Germany, the nation-wide CDU and the Bavaria-only CSU form a party union.

[Tichys Einblicke] According to the new electoral law of the left-wing coalition government, every party taking part in the Bundestag elections must achieve at least 5% of the votes nationwide in order to enter the Bundestag. Regardless of the number of direct mandates won.
Above all, this can be seen as a law against the CSU. It only runs in Bavaria and wins almost all direct mandates there. The problem: in the last four federal elections, the CSU achieved results that were only a few percentage points above the five percent threshold.

2009: 42.5 percent of the vote in Bavaria, which corresponds to 6.5 percent at national level
2013: 49.3 percent, which corresponds to 7.4 percent
2017: 38.8 percent, which corresponds to 6.2 percent
2021: 31.7 percent, which corresponds to 5.2 percent

If this trend continues, the CSU's chances of winning seats in the Bundestag will also decrease under the new legal situation created by the traffic light system.

If the new values union only loses a few percentage points to the CSU as a result and the CSU does not achieve such a good result, the CSU could fail to meet the five-percent clause - in the new electoral law of the traffic light system, direct mandates are counted less than before. This would mean a significant loss of seats in the Bundestag for the CSU. A large proportion of Bavarian voters would be left without representation in the Bundestag. Bavaria would only be allowed to pay within the framework of the financial equalization of the federal states, but would hardly have any say.

There would then also be no CDU/CSU parliamentary group and the result for the CDU would be correspondingly smaller: instead of around 30% as currently predicted, only around 24%. However, the CDU, probably to an even greater extent than the CSU, will also cede votes to the Werteunion. A result of 20% or less would then be quite conceivable.

The CDU has a potential of around 50 percentage points. In the 2013 election, the CDU/CSU almost exhausted this potential with 41.5 percentage points. In the last election in 2021, however, at 24.2 percentage points, only just under half. The transformation into another, more left-wing party and the courting of voters to the left of its spectrum had not expanded the voter potential as hoped, but significantly reduced it.

If the not unrealistic scenario described above were to occur, the CSU would no longer exist in the federal government and the CDU would be left with a maximum of 2/5 of its potential. As the CDU rejects coalitions with the AfD, the position of the conservative camp would be considerably weakened, whereas it could still have a majority today - a threat to democracy?

https://www.tichyseinblick.de/daili-es-sentials/das-vergeudete-potenzial-von-cdu-csu/

And consider this: the CDU, once a party of conservative values, under Merkel became a party replacing conservative values with pure opportunism, overtaking the SPD on the left lane, and becoming as green as the Greens, for pure opportunism: Merkel wanted to fetch voters of the other two parties by posing as their usually preferred party. Today, the CDU might be the strongest party, but not strong enough to form any government all alone. It needs coalitions, and for that they have only the choice between SPD and Greens, since the FDP shot itself off the charts, and the AfD is not wanted. Which means any way if you vote CDU and hope for a CDU government, you nevertheless get a coalition government with green or red or green-red participation and influence. and if you do not vote CDU, but any of the other, you also get a red-green-x coalition government. No matter what, the left always participates in government. You cannot vote them out.

Now, the - still - boss of the CDU, Friedrich Merz, recently mentioned he is willing to form a coalition with the Greens after the next national elections. And the Greens behave already now as if their dramatic loss in approval ratings were not real, and already indicate they are readying themselves for government again after the next elections, with the CDU. This means that the one party that before any other is responsible for the economic destruction in Germany of the past two years, will get punished in elecitosn, will loose dramatically according to current polls - and nevertheless will get rewarded with being brought back into government again where they can dictate the terms to a CDU that will do just evertyhing just to get to power. And the Greens will demand a price for allowing that.

The left has won, and wins again, and will always win in this doomed country. Socialism has not been defeated after 1989. It blossoms and is more powerful than ever before in the past 150 years. Without it beign enforced from outside, but because the Germans are like they are.

And I dont mean that as a compliment for sure.

I hoped in the past that the consequences from this madness would materialise not before my life "term" is over. But the realist in me meanwhile learned it better. The handwarm brown stuff will fly right into my face like in everybody else's as well - during my remaining lifetime.

Thank you for that, you stupid ####### Germans. If stupidity would be a currency, you would be rich beyond belief. But as things stand, we are just seen as the jesters of the world. Which is just fair - because it is true.

Skybird

02-20-24, 03:37 PM

The nuclear protection - or not - of Germany:

https://www-focus-de.translate.goog/politik/deutschland/analyse-von-ulrich-reitz-in-der-atomwaffen-frage-gibt-es-laengst-eine-unangenehme-wahrheit_id_259688726.html?_x_tr_sl=de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de

Its worth to not that the 2% goal that Germany just reported to fulfill, only gets fulfilled with cheats and creative stretching. Parts of the 100bn special budget get used to boost the regular yearly defence budget, pensions for old NVA officers get counted as active defence spendings, and in parts civilian aid and development aid for countries in Africa and elsewhere get counted as defence spendings as well - the Greens want it so.

If you substract all these cheats, then Germany still does not and also will not reach the 2% goal this year and in coming years. Parts of the SPD and the Green in totality already now said that it would be totally unacceptable for them if even the smallest cut in social spendings - the biggest share of the German yearl state budget - would be made and that money gets rechanneled into the defence budget.

At the peak of the cold war, Germany spent up to 3.7 or 3.8%, btw. . 2% now will not be enough to impress Russia, or to reach the announced goals. And not even every fifth German in polls said he would be willing to defend Germany with a weapon in his hand.

Well, I admit this modern woke left-populist anti-male Islam-friendly gender-ga-ga Germany is soemnthign I would not care to risk my life for, too. Its all too rotten and plem-plem.

Jimbuna

03-16-24, 05:26 AM

The position in the UK is a little similar.

Germany struggles to fix its pension system

Germany's baby boomers are retiring. Those born between 1955 and 1969, when the birthrate was at an all time high, are also living longer. At the same time, the workforce is shrinking. So who will pay the elderly's pensions?

The pension system in Germany, established in 1889, is based on a public retirement insurance scheme in which the pensions of the currently retired are paid using insurance contributions from the currently employed — a system known as the "intergenerational contract."

At the beginning of the 1960s, there were still six actively insured workers for every old-age pensioner. Now that ratio is 2:1, and sinking further still.

A considerable chunk of the federal budget goes into propping up the pension system: €127 billion ($138 billion) will flow into the retirement fund in 2024, that's a third of all government spending. This sum is estimated to almost double by 2050, which is bad news in times of high expenditure in other areas such as defense.
At the same time, pensioners constitute a considerable and growing voter base. So safeguarding the pension system has become a topic for heated debate — and for action.

Germany's three-party center-left coalition government does not want to cut pensions, or increase pension contributions, or raise the age of retirement beyond the planned increase to 67 by 2029.

To solve the problem, Finance Minister Christian Lindner of the neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP) has come up with a plan for the federal government to take out a loan of initially €12 billion and invest it in the stock market.

Specifically, a fund is to be created and administered by an independent public foundation, the so-called "Generation Capital," that will invest in shares on a "return-orientated and globally diversified" basis with the profits first reinvested in the public purse.

"For more than a century, the opportunities offered by the capital market were left lying around. Now we are investing in the future of this society," Lindner said on X, formerly Twitter.

The sum of $12 billion is to be increased by 3% annually in subsequent years. By the mid-2030s, the stocks should be worth at least €200 billion to help support the statutory pension scheme.

The main opposition party, the center-right Christian Democrats (CDU) have criticized the plan as ineffective.

Axel Knoerig, deputy chairman of the Committee on Labor and Social Affairs in the Bundestag, told IPPEN.MEDIA that the so-called Pension Package II (Rentenpaket II) would "in no way guarantee long-term pension security." It would "lead to rising contributions in the future and therefore an additional burden for employees," Knoerig said.

While the CDU is not fundamentally opposed to the idea of investing in the capital market to generate additional income through interest, Knoerig pointed out that the current plan would "not generate any significant returns to offset the additional debt burden."

Investing in the stock market is also not without risk, but according the German Finance Ministry, a "safety buffer" will be set up to protect the foundation's assets.

Broadly diversified equity investments generate average of returns of 6 to 8% per year, according to the German Equities Institute (DAI). Finance Minister Lindner says he expects "more than 3 or 4% returns."

The German statutory pension system explained
In Germany, the public pension scheme, also referred to as statutory pension insurance, is mandatory only for employees. The self-employed may pay into the state system or rely entirely on private insurance schemes. Civil servants have their own pension system. These two groups make up around 12% of the working population.

Many left-leaning politicians insist the only way to save the state-run system is by forcing all members of these well-paid groups of people to pay into the state retirement fund.

A contribution of 18.6% of an employee's gross monthly salary goes into the state retirement fund, with the employee and the employer each paying half. The monthly contribution cannot exceed €1.404,30.

The government expects the contribution rate to rise to 20% from 2028, going up to 22.3% by 2035 where it they expect it to remain until 2045.

The current "pension level" — the amount paid to retirees each month — is 48% of the average monthly salary in Germany, a percentage the federal government wants to guarantee in law until 2040 with the "level protection clause."

In 2023, the average old age pension in Germany was €1,550, according to the DRV.

What if the state pension is not enough?
Current figures from German Pension Insurance (DRV) show that 61% of pensioners receive less than €1,200 net per month from their statutory state pension. One in three pensioners receive less than €750 net.

Many women in Germany receive much lower pensions or none at all. That is because they worked in low-paid jobs, and many also spent years at home as a "Hausfrau" or stay-at-home wife, often not returning to work long after having children.

Reentering the labor market after many years is not easy, and for many a pension is not enough to make ends meet. They either work to supplement their pensions or receive state welfare benefits.

Sahra Wagenknecht, a former Left Party politician who has this year founded her own populist party BSW has announced that she intends to campaign on the topic of pension security in upcoming elections.

Her alliance is to be the "voice of German pensioners," she told the Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper in March. "Pensions are probably the biggest social problem of our time," said Wagenknecht, adding that the fact that many people receive a low pension despite decades of contributions is a "socio-political scandal."

In addition to the government-run statutory pension insurance system, there are also private company plans and several options for private individual retirement investment plans.

As well as periods in contributory employment, time spent child raising, in education, unemployment or illness also count.

Foreigners who worked and paid contributions in Germany for more than 60 months are entitled to receive a German pension after reaching the official German pensionable age.

More information in English about the German public retirement system can be found here.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/germany-struggles-to-fix-its-pension-system/ar-BB1jYm9a?ocid=mailsignout&pc=U591&cvid=447b25f9062f4b449626abc8a6b15b3d&ei=23

Skybird

03-18-24, 08:35 AM

Poll from mid-March 2024, 5000 respondents, sampling error 2.5%

https://www-focus-de.translate.goog/politik/deutschland/focus-online-umfrage-putin-abwehren-75-prozent-der-deutschen-haben-kein-vertrauen-in-bundeswehr_id_259763810.html?_x_tr_sl=de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de

Quasi a comment on this:

https://www-focus-de.translate.goog/politik/deutschland/ex-oberst-bundeswehr-braucht-400-mrd-euro-um-kernaufgaben-erfuellen-zu-koennen_id_259755073.html?_x_tr_sl=de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de

If the Bundeswehr had to fight now, it would undoubtedly do so. But unfortunately, after more than three decades of shrinking and cost-cutting, this is only possible to a very limited extent.

In the 1980s, the Bundeswehr had 500,000 soldiers, 7,000 tanks and 1,000 combat aircraft. In the meantime, over 60 percent of the personnel, 90 percent of the tanks and around 80 percent of the aircraft have been reduced. The capacity and portfolio of the navy has also suffered enormously. And the ammunition depots are empty rather than full.

The troops are still struggling to adequately fulfill their tasks in NATO. And the country's own national defense is also in a poor state. That should change very, very quickly. Why else should others come to our aid?

(...)

With the end of the Cold War, the peace dividend after 1990 not only brought with it an enormous reduction in troops, but also a huge investment deficit of around 400 billion euros. The Bundeswehr urgently needs this money in order to be able to fulfill its core tasks.

The special fund will make it possible to offset around a quarter of the historical deficit. There is not yet a significant amount of ammunition. In addition, interest on loans and rising prices are eating away at the 100 billion.

With "tanks" he no doubt means armoured vehicles in generla: MBTs but also IFVs, APCs etc. The Bundeswehr currently has around 300 Leopard-2 tanks of several variants, most of them not in a combat ready state. Operational were around 90 Leopard-2s when 18 of these were given to Ukraine. So, around 72 operational Leopard-2s were left at that time.

Thats not even two tank batallions. A German tank batallion currently has 44 MBTs by doctrine.

I pereosnally would prfeer to not see a massve MBT-heavy rearmament, but a massive investment in ammunition stockpiles, air defences, combat air force, plenty of artillery - and then an overkilll reserve in ATGMs and shoulderpad AT and SAM weapons. I think that meets our reality much better than just getting heavy tanks again. Tanks are targets before anything else. But a militia-style defence from the whole population, with widespread availability of missiles against tanks and air targets? That woudl make any attack costly, very.

Also, obviously, but very unpopular in Germany: mines, mines, mines.

In the medium tiem frame I also propose to get own nuclear weapons - strategic ones. But that is a logistically very cotsly and complicated topic that probably has no chance of realization in this Kindergarden named Germany. Obviously you cannot deter Russia if you rule out the use of nukes against Russia. And I see no logic in dropping our then German nuclear bombs on German or Polish or Baltic soil - they are not our enemy, Russia is.

Skybird

03-19-24, 11:35 AM

Following the poll report from yesterday, FOCUS brought this follow-up today:

https://www-focus-de.translate.goog/politik/deutschland/mehr-als-2800-leser-kommentare-mit-der-waffe-in-der-hand-fuer-deutschland-kaempfen-nein-und-noch-mal-nein_id_259775864.html?_x_tr_sl=de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de

However, the majority of FOCUS online readers cite a different reason for their refusal to protect their homeland:

What they see as the "anti-German" policies of the traffic light government in Berlin and the "woke" underlying mood in the country, increasingly promoted by the Green-Red coalition, in which attitudes and feelings such as "love of the fatherland" and "national pride" are downright frowned upon.

Where is the love of country? Massive criticism of Robert Habeck

Many commentators do not feel represented by political representatives such as Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens) - and wonder why they should (also) take up arms for such politicians. They refer to an older quote from Habeck:

"I've always found patriotism to suck. I never knew what to do with Germany and still don't." (original: Vaterlandsliebe fand ich stets zum Kotzen. Ich wusste mit Deutschland noch nie etwas anzufangen und weiß es bis heute nicht.)

