Category Archives: Hideology

German of the day: Handelsüberschuss

February 8, 2025 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means trade surplus.

As Trump threatens EU with tariffs, Germany announces trade surplus worth $74.1 billion with U.S. – Germany logged a record trade surplus with the United States last year, data showed Friday, news that could stoke tensions with US President Donald Trump as he threatens the EU with tariffs.

The United States also returned as the top trading partner for Europe’s biggest economy last year, it showed, overtaking China which had been in the number one spot since 2016…

Germany accounts for a hefty chunk of the European Union’s large trade surplus with the United States, which has been a source of anger for Trump.

You can sure say that again

February 6, 2025 By in Helplessness, Hideology Tags: , , , Leave a comment

But why should such a wonderful development be seen as something to warn about?

The US is ‘no longer the America we used to know,’ warns Germany’s Merz.

Merz’s warning comes amid a whirlwind of personnel and agency slashes both within the U.S. federal government and to foreign aid since Trump took office. Since assuming the presidency, Trump’s administration has sent mass emails offering “deferred resignations” to all federal workers, sacked multiple federal watchdogs, and gotten rid of dozens of prosecutors who were involved in criminal cases related to the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol attack.

The country has also frozen foreign aid and announced moves to put nearly all staff members at the U.S. Agency for International Development on paid leave.

Trump has also announced ambitions to take control of the Gaza Strip, of Greenland and of the Panama Canal, not ruling out the use of military force.

Being Putin’s top lobbyist…

February 4, 2025 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Hypochondria Tags: , , , , 1 Comment

Can really wear a guy out.

Former German leader Gerhard Schröder receives treatment after showing signs of burnout – Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who has faced heavy criticism in recent years for his ties with Russia, is receiving treatment in a hospital after showing signs of severe burnout, German news agency dpa reported Tuesday.

The 80-year-old Schröder led Germany from 1998 to 2005. He was the leader of current Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s center-left Social Democratic Party from 1999 to 2004.

But his involvement with Russian state-owned energy companies and his reluctance after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine to distance himself wholeheartedly from Russian President Vladimir Putin, with whom he has long had a friendly relationship, estranged him from the German political establishment.

“Accept fewer?”

February 2, 2025 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

Isn’t that the same as reject more?

It all depends on your point of view, I guess.

Immigration: German voters want to accept fewer refugees – A majority of Germans believe the country should accept fewer refugees, according to the latest Deutschlandtrend poll. However, most are in favor of EU-wide solutions and are against their country “going it alone.”

Germany’s Green economy rocks

January 30, 2025 By in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helections, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

It pitches, reels and staggers too.

Talk about having a gross domestic product.

Germany slashes growth outlook in ‘serious’ diagnosis of Europe’s largest economy – The German government on Wednesday slashed its gross domestic product forecast to just 0.3% growth in 2025.

This is down from a previous forecast of 1.1% growth, but broadly in line with estimates from bodies like the International Monetary Fund.

“The diagnosis is serious,” Robert Habeck, Germany’s Economy and Climate Minister, said during a press conference.

German of the day: Antrag

January 29, 2025 By in Hard Facts, Helections, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means motion. As in proposal.

German immigration motion passes, breaking taboo on cooperation with AfD – Narrow passage of controversial CDU-CSU motion ends longstanding boycott on cooperating with far-right party.

The German parliament has narrowly passed a motion urging tough restrictions on immigration that was highly controversial because it was backed by the far-right Alternative für Deutschland party.

The motion was brought by the conservative opposition CDU-CSU and backed by, among others, the AfD, breaking a longstanding taboo on cooperation with the anti-immigration party.

Elon is one smart cookie…

January 28, 2025 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, History, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

But this wasn’t exaclty rocket science.

Musk Says Germany Has ‘Too Much of a Focus on Past Guilt’ – His comments to the hard-right Alternative for Germany party escalated efforts by the billionaire to influence the country’s election for chancellor next month.

‘Too Much of a Focus on Past Guilt’ is one hell of an understatement. Guilt is an all-consuming obsession here.

German of the day: Mehrheit

January 27, 2025 By in Helplessness, Hideology Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means majority.

Despite Scholz’s criticism (German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, SPD): majority of SPD voters support Merz’s asylum ban, according to poll – Scholz had protested vehemently against the CDU’s push for a turnaround on migration. A survey now shows that 66% of Germans support Merz – as do the majority of SPD voters.

Nothing will change

January 23, 2025 By in Hard Facts, Helections, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

The Germans will continue to vote as have; way too Green and way too Red.

And the next coalition government will be just as ineffective as the last one. For whatever mysterious reason, this is what the German electorate wants.

Germany’s likely next chancellor demands migration crackdown after knife attack – Germany’s main opposition leader demanded a sweeping overhaul of migration policy and permanent border controls on Thursday, a day after an Afghan asylum seeker was arrested for a deadly knife attack targeting children weeks before federal elections.

Friedrich Merz, who is likely to become chancellor after the Feb. 23 vote, said the attack, which killed a two-year-old boy and an adult passerby, could not become the new normal, saying all “illegal immigrants” should be turned away at the border.