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Category Archives: Helections
Breaking up is hard to do
But somebody has to do it.
Germany’s loveless coalition teeters on brink of break-up – Chancellor Olaf Scholz snubs partners, fuelling speculation of early elections in spring.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz held a much-vaunted “industrial summit” on Tuesday, sitting down with business leaders and union bosses to figure out how to pull Germany out its current malaise. Pointedly left off the guest list: his own finance and economy ministers.
Robert Habeck, the economy minister, responded by unveiling plans for a multibillion-euro, debt-financed investment fund — an idea not previously discussed with cabinet colleagues — while finance minister Christian Lindner simply scheduled his own, rival business summit on the same day…
Speculation is growing in Berlin that the alliance could soon collapse, pulled apart by its own internal contradictions. Several German media outlets have even named a possible date for snap elections — March 9, more than six months ahead of schedule.
What can stop it?
Hmmm. That’s a tough one.
What can stop the rise of populism in Germany? How about taking care of the problem you created? You know, like the voters have been demanding you to do for nearly ten years now? Until the migrant madness ends, this “populism” you fear won’t.
What can stop the rise of populism in Germany and elsewhere?
Populist parties are on the rise in Germany as they are all over the world. What can open societies do to protect democracy?
“We have to realize that party democracy is losing structure and strength. Party democracy is changing into a movement democracy, which is much more volatile.”
German of the day: “mach den Biden”
That means to do the Biden. To a politician.
To toss him out, in other words.
Germany’s Scholz risks Biden’s fate – If the chancellor’s SPD party loses a crucial regional election to the far right on Sunday, it could lead to his ouster from the top spot.
As German Chancellor Olaf Scholz attends the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Sunday, his political future will likely be decided at home in a regional election 6,000 kilometers away.
One more defeat at the hands of the far right this weekend will almost certainly spell the end, and Scholz could very well share the fate of U.S. President Joe Biden — thrust aside by his panicking party to make way for a candidate who can avoid a massacre in a national election next year.
Irregularity
And it shows.
Germany steps up controls at borders in response to ‘irregular migration’ – New regulations come into force next week following spate of suspected Islamist attacks.
Germany’s interior minister has announced that controls at all of the country’s land borders are to be stepped up in an attempt to confront what it called “irregular migration” after a recent spate of suspected Islamist attacks.
The new regulations are due to start next Monday and to be in place for an initial six months, before being reviewed, Nancy Faeser (SPD) said in a statement.
The move comes after Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), campaigning heavily against migration, this month became the first far-right political party since the Nazi era to win a state election in Germany. It comes ahead of a second round of emergency talks on migration policy due to be held on Tuesday in Berlin between the coalition government, opposition parties and federal states.
Nobody else’s pension system works
Why should Germany’s?
They are all brilliant systems and they all work the same way: You pay into it your entire working life while your government pumps in ever more money to prop it up and thus burden future generations with massive growing debt (interest rates rock). This Ponzi scheme only works if parents have way more children (at least three on average). It stopped working a long, long time ago, in other words.
Germany struggles to fix its pension system – German society is aging fast and the working-age population is shrinking. There are new plans to make the pension system fit for the future, but critics have said they won’t work.
New measures “reflect widespread nervousness”
They reflect the widespread nervousness caused by the somewhat older new measures created to increase this widespread nervousness, a widespread nervousness that was increased by other new measures before them that much, much older new measures created in the first place.
You know the routine. Ritual, actually. “Right-wing extremism” is on the rise in Germany. It’s always been on the rise, of course. It’s been on the rise for decades and decades yet it never seems to rise quite high enough to satisfy those worrying about its rising. These are, at the moment, those politicians in the established parties being threatened by the AfD, a party that actually claims to be interested in addressing the migrant madness German voters want them to address, something these established parties refuse to do. They’re plotting to ban the AfD, in other words, because they are incapable of addressing the problems the electorate wants them to address.
Germany bolsters gun curbs, financial policing to rein in far right – German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser on Tuesday unveiled measures ranging from stronger financial policing and earlier detection of so-called botnets to tightened firearms controls to tackle a far-right surge that has spooked the country.
The measures reflect widespread nervousness that the far-right Alternative for Germany party could end up the largest party in several state parliaments later this year, propelled by a gloomy economy and overburdened public services.
Beer, bratwurst and conspiracy?
Who could ask for more?
Other than maybe a few half-naked dancing girls.
Beer, bratwurst and conspiracy: Inside a meeting of Germany’s far-right AfD – … They came for an evening of conversation with the Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD), Germany’s leading far-right party.
To one camp, this meeting represented a call for political change; to the other, a risk to German democracy. That vehement disagreement is one being played out across the nation as it heads towards regional elections in September.
After far-right gains in several European countries, most notably in the Netherlands and Italy, Germany may follow suit.
PS: Sign in the photograph: “How many more Hitler documentaries do you need?”
Let’s make the AfD stronger!
Similar to the way the dirty tricks played on Donald Trump in the Banana Republic only make him more popular, German anti-AfD protests are only increasing its popularity.
Anyone paying attention here sees this for what it is: An orchestrated attempt by the established parties and their state media hacks to either 1) weaken the far-right party at the polls or 2) foster the atmosphere in which they can attempt to ban the party. You know. If you can’t beat them, ban them?
Germans Protest Far-right AfD for Third Straight Week Amid Its Spike in Popularity – After a meeting took place to discuss ‘re-migration’ of immigrants from Germany, protesters have taken to the streets to voice their opposition to the rising far-right nationalism in Germany. Chancellor Olaf Scholz applauded the demonstrations.
Hysterical mass demonstrations against the “deportation AfD”
You know. That tired old German ritual of “fighting the Nazis of 1933 today?”
Certainly is a convenient backdrop if you’re a government quietly approving a law that would ease dual citizenship in the background. The public debate of which would otherwise be quite controversial. It almost seems as if these protests are being used as a distraction. It almost seems as if the whole thing was planned.
Germany’s parliament approves easing dual citizenship – German lawmakers have voted in favor of changing the law, which would open up the possibility of dual citizenship to swaths of the population. The bill would also reduce the time needed to qualify for naturalization.
Observing Hermann 