Here are some - sometimes slightly abridged - opinions from FOCUS online readers:

"When I walk through German city centers today, I ask myself the question: do you really want to give your life for this 'Germany'? No!!!"

"To fight for your country, you need a certain national pride. The one I had was taken away from me in recent years by the governments in Germany and declared inappropriate."

"I won't lift a weary finger for this woke nomenklatura in Berlin."

"I did my military service for 15 months. Back then, there was still something like national pride. Today, I would defend my family and property with a weapon in my hand, but no longer Germany."

"There are politicians who have nothing to do with Germany. Why should I defend them?"

(...)

"We've been told for a long time that borders can't be protected, haven't we?"

(...)
"If there was something to defend, then of course! But I don't see that at the moment and with our politicians."

"Is it worth defending a country that cares more about funding cycle paths in Peru than providing for its own pensioners?"

"What does it matter who would defend this country if the government capitulates immediately anyway? The state already can't cope with illegal immigrants or clan members."

That aims generally into a direction of arguments where I would sort myself in, too. Germany has had many great quantities in past times, thigns and achieve,ments worth to defend and to br pporud of. But the broken, brain-rotten, history-forgotten thing that Germany is today and is being turned into, is something I do not stand up for, and which I will not lift my small finger for. To serve this present state would be to betray that what once was in all that may have been great and beautiful: by defiling it in order to let the filth of the present live high in relation. I'm done with "modern Germany".

If I would grab a weapon and fight, then not "for (modern) Germany", but for very straight and imminent practical reasons free of any sentimentality. Good Friends. Parents. Own direct survival.

Skybird

03-20-24, 06:56 AM

What is was the basis of Germany's prosperity?

https://www-focus-de.translate.goog/finanzen/news/konjunktur/gastbeitrag-von-gabor-steingart-woher-deutschlands-wohlstand-wirklich-kam-und-warum-er-jetzt-broeckelt_id_259779175.html?_x_tr_sl=de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de

Without the simultaneity of our special relationships with America, Russia and China, the economic miracle of the past 40 years would not have happened.

(...)

Why is this important? Because these three partnerships are currently dissolving before our eyes, with no replacement in sight.

The fact is that the previous formula for our prosperity no longer works.

"Forget Germany." It was nice while it lasted. Now its over.

Skybird

03-20-24, 07:21 AM

One of those very rare occasions when a speech is actually worth listening to and doesn't contain any empty words or phrases. The man speaks into our conscience - but so much!

Peter Hahne is now off duty and for many years was a news anchor and presenter of a daily political magazine program on Germany's second TV propaganda channel ZDF. Back then he couldn't speak so freely there.

Chapeau, Herr Hahne!

Use subtitles+translations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbmqTL4oeLY

Skybird

03-22-24, 12:06 PM

The AfD's voter pool is a little different from what the media and politicians portray it to be, it seems.

https://www-focus-de.translate.goog/politik/deutschland/ueberraschende-umfrage-neue-studie-offenbart-wer-die-afd-anhaenger-wirklich-sind_id_259788096.html?_x_tr_sl=de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de

Skybird

03-22-24, 09:22 PM

What is to be red here about the Bundeswehr, isunbelievable and shameful. Nobody at NATO should count on it.

https://m-focus-de.translate.goog/politik/deutschland/irre-zustaende-bei-deutscher-armee-fallschirme-aus-50er-jahren-campingstuehle-im-flugzeug-so-kaputt-ist-die-bundeswehr_id_259783254.html?_x_tr_sl=de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de

Skybird

03-25-24, 02:07 PM

The words of Robert Habeck, the German Minister for Economic Self-Destruction, Deinduistrialization and Increasing Energy Prices, must make the blood run cold with horror in the veins of an intelligent person:

"Bureaucracy is like a burden on us. The good thing is that reducing it doesn't cost any money. It only costs, and this is the point I want to make, entrepreneurial courage. If this is literally meant, why is the bureaucratic burden so high? Well, because bureaucracy-administration is the state, so to speak (...) so you have to understand that bureaucracy arises out of something good. If you just say they're all idiots, you don't understand why. There is something good where the problem is, because the state doesn't make mistakes." - („Die Bürokratie ist wie eine Last auf uns. Das Gute ist, sie abzubauen, kostet kein Geld. Sie kostet nur, und das ist der Punkt, den ich machen will, unternehmerischen Mut. Wenn das buchstäblich so gemeint ist, warum ist die bürokratische Last so hoch? Nun, weil Bürokratie-Verwaltung ja quasi der Staat ist (…) man muss also verstehen, die Bürokratie entsteht aus etwas Gutem heraus. Wenn man nur sagt, das sind alles Idioten, versteht man nicht, warum. Da, wo das Problem ist, ist etwas Gutes, denn der Staat macht ja keine Fehler.“)

Thats the same Robert Habeck who said about companies going bancrupt:

"Companies are not insolvent then, they just stop selling."

Skybird

04-04-24, 06:12 PM

Germany's "army reform" shoots way too short. From the Neue Zürcher Zeitung:

https://www.nzz.ch/der-andere-blick/bundeswehr-die-reform-von-verteidigungsminister-pistorius-springt-zu-kurz-ld.1824898

The Russian war of aggression in Ukraine is in its third year. Statements by Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin and his propagandists indicate that the regime in Moscow is preparing for a long and violent conflict with the liberal West. And how does Germany react?

It is - once again - rearranging the command levels and command structures of its armed forces, separating the strategic from the operational and the operational from the tactical level more strictly, once again restructuring the Ministry of Defense and renaming the whole thing "The Bundeswehr of the Turning Point". Boris Pistorius, head of the German defense department, presented the plans on Thursday in Berlin.

After reading the paper, one wonders: Have these people still not heard the shot? When will the federal government finally draw the necessary conclusions from the war in Ukraine for the Bundeswehr? And: How long will it take until then?

In order not to be misunderstood: It is right to combine the two operational commands to plan and lead operations at home and those abroad, as Pistorius plans to do. When it comes to defending Germany and its partners, it doesn't matter whether the soldiers are fighting near Stralsund or Danzig. Command over them must rest in one hand, regardless of the fact that in the event of war it would be transferred to the NATO supreme commander anyway. National defense equals alliance defense.

It is also right to combine logistics and medical care in a support command and to dissolve the previous organizational areas. The armed forces base (logistics and support services such as military police) and the medical service had, typical of the “Bundeswehr Peace Army”, created bloated staffs and duplicate structures since they were set up at the beginning of the 2000s. Many of these soldiers can now return to the force. Experts are needed there.

Pistorius can also be credited for wanting to create the organizational conditions for a possible reintroduction of compulsory military service. For this purpose, the civil defense administration should set up a coordination office.

So far, so understandable. But is that supposed to be all? This is the plan for the “Bundeswehr of the turning point”? This is what Germany's war capability should look like?

People rub their eyes, especially when it comes to the war in Ukraine. Where are the drone battalions, where are the “counter-UAV units” to combat drones? Where are the plans for a Bundeswehr facility to research and use artificial intelligence in the military? Where is the plan for an armed forces think tank that will evaluate and analyze the war in Ukraine? Where are the conclusions from the fighting in the East for the further formation of the German army? These questions are just examples of what is missing from Pistorius' plan.

“By restructuring the Bundeswehr, we are taking joint responsibility for a secure tomorrow in a demanding security policy environment and are organizing defense effectively and results-oriented.” Such PR phrases can be found in the plan for the “Bundeswehr of the Turning Point”; It was leaked weeks before Pistorius' press conference.

In an earlier version, the plan was entitled “Bundeswehr of the Future”, but it did not contain any answers to the really pressing questions. Pistorius must consider whether he has appointed the right people for this important work with his State Secretary Nils Hilmer and the composition of the “steering panel” in which his plan was largely developed.

Because it is the minister who always correctly talks about the German army's fitness for war. The war against an opponent like Russia - as can be seen in Ukraine - is primarily waged on land. And it has to be won there. That's why Germany essentially needs an army that is fit for war, divided into large units that already have the human and material resources at their disposal in peacetime with which they can fight without external support. “Train as you fight” was already the motto during the years of the Afghanistan mission (2002-2021). This premise applies even more today.

But instead of reintegrating the logistics forces and medical troops directly into the Bundeswehr's combat units, everything basically stays the same. Even if the armed forces base and medical service are dissolved as organizational areas, the Ministry of Defense rejected the idea of making the large army units operational on their own and without external support, as was the case during the Cold War. Inspector General Carsten Breuer, Germany's highest-ranking soldier, justified this at the press conference by saying, among other things, that for the the army it would currently not be reasonable to integrate new units.

Breuer surpassed this dubious statement on Wednesday with the remark that the war in Ukraine could not be instrumental in preparing the Bundeswehr for war. What then?

Breuer, who is considered an assertive pragmatist, should know that the national security strategy and defense policy guidelines have described Russia as an enemy and the greatest threat for years. So what should the Bundeswehr primarily prepare for, if not the type of warfare that Russia is practicing in Ukraine (and already indirectly through hybrid warfare against NATO)?

It may be that Pistorius gave his “steering panel” too little time for the reform plan, with just five months. But the new image of war has not only been evident in Ukraine since last November. For more than two years we have seen how Russia is waging war today. Just one example: masses of Ukrainian soldiers suffer severe burn injuries due to the widespread use of flamethrowers on the ground and aerosol bombs from the air. Where can you find the plan for a formation of the German medical troops that is adapted to this war?

It is a groundbreaking reform that will change the structure of the Bundeswehr, says Pistorius. At first glance it may look like this. It would be desirable for the Bundeswehr if responsibilities were actually clearer and the diffusion of responsibility was reduced.

What is more important for Germany's defense capability is what follows this Thursday's announcements. So far, Pistorius has only touched the level directly under his management area. It is to be hoped that any further reform proposals for the Bundeswehr will have more substance. They should be available in the fall. Otherwise it could appear as if Germany is underestimating the military threat posed by Putin's regime.

Rockstar

04-27-24, 09:14 PM

So Skybird how was your Saturday afternoon? :03:

Nothing like having a group of immigrant's publicly calling for the overthrow of your government and to replace it with a theocracy.

Islamisten-Aufmarsch in Hamburg: „Kalifat ist die Lösung“

https://www.nius.de/news/islamisten-aufmarsch-in-hamburg-kalifat-ist-die-loesung/54435564-57d2-448c-a506-79251d2ab120

It is nothing less than an Islamist demonstration of power in a German city of millions: In Hamburg's St. Georg district, several hundred radical Muslims gathered on Saturday afternoon for a rally under the motto "So do not obey the liars." The Muslim Interactive group, which is being observed by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, had called.

The demonstration is about Islamophobia and an alleged media campaign to the detriment of Muslims in Germany. Especially the DFB national player Antonio Rüdiger had come under criticism in recent weeks because he showed the Islamist greeting ("Tauhid" finger) on his Instagram account and shouted "Allahu Akbar" after a game, while he showed the ISIS finger. He is in the interest of Muslim Interactive.

On the stage at the Steindamm stood, among other things Raheem B., one of the spokesmen of the Islamist group, who on TikTok, YouTube and Instagram
reached hundreds of thousands of young people. He talks about the union of the Ummah, i.e. the religious community of all Muslims, in the fight against the majority society. Signs were shown, among other things, "caliphate is the solution" could be seen.

https://youtu.be/tQj8mhPx6ZE?feature=shared

Skybird

04-28-24, 06:59 AM

Oh, we also have a demonstration every year in Berlin calling for the annihilation of Israel and threatening Jews with the Final Solution and applauding it. Although this is formally banned, it is tolerated and reframed by the radical left-wing ######## who make up the Berlin Senate, and the police ban the demo in advance or try to do so, and are told off by the equally radical left-wing courts in Berlin - and then sometimes go after counter-demonstrations as a substitute in order to defuse the crisis. When there are counter-demonstrations, and protests in Germany against left-wing or Islamic terror are increasingly becoming an exception. And so it has been for many years and in changing coalition constellations. The Greens in Berlin boast that they have filled all key positions in the police, fire department, civil protection, press and media, as well as in the Senate administration and government bureaucracy, with their own people. This has also been the case for many years and with changing coalition governments.

Elections happen, names come and go. The plague remains.

Skybird

05-25-24, 06:31 AM

The CDU wanted to conduct a member survey on the phasing out of combustion engines. The aim of the party leadership is to obtain a vote against the end of fossil cars. And that would probably have been the expected result.

However, the online vote has been manipulated with considerable criminal energy by opposing ideologues. Tens of thousands of automated votes were registered and the online survey was aborted.

So much for the state of “democracy”. When lying no longer helps: cheat, falsify, manipulate.

Go all digital. It's so safe.

Skybird

05-29-24, 04:40 PM

A GermanBundeswehr soldier showed these badges in Berlin.
https://p6.focus.de/img/fotos/id_259989703/bildschirmfoto-2024-05-29-um-16.47.52.png?im=Resize%3D%28630%2C608%29&impolicy=perceptual&quality=mediumHigh&hash=b01f77ac9257f058eb1813069eddaa53f11d3c4bd5e1b 14a71afd0d23b8e2de8

And this is what happened.

https://www-focus-de.translate.goog/politik/anfeindungen-gegen-israel-unterstuetzer-wenn-du-bastard-wieder-kommst-passiert-dir-das-gleiche-wie-deinen-juedischen-freunden_id_259989697.html?_x_tr_sl=de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de

Jimbuna

05-30-24, 12:57 PM

The world is well on its way to going crazy.

Rockstar

06-10-24, 07:04 AM

I see reunification is going well ;)

How Germany voted in the European Parliament election.

CDU in black
AfD in blue

https://i.ibb.co/5KP3dN4/IMG-0066.jpg

Skybird

06-10-24, 09:38 AM

Grrr, I am living in one of those few green spots... :arrgh!:

More, this city, Münster, is the one voting district in all Germany that has had the lowest turnout for the AfD, nationwide.

I could imagine that political things in Germany become very interesting over the course of this summer and early autumn. Several key issues to be decided in this horror government, and three state elections in the East. Stay tuned. Its not a given that this national government is still in office by the end of the year. Personally I would dispose it on the dark side of the moon and delete the coordinates from all records.

Skybird

06-10-24, 03:08 PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGHkkCxGPho

A damn good man, whom I hold in high esteem both intellectually and as a person. His books “Le Declin” and “Was tun?” are excellent.

mapuc

06-10-24, 04:55 PM

.....while the Danes voted left.
Socialist people's party get 3 mandate
Socialist party get 3 mandate
Unity list get 1 mandate.

