Tag Archives: AfD

200,000 protesters!

February 9, 2025 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Is that a lot?

Doesn’t that reflect German majority opinion? Well… No, it doesn’t. Not when the polls all indicate the opposite.

At least 200,000 protesters rally in Munich against far-right AfD ahead of German election – More than 200,000 protesters rallied in Munich, Germany, on Saturday against far-right extremism ahead of the country’s general election.

The far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany, or AfD, is in second place in recent polls and has prompted widespread protests across the country before voters cast their ballots on Feb. 23…

FDP deputy leader Kubicki rejects the idea that “firewall” demonstrations reflect majority opinion: Otherwise the red-green party would have made huge gains in the polls.

But what about all those protesters in the news?

February 7, 2025 By in Hard Facts, Helections Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

All those hundreds of thousands protesting against the “CDU-AfD collaboration?” That must have been a misunderstanding or something.

German election: CDU still leads in the polls – The conservative Christian Democrats haven’t sustained major damage despite having accepted support from the Alternative for Germany. But fewer people now trust chancellor hopeful Friedrich Merz not to veer to the right.

“Startlingly aggressive?”

February 3, 2025 By in Hard Facts, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

I’d say it’s more like “refreshingly different.”

Merz doubles down on gambit with German far right in combative speech – Prospective chancellor takes startlingly aggressive line against those protesting against gamble with AfD.

The German conservative opposition leader, Friedrich Merz, whose party is widely tipped to win this month’s general election, defended his hardline migration proposals after a wave of protests accused him of breaching the time-honoured “firewall” between the far right and centrists.

In an uncompromising speech to a party congress of his Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in Berlin, Merz said he was confident they would win the 23 February vote “with a very good result”, well ahead of the anti-immigration, anti-Islam Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), which has been consistently placing second in the polls.

Five days after passing a non-binding resolution on border policy with the votes of the far right – marking a historic breach of a taboo – Merz renewed a promise to bar any formal cooperation with the AfD in future.

“We will not work with the Alternative für Deutschland – not before [the election], not after – never,” he said to a lengthy standing ovation from delegates.

German of the day: Antrag

January 29, 2025 By in Hard Facts, Helections, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means motion. As in proposal.

German immigration motion passes, breaking taboo on cooperation with AfD – Narrow passage of controversial CDU-CSU motion ends longstanding boycott on cooperating with far-right party.

The German parliament has narrowly passed a motion urging tough restrictions on immigration that was highly controversial because it was backed by the far-right Alternative für Deutschland party.

The motion was brought by the conservative opposition CDU-CSU and backed by, among others, the AfD, breaking a longstanding taboo on cooperation with the anti-immigration party.

Elon is one smart cookie…

January 28, 2025 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, History, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

But this wasn’t exaclty rocket science.

Musk Says Germany Has ‘Too Much of a Focus on Past Guilt’ – His comments to the hard-right Alternative for Germany party escalated efforts by the billionaire to influence the country’s election for chancellor next month.

‘Too Much of a Focus on Past Guilt’ is one hell of an understatement. Guilt is an all-consuming obsession here.

German of the day: Harte Linie

January 24, 2025 By in Helections, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means a hard line.

When it comes to Germany’s migration policy. Something that has never been taken before. Or maybe this time doch (after all)? Could it really be possible now?? Nah.

Germany’s opposition leader Merz under fire for vowing migration crackdown – Germany’s opposition leader Friedrich Merz is under fire for vowing strict border controls if he is elected chancellor, with the frontrunner citing a deadly knife attack that was allegedly carried out by a rejected asylum seeker as justification for a migration overhaul.

The leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) on Thursday presented a five-point migration plan calling for, among other things, a “de facto entry ban” for all people without valid documents and permanent control of all of Germany’s borders…

Merz has steadfastly ruled out the possibility of working with the controversial AfD — which has been traditionally shunned in parliament amongst Germany’s more established parties.

Yet the AfD’s candidate for chancellor, Alice Weidel, emphatically supported Merz’s proposals, which she claimed her party had put forward first. Weidel said that the AfD could work with the CDU in order to gather enough votes for Merz’s measures to pass.

German of the day: Undenkbar

January 22, 2025 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means unthinkable.

Austria’s ‘firewall’ against the far right collapsed. Could the unthinkable happen in Germany too?

Could Germany go the way of Austria? Could the party of the far right be invited to form a government? What was previously deemed impossible, then revised down to improbable, is now possible. There are two scenarios in which this could happen…

Meanwhile… Two dead after knife attack in Aschaffenburg.

German of the day: Frontfrau

January 10, 2025 By in Hard Facts, Helections Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means frontwoman.

Musk interviews German far-right frontwoman – Elon Musk took his endorsement of Germany’s far-right party to the next level on Thursday, hosting a live chat with its frontwoman, Alice Weidel.

The 74-minute conversation ranged across energy policy, German bureaucracy, Adolf Hitler, Mars and the meaning of life…

She insisted her party was “conservative” and “libertarian” but had been “negatively framed” by mainstream media as extremist.

Sections of the AfD have been officially classed as right-wing extremist by German authorities.

She also described Hitler as an “antisemitic socialist”.

On other matters, she and Musk chimed – and at times giggled – over Germany’s infamous bureaucracy, its “crazy” abandonment of nuclear power, the need for tax cuts, free speech and “wokeness”.

German of the day: Cool bleiben

January 4, 2025 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means to stay cool.

This is very important. Especially when the last thing you are is cool.

Germany: Scholz uneasy over Musk’s support for far-right AfD – Elon Musk’s public endorsement for the far-right AfD has the country’s top leaders worried of undue influence on German democracy ahead of the February snap election.

Scholz on Musk’s attacks: ‘Stay cool’ – Musk, a top adviser to US President-elect Donald Trump, has been commenting on German politics on his social media platform X for days now.