Sort of. She said, and I quote: “This would not be acceptable to us as Europeans.” Well, thank goodness. That was a close one, wasn’t it? One problem less in the world.
Germany’s Baerbock warns China that war over Taiwan would be a ‘horror scenario’ – ‘A unilateral and violent change in the status quo would not be acceptable to us as Europeans,’ the foreign minister says.
That’s a great way to put it. But hey. It’s what the Germans want.
Nobody else gets it, of course. Personally, I think it’s just good old-fashioned German megalomania again. Only this time they’re saving the planet instead of conquering the world.
Germans Are Getting Mugged by Reality of Green Energy (the last German nuclear reactors are being shut down tomorrow).
“The impact [of the energy crisis] is easy to say, I just have a lot less money. I now pay a quarter more in electricity since the Ukraine war started. The annual Warmmiete [warm rent] that I pay, which covers rent, heating, and hot water, is now 20% higher, not including the additional costs I have to pay at the end of the year. There are some people using only natural gas as a heating source who are paying 55% more.”
Greens don’t control damage. They create damage that goes out of control.
Germany foreign minister embarks on post-Macron ‘damage control’ in China trip – Germany’s foreign minister begins a visit to China on Thursday aiming to reassert a common European Union policy toward Beijing days after remarks by French President Emmanuel Macron suggested disarray in the continent’s approach to the rising superpower.
“She was sort of perceived as being a troublemaker. I’d be surprised if this does not play a role at all in her visit.”
Uh, everybody knows this already. Is it still considered a leak if everybody knew it already? I mean, if it was already leaking? Like, heavily? Germany has never been able to fulfill its NATO obligations. That’s just what it does. That’s its business model.
Germany can’t fulfill NATO obligations, says army chief in leaked memo – A division promised to the transatlantic military alliance isn’t fully battle-ready.
Gun and/or knife controllers never joke. And there is a certain logic to it.
But once you outlaw knives, shouldn’t you consider outlawing sticks and stones and pressure cookers and umbrellas too? Or, if you really want take that big leap and finally get it over with, why not just outlaw people who want to harm or kill other people? Oh, that’s right. You already have. Well, what if you outlaw them twice?
German police calls for knife-free zones in cities – Interior Minister Nancy Faeser and the federal police are calling for more weapon-free zones on trains and in inner city areas in a bid to tackle knife crime.
“We should think about banning knives on public transport, on buses and trains,” Faeser told the Funke Media Group. “After all, anyone traveling by plane is not allowed to take a knife with them.” Apart from increasing security measures on public transport, Faeser said another solution could be weapon-free zones in certain urban areas.
Sidelined Greens lose faith in the German coalition – Governing partners accuse each other of ‘crowbar’ politics and ‘exploiting social qualms’
The German Greens once thought they were in the driving seat of Olaf Scholz’s coalition. Some now feel like back-seat passengers on a political road to nowhere.
“There’s a lot of frustration,” said Rasmus Andresen, a Green member of the European parliament. “This coalition promised progress and a fresh start, but, to be honest, I don’t see much evidence of that now.”
The source of their anger is the series of painful concessions forced on them late last month by their coalition partners, Scholz’s Social Democrats and the liberal FDP, which dismayed senior Green leaders and enraged the party’s rank and file.
Scholz is for many Greens the cause of their plight. They once saw him as a natural ally — he had, after all, campaigned at the last election to become Germany’s “climate chancellor”. But these days they increasingly see him as an obstacle, ready to sell out Green interests for the sake of political peace.
“Scholz has sided with the FDP,” said Reinhard Bütikofer, another Green MEP. “The FDP and SPD obviously decided they could score political points by exploiting social qualms about climate policy. But that’s populism.”
85 percent of Germans dissatisfied with the education system, survey reveals – A staggering 85 percent of people are dissatisfied with schools and educational policy in Germany, according to a recent representative survey by the Forsa Institute. 85 percent of survey respondents said that they believed the German education system did not sufficiently equip children and young adults for leaving school.
Pupils’ delayed learning caused by school closures during the coronavirus pandemic was among the biggest concerns for respondents. Recent data from Destatis revealed that the number of children repeating an academic year increased by 67 percent between 2021 to 2022; the academic year 2021 / 22 saw 155.800 pupils retake a year. The survey results also come as Germany reckons with a debilitating teacher shortage, with between 32.000 and 40.000 posts unfilled.
A Syrian who arrived in Germany as a refugee in 2015 has been elected as the mayor of a village in the south-west of the country.
Ryyan Alshebl, 29, who is a member of the German Greens but stood as a non-party candidate, won an absolute majority in Sunday’s mayoral election in Ostelsheim, a small municipality of about 2,500 inhabitants in the state of Baden-Württemberg.
In Germany they can’t afford to stay (energy costs).
In Hungary they can’t afford to pay (baksheesh). Or so they say.
Viktor Orbán Ups the Pressure on German Companies to Leave Hungary – German companies have long been active in Hungary. But now, Viktor Orbán is trying to force some of them to leave. And when they do, his closest allies stand to profit.
Don’t thank us. It’s just what we do. Or don’t do, in this case.
German minister expects Bundeswehr shortages beyond 2030.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has said the country’s military, the Bundeswehr, will not be able to bridge gaps in funding and supplies by 2030.
“We all know that the existing gaps cannot be completely closed by 2030… It will take years. Everyone is aware of that…”
Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced a special fund to raise €100 billion for the Bundeswehr last year, although this has not yet been put to use. The government last week also earmarked €12 billion over the next nine years to supply Ukraine with newly produced weapons and ammunition rather than from German stockpiles.