The right wing gets in total 4 mandates

The rest of the mandate is placed in the middle of the political compass.

In total 15 mandates was electable.

Markus

Skybird

06-11-24, 09:11 AM

https://www.tichyseinblick.de/daili-es-sentials/deutschland-nach-der-eu-wahl/

A “firewall” against the strongest party in the East, a fragmentation of the party landscape in the West. Germany is becoming difficult to govern. This is a consequence of the monopoly that the SPD and Greens have secured for themselves.

It was not only EU Europe that voted on Sunday. There were also several local elections in Germany. In Brandenburg, for example. The AfD achieved by far the best result there. It is now the strongest party in almost all district councils on the Havel and Oder rivers. The CDU, SPD and co. will now have to govern past it if they want to maintain the “firewall”.

In Mainz, the green world is still in order. With 25.3 percent, it remains the strongest party there. However, this could still change because Rhineland-Palatinate's local election law is complicated and the entire count will continue throughout the week. The collapse of the SPD is already exciting. It has now achieved 18.7 percent in a city where it was the mayor without interruption after the war until last year.

The exciting thing about the result is that the traffic light coalition has lost its majority. It was once tested in Mainz and then introduced in Rhineland-Palatinate, where it became a model for Germany thanks to former FDP Secretary General Volker Wissing. The people of Mainz are therefore further along with the traffic light system than their party colleagues in the federal government - and even in Mainz, which is heavily influenced by academia, this constellation no longer has a majority.

Also exciting: ten different parties are currently represented in the Mainz city parliament. In Rainer Brüderle's city association, the FDP will now have to live with the fact that the traffic light will be supplemented by the Left Party or Volt. A party that is even greener than the Greens. The former FDP stronghold has already shrunk to just over 5 percent. With even more gaga and degrowth, things are unlikely to get any better.

Mainz is just a local example. The party landscape will continue to fragment. In recent months, a lot of attention has been paid to the fragmentation on the right. But now it is becoming clear that this is actually taking place on the left. The Werteunion (Union of Values) had not yet contested the EU elections and the Bündnis Deutschland (Alliance Germany) did not stand out. Unlike Volt and the Sahra Wagenknecht alliance.

Volt represents pure doctrine when it comes to migration, identity politics or climate and environmental protection. Something that the Greens can no longer do in government. For example, because the construction of wind turbines cannot be reconciled with species protection for birds. The Sahra Wagenknecht alliance, meanwhile, has so far been sold as an alternative to the Alternative for Germany. However, only a few AfD voters from the EU elections came to the BSW, while over a million voters from the Left and the SPD went to Wagenknecht. The alliance is therefore a left-wing party.

In view of the fragmentation of the left half of the party, the “firewall” is therefore becoming an important instrument for building power. It can hold loose alliances together. At least in the West. In order to defend “our democracy” (and our posts), parties such as the FDP in the Mainz example can defend a coalition that is expanded to include the Volt or the Left. This means accepting even more left-wing tralala projects - even more tax money that is missing elsewhere where it would be put to good use.

In the east, it will be easier with the Sahra Wagenknecht alliance. Above all because the Left is threatening to disappear even in the East. That would make it easier for the CDU to accept all-party coalitions with the Alliance, SPD and Greens. Because of the “firewall”. For “our democracy” in the justification, for "our posts" as a true motive.

That is a practical solution for now. It may last a year, five years at best. But even those five years are shaky. Because this all-party coalition would reinforce the reason why Germany is already difficult to govern: the power arithmetic resulting from the “firewall”. Because coalitions with the AfD are taboo, there is no government in Germany, with the exception of Bavaria, there is no longer a government in which the SPD and/or Greens are not represented.

No matter how much FDP and CDU voters reject woke and anti-business, ideological and irrational policies, they still get them in the end. This is precisely what leads to the formation and rise of new parties: Because more and more want an escape from this logic. If the CDU and FDP build support structures to maintain this logic, this flight will only become more massive in the coming years. And then we will really need other ways of forming governments.

Rockstar

06-11-24, 03:58 PM

Now I see many demonize the AfD as nazi this or nazi that but wasn’t it founded by two former CDU members Bernd Lucke and Alexander Gauland in opposition to Auntie Merkle’s response to the refugee crisis in 2015 and 2016?

Seems now to have grown to reflect characteristics associated with social conservatism and also encompasses nativist, populist and even left-wing elements within Germany.

From what I’ve read there’s been a lot of CDU voters who have shifted away from the CDU and moved towards the AfD.

Skybird

06-11-24, 06:21 PM

Yes, originally the AfD was founded by a professor for economics as an anti-Euro party, in protest to Merkel's blind and uncritiala EU policies. But Lucke was too naive to fight down the Nazis that also went into his party and formed a strong wing in it, and he then was more or less mobbed out. Over the years the "völkischer Flügel", the Neonazis, build their power and now are practically impossible to get rid off again, they are also propably the sarongest though maybe not the majority wing in the party. The AfD is not Nazi in totality, but has a very strong Nazi group. Not all supporters of it are Nazi, probably not even the majority, but the support by Nazis is prominent. And most of their voters possibly are not Nazi either, but a prominent share of voters is - or doe snot care, are driven by motives into the AfD thatmake them not caring for Nazis.

Like Bündnis Sarah Wagenknecht (a strict Stalinst in capitalist disguise) the AfD are very pro-Russia and pro-Putin. Both accuse Zelenskyi and Ukriane to not allow the war to be settled peacefully. Putin's respinsibility they do not loose a word over.

The AfD was thrown out of the EU parliament group that unifies the irght wingers form franc,e Italy, Austria, Hungary. For them the AfD was too extremist in its positions, at least in the frank communication of these.

An out standign feature I see in the AfD is the lack of intellectually refined experts for anything. Their party leadership may be unscrupolous and eager to ground for ever more power for themselves, but they are, in my opinion, dumb like straw. The fact that they know how to act and ensnare their audience in order to win them over to their side is something they have in common with Trump, but no one will want to attribute an excess of general educational expertise and cultural education to Trump - and such descriptions would also be tantamount to a joke for the AfD's top staff. Much of their rhetorical aggressiveness in discussions and interviews derives directly from their poor educational background and lack of factual knowledge. It is an expression of intellectual clumsiness and helplessness, and narrow-minded ideological stolidity.

So, they are not completely and only Nazi but they have a strong Nazi influence/group amongst in their rows. Possible that this group sooner or later indeed will take over the party completely. They are notoriously engaged in internal fights for power.

In three of the five Eastenr federla states there will be elecitosn this year. Its possible that AfD wins all three of them.

The policy results ofn the traffic.-light coalition in the past ~3 years injected a steroid booster into the AfD's support basis. Red SPD and green Greens as well as their Merkelian copy, the former CDU , have notjhign but themseloves to point fingers at for the rise of the AfD. Its a Frankenstein creature that was called into life by Merkel and nursed and fostered by the Scholz govenrment of Red-Green.

Interesting is that they had lowered the age for voting to 16, SPD and Greens expected that the young wpould vote predominantly for them. The oppposiute was true: Most young ones ovted for the AfD and the CDU, (17% each), SPD and Greens got less than 9%, the other parties even much less. The young ones are not all going Nazi, you know. They just are not as dumb maybe as politicians think they are - they fear what Red-Green has done to their future chances. And they have all reason to.

Hilarious is how SPD and Greens react to the spanking they got. Scholz says they must now carry on and that he has no intention to call early elections. Interior minister Faeser (SPD) and their general secretary Kühnert offend voters not voting for them of being intellectually inapt to vote correctly and to apprecioaste the greta polciy they have attaqcked Geremay with in the oast three years. The greens give al, others tzhe guilt for their 40% loss. Its Putin, the war, the lockdown, the pandemic , the inflation, the not left-enough schools, the Nazis, hell knows what else - but its nto themsleves, tzheir polticy making if flawless and thery still imply they know all and evertyhign better, and people are unfair and not thankful enough.

What they all strictly avoid to conclude is that it is right their political work and their ideological goals and their tyranny of their loud minorities that forces the majority to submit to their minority-interest laws that has turned people against them and made them turn for the AfD - in despair, so to speak, in a last move of self-defence. Status in practically every political field over here has become much worse in recent years, and Red-Green, and also before: Merkel, are responsible for it.

Reality denial. I have no coubt that they will continue to do their best to boost the AfD. It will neither delcine back into meaninglessness, nor go anywhere else. It stays - and is becioming the new ordinary worker's party. The The SPD has actually abolished itself. And the CDU is just a cheap imitation that opportunistically copies red and green - it no longer stands for real value conservatism, but Merkelianism, which is opportunism and the strict ignorrance for any binding values that could get in the way in the grab for powers. Also, it needs to form coalitions with Red and Green, and so even if it wins, Germany is doomed to always get red-green policies.

mapuc

06-12-24, 06:08 PM

Fits better here in our GER politics thread than in our Ukraine thread

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKVvjSlboRM&ab_channel=Task%26Purpose

Markus

Skybird

06-14-24, 08:48 AM

"Words are there, but I have not seen any actions."

https://www-faz-net.translate.goog/aktuell/wirtschaft/unternehmen/trotz-des-ukraine-kriegs-verteidigungsfaehigkeit-laut-knds-chef-nicht-gestaerkt-19788920.html?_x_tr_sl=de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de

Skybird

06-15-24, 07:00 AM

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/06/11/opinions/scary-results-from-16-year-olds-voting-first-time-germany-hockenos/index.html

What a shock then – and coming days after the 80th anniversary of D-Day (https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/04/europe/d-day-normandy-landings-explainer-scli-intl/index.html) — that many German first-timers threw their votes disproportionally behind the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. In this election, 16% (https://www.dw.com/en/afd-how-germanys-far-right-won-over-young-voters/a-69324954) of 16 to 24-year-olds voted AfD — up 11 percentage points from five years ago. (To be sure, the majority of teens didn’t vote for the far right. But the increase in the number who did is nonetheless alarming.)I would say its not a shock but a direct consequence of the failed and left-extremist policy-making of the past years.

With the CDU threatening to form coalitions with the Greens or the greener-than-Greens Volt party, or the SPD, voters have no choice left than to evade towards the outer rims of the political spectrum. We have block parties in Germany now, like in the GDR where they had parties who all obeyed to the SED, we have FDP, SPD and Greens and FDP - and they all do the same politics regarding EU, migration, economy, they all drive on the left side of always the same political roads - even the FDP and CDU.

No wonder that ever more voters get a political ATV, so to speak, and break off the agreed roads and highways and race into the crosscountry wilderness. Its the only way left to escape the established madness that has been declared the new normal.

Skybird

07-02-24, 10:05 AM

Only German. Written German transcript available.

Peter Hahne is a well-known and now retired news moderaotr from German TV. He now tours around and holds very critical lectures/speeches on the political deaster landscape in Germany.

This speech he held in Switzerland.

Can only be viewed on Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GGZ6GjTvAw

Skybird

07-06-24, 07:54 PM

https://youtu.be/W1ZZ-Yni8Fg?si=-vqv38b5y9cso_qn

Skybird

07-07-24, 11:40 AM

https://www-focus-de.translate.goog/panorama/volkszaehler-vergessen-muslime-in-deutschland-zu-zaehlen_id_260102779.html?_x_tr_sl=de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de

"Does the German state actually know what it is doing? The answer is simple: no, it doesn't. It doesn't even know exactly how many Muslims live in Germany, let alone where. Worse still, it doesn't even want to know."

Skybird

07-08-24, 04:25 PM

The much-vaunted "turning point" in the Bundeswehr has already been cannibalized. The new budget plans are declining, and investments are practically no longer possible. German political bravado at its finest.T

https://www-tagesspiegel-de.translate.goog/politik/u-boote-raketenwerfer-drohnen-fur-diese-vorhaben-konnte-der-bundeswehr-jetzt-das-geld-fehlen-11984396.html?_x_tr_sl=de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de

Skybird

07-09-24, 08:59 AM

"In 2024, the income burden ratio for an average employee household will be 52.6 percent," said Taxpayers' Association President Reiner Holznagel at the presentation of the report. This includes taxes of all kinds, social security contributions and broadcasting fees, which the taxpayers' association considers to be "quasi-taxes".

https://www-welt-de.translate.goog/politik/deutschland/article252430310/Steuerzahlerbund-Ueber-die-Haelfte-des-Einkommens-wird-abgegeben.html?_x_tr_sl=de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de

In other words, for every euro earned, employees are left with an average of 47 cents. The rest goes on taxes and compulsory levies.

Jimbuna

07-09-24, 11:12 AM

Germany makes defence funding cuts on eve of Nato summit

Germany’s defence minister is “annoyed” by a real terms cut to the military budget on the eve of the Nato annual summit in Washington.

The German army was promised a €100 billion (£84.5 billion) rearmament fund after decades of underinvestment were brutally exposed by Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.

But much of the overhaul will have to be funded from the military budget of Europe’s biggest economy, which lags far behind the Nato target of spending 2 per cent of GDP on defence.

Boris Pistorius, the German defence minister, of Olaf Scholz’s centre-Left SPD, wanted about £5 billion a year on top of his £44 billion budget.

After weeks of negotiations with the SPD’s coalition partners, he was given just over £1 billion, which is not enough to cover 2.2 per cent annualised inflation rates or surging weapons prices.

The German government is under pressure to show fiscal discipline after a court ruled that using undeployed coronavirus recovery funds for green initiatives and industry support was unconstitutional.

The decision blew a hole of more than £50 billion in its finances, forcing Berlin to find spending cuts of up to £33.8 billion.

Mr Pistorius is frustrated that the real terms cut to the rearmament project, dubbed the Zeitenwende, or dawn of a new era, by the Chancellor, sends the wrong message and hampers the transformation of the military.

“It’s annoying for me because it means I can’t get certain things up to the speed that the Zeitenwende and the threat situation require,” he said on a trip watching German troops on a Nato exercise in Alaska.

European powers are under pressure to demonstrate their resolve to stand firm against Russian aggression, particularly in terms of defence spending.

Estonia and other countries bordering Russia are calling for the Nato target to be raised to 2.5 per cent, while some nations like Poland are already spending 4 per cent and plan to spend more.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/germany-makes-defence-funding-cuts-on-eve-of-nato-summit/ar-BB1pF7EC?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=f34a21fa1484492c83864ee950e64ad2&ei=75

Jimbuna

07-11-24, 07:13 AM

Germany to offer 30pc tax break to British workers

Germany is planning to offer a 30pc tax break to highly educated migrants in a bid to tackle its skilled worker shortage.

