Now that’s entertainment

Nobody gets it up here, though (in the “West”). A German student being tried in Britain is said to have gone beyond lawful protest when he threw a shoe towards Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao during a lecture at Cambridge University. What a bunch of humorless sticks in the mud youz guyz.

The shoe must go on.

He just wanted to have a little fun and shake things up a little (just like somebody else wanted to do with some shoes recently somewhere some place but I can’t remember where). And the punch line: Following the arrest the student said that his action was legitimate given the crimes of the Chinese communist government. Damn I like this guy.

And I can’t wait for the next online throw-your-shoe-at-Wen-Jiabao game to come out, either.

“He was heard to say words to the effect that the university was prostituting themselves by allowing the Premier to speak and referred to the Premier as a dictator.”

Germans and their weapons issues

It’s even become peinlich (embarrassing) for German politicians now (and that takes a lot), this nutty idea about forbidding paintball. But they meant well, right? They always do.

Evil paintballer in action.

It’s all about cosmetics, I guess, and blinder Aktionismus (politicking, or doing things just for the sake of doing things). There can’t be many countries out there with stricter weapons controls than the ones Germany already has (maybe North Korea or someplace like that?), but that wackos still go nuts and kill people with guns here and elsewhere, and unfortunately always will, regardless of the local gun laws or paintball culture, well, that’s just another sad, prosaic little fact .

Why not address real weapons issues, pacifist German politicians? You know, like German weapons exports? Those seem to be completely out of control (you’re still number three in the world – go Germany!). Where’s the politicking there? I know, I know; who cares? Nobody, nobody does here. You can’t care about something you refuse to recognize, much less talk about. Getting upset for a few minutes about paintball is a whole lot easier than addressing a real issue, and less embarrassing in the end.

„Beim weltweiten Waffenhandel gehöre Deutschland zu den führenden Nationen, heißt es im Jahresbericht des Bonner Friedens- und Sicherheitsforschungsinstituts. Lieferungen gingen auch in problematische Empfängerländer wie Angola, Ägypten oder Pakistan.“

We don’t take in just any innocently held enemy combatant terrorist type, you know

Germany still has a few questions it needs to have answered before it can decide to say no to taking in the Guantanamo prisoners the United States is now trying to relocate for our sins, so-to-speak (or was it their sins?). I’ll try to answer these as best I can.

Guantanamo must go, but not here.

“Firstly: is it sufficiently certain that these people pose no danger?” My answer: No, it isn’t. That’s one reason why they were in prison.

“Secondly, why can’t the United States take the people concerned?” My answer: We, like Germany, now prefer a more international solution to the problem.

“And thirdly, is there any relation to Germany?” My answer: No, no more than there is a relation to Lithuania and Portugal, but you moaned about Guantanamo so loud and so long we figured you might want to take this opportunity to finally do something about it.

Any further questions?

„Innenministerium fordert Sicherheitsgarantien für Guantanamo-Häftlinge”

Fragen kann man

You can always ask. And ask we did.

It's off to Germany for you, punk.

The United States has made a formal request to Germany to take in some prisoners held at its military prison in Guantanamo Bay, a spokesman for Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Sunday.

Too bad they have already said no before ever being asked, à la Gerhard Schroeder, so don’t hold your breath or anything. It’s not like the Germans ever held their breath when it came to their outrage about Gitmo, of course. But now that they have the golden opportunity to right some of those dreadful, horrible wrongs, well, they’ve gotten quite quiet about the matter.

“The United States bears the primary responsibility here.”

It’s all over but the cryin’, I mean the two tiers

Full support? As in the full metal jacket kind?

Which tier is this?

“The Taliban fighters know that military engagement in Afghanistan is especially controversial in Germany. They also know that the political leadership in Berlin has done little to prepare its own country for an ugly mission with more injuries and deaths. German politicians, to speak in general terms, are afraid of Afghanistan — and of (this fall’s) German election. Taliban fighters know all this, which makes Germany a ripe target. Now the government’s insistence on a two-tiered Afghan mission has come back to haunt it. There are no two tiers in Afghanistan — no safe, good-hearted mission in the north as opposed to the mean mission in the south. The German military is in Afghanistan to secure the country. To achieve this goal it will need the full support of Germany’s politicians.”

