Category Archives: Home Cooking

“We Were All Wrong”

June 2, 2022 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Hideology, History, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That’s right. All you Germans were.

‘We were all wrong’: how Germany got hooked on Russian energy – Germany has been forced to admit it was a terrible mistake to become so dependent on Russian oil and gas. So why did it happen?

Why? That’s easy. Because Germans always want an Extrawurst (an extra sausage, as in special treatment). Well, they’re sure getting special treatment these days.

When Putin invaded Ukraine in February, Germany faced a particular problem. Its rejection of nuclear power and its transition away from coal meant that Germany had very few alternatives to Russian gas. Berlin has been forced to accept that it was a cataclysmic error to have made itself so dependent on Russian energy – whatever the motives behind it. The foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, says Germany failed to listen to the warnings from countries that had once suffered under Russia’s occupation, such as Poland and the Baltic states.

And then, of course, there were the warnings from EVIL US-Trump-Amerika itself. Those just had to be ignored. Well, wake up and smell the Kaffee is all I can say now.

Germany’s Coal Doesn’t Stink

May 25, 2022 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That’s because it’s Green Coal. No, not Grünkohl. That’s kale.

Anyway, Germany’s Green Utopia will soon be here, no matter what. Just ask Germany’s Green Economy Minister. Of course, it might take a little longer than the Greens originally planned, but still.

Germany to Bring Back Coal Power Plants If Russia Cuts Gas – Germany plans to bring back coal- and oil-fired power plants should Russia cut off natural gas shipments to Europe’s largest economy.

Economy Minister Robert Habeck will on Tuesday present an emergency decree enabling the government to bring back the facilities in case of gas shortages, according to the proposed legislation seen by Bloomberg.

Inflation Tax 101

May 24, 2022 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

Thanks for the warning, German central bank, one of the main culprits behind the problem you’re warning about.

Germans are suffering large cuts in real pay, Bundesbank report says – Workers in Germany are experiencing large cuts in their purchasing power as modest pay rises fail to keep up with record-high inflation, the country’s central bank said in a report on Monday.

It’s an age-old dirty trick. The EU, the central banks and the German government itself are pursuing policies that magically generate more tax revenue without openly raising taxes. If prices go up 10%, say, the tax receipts increase 10% too. Inflation also reduces government debt (if they borrowed 1000 but only have to pay back 900 in real terms). But thanks for the warning. That’s very considerate of you.

German Of The Day: Gaslobbyist

May 18, 2022 By in Hard Facts, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means gas lobbyist.

Germany to close Schroeder’s office in repudiation of ex-chancellor – Gerhard Schroeder’s publicly funded office is to be closed and its remaining staff reallocated amid mounting dismay at the former German chancellor’s refusal to distance himself from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Gerhard Schröder to lose Bundestag office this week. The SPD, the Greens and the FDP want to strip the former chancellor (SPD) of some privileges immediately: In a draft for the budget committee, he will be deprived of offices and staff.

A Promise Is A Promise

May 9, 2022 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Not.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised two months ago to deliver a substantial increase in defense spending. Where is that money now? Funny you should ask, since Mr. Scholz’s waffling on his signature pledge is a growing controversy in Berlin.

The “turning point” speech Mr. Scholz delivered on Feb. 27 included two promises: increase the annual military budget to at least 2% of GDP, in line with North Atlantic Treaty Organization targets, and create a one-time €100 billion ($105 billion) special fund for procurement. Crucially, the procurement fund would be exempt from the constitutional limit on government debt, although the regular military budget wouldn’t be…

Yet Mr. Scholz is struggling to say what he meant by his twin promises. His February speech neglected to specify whether he meant he’d spend 2% of GDP plus €100 billion, or whether he’d spend 2% of GDP including the €100 billion. The distinction matters.

12 Monkeys I’ve Heard Of

May 5, 2022 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

And seen (great flick). But 12 Germans? That movie title just doesn’t have enough punch.

By the way: Affe (monkey) in German is also used as an insult when calling someone an “idiot” or a “fool.”

12 Germans who got played by Putin – There’s no shortage of politicians, business leaders and intellectuals who have appeased Moscow over the years. Here are a few of them.

Russia’s war against Ukraine has thrust Germany’s establishment into the throes of a tortured process of introspection, self-doubt and recrimination.

After years of lecturing the West that a bit of Ostpolitik was all that was needed to keep Russia in check, Germany’s political, media and academic elites are now obsessing over a new question: How could we have been so wrong?

German Of The Day: Bremser

May 3, 2022 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means brakeman or somebody who drags his feet and won’t get with the plan.

Germany, a world-class Bremser, has now dropped its opposition to an EU ban on Russian oil because, well, 1) they want to improve their image of being a Bremser and 2) they know that this ban won’t happen anyway because Hungary and Slovakia, being even more dependent upon Russian oil than Germany is (which is saying a lot), are being even bigger Bremser than the German Bremser is and for the ban to take place, all 27 EU countries must agree to it.

Two senior ministers in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government on Monday said Germany would be ready to back an immediate European Union ban on Russian oil imports, and that Europe’s biggest economy could weather shortages and price hikes.

German Of The Day: Knast

May 2, 2022 By in Hard Facts, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means prison.

The imprisonment in London of the tennis legend Boris Becker for bankruptcy offences has triggered an outpouring of shock and disappointment in his native Germany, where he was once hailed as a national hero.

One former fan spoke for many when he said: “He made mistakes for which he’s rightly being punished. But maybe he’ll get up again one day, just like Becker, the tennis player, so often did.”

As Tough As Jell-O

April 29, 2022 By in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Jermany is.

When it comes to standing up to Vlad Putin himself. Hey, dependency has its price.

German energy firm Uniper ready to meet Russian pay demand – One of Germany’s biggest energy firms has said it is preparing to buy Russian gas using a payment system that critics say will undermine EU sanctions.

Uniper says it will pay in euros which will be converted into roubles, meeting a Kremlin demand for all transactions to be made in the Russian currency.

Other European energy firms are reportedly preparing to do the same amid concerns about supply cuts.

German Of The Day: Unverbesserlich

April 24, 2022 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means incorrigible, unreformable, incurable, dyed-in-the-wool.

Take Gazprom Gerd, for instance. Please. The Germans have pretended to be upset by his post-chancellorship antics but have secretely admired him all along, handling him with kid gloves (anyone who stands up to evil US-Amerika is a hero here). Now, with this little Ukraine thing going on, the bill finally has to be paid and everyone’s upset and wondering how they got here. Will there be consequeces for him? Of course not. Gazprom Gerd is Gazprom Gerd, after all.

The former chancellor who became Putin’s man in Germany – On the evening of Dec. 9, 2005, 17 days after Gerhard Schröder left office as chancellor of Germany, he got a call on his cellphone. It was his friend President Vladimir Putin of Russia.

Putin was pressing Schröder to accept an offer to lead the shareholder committee of Nord Stream, a Russian-controlled company in charge of building the first undersea gas pipeline directly connecting Russia and Germany.

“Are you afraid to work for us?” Putin had joked. Schröder might well have been, given the appearance of possible impropriety; the pipeline he was now being asked to head had been agreed to in the final weeks of his chancellorship, with his strong support.

He took the job anyway.

Seventeen years later, the former chancellor, who recounted the events himself in a pair of rare interviews, remains as defiant as ever.