The measure forms part of the coalition government’s budget that was unveiled on Friday after months of tough negotiation between the country’s three ruling parties.

If adopted into law, the proposal would result in skilled migrants receiving 30pc off their taxes in the first year of their work, 20pc off in the second and 10pc in the third.

More than a third (36pc) of companies in Germany are currently experiencing a shortage of skilled workers, according to a report by the Institute for Economic Research think tank.

However, the policy has sparked backlash and allegations that it favours foreign workers over nationals.
The Christian Democratic Union Party on the centre right of the political spectrum, said the idea amounted to “discrimination against the country’s residents”. The party’s general secretary Martin Huber has branded the policy “scandalous”.

At the same time, the Left Party and Green Party have alleged the move could be in breach of the German constitutional principle of equal treatment.

Debate over immigration has made local headlines after football player Toni Kroos said he believed immigration in Germany “too uncontrolled” and that the country has changed considerably in the 10 years since he left.

Mr Kroos, who now lives in Spain and played in the country’s unsuccessful Euros squad, said he welcomed migrants but that Germany was not successful in managing mass immigration.

If it is introduced, Germany would not be the first European company to offer tax breaks to encourage skilled workers.

The Netherlands currently has a similar system in place with highly skilled foreign workers offered a 30pc tax break for their first 20 months of working in the country. This then drops to a 20pc reduction for the next 20 months, and a 10pc discount after that.

It is not yet clear what conditions Germany would place on the scheme, but one option could be that it is open to foreign workers with a university degree or an income of at least €40,000 (£34,000). The Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner said the tax break would apply to “qualified specialists”.

If enacted, the government will define an upper and a lower limit for qualifying salaries and will review the scheme after five years.

Last year, Germany updated its Skilled Immigration Act to lower the bar for skilled immigrants arriving in the country from outside of the European Union.

Since November, more academic and highly-qualified workers have been able to work in Germany on an EU blue card – a work permit that helps migrants enter the country without having to meet certain German language requirements.

In its proposed budget, to be considered by the Cabinet on July 17, the German government says it will simplify the immigration of skilled and other workers into the labour market. If it is accepted, it will be debated by the national parliament and likely passed at the end of this year.

As part of its “growth initiative”, the government has also proposed measures to make it easier for refugees to take up employment in the country.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/germans-rage-at-30pc-tax-break-offered-to-immigrants/ar-BB1pNFVM?ocid=msedgntp&pc=ENTPSP&cvid=1a38560dad8c4e02861fe77cf5c9f3eb&ei=50#

Skybird

08-01-24, 03:19 PM

The German Chamber of Industry and Commerce - DIHK - has published an evaluation that covers all companies with at least 500 employees. According to the survey, over the past 3 years 11% of companies have given up on Germany as a business location, another 22% are in the process of leaving Germany and withdrawing completely from the country, and 18% are about to initiate such measures.

This means that just over half of the companies - 51% - based in Germany with more than 500 employees will soon have turned their backs on Germany as a business location, one third already having left or close to completing their leaving

In no other Western industrialized country in the world is the importance of medium-sized companies and the associated corporate culture - named "Mittelstand" in German - as high as in Germany. These figures document a catastrophe that threatens Germany's very economic existence. And are proof of the disastrous economic policy of this group of ideology-driven dilettantes, which is jokingly referred to as the "government". They are killers, destroyers.

Its madness. And nobody cares, or rings the alarm, everybody is more concerned with staying calm, keeping the contenance. Its a madhouse.

Jeff-Groves

08-01-24, 04:06 PM

Something like NAFTA in the USA?
:haha:

Skybird

08-01-24, 04:35 PM

NAFTA is in principle a free trade zone with Canada, Mexico and the US.

DIHK stands for Deutsche Industrie- und Handelskammer, translating into something like German Chamber for Industry and Commerce.

Both cannot be compared, are two very different things. The DIHK is a lobby association of the industry and the businesses.

Jimbuna

08-02-24, 07:52 AM

Skybird

08-03-24, 04:23 PM

Germany belongs to the losers of the Ukraine war. And its completely Germany's own faults.

https://www-nzz-ch.translate.goog/der-andere-blick/deutschland-gehoert-schon-jetzt-zu-den-verlierern-des-ukraine-kriegs-ld.1841982?_x_tr_sl=de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_hist=true

Rockstar

08-04-24, 07:10 AM

Until now I had no idea this was going on in Germany

What to Know: First Trial in Alleged Coup Plot in Germany Begins

Three trials this spring are centered on the Reichsbürger movement. Some of its members say the modern German state is actually a corporation run by shadowy bureaucrats.

https://archive.ph/vt0sN

By Christopher F. Schuetze
Reporting from Stuttgart, Germany
April 29, 2024

Nearly a year and a half after police and intelligence officers in Germany uncovered a plot to overthrow the country’s government and replace its chancellor, the first of three trials in the sprawling case began on Monday in Stuttgart.

Most of the would-be insurrectionists were arrested in December 2022, when heavily armed German police officers stormed houses, apartments, offices and a remote royal hunting lodge and made dozens of arrests. Those eventually charged included a dentist, a clairvoyant, an amateur pilot and a man running a large QAnon social media group. The German authorities contend that their figurehead was Prince Heinrich XIII of Reuss, an obscure and conspiracy-minded aristocrat who would have been made chancellor if the coup had succeeded.

Despite that idiosyncratic membership, the group was well organized and dangerous, investigators said. Some of its members were former officers trained by German elite military forces. One was a judge turned far-right lawmaker with Alternative for Germany, the surging populist party known as the AfD. The police said the group had stashed more than a half-million dollars in gold and cash; amassed hundreds of firearms, tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition and a cache of explosives; and secured satellite phones to communicate once it disabled national communications networks.

“All the satirical elements that are naturally present in this group — elements of QAnon, the belief in U.F.O.s, esotericism, the idea of being able to overthrow the system of the Federal Republic of Germany — should not distract from the fact that this group posed a grave potential threat,” said Jan Rathje, a member of a nongovernmental organization that monitors conspiracy theories and right-wing extremism.

In a wood-paneled courtroom in Stuttgart on Monday, federal prosecutors started trying to prove that the group came dangerously close to launching an attack on the democratic foundation of Europe’s largest country.

The trial is the first of three set for this spring and could take years to complete. It takes place as Germany wrestles with continuing fears about a rising far right in its politics and a week after the arrests of several people accused of spying for Russia and for China.

Who are the people accused of plotting to overthrow the government?

The 26 defendants set to face trial this spring (a 27th died in jail last month) are part of a growing and increasingly dangerous movement called Reichsbürger, or citizens of the Reich.

What sets them apart from other far-right extremists, according to the German authorities and experts on right-wing extremism, is their refusal to accept the idea of the modern German state, which some of them contend is actually a corporation run by shadowy bureaucrats of a “Deep State.”

Once dismissed as harmless eccentrics, Reichsbürger used to be known more for making their own passports or for refusing to pay taxes or government fines. But that view changed in 2016 when a follower killed a police officer during a raid on his home.

While the authorities put the number of active members of the Reichsbürger movement in Germany at around 23,000, experts say the actual number is far higher. Last year, a study suggested that nearly 5 percent of Germans were open to some form of the conspiracy-based ideology.

“Even if many of the ideologies of the Reichsbürger seem bizarre — extremists often pursue far-fetched goals — that does not make them any less dangerous,” Konstantin von Notz, the chair of Germany’s parliamentary intelligence oversight committee, said in an email exchange.

How was the coup supposed to unfold?

Prosecutors believe the accused plotters — 21 men and five women — were at one point planning to begin the coup by attacking Germany’s Parliament. Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his ministers would be tied up and presented on national television to convince the public of the regime change, according to a version of the plan that leaked last year.

As part of the planning, they said, Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, the former AfD lawmaker, had led three of the men — at least two of them military-trained — into Parliament, where they scouted and photographed the premises.

Later, the focus moved to plans for setting up a replacement government, quelling local dissent and recruiting soldiers for an army loyal to their cause.

Who is on trial first?

The nine defendants on trial in Stuttgart are accused of being part of the “military arm” of the plot. Prosecutors contend that they were responsible for organizing and recruiting for the 286 “homeland protection brigades” that the plotters planned to deploy. These brigades, prosecutors will argue, were intended to put down resistance and liquidate enemies at the local level once the national government had been overthrown.

The defendants, all men, face charges of planning treasonous action and joining a terrorist organization. Both charges carry a maximum sentence of 10 years, although a combined sentence could be longer.
Some of the accused are also charged with breaking weapons laws, and one is facing charges of attempted murder for shooting a police officer during his arrest.
What happened on the first day?

Federal prosecutors read out their case against the men, aged 42 to 60. The prosecutors focused first on a defendant identified only as Markus L., in accordance with German privacy rules, who is accused of having shot and severely wounded an officer when the police came to arrest him in March 2023.

The court will spend until July considering that part of the case. Prosecutors say it will show that, despite their beliefs in bizarre conspiracy theories, the men were dangerous.

One of the defense lawyers, Viktoria Dannenmaier, who represents a defendant called Mr. von H., complained that documents from the investigation had leaked to the news media. “It’s a political trial,” she said.

What’s next?

Do not expect verdicts soon. German trials of this complexity can take years to prosecute, and this case already involves more than a dozen judges and nearly 100 defense lawyers.

Next month, Prince Heinrich XIII, his Russian girlfriend and the group’s founders will begin their trial, in Frankfurt. Because of the large number of participants — seven men and two women are on trial in those proceedings, attended by an array of judges, lawyers and court officials — a new temporary courtroom had to be built on the city outskirts to handle the trial.

A third trial, held at a high-security court in Munich, will deal with eight more defendants accused of serving as the plot’s leadership council, the coup’s cabinet in waiting.

Skybird

08-04-24, 07:51 AM

Divide the size of this "coup" by a factor between lets say 20 and 30, and you have the real relevance of it. The regime has intentionally blown this out of proportion in its neverending war against oppositon to its policies. Our beloved left-extreme interior minister has turned the office for the prietction of the consituion menahwiule into a picling orgaisation that serves as a manipulating, intimdiating and and reeducating stormtroop against non-left thinking and opposition to ultra gender, ultra woke, ultra left.

Its not the first time the traffic light regime acts likje this. Revcent scandal was the lies soread by the magazinbe "Correctiv" about statement sloabout paöpnedf antiu moigraiuton and remigratiuon by CDU and AfD people. It wa smajhor news in the headlines up and down over here - and meanwhie the whole story has completely collapsed: it was fabricated by proxies of the regime. Lies hiding lies that were mounted on top of lies. Thios burdne of lies then was presented as truth, yb the arugment whne so many claims are beig made, even for reasons of statistical random chance some of them must be true.

The mainstream media and all state TV are completely "gleichgeschaltet" by now, like in the GDR or the Third Reich. The one parrots the same propagandistic song like the other, and the song gets written by the regime and the ultra left. Even german language gets raped and mutilated to root out unwanted thoughts and enforce the unwanted ideology whenever you try to express yourself.

Again: Orwellian mechanisms of regime power unfolding. For the dominant political spirit over here, "1984" is not a warning or a dystopia to fight against, but a lighthouse that provides inspiration and orientation, and whose spotlight points the way in the desired direction: submission to totalitarian control and state omnipotence.

mapuc

08-05-24, 02:24 PM

I post the video here in our GER politics thread because it is about German military

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6J9ogNCJ8W4

Markus

Skybird

08-05-24, 03:07 PM

^ :haha:

Thats just technology, Markus. Maybe it will get sold, maybe not. But it will not make Germany a military big power again. That would cost money. And if you look at the development of defence budgets in Germany - I mean, without the special budget, the net defence rates are already DECLINING again... :har:

It took them 18 months until they even were willing to place an order for 18 Leopards to replace the 18 2A6 sent to Ukraine, and these new 18 tanks will not come until severla years have passed by. Until today they have not place dorders for artilelr y ammo to fill up the epty German stores, onmly a fraciton of the deficit gets filled upo, the rest of it remains empty - to spend the money this would cost for social wellfare and voter bribery instead. There is no political will to upgrade and strengthen the German "military". And no money. And no personnel. You're more likely to get a cactus to recite Shakespeare.

The BW already has rejected to buy the KF51.

And Pistorius is just a lightning rod to deflect lightning from Scholz. He has no financial support for his loud-mouthed speeches. He is massively overrated. And do you remember? I said he couldn't do anything and was overrated when he was called into office. He demanded 12 bn extra for the next fiscal budget. He got one. Half of it in question, because it is on credit.

In Germany, the BW only serves as an alibi to pretend to be part of the NATO club. No one here is really interested in the actual defense capability of the BW. Everyone just knows that you can save money if you keep cutting back. And thats what they did, and thats what they kept on doing after Scholz' Zeitenwende-speech two years ago, especially his own party.

mapuc

08-05-24, 03:57 PM

I had a feeling you would react with a laugh. During the video I recalled all the times you have been spoken gently about the German BW, here in this thread or in our Ukraine thread.

The video mention in the end the German bureaucracy being an almost stop block

Germany and many of the NATO's countries have until 2029* to raise the cost of their military to 2% or more

* It is said that Russia would have rebuild it's army around 2029 and it is then we can expect an attack on NATO.

Markus

Jimbuna

08-06-24, 06:51 AM

Rockstar

08-07-24, 07:18 PM

And here y’all have been telling us gun owners are the problem.

So, London surpassed New York City’s murder rate because of knife attacks. Does Germany have the same murder rate & knife problem as the U.K. ?

The German police union proposes to give people with “dangerous knives" free Netflix if they hand them in to the police.

Source: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, one of Germany’s legacy newspapers.

Gorpet

08-10-24, 08:26 PM

Something like NAFTA in the USA?
:haha:

Just what do these three countries trade ?

Gorpet

08-10-24, 08:46 PM

Skybird

08-13-24, 08:50 AM

Gorpet

08-14-24, 11:22 PM

https://www-achgut-com.translate.goog/artikel/in_deutschland_herrscht_kein_wassermangel?_x_tr_sl =de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de

Everyone knows the weather maps that warn of man-made climate change in glowing red colors. Recently, however, more and more "drought monitors" have appeared in the media - the ground colored in the colors of dried and fresh blood. Is Germany a water-deficient country that will soon see entire regions dry out? The good news is that Germany will never be a water shortage country. But drinking water shortages can indeed occur regionally. There are many reasons for this. "Climate" is not one of them. In four episodes, we look at the water balance in Germany from a hydrogeological perspective.

