Winning an election in Germany doesn’t mean you’ve been elected.
That would be undemocratic. Here, in Berlin, the loser parties get back together to form the next coalition government the voters just rejected.
Berlin: Conservatives win vote but unclear who will rule – Voters returned to polling booths across the German capital after a botched 2021 election was declared invalid. More voters picked the center-right CDU than any other party, but its candidate may not get to be mayor.
Oh brother. The Germans (Berliners) are copying US-Amerika again.
Only they got it all wrong, as usual. They’re actually trying to undue the damage done by rerunning the failed election. They’re actually trying to get an honest and fair result, in other words. Amateurs. They’ll never play in our league. When it comes to Banana Republicism, Americans will continue to lead the world.
Berlin holds court-ordered rerun of chaotic state election – The city of Berlin on Sunday is holding a court-ordered rerun of a chaotic 2021 state election that was marred by severe glitches at many polling stations that led to hours-long lines as some polling places ran out of ballot papers or received ones for the wrong district.
Berliners have long been frustrated by the German capital’s notoriously dysfunctional ways, which have been defying clichés of German efficiency for years and have made the city the laughing stock of the rest of the country.
That means conscription.
Somebody shut the window. Germans hate the draft.
German politicians and military chiefs suggest return of conscription – Berlin government attempts to pour cold water over prominent voices seeking to reverse Merkel-era phase out.
The Germans have their problems too, the German capital in particular. But in contrast to us Americans, Berliners actually have the courage to them in.
Berlin is peanuts compared to The Banana Republic itself, I know, but its sure got pluck.
‘Dysfunctional’ Berlin holds rerun after election chaos – German capital has been governed by centre-left coalitions for more than two decades.
It’s not every day that foreign observers are needed to monitor an election in Germany, one of the west’s richest and most stable democracies. But then again, Berlin is no ordinary city.
Fourteen officials from the Council of Europe, the continent’s top human rights body, will arrive in the capital this week to observe Sunday’s rerun of its 2021 election, an event so chaotic its results were nullified: Berliners had to queue for hours at polling stations, which ran out of voting papers and ballot boxes. Some stayed open late to cope with the crowds, when broadcasters were already calling the result.
Because they’re not the right shade of Green. They’re not European Green, in other words.
They’re more of a Greenback shade of Green. And this makes them Green with envy. Or maybe it’s more like Green about the gills.
German Vice Chancellor and Economy Minister Robert Habeck was holding talks in Washington on Tuesday focused on the controversial US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which foresees huge investments in green technologies.
A large portion of the Inflation Reduction Act, somewhere in the region of $370 billion (roughly €350 billion at current exchange rates), is earmarked for spending and subsidies designed to support the green transition in the US.
For instance, it includes government incentives for consumers to buy electric vehicles, but only if the vehicles and batteries were produced either in the US or a country with a trade deal with the US.
That’s pretty schwach (weak, a weak performance).
Hey, what’s the big deal? When you’re one of the “last generation,” you’ve already got one foot in the grave.
“Last generation” blocks traffic in Berlin: motorist apparently drives over foot of climate activist – The RBB reported on Monday evening that a car driver had run over the foot of a climate activist at Messedamm and published a corresponding video. On it, two people can be seen dragging two climate activists off the street. Then a white car drives up and hits the foot of an activist sitting on the street. When the activist shouts loudly, the vehicle reverses.
Thanks to Germany’s clever immigration policy.
The avalanche Angela Merkel set off back in 2015 is finally starting to pay off!
Shortage of engineers, scientists threatens German industry – Germany’s homegrown population is declining, and with it the number of science and engineering students.
German engineering is known worldwide for its quality and innovation. But that brand is under threat. The number of students beginning university degrees in STEM fields — shorthand for science, technology, engineering, and math — fell 6% in just one year, according to a recent study from the nation’s federal statistics agency.
With tanks that don’t roll, aircraft that don’t fly, ships that don’t sail and broomsticks instead of guns.
The Bundeswehr couldn’t threaten its way out of a paper bag, Vlad. But tanks for the backhanded compliment anyway.
Putin says Russia faces German tanks, just like at Stalingrad, but hints that this time Moscow has nukes – Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday leveled another veiled nuclear threat in relation to the war in Ukraine as he ripped into Germany for providing battle tanks to Kyiv, while comparing Russia’s unprovoked invasion of its next-door neighbor to the Soviet Union’s fight against the Nazis during World War II.
When prices rise, people buy less. Who would have expected that?
German retail sales post surprise plunge in December amid rising prices – German retail sales unexpectedly fell in December as a Christmas shopping period weighed down by high inflation and the energy crisis revived fears of a more marked slowdown in Europe’s largest economy.
Retail sales decreased by 5.3% in December compared with the previous month, the federal statistics office said on Tuesday. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast a 0.2% rise in price-adjusted terms.
And debates, and debates. But they never deport anybody.
And everybody who comes here knows it. That’s one of the main reasons they come. It’s a little game the Germans play; pretending they are a country that deports people who have come here to break the law.
Germany debates tougher deportation rules – A deadly knife attack on a German regional train has triggered a debate on deportation laws and their application. The suspect, a Palestinian, was living in Germany despite his criminal record.
Two weeks ago, a knife attack shook Germany when a man traveling on a regional train headed for Hamburg randomly stabbed passengers, killing two of them.
The alleged perpetrator, 33-year-old Ibrahim A.*, was known to the police, as he had multiple prior convictions for assault. He had just been released from detention, although he had nowhere to go.
Observing Hermann 