Nord Stream 2 About To Go South?

With about 100 kilometers left to go?

Nordstream

That would be so beautiful man but something tells me Angie Merkel might just dig in her big heels on this one. If you didn’t already know: Nobody in Europe wants this thing, folks. Nobody except Germany and Russia, so I guess it’s going to happen.

France presses Germany to ditch Nord Stream 2 over Navalny France has urged Germany to scrap a major gas pipeline project — Nord Stream 2 — with Russia. EU members are considering sanctions over the detention of Alexei Navalny and a crackdown against his supporters.

“It’s a decision for Germany, because the pipeline is in Germany.”

After Blowing It With AstraZeneca

By ordering too little too late of the vaccine – maybe we can blow it now with the Chinese and Russian COVID vaccines too.

Vaccines

Go EU.

Coronavirus: Germany open to Chinese and Russian vaccines amid delays – Health Minister Jens Spahn says there is no obstacle to the use of the Sputnik V and Sinopharm vaccines if they receive EU approval. Chancellor Angela Merkel is due to hold a summit Monday to overcome a vaccine shortage.

Spahn’s remarks about Chinese and Russian vaccines come days after he admitted that Germany faces at least a shortfall of vaccines that could continue until April.

Spahn took to social media to warn that the German government will struggle to procure enough shots for the next months.

“We will still have at least 10 tough weeks with a shortage of vaccine,” he tweeted on Thursday.

German Of The Day: Erhöhtes Bewusstsein

That means having a higher level of consciousness. You know, like being woke, as in wokeness or wokery?

Wokery

Here’s an example: The very divisive president: Joe Biden has unleashed a wave of wokery in his first ten days that will enrage millions – as his supporters in Silicon Valley shut down dissent. Hmmm. Wasn’t Biden the one always proclaiming the need for unity and healing? Maybe I misunderstood what he was getting at.

Biden announced the purchase of an extra 200 million vaccinations. But those were already on the way as part of the contracts negotiated by Trump.

Similarly, the new administration let it be known that the President was planning to invoke a wartime measure – the Defense Production Act – to force companies to increase vaccine supply.

But again, Trump had already done that and industry sources told the New York Times that there was no scope to go any further.

There is a clear pattern that’s already emerging: a massive gulf between President Biden’s words and his actions…

In his first two days in office, Biden issued 17 executive orders, compared to Trump’s one and Obama’s two in the same timeframe.

Biden’s tally is now higher than any President in history at this point in their tenure. Moreover, his orders represent dramatic moves to the Left in major and controversial policy areas such as immigration, the environment and crime.

 

I Want That Blue Screen In The Middle

I’ll give you five bucks for it. I mean euros.

Tegel

Will they be auctioning off what used to be your airport soon too? I mean, if this lockdown madness continues much longer?

For Sale: Own A Piece Of Berlin Tegel Airport – Many were saddened when Berlin’s Tegel Airport shut its doors for the last time in November 2020. However, you can now own a piece of the historic airport as everything from chairs and screens to bus washing systems and snowplows from the historic airport are being auctioned online by Dechow.

Berlin Tegel Airport’s equipment is being sold following the closure of the airport in November. The airport had been serving the city of Berlin alongside the Soviet-era Schönefeld airport to the south of the city.

At the end of October, Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) opened on Schönefeld Airport’s site, meaning that the capacity of the old Tegel Airport was no longer required. This was especially the case given the current colossal drop in air traffic prompted by the current aviation situation.

“Incorrect,” Not Fake

Even though it was fake news. But still. At least everyone knows the report was “incorrect.”

Virus

Everybody except the Germans, of course. You know, state TV and all that? But everybody, even the Germans, do know now what happened with this latest AstraZeneca EU moral outrage show. The EU placed their orders three months later than everybody else, the contract was a “best effort” contract, meaning they would do their best to deliver but could make no guarantees. In other words, the EU bureaucrats made complete fools of themselves, as usual, only this time they documented it in public so everyone else could take turns easily pointing it out to them.

AstraZeneca: German reports on low efficacy on over-65s ‘completely incorrect’ – The British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant said German media reports claiming that the vaccine had an 8% efficacy rate in people above 65 were “completely incorrect.”

 

Merkel Isn’t Merkelchen

Or “little Merkel”. She’s only been gaining weight if anything these days, but that’s getting personal.

Merkel

This guy is. Only he’s not little Merkel either. He’s Merkel’s Mini-Me Man. I know, it’s confusing. Everything in Germany is einfach kompliziert (simply complicated).

Bodo Ramelow, leftwing leader of the German state of Thuringia, stirred nationwide debate after telling Clubhouse users he played Candy Crush during pandemic crisis meetings, and described Chancellor Angela Merkel in one conversation as Merkelchen, or “little Merkel”.

 

How Stunning And Brave

To pretend you would stand up to China when it comes to trade. Even if it was just for a few media moments like that.

China

Impressive. Not. As usual.

Experts Demand Suspension of EU-China Investment Deal – More than a hundred experts are demanding an end to the EU-China investment agreement, DER SPIEGEL has learned. They name serious human rights violations and the suppression of democracy movements in China as the reasons.

“Despite evidence of ethnic cleansing, forced labor, and other gross human rights violations, the leadership of the European institutions have chosen to sign an agreement which exacts no meaningful commitments from the Chinese government to guarantee an end to crimes against humanity or slavery.”

 

German Navy Threatening China

And the Chinese are threatening to laugh themselves silly.

Frigate

No one was available to explain just how the German frigate will be towed to Japan, however. Or who will do it.

Germany to send naval frigate to Japan with eye on China – Berlin wary of Beijing’s expansionism but seeks decoupling of politics and trade.

“We must not allow them to rely on strength to impose their own order.”

Sound Vaguely Familiar?

It should. The powers that be in Germany (the political party powers that be) are threatening to put an unwanted competitor, Alternative for Germany, under surveillance for, well, for being an unwanted competitor.

AfD

Sure, they claim it’s for being the Bad Guy Party, for trivializing Germany’s Nazi past but that’s just vorgeschoben (a pretext). They’re stealing their votes by literally offering German voters an alternative. That’s against German political party line. And just so you know, the evil AfD is the largest opposition party in Germany by far.

But hey, at least half of the citizens of The Banana Republic of America are suspected of being insurrectionists and white supremacists and are under surveillance already so go with the flow, right?

Germany Expected To Put Right-Wing AfD Under Surveillance For Violating Constitution – “This agency has the power — and not only to do surveillance on fringe groups, domestic terrorist threats, but also to keep an eye on any political institution, like a political party.”

 

It Will Be A Long Debate

Generally, for as long as there is nothing left to debate about.

Migrants

When “Germany” debates something, especially “terminology,” they will do so until the cows come home. And then leave home again. And then come back home again. And so forth.

For 15 years now, the term used by German statisticians and politicians alike to denote foreigners and their descendants has been “people with a migration background.”

That was the label given to people who weren’t born into German citizenship. And to people whose mothers or fathers were not born German citizens. Today, that applies to a quarter of the population.

After two years of discussing how Germany could better acknowledge its status as a society of immigration, a SPECIALIST commission of 24 politicians and academics appointed by the government has submitted its report to Chancellor Angela Merkel. One of its recommendations is to stop using the terms “migration background” or “immigrant background.”

People should use the term “immigrants and their descendants,” commission chair Derya Caglar said. “In my case, this would mean that I am no longer the migrant, but rather the daughter or descendant of migrants.”