Well,Professor, my mentor, For all that you say, Climate has nothing to do with it.Does it?
Really? Do you think politicians worry about Germany from a hydrogeological perspective. No today we Americans want Germans to get their ass in gear and put some money and bodies into Ukraine. Look missiles aren't going to do it. You and the Brits better get your ass in gear.To the last soldier right, It's all abought ,Sean Penn and Volodymyr Zelenskyy
President of Ukraine and their quest, To make a movie the "Road to Moscow"

Skybird

08-15-24, 03:01 PM

^

https://i.postimg.cc/Hkw0fs9S/Unbenannt.png (https://postimages.org/)

Skybird

08-16-24, 06:55 AM

There are elections in three eastgerman states this autumn.

[Focus] It remains a close neck-and-neck race between the CDU and AfD in Saxony. A good two weeks before the state election, both parties are lonely at the top. The traffic light parties, on the other hand, face the worst-case scenario.

A close race between the AfD and the CDU is emerging for the state election in Saxony on September 1. According to an Insa election poll commissioned by the “Sächsische Zeitung”, “Leipziger Volkszeitung” and “Freier Presse”, the AfD would receive 32% of the vote, followed by the CDU with 29%. Behind them, the Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) alliance appears to be establishing itself as the third strongest force in the Free State. It would receive 15 percent of the vote from a standing start.

According to the survey, the other parties would have to worry about entering the state parliament. The CDU's current coalition partners, the SPD and the Greens, are each at 5%, as is the Left Party. For the FDP, with currently 2 percent of the vote, it would again not be enough. The Free Voters are now just below the five percent hurdle with 4 percent.
27 percent “certain” to vote for AfD

27% of Saxons stated that they were “certain” in their decision to vote for the AfD. This figure is 23% for the CDU and 12% for the BSW. At the same time, the Greens and the AfD were rejected the most by Saxon voters. 57% stated that they could not imagine voting for the Greens. For the AfD, the figure for this statement was 46%.

In the last poll on August 9, the CDU was ahead with 34%. The AfD achieved 30 percent. The BSW came in third place with 11%. The SPD and Greens came in at 6% each, while the Left Party only achieved 4%.

---------------

By these numbers, if they would materialise: AfD + BSW = 47%.

Skybird

08-18-24, 06:39 PM

https://youtube.com/shorts/9_kJruWIXx0?si=r80W_slMWmYU6aFe

Skybird

08-21-24, 04:19 AM

How they see "us" (me excluded, please :O: ).

And I think they are right.

https://www-focus-de.translate.goog/finanzen/news/kritik-an-ampel-politik-waermepumpen-koennten-deutsche-wirtschaft-in-die-knie-zwingen-sagen-die-briten_id_260240351.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Links to original articles in the text.

Skybird

08-21-24, 01:46 PM

Manuel Neuer, for some years having been the best goalie in the world and having defined a completely new way of interpreting the role of the goalie, has stepped down from the national team. You may like him or not, it doe snot matter: his record commands respect, he was a giant in his profession. With him the last active player form the German world winner team 2014 in Brazil has left active nati0onal team service now.

Germany was always blessed to have had absolutely world top class goalies for its national team. Especially Oliver Kahn and Manuel Neuer were giants.

Neuer remains active as goalie for Bayern München. He recently married and the couple got a baby meanwhile. It is expected that the national team's new goalie will be Marc-André ter Stegen, another very good goalie who for long has been the number two.

mapuc

08-21-24, 02:26 PM

For some years you said, I thought he has been the German national teams first goalkeeper for decades.

All the memories I have seeing him in action throughout his carrier.

Markus

Skybird

08-21-24, 03:29 PM

For some years you said, I thought he has been the German national teams first goalkeeper for decades.

All the memories I have seeing him in action throughout his carrier.

Markus
I think he was the national goalie since 2009.

mapuc

08-21-24, 03:49 PM

I think he was the national goalie since 2009.

I recall a situation in the Halb finale in the world cup 1980-something, where Neuer rush out to take the ball but hit the oncoming player instead-Remember many was convinced Neuer would be expelled.

I could be wrong though I'm pretty sure his last name was Neuer.

Edit
I was totally wrong-His name was Toni Schumacher
End edit

Markus

Skybird

08-21-24, 05:17 PM

You must mistake him - in the 1980s...? He is now 38 years old!

Rockstar

08-23-24, 05:30 PM

BREAKING: Mass stabbing event in Europe again, this time Germany

At least 9 people stabbed at “diversity festival” in Solingen, Germany.

Reports of several fatalities.

Conflicting report whether it was 650th birthday of the city or a diversity festival.

Allahu Akbar I’m sure.

Skybird

08-23-24, 05:46 PM

a city jubilee. 650 of Solingen.

Solingen is a hotspot of German knife manufacturing, so the attacker at least showed some decency in weapon choice.

we have knife events daily in Germany. no exaggeration. its the federal police saying so.

Dargo

08-24-24, 11:39 AM

The man who stabbed three revellers to death late on Friday night during the town festival in Solingen and seriously, and even dangerously, injured five of them what was his motive? Saturday afternoon, according to Bild, only the knife, which the perpetrator had thrown away 200 metres from his deed, was found used. German police have then been hunting in vain all night and morning for the man, whose appearance is still basically unknown to anyone. All that is known is that the perpetrator is a man. Although the stabbing happened in a square where thousands of people were gathered to listen to live bands and DJs, no one has been able to get a good look at the suspected perpetrator. His motive is also still obscure. Police assume he was alone, and that it was not the work of a terrorist organisation.

What bystanders only noticed was that while he picked his victims so randomly, he knew very deliberately where to stab them: in the neck. The perpetrator then disappeared as quickly as he emerged into the crowds, and into the chaos of rising panic. Even Saturday afternoon, police have yet to get a detailed description of the culprit, despite emotional appeals from spokesman Kresta, and the opening of a website where people can upload photos and videos. Roads are cordoned off and the circle within which the search for a culprit continues to expand. To no avail. Bild fanned the anger by circulating a ‘description of the suspect’, describing an all too recognisable type. Moments later, Bild reports the arrest of a young man, forcibly taken from his parents' house on Saturday morning. He turns out not to be the wanted man. The news of the arrest is halfway around the world by then. By 3pm, the newspaper reports that the knife has been found, 200 metres from where the victims were killed.

On German television on Saturday, a heated debate erupted over a knife ban that should be in place. Anger is also gradually mounting in Solingen. In street interviews and in the studio, there are increasing references to ‘that other case’ that once deeply shocked the city. That was in May 1993: four young German men with neo-Nazi sympathies set fire to the house of a large Turkish family in Solingen at the time. Three girls and two women died in the flames, 14 other family members were injured. The four young men were sentenced to prison terms of 10 to 15 years. Friday's party was supposed to be the start of a three-day festival to celebrate Solingen's 650th anniversary. As a symbolic gesture against rising xenophobia, the municipality had named the festival ‘Diversity’.

Jimbuna

08-24-24, 12:07 PM

German police arrest boy accused of knowing about fatal knife attack in advance

Police have arrested a 15-year-old boy in connection with a fatal knife attack in the west German city of Solingen.

The boy is not the main suspect but is alleged to have known about the attack beforehand.

Two men, aged 56 and 67, and a 56 year-old woman died in the attack in Solingen on Friday, which German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called a "horrific act".

At a news conference on Saturday, officers said terrorism was not being ruled out as a motive, and that searches for the attacker were taking place across the country.

The 15-year-old connected to the case was detained this morning after two women reported overhearing a conversation between him and a second person in which they discussed the attack, the police said.

While he remains in custody, investigators are still trying to establish exactly who carried out the attack.

The suspect's motive is unknown but police said they cannot rule out that this was a "terrorist-motivated offence".

Police say there was no specific terror threat before the festival and there was not a large security zone in place.

Chief of police Markus Röhrl urged people not to speculate on social media and appealed to the public for more information.

Police also revealed that they found "multiple knives" and were looking into whether one of them was involved in the attack.

The attacker reportedly stabbed passers-by "at random" during a festival to celebrate 650 years since the industrial city of Solingen was founded.

The situation on the ground after the attack was "very hectic", which made it difficult to find a perpetrator, police said.

Police confirmed that the attacker "targeted" people's throats and necks.

Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that the assailant must be caught quickly and punished to fullest extent of the law.

Interior minister Nancy Faeser expressed her condolences, saying security authorities are "doing everything they can to catch the perpetrator and determine the background of the attack".

Solingen - a city in North Rhineland-Westphalia, which is famous for its steel industry - has about 160,000 inhabitants. It lies about 15 miles (25 km) east of Düsseldorf.

The city's authorities asked people to leave the Fronhof market area after the attack at about 22:00 local time (21:00 BST) on Friday.

In a Facebook statement on Friday night, Mayor Tim Kurzbach said: "Tonight all of us in Solingen are in shock, horror and great sadness.

"We all wanted to celebrate our city anniversary together and now we have to mourn the dead and injured.

"It breaks my heart that an attack has happened in our city. I have tears in my eyes when I think of those we've lost.

"I pray for all those still fighting for their lives. Also my greatest sympathy for all those who had to experience this, these images must have been horrific."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd73292p1vpo

Ostfriese

08-24-24, 02:08 PM

On German television on Saturday, a heated debate erupted over a knife ban that should be in place.

Which is just another empty shell, a platitude without meaning or consequences - most knives are already banned, and unless you want to include kitchen knives there's little left that's not already banned anyway.

mapuc

08-24-24, 02:25 PM

Rockstar

08-24-24, 02:29 PM

Which is just another empty shell, a platitude without meaning or consequences - most knives are already banned, and unless you want to include kitchen knives there's little left that's not already banned anyway.

Oh man there’s a long list of cures that will quell these murders. Comprehensive background checks for knife purchases, must be 21 years or older to purchase or own a knife, enact laws that require knives be stored in a safe, owners must purchase locking sheaths, create knife free zones, televise anti-knife campaigns, demonize the lawful owners. When all else fails scream at the top of your lungs “do something”. Wash rinse repeat.

Dargo

08-24-24, 05:26 PM

According to the German newspaper Bild, the Perpetrator should have yelled Allahu Akbar and the same newspaper are saying that witness have told the police that he was an Arabic looking man.

This doesn't mean that every Arabic looking men are terrorist or supporting it.

MarkusBild is a tabloid. It does not focus on political and world news, but on news that readers are supposed to be interested in. The newspaper is characterised by big headlines that play on readers' emotions and comparatively short articles.

Dargo

08-24-24, 06:57 PM

The suspected perpetrator of the knife attack in the German city of Solingen has turned himself in. According to German magazine Der Spiegel, it is Issa al H., a 26-year-old man from Syria, who had been staying in Germany since late 2022. On Saturday evening, he reported himself to a police patrol, who then arrested him. Sources told the news agency that his clothes were stained with blood. North Rhine-Westphalia state interior minister confirmed the arrest and said evidence had been found that the suspect was behind the knife attack. ‘We had been looking for this man all day,’ he told German TV channel ARD.

Rockstar

08-24-24, 08:00 PM

Jimbuna

08-25-24, 06:26 AM

mapuc

08-25-24, 06:30 AM

Pity there isn't a death penalty available.

The closest solution is the one Rockstar came up with-Kick them out back to where they came from. I agree

Those refugees/immigrants who do good are heartily welcome. Those who don't shall be send back.

Markus

Jimbuna

08-25-24, 06:32 AM

The closest solution is the one Rockstar came up with-Kick them out back to where they came from. I agree

Those refugees/immigrants who do good are heartily welcome. Those who don't shall be send back.

Markus

Like they're currently doing in America? :)

Dargo

08-25-24, 01:10 PM

26-year-old Issa al H. from Syria came to Germany in December 2022 and applied for asylum. Die Welt (https://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article253174314/Untergetaucht-Solingen-Attentaeter-sollte-abgeschoben-werden.html) said it had learned from official sources that his asylum application had been rejected early last year and that the man, who was staying in Paderborn at the time, was not allowed to stay in Germany. He would be transferred to Bulgaria, as he had travelled to Germany from that country. Under Dublin rules, the country where an asylum seeker first enters the EU is responsible for the asylum procedure. According to Die Welt, a date had already been set for the handover, but Al H. went into hiding before it could take place. Several months later, the Syrian resurfaced. For some unknown reason, the transfer was ‘provisionally cancelled’ at that time and the man was placed in a refugee shelter in Solingen by the authorities.

Skybird

08-25-24, 04:36 PM

Only a little, a tiny fraction of asylum seekers whose request got rejected are ever being tried to return them. A significant share of attempts fail.

German politicians have made it almost impossible that regular rules are being applied. They implemented plenty of backdoors and exceptiosn formtnhe rules. The rules themselves therefore are mostyl avoided.

Also, returns are not tried if the country to which to return does not cooperate. And practically none of the countries whose citizens go to Europe are being welcomed back by their home governments.

70% of illegal migration into Europe ends up to stay in - Germany.

Finally, and this has been revelead just 10 days ago or so - I thougt I could not trust my eyes when reading it - , if an asylum seeker resists his return with force, official rules demand that the return is being discontinued. Rules also demand that he must be released and leave custody as a free man.

Well.

Asylum seekers rejected usually end with years and years of beign "tolerated" and being equipped with "temporary" :har: papers. Or they just disappear frorm the police's radar screens.

My sympathy is practically nonexistent. The stupid Germany I live in just gets what it's native population has been asking for or/and endlessly tolerates and/or endlessly legitimises its political "elite" to do. Why should I have sympathy with such idiotic people?

Its a mental asylum over here. The whole West turns into one. I often think of this story by Edgar Alan Poe, "The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether". Its like a documentary of the state of things. The audience watches it.

Our whole culture degenerates into an infantile, irrational heap of poop, with a cherry made of greed on top of it.

Im just happy that we have developed such an infallible routine of spouting hypocritical phrases and always telling the same lies to reassure ourselves of our own greatness. This makes it much easier for the relatives of the victims to endure the media hype. I'm sure they appreciate the stuffy, well-tempered collective sentimentality. Its so cozy and well-meant, you know. And best of it, its free. You can spill it all over the floor every day and let it dry and getting soaked off by the carpet until every step causes a splashing sound, and it still costs you nothing. Not in money. Not in deeds doen as a consequences

Except banning knives longer than 6cm. BTW, the Syrian dirtbag committing these murderings used a knife with 15cm blade length, police said. He probably was never told that that is illegal. Note to the border controls, they must tell mogrnats when they cross the border that knives longer than 6cm are not allowed to be used for murderings.

