Germany To Lead From Behind Again

June 9, 2019 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hostility, Hurt Feelings, Hustle (Hoax), Hypocrisy Tags: Business, Diplomacy, German, Germans, Germany, Heiko Maas, Iran, Israel, Money, Nuclear Arms Deal, Profit, SPD, USA Leave a comment

This time from far behind. You know, like from way, way, way far behind? But still.

Germany looks to ‘lead’ US-Iran talks– in what is clearly a noble effort to bring peace to the region and profits to the German corporations still sexually aroused about doing business with Iran despite the collapse of the 2015 nuclear agreement – and, of course, to take an indirect swipe at Israel in the process while they’re at it already.

“The latest escalation requires us as European neighbors to intervene in favor of de-escalation and peaceful coexistence,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told reporters during an unannounced stop to Iraq. “We cannot just seek dialogue, we must lead it, precisely where the differences seem insurmountable and long-simmering conflicts run deep.”

“Das ist eine Reise in die Krise.”

Why Did The German Warship Cross The Taiwan Straight?

June 7, 2019 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hypocrisy Tags: Defense, Defense Spending, German, Germans, Germany, Military, NATO, Navy Leave a comment

To get to the other side? To get repaired?

No. To 1) show the world that it actually has a warship, 2) demonstrate that it can actually travel this far without sinking or being towed and 3) demonstrate Germany’s formidable military power. No, all three are true. You don’t have to pick just one. But remember folks, this is all a purely hypothetical construct.

Why a German Warship Would Head To the Taiwan Strait – A naval mission to the region would be a low-risk way for Germany to show that it’s committed to alliances – and that it still has a navy.

No low-risk, no fun.

I’ll Go With “Systematic Issue”

June 6, 2019 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Bayer, Deutsche Bank, German, Germans, Germany, Industry, Volkswagen 1 Comment

Specifically, it’s a systematic decline caused by systematic dishonesty and corruption.

The simultaneous decline of Volkswagen, Deutsche Bank (DB), and Bayer has been nothing short of stunning. It raises the question as to whether it is merely coincidence, or if there is a larger systemic issue in play.

At Harvard’s 368th Commencement this past Thursday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke of her life experiences growing up during the Cold War in post World War II Europe.

On this cool and overcast day, she also gave advice to the graduates on how to live their lives. She obliquely mentioned the trade war and indirectly criticized President Donald Trump — which got a round of applause. She even quoted the German poet, Hermann Hesse, saying “in all beginnings dwells a magic force for guarding us and helping us to live.”

There was one topic, however, that Merkel didn’t broach, perhaps not surprising given the celebratory nature of the day. Merkel made no mention of the economic dysfunction and even decay that seems to be infecting Germany — particularly when it comes to Germany’s largest and most prominent companies. The simultaneous decline of Volkswagen, Deutsche Bank (DB), and Bayer has been nothing short of stunning. It raises the question as to whether it is merely coincidence, or if there is a larger systemic issue in play. Either way, something is rotten in the state of Germany.

This Gives “Building Boom” A Whole New Meaning

June 4, 2019 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Berlin, Bombs, Building Boom, German, Germans, Germany, WWII Leave a comment

In a Building Boom, German Cities Face Renewed Threats From WWII Bombs – More than 70 years after the war ended, unexploded bombs are being unearthed with remarkable regularity.

Bombs are being found with “remarkable regularity” now? It’s never been any different here.

German Oddity 15. Germany is a place where huge underground bombs are routinely unearthed all around the country and this barely even makes second page news. In fact, most Germans directly affected are more annoyed about it than anything else. They grudgingly leave their homes until the bomb crews have disarmed or detonated the damned things. Over 5,000 bombs are found in Germany every year.

German Government “Sways?”

June 3, 2019 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helections, Helplessness, Higher Education, Home Cooking, Hypocrisy Tags: Andrea Nahles, Bermany, German, Germans, Grand Coalition, Political Parties, Social Democracy, SPD 2 Comments

Of course it sways. That’s all it’s ever done as long as Angela Merkel has been in power.

The latest “grand coalition” that nobody here wants anyway is now swaying to its end, it seems. Or maybe it isn’t. Let’s see. Whatever. But at the latest once the SPD disappears completely from the stage of history there won’t be anybody “grand” enough left to keep this grand coalition farce going.

German Government Sways After Social Democrat Leader Quits – German Chancellor Angela Merkel vowed Sunday to continue with her government after the leader of the center-left Social Democrats, a junior partner in the coalition, resigned following a series of disappointing election results.

In a surprise announcement hours earlier, Andrea Nahles had announced she planned to quit, saying she wanted “clarity” after questions were raised about her ability to lead the Social Democrats. The party finished third in last month’s European Parliament election, receiving 15.8% of the vote behind Merkel’s center-right Union bloc with 28.9% and the Greens with 20.5%.

