“A Bulwark No Longer”

February 24, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: Brexit, Division, Elites, EU, Europe, European Union, Fragmentation, German, Germans, Germany, Hegemony, Opinion, Responsibility, Volatility Leave a comment

For the last ten years, German elites successfully used EU membership to accrue political and economic benefits while offloading costs to Germany’s partners and avoiding the responsibilities and costs of European leadership. The irony is that the success of this strategy has now engendered the kind of divides inside Germany that it had forced upon most of the rest of the EU…

Germany is now entering a period of party system fragmentation, electoral volatility, unstable coalition governments and social polarization, all features of the politics of most other European countries.

German Of The Day: Flaschenpost

February 23, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helplessness, High Art, Home Cooking, Humor Tags: German, Germans, Germany, Language, Letters, Mail, Messages, New Zealand Leave a comment

That means message in a bottle.

Message in a bottle thrown into Rhine by German family found in New Zealand – Eight years after throwing a bottle containing a message into the Rhine, a German family has been contacted by New Zealanders who say they found the message 18,000km away. But the finder didn’t give their address.

It almost sounds too, I dunno, implausible to be true.

“We are still totally surprised to have received feedback after all this time. And then of all the places, from New Zealand, our dream destination, to which we have unfortunately not yet been.”

Germans Have Some Of The Strictest Gun Control Laws In The World

February 20, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Hate, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Horror Tags: Crime, German, Germans, Germany, Gun control, Guns, Hanau, Hate, Killings, Madness, Mental Illness, Racism, Shootings, Terrorists 2 Comments

Thank goodness, right? Otherwise any wack job could manage to get a gun and go around murdering innocent, unarmed people.

This guy was also rambling on about secret underground military bases in US-Amerika where small children are being systematically tortured. See who we’re dealing with here? Or who got dealt with, I should say?

German authorities are starting to piece together exactly what happened in Hanau, when a gunman opened fire on two shisha bars.

At least nine people died in the attack which federal prosecutors are treating as an act of terrorism.

Turkish authorities say a number of those killed were of Turkish origin. Chancellor Angela Merkel said there are signs the shooter had racist motives.

Generalbundesanwalt spricht von „zutiefst rassistischer Gesinnung.”

German Of The Day: Rodungsstopp

February 18, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Humor, Hurt Feelings, Hypochondria, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: Brandenburg, Employment, Environmentalists, German, Germans, Germany, Gigafactory, Greens, Jobs, Language, Tesla, The Green Shirts, Trees 2 Comments

That means to stop the clearing. Of trees, in this case.

That this particular Rodungsstopp could also stop the construction of Tesla’s planned Gigafactory in Brandenburg – and what could turn out to be the livelihood of 12,000 people – doesn’t seem to interest the greener than green politicians who have sought it.

Tesla has been ordered to temporarily halt preparations for a car factory in Germany after environmentalists won a court injunction on Sunday…

Protesters say the factory is a threat to local wildlife and water supplies…

According to local media reports, Tesla has promised to relocate colonies of forest ants, reptiles and bats, and is working with conservationists. Last month, authorities defused seven Second World War bombs discovered at the site.

Tesla currently has two Gigafactories in the US and one in Shanghai, China.

Der Rodungsstopp an der geplanten Tesla-Fabrik in Brandenburg alarmiert die Wirtschaft: Mehrere Verbände warnen vor Konsequenzen für den gesamten Standort Deutschland.

Lost In Translation?

February 16, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hostility, Hypocrisy Tags: America First, Defens, Defense Spending, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Hypocrisy, MSC, Munich Security Conference, NATO, Security Leave a comment

Or lost before the translation even began?

”‘Great again’ but at the expense of neighbors and partners?” That’s an odd thing for a German president to criticize at a security conference.

Granted, Germany is anything but ‘great again’ (because that’s how Germans insist Germany must forever remain) but when it comes to security and promised NATO contributions, Germany has been living at the expense of its neighbors and partners for many, many years now.

Germany’s president kicked off the annual Munich Security Conference on Friday by taking a swipe at President Donald Trump’s “America First” foreign policy approach.

