Ukraine and Israel top the list!

January 3, 2024 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Home Cooking, Hypocrisy Tags: Arms, Exports, Germany, Industry, Israel, Pacifism, Profit, Ukraine, War, Weapons Leave a comment

When it comes to record German weapons export recipients.

€11.7 billion ($12.8 billion) in 2023. Wow. Not bad for a pacifist country.

German weapons exports reached record high in 2023 – Germany’s government authorized more arms exports in 2023 than ever before, according to preliminary figures disclosed to lawmakers last month.

The war in Ukraine partly fueled this uptick, with exports to Kyiv more than doubling compared to 2022. The record-breaking volume follows the government’s commitment to placing tougher restrictions on arms sales, a promise from the campaign trail.

“Based on fraudulent information?”

January 2, 2024 By Hermann Observer in Heconomy, Habitudes, Helplessness, Hard Facts, Hurt Feelings, Hideology Tags: China, Germany, CO2, Fraud, Emissions trading, Emissiond, Certificates Leave a comment

No way. Emission certificate fraud? For fraudulent emissions?

The Chinese would never do that.

German authority probes alleged Chinese emission certificate fraud – Listed project coordinates show only desert on Google Maps.

The German Emissions Trading Authority is looking into allegations of irregularities in an undisclosed upstream emission reduction project in China, the body told Nikkei Asia.

The move comes after allegations by German biofuel producers that upstream emission reduction (UER) certificates issued by the authority, known as DEHSt, to some international fossil fuel companies for their emission curtailment projects in China were based on fraudulent information.

“No details about their identities were released…”

January 1, 2024 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: Attacks, Cologne, Germany, Islamists, Media, Terror, Terrorists Leave a comment

My bet is they’re Seventh-Day Adventists. Or Buddhists, maybe.

German officials detain 3 more suspects in connection with a Cologne Cathedral attack threat – Three more people were detained Sunday in connection with a reported threat of an attack on the Cologne Cathedral over the holidays, German authorities said.

The detentions came only days after a 30-year-old Tajik man was detained in relation to an alleged plot to attack the world-famous cathedral by Islamic extremists in the western German city.

The suspects were detained in the western cities of Duisburg, Herne and Dueren in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, and their apartments were also searched there. No details about their identities were released.

Dinner for One

December 31, 2023 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: Germany, Happy New Year!, New Year's Eve, New Year's Speech, Olaf Scholz Leave a comment

“Same procedure as last year?“

Olaf will be dinning alone this year, methinks. It’s not like anybody who doesn’t have to will be celebrating New Years with this guy. Much less listening to anything he has to say.

In his New Year‘s address, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Germany would have to change in the face of a “more unsettled and harsher,” world but was certain the country would “get through it.”

Have a Happy New Year anyway!

Ring in the New Year

December 30, 2023 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: Asylum Seekers, Attacks, Berlin, Borders, Fireworks, Germany, Migrants, New Year's Eve, Violence Leave a comment

Or maybe they should call it ring of fire in the New Year.

Are we having cultural enrichment yet?

German and Dutch authorities fear repeat of NYE firework violence – Fireworks are traditionally used to ring in the new year in Germany and the Netherlands, with New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day the only times they can be set off without permission.

But in recent years, celebrations have come under increased scrutiny.

Last year, dozens of police and firefighters were injured during riots in Berlin. Authorities said some were deliberately targeted with fireworks.

Other cities including Hamburg, Bonn, Dortmund and Essen, also saw violence.

German of the day: Wehrpflicht

December 29, 2023 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: Armies, Bundeswehr, German, Germany, Language, Military, NATO, Pacifism, Russia, Ukraine Leave a comment

That means conscription.

Germany mulls reintroduction of compulsory military service – The Bundeswehr is facing a dramatic shortage in personnel. Now Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has rekindled the debate over reintroducing conscription.

At the end of October, the Bundeswehr said it counted 181,383 soldiers in its ranks — that’s still some distance from the target of 203,000 that the German military hopes to reach by 2025. This has given rise to concern in times of Russia’s war against Ukraine, which has once again reminded Germans how quickly conflicts can erupt in Europe.

Since taking office at the beginning of 2023, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has been thinking about ways to make the Bundeswehr more attractive as a career. He said he has received 65 concrete proposals from his ministry on recruitment and reforming training methods.

Even conscription, something Germany ended in 2011, is also up for debate. “There were reasons at the time to suspend compulsory military service. In retrospect, however, it was a mistake,” Pistorius told newspaper Die Welt earlier in December.

Your can hardly get any customers to visit your restaurant now?

December 28, 2023 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: Budgets, Germany, Government, Government spending, Government Waste, Restaurants, Taxation, Taxes, VAT Leave a comment

I know! We’ll increase the sales tax so nobody comes to your restaurant at all anymore.

No need to thank us. We’re from the government and we’re here to help.

German budget woes trigger disaster warnings for restaurants – Owners who oppose return to higher pre-pandemic VAT rate are dismissed as scaremongers by economists.

Kemal Üres, owner of a tapas bar in Hamburg, has spent the past year telling his social media followers that thousands of businesses like his will be destroyed by a planned tax increase.

The man who calls himself the “Gastroflüsterer”, or restaurant whisperer, is campaigning to make the pandemic-era cut in value added tax on restaurant meals permanent. Otherwise, the German government’s decision to raise VAT from the 7 per cent rate in place since 2020 back up to 19 per cent in January would lead to higher prices, job cuts and as many as 30,000 bankruptcies, he said.

What kind of man?

December 27, 2023 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Attacks, Cologne, Islamists, Terror, Terrorists Leave a comment

A Germ-man? A French-man?

Nope. A Tajik-man from Tajikistan near Afghanistan.

German police holding man in connection with a threat to Cologne Cathedral – German authorities say they have detained a man in connection with a reported threat to Cologne Cathedral over the holiday weekend.

Tajikistan is 98% Muslim, by the way, so this couldn’t have been religiously motivated.