Oh wait. Usually we have no border controls, I forgot that for a moment.

Tjaaaa... Scheisse wenn man doof ist, nicht wahr, Deutschland?

Jimbuna

08-26-24, 06:30 AM

^ And here's me thinking nowhere was worse than the UK :o

Skybird

08-26-24, 07:30 AM

^ Not at all.

Three upcoming elections in three Eastgerman states in the coming weeks. Watch out for them. The results most likely will be such that they will be internationally taken note of. But they will not be a surprise. In America they have a deepening polarization between two political camps, in Germany we have the same, just that here the widening political trench is along the former borders between the former West- and Eastgerman states. And also nationwide between huge cities' and metropoles' populations (left-woke-green), and rural and village places (conservative, down to earth, anti-woke).

Skybird

08-27-24, 07:15 PM

https://youtu.be/8DS-ssBXu78?si=2t_OsQK6hUSOR5R9

this place has become so completely f. u., all hope is in vein.

em2nought

08-27-24, 08:09 PM

Holy crap! "Liberal judge with multiple cats" LMAO

Skybird

08-30-24, 04:30 PM

In Germany it seems to be "Anything goes" now. Since the knife murderings in Solingen, not a single day, not one has passed since then without another lethal attack on the street prominantly reported in the media, mostly by knives. Not all of them had a terrorist background, not all of them had an "asylum rejected"-background, but I think all of them were committed by people with a migrant background: Syrians, Afghans, Turks. And right now, a minute ago I red the latest news that in Siegen a women has stabbed five people in a bus in Solingen, three victims are fighting for their lives. [Correction: 6 people stabbed.]

And I thought it would be the first day today since Solingen without another assassination on the streets in the headlines.

Meanwhile, 28 highly criminal Afghans were flown out to Afghanistan - after preparing this operation for over 6 months. 28 heads. 6 months. A chartered 737 just for this, for 28. Total costs range in the high 7 digit range. For 28 criminals from another country. Do the math. Its about a miserable 28 individuals. 6 months. Millions of Euros. For getting rid of 28 worthless pieces of brutal criminals.

Each of these criminal scumbags also was paid 1000 Euros of German tax money as a farewell present, called "Handgeld". Lovely is the reaction by the usual suspects from Amnesty International. They condemn Germany for getting rid of this criminal human gabarge. But reasonable thinking never was a feature AI had ever mastered. Well, its AI. What else to expect from these [insert rotten smelly word of your liking].

One thing worth to know: criminals committing capital crimes cannot be sent back, but must be brought to German justice and jail. I am split on the logic in this, but you here have a clear motive for committing murder or any other brutal offence as a means for preventing your deportation. Go to Germany, get no asylum, kill somebody, stay forever as a reward. Kind of blackmailing the state for unlimited stay in Germany by slaughtering people.

This country is done.

Jimbuna

08-31-24, 05:57 AM

^ That is most worrying Marc and probably replicated in more countries than anyone would be comfortable admitting to.

Skybird

08-31-24, 09:55 AM

^ That is most worrying Marc and probably replicated in more countries than anyone would be comfortable admitting to.
Well, France is done as well. Britain. Sweden. The US.

[complete the list to your liking]

Degeneration und Verfall allenthalben.

Oswald Spengler was right. And a few others like him, even already at their time they saw coming what destroys us now.

mapuc

08-31-24, 10:06 AM

Well, France is done as well. Britain. Sweden. The US.

[complete the list to your liking]

Degeneration und Verfall allenthalben.

Oswald Spengler was right. And a few others like him, even already at their time they saw coming what destroys us now.

What is confusing for me is-People say they have seen the scripture on the wall for decades....and still they vote on these parties who was responsible for the situation the country are in.

Markus

Dargo

08-31-24, 11:22 AM

What is confusing for me is-People say they have seen the scripture on the wall for decades....and still they vote on these parties who was responsible for the situation the country are in.

MarkusIf it were so easy, but it is not, alternative parties run against the same problems as the older and politics is a 4-5 year project this kinda problems take at least a decade to solve.

Shadowblade

08-31-24, 11:24 AM

@Skybird - I watch the news from Germany and the situation is insane there - illegal migrants are stabbing, beating and killing people and the official solution is to prohibit knives again and make them smaller.

yeah, we can see how it worked last time <facepalm>

it sounds like the definition of insanity from Far Cry 3:

https://media.licdn.com/dms/image/C4E22AQE4xv4ha8ChPw/feedshare-shrink_2048_1536/0/1674876730473?e=2147483647&v=beta&t=ujgIJIuHIvkp2N_egNt7c9XiuqQ-V-6EEkfRNP1bRbo

Knives are allowed here and there is no epidemic of stabbing here. Why?
Because we dont have illegal migrants from Africa and Middle East here.

Amnesty International - this malicious organization started campaign in media against legal gun owners here <facepalm>.
It sounds like AI does not like safety situation here and wants to make it worse.

Dargo

08-31-24, 11:36 AM

@Skybird - I watch the news from Germany and the situation is insane there - illegal migrants are stabbing, beating and killing people and the official solution is to prohibit knives again and make them smaller.

yeah, we can see how it worked last time <facepalm>

it sounds like the definition of insanity from Far Cry 3:

Knives are allowed here and there is no epidemic of stabbing here. Why?
Because we dont have illegal migrants from Africa and Middle East here.

Amnesty International - this malicious organization started campaign in media against legal gun owners here <facepalm>.
It sounds like AI does not like safety situation here and wants to make it worse.In the German town of Siegen, perpetrator is a German woman is an acquaintance of the police and there are indications that she has mental problems and was apparently heavily intoxicated or under the influence of drugs.

Shadowblade

08-31-24, 11:50 AM

In the German town of Siegen, perpetrator is a German woman is an acquaintance of the police and there are indications that she has mental problems and was apparently heavily intoxicated or under the influence of drugs.

yes, I know that attacker in bus was a German woman - media here usually dont tell us the nationality of attackers if they are outside of Europe, but if it is European they always tell it.

mapuc

08-31-24, 01:52 PM

If it were so easy, but it is not, alternative parties run against the same problems as the older and politics is a 4-5 year project this kinda problems take at least a decade to solve.

Within this decade hundred of thousands more immigrants or refugees have entered the country. To solve the problem the country need a full stop for immigrants and refugees.

Markus

Shadowblade

08-31-24, 03:32 PM

Within this decade hundred of thousands more immigrants or refugees have entered the country. To solve the problem the country need a full stop for immigrants and refugees.

Markus

whole EU needs full stop on immigration from outside of Europe.

But I doubt it will happen - even infamous immigrant smuggler Carola Rackete is now in EU parliament <facepalm>

Dargo

08-31-24, 03:38 PM

Within this decade hundred of thousands more immigrants or refugees have entered the country. To solve the problem the country need a full stop for immigrants and refugees.

MarkusIf this would be the problem, but they are not, certainly not in Europe. The single most important cause of migration is not poverty or misery in origin countries, but the demand for labour. The majority of global migrants are labour migrants. At a time when a country has high labour shortages, as now in Europe, we attract a lot of migrants. These shortages are partly caused by Europeans becoming better and more educated and no longer wanting to do all kinds of ‘rotten jobs’. The relative level of migration has been stable globally for decades, about three per cent of the world's population is a migrant. Immigration levels mainly move with a country's economic growth and labour shortages. The long-term level of refugee migration is actually also stable at about 0.3 per cent of the world's population. It only moves more shock-wise. If a war breaks out, like a decade ago in Syria or recently in Ukraine, there is an occasional large refugee influx. But in the long term, both globally and locally, there is no increase in refugee migration.

In an analysis of policy changes, hardly any differences between right-wing and left-wing governments in immigration policy. Either tough migration talk, as in past elections, is mostly for the stage. During the election campaign, it is then of course attractive for politicians to then start pointing fingers, to claim that the housing crisis is due to migration, the classic scapegoat politics. But migrants and asylum seekers, of course, did not cause this housing crisis. You are not going to solve these kinds of problems by magically making all migrants disappear. That is misguided and just an illusion. Globally, 108.4 million people are fleeing persecution, conflict and violence. 40% of all refugees are minors. The countries hosting the most refugees are Turkey, Iran, Colombia, Germany and Pakistan. 76 % of the world's refugees are hosted in low- and middle-income countries.

mapuc

08-31-24, 04:51 PM

If this would be the problem, but they are not, certainly not in Europe. The single most important cause of migration is not poverty or misery in origin countries, but the demand for labour. The majority of global migrants are labour migrants. At a time when a country has high labour shortages, as now in Europe, we attract a lot of migrants. These shortages are partly caused by Europeans becoming better and more educated and no longer wanting to do all kinds of ‘rotten jobs’. The relative level of migration has been stable globally for decades, about three per cent of the world's population is a migrant. Immigration levels mainly move with a country's economic growth and labour shortages. The long-term level of refugee migration is actually also stable at about 0.3 per cent of the world's population. It only moves more shock-wise. If a war breaks out, like a decade ago in Syria or recently in Ukraine, there is an occasional large refugee influx. But in the long term, both globally and locally, there is no increase in refugee migration.

In an analysis of policy changes, hardly any differences between right-wing and left-wing governments in immigration policy. Either tough migration talk, as in past elections, is mostly for the stage. During the election campaign, it is then of course attractive for politicians to then start pointing fingers, to claim that the housing crisis is due to migration, the classic scapegoat politics. But migrants and asylum seekers, of course, did not cause this housing crisis. You are not going to solve these kinds of problems by magically making all migrants disappear. That is misguided and just an illusion. Globally, 108.4 million people are fleeing persecution, conflict and violence. 40% of all refugees are minors. The countries hosting the most refugees are Turkey, Iran, Colombia, Germany and Pakistan. 76 % of the world's refugees are hosted in low- and middle-income countries.

I have nowhere said that every immigrants, Refugees and Foreigners should be expelled. Those who are getting a life or try to start a life, shall be welcome and help to do so.

Immigrants, refugees and foreigners who isn't interested in becoming a citizens in their new country, despite getting help to start a new life. They on the other hand should be expelled-Send back to where they came from.

Percentage the unemployment among people from Islamic countries are very high-You can't accuse every bosses for being racist. Mostly it is due to language.

Markus

Gorpet

08-31-24, 09:44 PM

I have nowhere said that every immigrants, Refugees and Foreigners should be expelled. Those who are getting a life or try to start a life, shall be welcome and help to do so.

Immigrants, refugees and foreigners who isn't interested in becoming a citizens in their new country, despite getting help to start a new life. They on the other hand should be expelled-Send back to where they came from.

Percentage the unemployment among people from Islamic countries are very high-You can't accuse every bosses for being racist. Mostly it is due to language.

Markus

I would say at my age 67 .**** let them all in.Yes let's progress into a country where, each state can become a bastion of culture. Bring them in and let's give them Autonomous freedom to have a government within the state they can congregate in and take over.And that will be fine if,they are willing to work and pay their share, Of taxes, and share their daughters .

[QUOTE=Gorpet;2924636]I would say at my age 67 .**** let them all in.Yes let's progress into a country where, each state can become a bastion of culture. Bring them in and let's give them Autonomous freedom to have a government within the state they can congregate in and take over.And that will be fine if,they are willing to work and pay their share, Of taxes, and the rich will share their daughters .

[QUOTE=Gorpet;2924636]I would say at my age 67 .**** let them all in.Yes let's progress into a country where, each state can become a bastion of culture. Bring them in and let's give them Autonomous freedom to have a government within the state they can congregate in and take over.And that will be fine if,they are willing to work and pay their share, Of taxes, and share their daughters . Political pedifile's will always be hovering, If your daughter and son are willing, Oh that's right Bill Clinton, said i did not have sex with your daughter. She just put her lips around my cigar.

[QUOTE=Gorpet;2924636]I would say at my age 67 .**** let them all in.Yes let's progress into a country where, each state can become a bastion of culture. Bring them in and let's give them Autonomous freedom to have a government within the state they can congregate in and take over.And that will be fine if,they are willing to work and pay their share, Of taxes, and the rich will share their daughters . Political pedifile , Ya gotta love it.

To future posters, Welcome
If you post,Think first.The world of Ai is here.And do not think,this is a forum you can Express your opinion. If your not willing to wait 30 to 45 mins.And if you want to delete a post. Come back tomorrow. Watch i will try to delete , Noi will not. you see ,it will not matter.Orwell's future is here.

Jimbuna

09-01-24, 06:22 AM

Those who are getting a life or try to start a life, shall be welcome and help to do so.

Immigrants, refugees and foreigners who isn't interested in becoming a citizens in their new country, despite getting help to start a new life. They on the other hand should be expelled-Send back to where they came from.

Markus

Agreed :yep:

Jimbuna

09-01-24, 11:17 AM

It is being reported that the far-right (AfD) are on course to win according to exit polls.

mapuc

09-01-24, 11:23 AM

It is being reported that the far-right (AfD) are on course to win according to exit polls.

Here they have said:

They expect to get around 30-35 % of the votes, which is not enough to create a government and the other parties would gladly coop in order to prevent AfD from getting influence(Can have forgot or added some word, which wasn't said)

Markus

Jimbuna

09-01-24, 11:30 AM

Germany's anti-immigration party Alternative for Germany is on course for victory in the eastern state of Thuringia, according to an exit poll.

The AfD is set to win 30.5% of the vote, says the exit poll for public broadcaster ARD, six points ahead of the conservative CDU, and far in front of Germany's three governing parties.

If confirmed, it would give the far right its first vote win in a state parliament since World War Two, although it is unlikely to be able to form a government in Thuringia.

Some five million Germans were eligible to vote in two state elections in the east on Sunday. The AfD is also close behind the conservative CDU in the election for a state parliament in Saxony.

The ARD exit poll gives the CDU 31.5% and the AfD 30% in Saxony, again far ahead of the three parties running the national government.

The AfD's top candidate in Thuringia, Björn Höcke, is a highly controversial figure in Germany.

His party has been designated as right-wing extremist and he has been fined for using a Nazi slogan, although the former history teacher denies knowingly doing so.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn02w01xr2jo

Dargo

09-01-24, 12:05 PM

I would say at my age 67 .**** let them all in.Yes let's progress into a country where, each state can become a bastion of culture. Bring them in and let's give them Autonomous freedom to have a government within the state they can congregate in and take over.And that will be fine if,they are willing to work and pay their share, Of taxes, and share their daughters .

