Indignant Response Pure Hypocrisy?

July 12, 2013 By Hermann Observer in Habeas Corpus, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hi-tech, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: Berlin, Edward Snowden, Espionage, German, Germans, Germany, Merkel, NSA, Obama, PRISM, Spying Leave a comment

Here? In Germany?

An interview with historian Josef Foschepoth published in the online edition of the Süddeutsche Zeitung makes clear that US intelligence agencies have a free hand to do what they like in Germany, with the knowledge and blessing of the federal government.

The historian regards the indignant response of the German government regarding the spying activities of American and British intelligence services unmasked by Edward Snowden as pure hypocrisy. For a Western intelligence agency, such as the National Security Agency (NSA), there are in principle no limits in Germany.

“The NSA can do everything in Germany. Not only because of the legal situation, but above all because of the intensive collaboration between the services, which was always desired and always politically acceptable.”

The Lives Of Others

July 11, 2013 By Hermann Observer in Habeas Corpus, Habitudes, Hard Facts, Hate, Helplessness, Hi-tech, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypochondria, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: Berlin, Edward Snowden, Films, German, Germans, Germany, Gun control, Movies, NSA, PRISM, Spying, Stasi 2 Comments

One in two of the country’s (Germany’s) citizens regard Snowden as a hero, according to a June 29 survey of 504 people by Emnid for Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

“It looks like the NSA picked up where the Stasi left off.”

PS: Didn’t this German cop know about his country’s gun control laws?

He murdered his ex and then killed himself. All of this strictly illegal, of course.

United Stasi of America

July 9, 2013 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Helplessness, Hideology, High Art, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: Berlin, Espionage, German, Germans, Germany, NSA, Protests, Stasi, Surveillance 2 Comments

Get it? A protest at the US embassy in Berlin and stuff.

The National Security Agency can gather about one billion times more information than the sinister Stasi police that were used to hunt down the targeted people of Nazi Germany.

And just in case you were wondering, Germans only do “strictly legal” spying. But you probably weren’t wondering.

Darunter war das Konterfei des umstrittenen Internet-Unternehmers und Multimillionärs Kim Schmitz alias „Kim Dotcom“ zu erkennen. Der gebürtige Deutsche lebt in Neuseeland und ist Gründer der – mittlerweile geschlossenen – Internetplattform „Megaupload“, über die die Nutzer auch illegal an Musik und Filme gelangen konnten. Seit 2012 warten die USA auf die Auslieferung des Unternehmers, weil ein Haftbefehl gegen Schmitz vorliegt.

Conflicts Deflate Obama Euphoria?

July 5, 2013 By Hermann Observer in Habeas Corpus, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Higher Education, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: Berlin, EU, Europe, German, Germans, Germany, NSA, Obama, Polls, Surveys Leave a comment

Nice try. But we all know that it was Obama who deflated the Obama euphoria.

In 2008 Obama was “the vessel into which liberals all over the world poured their fantasies.”

“It has gradually dawned on President Obama’s foreign fan club that their erstwhile hero is using methods that would be bitterly denounced if he were a white Republican.”

Kein Retter mehr

Visit Germany!

July 2, 2013 By Hermann Observer in Habeas Corpus, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hi-tech, Higher Education, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: Asylum, Berlin, Edward Snowden, Espionage, Extradition, German, Germans, Germany, Law, NSA, PRISM, Russia, Spying Leave a comment

If you dare. Then enjoy your short stay here before your extradition back home (home?) to the USA.

The Federal Republic of Germany can offer asylum to someone who is being politically persecuted, not to someone who is being sought for criminal offences.

And I if you want to try the refugee angle, Germans define refugees as being those who have a justified fear of being persecuted because of their race, religion, nationality, affiliation to a specific social group or political persuasion. So good luck with that, too.

Of course Germany could let you stay anyway. But that would be it then. With their pious preaching about the Rechtsstaat (rule of law) and how the NSA spy scandal demonstrates how the US does not respect it, I mean.

Ecuador und Island in Österreich, Bolivien, Brasilien, China, Kuba, Finnland, Frankreich, Deutschland, Indien, Italien, Irland, Niederlande, Nicaragua, Norwegen, Polen, Russland, Spanien, der Schweiz und Venezuela.

Die Linke hatte bereits in der vergangenen Woche die Bundesregierung dazu aufgefordert, Snowden Asyl zu gewähren. Am Montag hatten dies auch die Grünen in Spiel gebracht. Snowden solle in der EU oder sogar in Deutschland “sichere Unterkunft haben, denn er hat Europa einen Dienst erwiesen”, erklärte Fraktionschef Jürgen Trittin.