No financial crisis here

Cool weapons, don’t you think?

Panzer for peace!

Too bad we (as in we Germans) can’t use them, or won’t. We’ll sell the hell out of them, though, despite our well-known pacifist sensibilities. Our sales have gone up some 70 percent over the past five years, as a matter of fact. But nobody talks about that here because, well, nobody talks about that here.

Germans only get enraged about their dead militaristic past. That’s easy. The clear and present (and present) militaristic one is taboo. That’s easy, too, see? Sure, you get the obligatory newspaper report like this one from time to time, but any of you living here long enough (more than three or four weeks) must have noticed by now that an “issue” like this probably won’t even make it to the Tagesschau (the nightly state-run news). And even if it does, it’ll only be one of those one night stand, low priority billig (el cheapo) stories, because, well, it is.

Nope, no outrage and Entrüstung (outcry) about the Aufrüstung (arms build-up) here. Not a single political party here will pursue it and make it an issue, not even the Left party. If these were American parties it would be because they’ve been bought. Nope, nobody here wants to address the sad fact that the only reason you (as in you Germans) have a Bundeswehr is so it can serve as an alibi to allow you to sell your incredibly lucrative weapons – third largest exporter in the world, by the way. That would be an inconvenient truth, you see. So I understand, sort of.

Hello? Bitte kommen (do you read me)? I know you’re out there Germany, I can hear you breathing. Whatever. See you around the next time the next report comes out, for a minute or two.

„Deutsche Rüstungsexporte legen um 70 Prozent zu“

Obama doesn’t mispronounce nuclear

But he does think that Austrian is a language. Funny how things like that don’t matter anymore, don’t you think? Well they don’t over here. But, then again, Germans don’t speak Austrian, either. They’re just less apologetic about it.

 

“If you read FactCheck.org (or have ears and a brain) it is apparent that Mr. Obama makes just as many mistakes/tell lies as the dearly departed Mr. Bush. Is there a point at which you expect the naive, bright-eyed young things that voted for Mr. Obama to transition into becoming mean, angry cynics like me? If so, when will this occur? Or am I mistakenly assuming these kids are even paying attention anymore?”

 

“I don’t speak Austrian.”

Obama to move Turkey to Europe

His wonders never ceasing, President Obama is now said to be planning to move Turkey to Europe during a live television broadcast from Las Vegas which could be aired sometime later this year.

 

Hi there, turkeys.

 

After saying that Turkey’s membership to the EU (that country technically not a part of Europe) would be an important symbol of cooperation between the West and the Muslim world and thereby pissing off our new-real-good-buddies-again France and Germany who are seemingly less than impressed about the thought of having to cooperate that much, aides close to the President said that he is beginning to lose his patience with their recalcitrance and is planning the physical relocation of the massive Eurasian landmass “up north” with a mere clap of his hands, thus alleviating the problem. “This just in case Germany and France don’t like chill already,” one aide said.

 

Rumors that White House staffers have already made contact with David Copperfield could not be substantiated but sources close to Criss Angel say that this is the kind of Mindfreak that’s right up his alley (or ally?).

 

“A strong partnership requires shared responsibility.”

Bush in black?

Gerhard Schröder had his “reasons”, is Angie going to jump on the bandwagon now, too? Or is she already long gone down that road – ist der Zug schon abgefahren (did this train already leave the station)? It is a campaign year here in Germany after all, you know.

 

Remember the way we were?

 

“Mr. Obama speaks of a global crisis that demands global responses. For the Germans, this is indeed a global crisis — but one that must be resolved primarily by the U.S., since it originated there. Therefore, German finance companies that became entangled in dodgy speculations are seen as weak victims who were seduced, while the clever American seducers who caused the real-estate bubble must now be punished.

Now the victims are claiming the right to say “no” to new stimulus packages. And they are demanding that the U.S. never again be permitted to seduce — that it be constrained by “more transparency on the financial markets, which Germany called for long ago,” as Mrs. Merkel says.”

“Before the Iraq war, George Bush succeeded in splitting Europe into the old and the new. In the financial crisis, the Continent is unified in its opposition toward his successor, Barack Obama.”