[QUOTE=Gorpet;2924636]I would say at my age 67 .**** let them all in.Yes let's progress into a country where, each state can become a bastion of culture. Bring them in and let's give them Autonomous freedom to have a government within the state they can congregate in and take over.And that will be fine if,they are willing to work and pay their share, Of taxes, and the rich will share their daughters .

[QUOTE=Gorpet;2924636]I would say at my age 67 .**** let them all in.Yes let's progress into a country where, each state can become a bastion of culture. Bring them in and let's give them Autonomous freedom to have a government within the state they can congregate in and take over.And that will be fine if,they are willing to work and pay their share, Of taxes, and share their daughters . Political pedifile's will always be hovering, If your daughter and son are willing, Oh that's right Bill Clinton, said i did not have sex with your daughter. She just put her lips around my cigar.

[QUOTE=Gorpet;2924636]I would say at my age 67 .**** let them all in.Yes let's progress into a country where, each state can become a bastion of culture. Bring them in and let's give them Autonomous freedom to have a government within the state they can congregate in and take over.And that will be fine if,they are willing to work and pay their share, Of taxes, and the rich will share their daughters . Political pedifile , Ya gotta love it.

To future posters, Welcome
If you post,Think first.The world of Ai is here.And do not think,this is a forum you can Express your opinion. If your not willing to wait 30 to 45 mins.And if you want to delete a post. Come back tomorrow. Watch i will try to delete , Noi will not. you see ,it will not matter.Orwell's future is here.Now I made sure you can not delete satified?

Jimbuna

09-01-24, 12:12 PM

[QUOTE=Gorpet;2924636]I would say at my age 67 .**** let them all in.Yes let's progress into a country where, each state can become a bastion of culture. Bring them in and let's give them Autonomous freedom to have a government within the state they can congregate in and take over.And that will be fine if,they are willing to work and pay their share, Of taxes, and share their daughters .

[QUOTE=Gorpet;2924636]I would say at my age 67 .**** let them all in.Yes let's progress into a country where, each state can become a bastion of culture. Bring them in and let's give them Autonomous freedom to have a government within the state they can congregate in and take over.And that will be fine if,they are willing to work and pay their share, Of taxes, and the rich will share their daughters .

[QUOTE=Gorpet;2924636]I would say at my age 67 .**** let them all in.Yes let's progress into a country where, each state can become a bastion of culture. Bring them in and let's give them Autonomous freedom to have a government within the state they can congregate in and take over.And that will be fine if,they are willing to work and pay their share, Of taxes, and share their daughters . Political pedifile's will always be hovering, If your daughter and son are willing, Oh that's right Bill Clinton, said i did not have sex with your daughter. She just put her lips around my cigar.

Now I made sure you can not delete satified?

Oh but I still can :O:

:03:

Dargo

09-01-24, 12:14 PM

The AfD is more likely to gain a third of the seats. That is enough for a Sperrminorität, a blocking minority. Indeed, in Saxony and Thuringia, a two-thirds majority is needed for all kinds of appointments, from judges to the court of auditors. The fear is that the AfD will block such decisions unless concessions are made on other dossiers. It also makes national politics anxious about these elections. For weeks now, political leaders have been warning of the AfD's danger. German business is also getting involved in the campaign: big names like Miele, Stihl and Edeka are openly taking a stand against the party. Ungovernability of Saxony and Thuringia lurks. For a majority, BSW will be crucial, but that party has made a rejection of Ukraine policy by the new government a breaking point. State parties are not about foreign policy, but a pro-Russian state government will symbolically be a big step and will be welcomed by Moscow. Let's hope all other parties consistently maintain a cordon sanitaire around the AfD.

Shadowblade

09-01-24, 02:22 PM

even Jihadists make fun of Germans and their knife ban:

https://prneumann.substack.com/p/nach-solingen-is-macht-sich-uber

(https://prneumann.substack.com/p/nach-solingen-is-macht-sich-uber)translate:
We tell them: the problem will not be limited to the knife, because what about a Muslim who can prepare the "birthday cake" with explosives! Are you also prepared to ban them or reduce their size?

Skybird

09-01-24, 03:19 PM

Currently it looks that the CDU needs the suzrvivors of the SPD, BSW (newly formed pro-Putin Marxist BÃ¼ndnis Sarah Wagenknecht) and/or former SED remains Die Linke to form a government.

I mentiined htis in ealrie rposts. Even the CDU as a victor in election will end up if strictly left-leaning governments. Vote strictly anti-left - and you nevertheless get a left goverment, it does not matter.

Die Linke also doe snit make it over the 5% hurdle, but due to the German election system will enter pairliament as full faction if the yget two diretc mandates.

Already at school I was at war with the German elections ystem. Teachers failed miserably to bring me into line woith it, I'm proud to say. Maybe there cnanit be a loefect system, but the German one of which germans are especially poriud in my understanding is a especially distorted - and distoritng - exmaple of an election system. Differences between states' individual election laws do exist, but they are minor and do not really change the general "verdict".

Its all a - left-leaning - freak show.

If the CDU accepts an alliance with SPD and BSW or Die Linke only to prevent AfD, next elections will become even worse.

One last election of three is still coming later this autumn, in Brandenburg. AfD leads polls there with ~ 23%, before CDU and SPD with 19% each, BSW 16%, Greens 7%. So here again a CDU winner of the lecitons would be forced to make strictly left-leaning coalitions if they rule out AfD.

Further conclusions form today'S twpo elections: BSW did not steal votes as much from AfD than I expected. Both parties with their core issues chase at will the other parties who can only react. AfD has taken over frpm Die Linke to be the East's new popular party. The national coalition government is practically sunk.

In the medium to long run I expect to see an authoritarian government in Germany (and in the whole EU, as I say since long).

Jimbuna

09-02-24, 04:33 AM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpA7D_cLm8o

Shadowblade

09-02-24, 09:14 AM

In the medium to long run I expect to see an authoritarian government in Germany (and in the whole EU, as I say since long).

I agree with your EU point - they are hungry for more power and that is why I would not give EU own army.
One "brotherly help"* in 1968 was enough.

*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Pact_invasion_of_Czechoslovakia

Skybird

09-03-24, 04:50 AM

VW closing plants - in Germany. Just the latest of the many new signs on the wall.

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/09/02/investing/volkswagen-factory-closure-germany/index.html

According to Bubble Olaf, German economy does great (due to his superhero powers and fantastic leadership, and he does not like that it is constantly being "talked down".

Shadowblade

09-03-24, 05:21 AM

yeah, that Green Deal works really great, right?

better would be make cars which customers want to buy

mapuc

09-03-24, 06:59 AM

A friend posted this link on his wall

https://www.welt.de/debatte/kommentare/plus253328088/Wahlerfolg-fuer-die-AfD-Nicht-alles-was-man-nicht-mag-ist-undemokratisch.html

Sadly it is behind a paywall and it is in German.

Markus

Shadowblade

09-03-24, 08:09 AM

German text can be translated, but paywalls are really plague of these days ...

Skybird

09-03-24, 10:17 AM

yeah, that Green Deal works really great, right?

When Babble Olaf is involved, the correct terminology is "Green Mega Wumms-Rumms-Bumms".

And the envy of the world is taken for granted. :03:

Rockstar

09-03-24, 11:09 AM

Best explanation I’ve ever heard about the German political landscape.

https://youtu.be/DFEOeGBMuko

Shadowblade

09-03-24, 11:37 AM

When Babble Olaf is involved, the correct terminology is "Green Mega Wumms-Rumms-Bumms".

And the envy of the world is taken for granted. :03:

it is not envy here, because our industry and export is connected to industry and economic of Germany.

Jimbuna

09-03-24, 11:41 AM

it is not envy here, because our industry and export is connected to industry and economic of Germany.

Well don't consider Brexit, just look what it did to the UK :o

Skybird

09-04-24, 07:24 AM

it is not envy here, because our industry and export is connected to industry and economic of Germany.
Dont bust our precious Green-SPD illusions! The world DOES envy us for our German fantasticability, the Carricture-in-Chief Scholz dreams it so, and so it must be, and you little mind dwarf better learn to understand that he knows everything better and you know nothing. Basta!

:O:

Skybird

09-04-24, 07:41 AM

Best explanation IÂ’ve ever heard about the German political landscape.

https://youtu.be/DFEOeGBMuko
The CDU wants to form a coalition with BSW (founded by former SED-socialised Stalinist Sarah Wagenknecht who is mixing rational migration demands and anti-gender positions with pro-Kremlin demands for stopping to support Ukraine and leave it to its fate by engaging in more "diplomacy" with Putin), and Die Linke (former SED), just not to talk with the AfD. Imagine this: the CDU, once a party of conservatism and "christian values" together with two communist, Russophile, Putin-friendly and GDR-transfigurating parties. :doh:

If they do this, in four years' elections they will ask why the AfD then will have gained an absolute majority. The answer would be simple: because they left the voters no other choice.

The CDU is an emptied, hollowed-out dead torso, opportunistic to the max, meaningless in values and message that both are not meant honest and serious anyway, and absolutely non-authentic. Merkel killed it with maximum efficiency, and she did not leave one stone unturned. Think of her frenzy like this:
https://media01.stockfood.com/largepreviews/NDY1MzM0OA==/00150108-Bauchhoehle-einer-Kuh-ausweiden.jpg

Catfish

09-04-24, 08:57 AM

yeah, that Green Deal works really great, right?

better would be make cars which customers want to buy
But no, they always know better and have to educate their voters :D
/sarcasm

On the other hand all transitions hurt, and especially Germany is whining on a high level of hypocrisy.
I read yesterday that 12 Percent of the german grid needs is now being provided by solar energy, so still 88 percent missing, but in the long run.. :hmmm:

Shadowblade

09-04-24, 09:28 AM

Well don't consider Brexit, just look what it did to the UK :o

It is not possible here to do something like Brexit now anyway:

1. we could have referendum ONLY for JOINING the EU, but not for LEAVING the EU.
When there was discussion about the law for referendum, politicians wanted to add there condition that referendum cannot be used for leaving EU. What a joke - you can join, but you cannot leave it. Like one way ticket.

2. no one here has balls + enough power to make this country leave the EU.

3. we have pro-EU government with some collaborators, like eg. Minister of the Interior who signed the Migration pact and lied us that our country has exception (there is no exception for us in Migration pact).

Jimbuna

09-04-24, 12:31 PM

It is not possible here to do something like Brexit now anyway:

1. we could have referendum ONLY for JOINING the EU, but not for LEAVING the EU.
When there was discussion about the law for referendum, politicians wanted to add there condition that referendum cannot be used for leaving EU. What a joke - you can join, but you cannot leave it. Like one way ticket.

2. no one here has balls + enough power to make this country leave the EU.

3. we have pro-EU government with some collaborators, like eg. Minister of the Interior who signed the Migration pact and lied us that our country has exception (there is no exception for us in Migration pact).

There is one sure way of knowing when a politician is lying....their lips start to move :03:

Catfish

09-04-24, 12:38 PM

I guess the real winner of the two german elections in Thuringia and Saxony is Putin :03:

Shadowblade

09-04-24, 01:07 PM

There is one sure way of knowing when a politician is lying....their lips start to move :03:

yeah, that is what I say too https://media.tenor.com/zWOBJciEhHIAAAAi/emoji-beer.gif

Jimbuna

09-04-24, 01:09 PM

Yep, politicians the world over :yep:

Rockstar

09-05-24, 05:15 AM

Skybird

09-05-24, 05:44 AM

As I said earlier already, murdering events on German public streets and in public transportation happen literally every day now in Germany. Practically every day. Every single day.

Nowadays I take more note of days when nothing happened. Since Solingen there was not one such day, I think. After day 8 after Solingen I stopped counting, however.

Jimbuna

09-05-24, 06:04 AM

Not just Germany Marc, it's becoming an almost common event in many countries including the UK

In fact just yesterday two teachers and two young pupils were murdered in a school in the US

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c049yw352r1o

Shadowblade

09-05-24, 10:02 AM

Terror attack in front of the Israeli Embassy in Munich, Germany.

Heavy gunfire could be heard this morning (anniversary of the 1972 Munich Massacre in which Palestinian terrorists murdered 11 Israelis).

The attacker has been killed.

yeah, our media write that it was Austrian,
name Emra I. - name with Turkish origin. Which is not very Austrian, right? https://www.hofyland.cz/images/smilies/1/18.gif

Interesting is that he was armed with WW2 rifle with bayonet, probably Mauser.

Dargo

09-05-24, 12:34 PM

yeah, our media write that it was Austrian,
name Emra I. - name with Turkish origin. Which is not very Austrian, right? https://www.hofyland.cz/images/smilies/1/18.gif

Interesting is that he was armed with WW2 rifle with bayonet, probably Mauser.Austrian Emra I., born in Austria in 2006, last resident of Neumarkt in Salzburger Land.

mapuc

09-05-24, 12:56 PM

Austrian Emra I., born in Austria in 2006, last resident of Neumarkt in Salzburger Land.

According to the local press in Austria, he was a known fanatical Islamist with links to the Islamic State. Imrah I. was of Bosnian origin.

So yes he may be born in Austria, but he wasn't much of an Austrian.

This is also a problem-Whether it is a 3rd, 4th or 5th generation immigrants born in a Western country, they keep their Middle east standpoint.

Markus

Dargo

09-05-24, 01:37 PM

According to the local press in Austria, he was a known fanatical Islamist with links to the Islamic State. Imrah I. was of Bosnian origin.

So yes he may be born in Austria, but he wasn't much of an Austrian.

This is also a problem-Whether it is a 3rd, 4th or 5th generation immigrants born in a Western country, they keep their Middle east standpoint.

MarkusNo their parents are not radicalized, and I have had it with he/she is Muslim/asylum seeker jada jada so all are terrorist. These people are a minority in the minority this is not the problem in the Netherlands we try it on another way we keep watch and if we see people radicalize we act on it, it is better to get in contact with these people and try to find a solution with them to prevent them so that they do not radicalize further. So far it is working it even worked in Afghanistan stigmatising does not. Sure we have incidents, but a lot of people can not cope with the pressure of life or have mental problems and go FUBAR.

mapuc

09-05-24, 01:53 PM

No their parents are not radicalized, and I have had it with he/she is Muslim/asylum seeker jada jada so all are terrorist. These people are a minority in the minority this is not the problem in the Netherlands we try it on another way we keep watch and if we see people radicalize we act on it, it is better to get in contact with these people and try to find a solution with them to prevent them so that they do not radicalize further. So far it is working it even worked in Afghanistan stigmatising does not. Sure we have incidents, but a lot of people can not cope with the pressure of life or have mental problems and go FUBAR.