“The party is in an extremely serious situation. If we don’t manage to stick together and find a way out of it then things will look really bleak.”

Berlin Isn’t An Anti-Semitic City

June 2, 2019 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hate, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: Al-Quds March, Anti-Americanism, Anti-Israel, Anti-Semitism, Berlin, Demonstrations, German, Germans, Germany, Iran, Palestinians Leave a comment

It’s just a city that openly supports groups that openly call for the destruction of Israel.

Berlin’s city government (the ususal suspects – SPD, Greens, Left Party) has imposed upon the populace yet again another grade A anti-Israel agitation celebration organized and financed by the mullah regime in Iran.

Germany’s anti-Semitism debate raises its head at pro-Palestinian march in Berlin – Pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel demonstrators peacefully marched in Berlin amid a struggle to define the line between criticism of Israel and anti-Semitism.

Wieder einmal muss die Hauptstadt die vom Iran organisierte Hetze gegen Israel während der Kuds-Demo ertragen.

German Of The Day: Andere Länder Andere Sitten

May 30, 2019 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, High Art, Home Cooking, Humor Tags: Beer, Customs, Father's Day, German, Germans, Germany, Holidays, Language, Vatertag Leave a comment

That means other countries other customs.

Finally, a holiday for the rest of us.

German Oddity 391. Only in Germany is Vatertag or Father’s Day commemorated by hordes of oddly dressed men pulling little wooden wagons overloaded with beer and snaps through wooded areas (or right through the middle of your town) roaring and swearing and pissing all over the place until they vomit on themselves and pass out but not before having called their wives to pick them up and drag them back home again.

We Are The 92%!

May 28, 2019 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Humor, Hurt Feelings Tags: Activists, Anarchists, Berlin, Demonstrators, German, Germans, Germany, Leftists, Protesters, Radicals 2 Comments

Of leftist radicals still living at home.

What’s for dinner, Ma? Burning down banks and and other forms of capitalist exploitation can really work up a fella’s appetite.

92% of left-wing activists live with their parents and one in three is unemployed, study of Berlin protesters finds – The vast majority of left-wing protesters arrested on suspicion of politically-fuelled offences in Berlin are young men who live with their parents, a new report found.

The figures, which were published in daily newspaper Bild revealed that 873 suspects were investigated by authorities between 2003 and 2013.

Of these 84 per cent were men, and 72 per cent were aged between 18 and 29.

92 Prozent der Linksradikalen wohnen noch bei Mutti.

More State Control Of Media In Germany?

May 26, 2019 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Higher Education, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Facebook, German, Germans, Germany, Government Control, Media, Mind Control, Radio, Regulation, Social Media, State Control Leave a comment

Like, than they already have? What could possibly go wrong?

OK, it didn’t quite work out as planned back in the 1930s (or did it?), but today’s enlightened media experts are much more, you know, enlightened and stuff. And it is social media they’re talking about here, after all. So take a chill pill already. They’re from the government and they’re here to help.

A Lesson From 1930s Germany: Beware State Control of Social Media – Regulators should think carefully about the fallout from well-intentioned new rules and avoid the mistakes of the past.

The history of radio, and in particular how it was regulated in interwar Germany, is more relevant than ever: Five years ago, the question was whether we would regulate social media. Now the questions are how and when we will regulate them. As politicians and regulators in places as disparate as Berlin, Singapore, and Washington—even Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg—consider how best to do so, we should think carefully about the fallout from well-intentioned new rules and avoid the mistakes of the past.

“Our way of taking power and using it would have been inconceivable without the radio and the airplane.”

What A Horrifying Thought

May 23, 2019 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helections, Helplessness, Higher Education, Home Cooking, Hostility, Hurt Feelings Tags: AfD, EU, EU-scepticism, European elections, European Parliament, Euroscepticism, France, Germany, Italy, Matteo Salvini, Netherlands 1 Comment

I shudder to think of what could happen to Europe after this weekend’s big European Parliament elections. I mean, should the people actually choose to vote for parties that would, gulp, “elevate the sovereignty and economic interests of individual member-states over the collective interests of the EU.”

The horror.

Salvini, who’s framed himself the de facto leader of this coalition, has embraced the slogan “Towards a Common Sense Europe.” Besides Le Pen’s National Rally and Wilders’s Party for Freedom, other far-right parties have joined the cause, including Germany’s Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) and Austria’s (currently scandal plagued) Freedom Party. Broadly, these leaders want to curtail immigration. They may want to reorient the EU’s priorities on the global stage, too.

But, mostly, they want to elevate the sovereignty and economic interests of individual member-states over the collective interests of the EU.

“There are no extremists, racists, or fascists in this square. Here you won’t find the far-right, but the politics of good sense. The extremists are those who have governed Europe for the past 20 years.”

PS: Isn’t that picture they chose to use for the article brilliant? No suggestive images here, folks.

Observing Hermann

“Was interessiert mich mein Geschwätz von gestern?”

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