In his opening remarks, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned that the United States would put its own interests first at the expense of allies.

“In this scenario, the security of one is the insecurity of others.”

What A Shocker

February 14, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, History, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Autobahn, Automobiles, Cars, German, Germans, Germany, Speed, Speed Limits Leave a comment

Not. Again. Yawn.

The latest proposal to introduce a general speed limit on German autobahns has not received the needed support from lawmakers.

I’ve never understood this. From time to time the Greens & Co. suggest that Germans reduce their speed on the autobahn. It’s a fine idea, I guess. In theory. But that would be like asking Americans to turn in their guns. It ain’t never going to happen.

Der Vorschlag des Umweltausschusses, die geplante Änderung der Straßenverkehrsordnung um eine Höchstgeschwindigkeit von 130 Kilometern pro Stunde zu ergänzen, fand am Freitag in Berlin wie erwartet keine Mehrheit in der Länderkammer.

It’s Only One In Five

February 13, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hostility, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: Academics, Antisemitism, Berlin, Free speech, German, Germans, Germany, Israel, Jews, Political correctness, Surveys Leave a comment

The Konrad Adenauer Foundation has conducted a survey of 1,106 German academics about free speech and discovered that 20% reject Israel’s existence.

Not all that surprising really, once you consider that a German government study in 2017 found 40% of the population infected with “contemporary antisemitism.” The university folks are just more enlightened, I guess.

“Based on Israel’s policies, I can understand people having something against the Jews.”

Eingeschränkte Wissenschaftsfreiheit in Deutschland? Professoren sehen sich durch Publikationsdruck, teilweise aber auch durch “Political Correctness” gehemmt.

More Friends Don’t Spy On Friends Stuff

February 12, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hi-tech, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: BND, CIA, Crypto, Encryption, Espionage, Friends, German, Germans, Germany, Spies, Spying Leave a comment

Damn. Somebody needs to inform Angela Merkel immediately.

Germany doesn’t have many friends at all, I guess, because they’ve spied on just about everybody out there.

Report: US, Germany spied on countries for decades via Swiss encryption firm – Western intelligence acquired top secret information on global governments through their hidden control of an encryption firm, Crypto AG, according to media reports. Swiss authorities are investigating the allegations.

“The events under discussion started around 1945, and it is difficult to reconstruct them.”

German Of The Day: Versehentlich

February 11, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Gaffs, German, Germans, Germany, Iran, Israel, Language, Mistakes, Presidents Leave a comment

That means by accident. By accident, Mr. President? Really?

I don’t believe in accidents. I’ve seen too many of them.

In gaff, German president’s office slams Iran on Islamic Revolution anniversary – In what observers are calling an embarrassing error, the office of Germany’s president sent a message to Iran to mark the 41st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, even though he wanted to send no message given the political situation there.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s office “mistakenly” sent the telegram, which was prepared in advance in case the president chose to use it, Berlin’s Tagesspiegel newspaper reported.

Im vergangenen Jahr hatten die Glückwünsche Kritik unter anderem vom Präsidenten des Zentralrats der Juden, Josef Schuster, hervorgerufen. Der Iran droht Israel mit der Vernichtung.

The Mini-MErkel Mess

February 10, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helections, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Humility, Hurt Feelings Tags: AKK, Angela Merkel, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, CDU, German, Germans, Germany, Political Parties, Thuringia Leave a comment

Is finally over.

The Germans say lieber ein Ende mit Schrecken als ein Schrecken ohne Ende. That is, better an end with horror than a horror without end.

Merkel Succession Crumbles, Blowing Open Race to Run Germany – The race to lead Germany was thrown wide open on Monday when Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer announced that she will step down as leader of Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union and won’t run as the party’s candidate for chancellor in the next election.

Kramp-Karrenbauer, widely known by her initials AKK, has struggled to stamp her authority on the party since taking over from Merkel in December 2018 and was humiliated last week when a local chapter in eastern Germany defied her orders and threw its lot in with the far-right Alternative for Germany.

Kramp-Karrenbauer ist an sich selbst gescheitert.

Observing Hermann

“Was interessiert mich mein Geschwätz von gestern?”

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