Where have I said(written)that every Muslim is a terrorist. What I said is despite being born in a Western country they keep their Middle east mentality.

It's good your authorities can prevent a terror attack by catch them before they get to much radicalized. I think ours do the same- Take them before they do something terrible.

Markus

Dargo

09-05-24, 01:59 PM

What I said is despite being born in a Western country they keep their Middle east mentality.MarkusThis is also stigmatising and is not true either.

Dutch National Threats:
In 2023, the AIVD (General Intelligence and Security Service) investigated several Islamic movements in the Netherlands that may pose a threat to the democratic legal order based on their ideology. The Wahhabi Salafist movement in the Netherlands has been steering a more moderate course in recent years. This was also true in 2023. The relatively large and influential fundamentalist movement has doctrines at odds with the democratic rule of law. And its members can disproportionately influence the Islamic community in the Netherlands. But the doctrines have been given a more pragmatic interpretation in recent years. For example, leaders are giving followers space to vote, and thus participate more in political and social life in the Netherlands. The movement is also turning away less from dissenters. Followers, for example, are told to hate ‘disbelief’ rather than ‘non-believers’. The movement was hardly funded or influenced by Gulf backers in 2023. Wahhabi Salafist organisations seemed better able to raise funds domestically. At the same time, Gulf donors seemed less inclined to pay for projects in the Netherlands. All in all, the AIVD considers the threat of the current Wahhabi Salafist movement to the democratic rule of law to be limited.

The organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir posed a low threat in 2023. The movement propagates an extremist message, but it is a small group in the Netherlands without a large reach. The influence and size of the network of Muslim Brothers in the Netherlands was very limited in 2023 and did not seem to propagate an extremist message. Therefore, it hardly posed a threat to the democratic rule of law. The AIVD also investigated in 2023 whether the Hamas threat to the national security of the Netherlands might change, since the recent conflict in Gaza and some arrests in Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands. That investigation continues into 2024.

So where are those 3rd, 4th or 5th generation immigrants born in a Western country, with their Middle East standpoint?

mapuc

09-05-24, 02:16 PM

This is also stigmatising and is not true either.

Some years ago the Danish polls asked 3rd and 4th generation if their holy book should substitute the Danish constitution and 74 % said yes and
80 % -something, said that it should be forbidden to mock their beliefs.

From a personal point-of-view. Where I worked before I got sick there was this Muslim woman from Turkey she was 3rd generation immigrants and one day she said to me. My two daughters can marry whoever they want...as long they are Muslim...
I then said
-what if they find a non-muslim and fall in love with this person ?
Her answer
-Then they are not my daughters.

Markus

Dargo

09-05-24, 02:26 PM

Some years ago the Danish polls asked 3rd and 4th generation if their holy book should substitute the Danish constitution and 74 % said yes and
80 % -something, said that it should be forbidden to mock their beliefs.

From a personal point-of-view. Where I worked before I got sick there was this Muslim woman from Turkey she was 3rd generation immigrants and one day she said to me. My two daughters can marry whoever they want...as long they are Muslim...
I then said
-what if they find a non-muslim and fall in love with this person ?
Her answer
-Then they are not my daughters.

MarkusThis was/is the same with protestant vs catholic religion, totally nothing to do with terror attacks.

mapuc

09-05-24, 02:33 PM

This was/is the same with protestant vs catholic religion, totally nothing to do with terror attacks.

Very true

Another thing when I mentioned these 74 % I was somewhat right they wanted Sharia to substitute the Danish constitution.

Markus

Dargo

09-05-24, 02:35 PM

Very true

Another thing when I mentioned these 74 % I was somewhat right they wanted Sharia to substitute the Danish constitution.

MarkusBut this 74% is from a minority, so do not see the problem. For a change in the constitution, you need more than 74% so 74% from a minority can not change anything they can not even make a normal law.

mapuc

09-05-24, 03:29 PM

When I read this article I came to think of the discussion we have here in our GER politics thread.

I also confirmed that the most Fanatical Muslim is those who are converted.

https://ekstrabladet-dk.translate.goog/nyheder/samfund/danmarks-syrien-moedre-tilbage-i-samfundet/10357974?_x_tr_sl=da&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=da&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Markus

Skybird

09-05-24, 03:59 PM

When Khomenei returned to Iran, the communists believed him and hoped that supporting him would benefit them and their political plans. They all ended up with ropes around their necks, hung from the lampposts along Tehran's avenues.

Islam is neither harmless nor tolerant. And it is certainly not in its genes to accept coexistence and its own equality with other equals as long as it is not temporarily forced to remain silent due to its own weakness. It is an ideology of conquest, and it has always preached and continues to preach the subjugation of the entire world to the supremacy of Islam. Submit - or be wiped out. That is the Islamic concept of “peace”. It does not share power. It wants to rule all alone, and over everything.

That and nothing else is Koranic Islamofascism. Pax Islamica Mundi - or eternal war and extinction.

I have been in Islamic countries for quite some time, in the past. But none of my former romantic ideas survived, reality forced me to give them all up over a number of years after these travels and stays. Let's call it a lengthy learning process. But a successful one. When it comes to Islam, I am beyond these idiotic European illusions.

Its terrible how stupid Europeans are when it comes to Islam. They may mean it well, but they are not more than naive sheep facing a huge pack of hungry wolves.

And more and more the terirble reigonal coisnequences cannot be ignored or denied anymore. In Sweden. In France. In the UK. In Germany... Only to find out that in these reigons we jhave lost control and are no longer masters in our own homes and houses.

mapuc

09-05-24, 05:02 PM

Its terrible how stupid Europeans are when it comes to Islam. They may mean it well, but they are not more than naive sheep facing a huge pack of hungry wolves.

And more and more the terirble reigonal coisnequences cannot be ignored or denied anymore. In Sweden. In France. In the UK. In Germany... Only to find out that in these reigons we jhave lost control and are no longer masters in our own homes and houses.

I don't want to generalize 'cause there are some Muslim who have taken the Western mentality to them. and as I posted earlier, the most fanatics is in fact Ethnical citizens who have converted to Islam. This doesn't mean that there isn't radical Muslims here in the West, far from it.

It's important to catch these radicals before they do harm, like the Muslim they caught before they could do any harm at some concert in Vienna.

Markus

Dargo

09-05-24, 05:32 PM

Those "Muslims" are not so fanatic Muslim they drink, cheat really disobey all in the Koran, take it with a grain of salt. Islam is not the problem it is like any religion all about power not believe that causes those violent act's heck we Christians burnt each other if you were different all kind of terror and war in the name of god backwards spelt dog are done and where is the church now they are empty. This jihadism is plainly Islamic fascism, that's all.

Skybird

09-05-24, 05:57 PM

I don't want to generalize 'cause there are some Muslim who have taken the Western mentality to them. and as I posted earlier, the most fanatics is in fact Ethnical citizens who have converted to Islam. This doesn't mean that there isn't radical Muslims here in the West, far from it.

It's important to catch these radicals before they do harm, like the Muslim they caught before they could do any harm at some concert in Vienna.

Markus
There is just one Koran, and this one Koran is the basis of Islam and definign what Muslim is. Those you call moderate or iontegrated are often seen by "orthodox" Muslims as apostates. And they are. ;) Which means from Islam's perspective their assassination is legitimate. Apostacy is under death penalty.

Stop making the Koran looking friendlier than it is.

I told this before, but here we go once more:

We really should stop to generalise all Nazis. It is not fair to accuse all moderate, liberal Nazis in the past of the crimes that were committed 80 years ago. Nazism is a peace-promoting, liberal and humanistic philosophy, it wants peace and unity, friendship and cooperation, and only a few fanatical Nazissis try to give it a bad name by gassing those Jews and innocent political enemies in the camps. We really must not mistake Nazis for Nazissis, this Nazissophobia is offending and helps nobody, in fact it makes you not any different from the Nazissis. Nazissism is a form of extremism that derails the original good intention of nazism, you know. By brandmarking all Nauzis as Nazissis, you fuel racism and hate in society and make a peaceful living-together impossible.

Read Hamed Abdel-Samad. He did the full tour in his life, from being a son of a famous Egyptian radical cleric over becoming an extremist "Islamist" hate-filled wannabe-destroyer of the West, to turning a toleran thumanitarian and in consequence: apostate and uncompromised critic of Islamic fascism, the West appeasement of it, he needs to live under plicie protecitons icne many years, there is a Fatwa against him calling for his assassination. I met him durign a book presdentation and had a few minutes-long brief conversation with him severla years ago. Has become a very courageous man.

Dont discuss with me. Discuss with him. He will not make it easy for you, so you are warned.

mapuc

09-05-24, 06:29 PM

I've been told The Quran consist of two parts. where the first book is filled with violent and war, while book 2 is the peaceful part of the Quran.

I do not have the knowledge on Islam like you have, I just know there are some Muslim who are more Western in their mentality than they are mentality in the Middle east-

I also know that those who become Muslim, is mostly those become radical/Fanatics among those who convert.

Markus

Ostfriese

09-06-24, 04:40 AM

I've been told The Quran consist of two parts. where the first book is filled with violent and war, while book 2 is the peaceful part of the Quran.

That's a very fitting description - of the Christian bible.

Skybird

09-06-24, 06:42 AM

I've been told The Quran consist of two parts. where the first book is filled with violent and war, while book 2 is the peaceful part of the Quran.

No, that simply is completely wrong. The Suras in the Quran are sorted by length, with the exception of the first, and then from the second to the last the longest sura goes first, the shortest is at the end. This order does not represent the historical order in which they were written down. Its not chronological. A split of the book into two parts like the Bible does not exist, you can however illustrate the growing radicalization in Muhammad when you sort the Suras in chronological order in which they were originally written down. The Suras are quotations of what Muhammad should have said, himself he was illiterate and could neither read nor write.

In the first centuries, populist regional leaders ordered to change Suras and rewrite them, so to gain support for their rule from the Quran, there were several versions of it in circulation during the reign of the first caliphs, which all got hunted down and deleted again, so that today you again have just one Koran, and it is hard to judge whether this really is the very first in the many versions there have been (of course they claim it is, but proving that is almost impossible, and its heresy that endangers my life to say so). The caste of Koran-readers - theologists, if you want - made their money by reading and interpreting the Koran according to how it served their own agenda best, or that of their leaders whom they served and by which they got paid. So, corruption was in it to quite some degree. Over time, it got sorted out with fire and sword. Maybe not the corruption, but the the many verisons of the Quran

Today there again are "tweaked" versions of the Quran that get distributed almost exlcusively in the West, to unsupecting pedestrians in pedestrian zones. These versions have the radical, violent , intolerant passages deleted, so to mislead the infidels and tell them: "look, here is the book, read yourself and tell me where does it talk of chopping their heads off and suppressing infidels! Its not there, its all peaceful and tolerant." Its a propaganda trick. These "Korans" are not the hone, real version. I dont say they are very common, but we know that these have been used by various sects and missionaries to influence Western public opinion and fish for followers. Very underhanded, of course.

The Quran itself is a wild bag of kitschy friendly passages, and intolerant, warrior-style intolerant passages, and depending on what you want to prove with it you can usually find a line or two that will support what you claim. But the claimed tolerance of Islam always is a tolerance with undisputed dominance of Islam on mind, tolerance for the people of the book only (Jews and Christians) if they subjugate to Islamic rule and accept to be infeiror bewfore Islamic law and being people of second and third class only, all others the Quran demands to get killed and wiped off the Earth. More, the Quran demands to mistreat and discriminate infidels not converting, to make them feel bad for resisting and letting them feel the punishment of Allah to reject him. Sorry kids, thats the simple truth. Atheists, Buddhists, Shinto, Vikings, natural deism, you name it: they are all death candidates. If a Muslim by his heart rejects this and indeed talks of tolerance and peaceful living-together, this honors hom if he means it so, and it speaks for him as a human being, yes - but he says so not because the Quran teaches him this, but despite the Quran teaching quite the opposite. In other words: there is no such thing like a moderate, humanist, liberal Muslim, because such a Muslim is - an apostate. And I was with apostates years ago, and assisted them through their crises and conflicts with families, I know a bit on what torment these guys went through. Its tough to see the ground below your feet that you believed to carry you just disappearing . A convinced tolerant liberal Muslims simply does not want to admit that or indeed is not aware of it. Nobody would take a fascist or Nazi serious who claims he is tolerant and wants equality between all people. Either youo do not believe his claims, or you think he means it - but then he has not understood what fascism and Nazism is and thus labels himself as a tolerant, humanist fascist wrongly. He thus lacks the understanding of what fascism means. There is no such thing like a tolerant, liberal Nazi. There is no such thing like a moderate, tolerant Muslim. Be consistent. You cant have a left right, an upper down, or a warm cold. Its either the one, or the other. You are either for it, or against it.

Reforming Christianity was possible due to the existence of the very first reform there was, the change of the focus that was taught by Jesus, the division of the Bible into two gospels, and the shift from obeying a revenging tyrannical vulcan god to a broader understanding of the devine in ourselves deriving from introspection, a view that today is no predomnant again anymore, but found its climax in the thinking of the tradition of the so-called Christan mystics, Meister Eckhard and the likes (and the church again was no friend of these...). The Westernnr civilization nevertheless managed to escape from the political powerplay of the church, in Islamic countries however old patriarchalic and hierarchical structures of de facto tyranny prevailed until today, and always, like already practiced by Muhammad, the political and the religous power (the control over bodies and the control over minds) is united in one and the same fist. Islam does not separate politics and religion (and that has consequences for non-integration in the West). By tendency you see this also in the orthodox and namely the Russian orthodox church - or can you tell where the Basilika ends and the Kremlin begins? We had this unholy cooperation in all Europe, too, in the medieval, and later on, until recently.

Today, the church is trying to compensate for its loss of relevance by compliantly chumming up to the zeitgeist and all kinds of fads. In doing so, it is accelerating its loss of prestige and relevance. Its just a carricture of its former self, becomign every more hilarious now.

Like here, so there: if you want to reform Islam, you have only one way: getting rid of it. Either Islam (quranic orthodoxy), or apostacy. Either your own shackles and violence over others, or freedom.

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“The foolish reject what they see, not what they think; the wise reject what they think, not what they see. ... Just let your minds become void and environmental phenomena will void themselves; let principles cease to stir and events will cease stirring of themselves. ... Ordinary people look to their surroundings, while followers of the Way look to Mind, but the true Dharma is to forget them both.” - Huang Po