Our CO2 Doesn’t Stink

June 27, 2013 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helections, Helplessness, Hideology, High Art, Home Cooking, Hypocrisy Tags: Automobiles, Berlin, Cars, CO2, EU, German, Germans, Germany, Greens, Humor, Industry, Satire 1 Comment

Or maybe it’s green or something. At any rate, Germany just managed to block the adoption of new emissions limits for cars produced in the European Union. This was necessary because, well, this legislation would have handicaped Germany’s automobile industry, focused as it is on the luxury car sector.

Germany has long seen itself as a leader when it comes to efforts to reduce CO2 emissions and combat climate change. Indeed, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government remains committed to radically expanding its reliance on renewable energies in the coming decades.

But when it comes to reducing the amount of greenhouse gases German-made automobiles produce, Berlin is far less ambitious.

“It is a scandal.”

All Free Men Are Berliners

June 26, 2013 By Hermann Observer in High Art, Higher Education, History Tags: Berlin, Communism, Germans, Germany, Kennedy, The Berlin Wall, The Cold War Leave a comment

Fifty years ago Kennedy came to Berlin.

Snowden Hiding In Germany

June 25, 2013 By Hermann Observer in Habeas Corpus, Hate, Helplessness, Hi-tech, Hideology, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: Berlin, Edward Snowden, Espionage, German, Germans, Germany, Google Street View, Humor, NSA, Paranoia, Pixelation, PRISM, Satire, Traitors, Treachery Leave a comment

Or maybe he isn’t. But he couldn’t have picked a better place to go underground if he is. Germany simply doesn’t exist like other places do — not online, I mean.

One of my Berlin neighbors forced Google to pixelate the façade of my apartment building on its popular Street View service a few years ago in the name of Teutonic privacy. Whether I liked it or not, my home was pixel bombed into oblivion.

In fact, so many people have opted to blot out their houses that web guru Jeff Jarvis said at the time Germany had “digitally desecrated” its online landscape.

“Activists like Edward Snowden, Julian Assange and Bradley Manning need international support and our solidarity.”

Snowden: Enthüllungen von Anfang an geplant

Discountrepublik Deutschland

June 24, 2013 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, High Art, Home Cooking Tags: Berlin, Cost of Living, Economics, EU, Euro Zone, Europe, GDP, German, Germans, Germany, Inflation, Living Costs, Prices 1 Comment

Verblüffender Befund (an amazing finding)? I don’t see how it could amaze anyone here – anyone who has ever gone shopping in Germany and then compared those prices to those you would pay in other European countries, that is.

Germans apparently aren’t aware of the fact that they have some of the lowest Lebenshaltungskosten (living costs or cost of living) in all of Europe. Of their immediate neighbors, it’s only cheaper to live in Poland and Czechia.

What is really amazing I find, however, is the fact that the Germans are able to enjoy these cheap prices while still having a higher per capita GDP than a lot of the European countries with a higher cost of living (Belgium, Denmark, France).

Beats the hell out of me. Hey, es darf eben nichts kosten here.

Verbraucher in Deutschland bekommen für ihren Euro mehr als die Menschen in den Nachbarländern. Lediglich bei den Nachbarn in Polen und Tschechien sind die Lebenshaltungskosten niedriger.

We Looted The Loot First

June 23, 2013 By Hermann Observer in Habeas Corpus, Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, High Art, History, Home Cooking, Humor, Hypocrisy Tags: Art, Art Theft, Berlin, German, Germans, Germany, Humor, Kunst, Loot, Moscow, Museums, Russia, Satire, World War II Leave a comment

The grand opening of a joint German-Russian art exhibition in St Petersburg was spoiled on Friday when Moscow objected to Angela Merkel’s plan to use her speech to refer to hundreds of looted German works of art looted by Red Army soldiers after the war.

The Germans claim that some 1 million looted objects are still missing, including the Treasure of Priamos, objects looted by the Germans in Troy under the direction of Heinrich Schliemann way back in 1873.

Moscow appears to be open to compromise, but only when the Russian artworks destroyed by German troops during World War II – estimated to be more than 110m books and publications following the plundering of 427 Soviet museums and 4,000 libraries – be returned, as well.

“This is a very touchy question for the societies of both countries. We need to look for solutions, rather than inflating the problem.”

Observing Hermann

“Was interessiert mich mein Geschwätz von gestern?”

Tag Archives: Berlin