Tag Archives: Diplomacy

Yes, You Can

July 13, 2022 By in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

But you better be polite. The Germans are thinking too much. Again.

Can You Speak To a War Criminal?

Russia has tens of thousands of lives on its conscience in Ukraine, yet calls for diplomatic initiatives are growing louder in the West. In Germany, a growing number in both the governing parties and the opposition would like to see talks with Moscow.

When the German chancellor speaks to Vladimir Putin by phone, the Russian president is always extremely polite. People familiar with the calls say that his voice it rather soft and that the tone is less preachy than in his public appearances. Putin usually speaks a few sentences of German as a greeting before switching to Russian, with an interpreter then jumping in to translate…

“You can’t negotiate with this Putin right now.” Annalena Baerbock, German foreign minister.

The Steinmeier Formula

April 13, 2022 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Hostility, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Otherwise known as the SPD Formula. It’s quite simple: Take a loaded handgun, point it at your foot, and then fire.

Angela Merkel HERSELF adopted the formula HERSELF. But her “conservative” CDU/CSU was more SPD than the SPD ITSELF so it’s quite understandable why she would have. Sort of.

Ukraine snubs German president over past ‘close ties to Russia’ – Volodymyr Zelenskiy rejects request by Frank-Walter Steinmeier for meeting in Kyiv, Bild reports.

“My sticking to [the Baltic Sea pipeline project] Nord Stream 2, that was definitely a mistake,” he said in Berlin on 4 April. “We held on to bridges that Russia no longer believed in, and of which our partners warned us.”

He added: “We failed to build a common European house. I did not believe Vladimir Putin would embrace his country’s complete economic, political and moral ruin for the sake of his imperial madness.”

German Foreign Minister Concerned That The Middle East Could Now Become Destabilized

January 5, 2020 By in Habitudes, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

After the drone attack that killed top terrorist Qasem Soleimani, I mean. Well, we certainly wouldn’t want that.

Heiko

We can all sleep safer at night knowing that seasoned professional diplomats like Heiko Maas are always on the world stage ball ever prepared to lecture the United States about problems their own countries haven’t the slightest clue about dealing with. Or the will to do so if they did. Good intentions make the world go around.

Comments made by the foreign minister demonstrate that in case of Iranian aggression, the federal government will not take sides with America. Germany has no answer to the aggresive Iranian expanansion and wallows in the role of de-escalator.

“In the coming days, we will do all we can to counteract a further escalation of the situation – in the United Nations, the EU and in dialogue with our partners in the region, including in talks with Iran.”

Durch die Aktion“ sei es „nicht einfacher geworden, Spannungen abzubauen. Das habe ich auch @SecPompeo deutlich gesagt“. Es wird den amerikanischen Außenminister schwer beeindruckt haben.

Germany To Lead From Behind Again

June 9, 2019 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hostility, Hurt Feelings, Hustle (Hoax), Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

This time from far behind. You know, like from way, way, way far behind? But still.

Iran

Germany looks to ‘lead’ US-Iran talks– in what is clearly a noble effort to bring peace to the region and profits to the German corporations still sexually aroused about doing business with Iran despite the collapse of the 2015 nuclear agreement – and, of course, to take an indirect swipe at Israel in the process while they’re at it already.

“The latest escalation requires us as European neighbors to intervene in favor of de-escalation and peaceful coexistence,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told reporters during an unannounced stop to Iraq. “We cannot just seek dialogue, we must lead it, precisely where the differences seem insurmountable and long-simmering conflicts run deep.”

“Das ist eine Reise in die Krise.”

German Of The Day: Dringliche Angelegenheiten

May 7, 2019 By in Hard Facts, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means pressing issues.

Matters

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo abruptly canceled a scheduled trip to Germany where he was planning to meet with Chancellor Angela Merkel “due to pressing issues,” the State Department said early Tuesday.

No specific reason was given for the cancellation. The press pool traveling with Pompeo has not been told where they are going next, and have been warned they may not be able to report from the country they are going to until after they leave…

The sudden schedule change comes two days after the Pentagon deployed a carrier and a bomber task force to the Middle East in order to send a message to Iran, which the Trump administration has recently been putting pressure on. Pompeo said Sunday night that the deployments have been in the works for “a little while” and that the US will “hold the Iranians accountable for attacks on American interests.”

US-Präsident Trump verhindert den Berlin-Besuch seines Außenministers – wegen “dringlicher Angelegenheiten”.

Let’s Celebrate Together In Berlin!

February 13, 2019 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

The German foreign affairs ministry sent representatives to Iran’s embassy in Berlin yesterday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Iran

Iran is just a regular old country after all and Germany is everybody’s darling so, what’s the big deal? OK, the mullahs have been known to dabble in international terror now and again. And maybe that part about Tehran urging the destruction of Israel (the Jewish state) is a little over the top but Germans would never urge that kind of thing on their own, directly, so take a chill pill already. Keeping up good business, I mean, diplomatic relations is never a bad idea.

Doch warum schickte die Bundesregierung einen Vertreter zur Revolutionsfeier eines Terrorregimes in dessen Botschaft?

Make Law International Again

November 27, 2018 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Humor, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Ouch. The Kremlin certainly wasn’t expecting that one.

Maas

After Russia’s latest display of disregard for territorial sovereignty, Germany’s foreign minister Heiko Maas has bravely stepped forward and told the roughhouse renegade of a nation that it must now respect international law again. Or else. Or something.

To achieve this, Germany and its European allies need clear principles and a “true dialogue” on common security in Europe, Maas added.

Wow. Dialogue. That’s never been tried before. This guy is the greatest thing since Bismarck. No, not the herring. That chancellor dude.

“The aim must be that Russia sticks to international rules again and that it does not violate the territorial sovereignty of its neighbors.”

PS: The EU ITSELF would have done the lecturing but it’s too busy trying to get rid of daylight savings time. Actually, it’s not all that busy anymore. It just failed at that attempt. Kind of like it always does at practically everything it tries. But to be fair, it was way too ambitious a project for the EU to handle in just one generation.

Germans Threaten Americans With Non-Negotiable Friendship

October 3, 2018 By in Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, History, Home Cooking, Humor, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

In a sly move calculated to add more leverage to the German position in the on-going trade war troubles with Washington, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas is now headed there for talks in which he will openly threaten US-Amerikans with “non-negotiable” friendship should they not budge on their demands.

Friendship

Officially there to open the Year of German American Friendship, Maas made no secret about Germany’s intentions. He warned, “Our goal is not to just maintain the relationship we have with the United States but rather improve it.” Adding, “It (the Year of German American Friendship) is designed so that people learn more about Germany than any normal American person could ever possibly want to learn and, what is more, this will be done in an annoyingly friendly and courteous manner for, like, well, a whole year or something. Unless, of course, you lighten up with this tariff bullshit already. Here, let me shake your hand again.”

“Things that used to be taken for granted are no longer that way, they must be worked on.”

Remember This Guy?

June 5, 2018 By in Habitudes, Helplessness, Hideology, Hostility, Humor, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

Martin Schmidt? Or was it Meier? Müller? … Schlitz?

Schulz

Anyway, he’s back again or something. For a few seconds. Now that his fifteen minutes are up, I mean.

He and his comrades over at the SPD are mad as hell at US-Amerika‘s new Ambassador, Richard Grenell, because of, well, “perceived breaches of diplomatic etiquette” (how diplomatic).

He said in a recent Breitbart interview, for instance (Breitbart is a German news service, Breitbart meaning “wide beard” in our language), that he wanted to empower conservative forces throughout Europe. I know, right? And then he did this and then he said that and yada, yada, yada and now everyone on the left (and that’s a whole lot over here) is completely outraged because, well, it’s a slow news day/week/month so it’s time to call for somebody to fire his red, white and blue ass. If it wasn’t for outrage they wouldn’t have no rage at all.

“I think there is a groundswell of conservative policies that are taking hold because of the failed policies of the left.”

“Ich hoffe, dass der Kurz-Besuch zu einem Kurz-Aufenthalt von Herrn Grenell in seiner Funktion als Botschafter in Deutschland führt.”

Russia To Begin Behaving Better Now

April 16, 2018 By in Habitudes, Helplessness, Hideology, Hostility Tags: , , , , , 1 Comment

Because, well, Germany’s foreign minister has told them to.

Heiko

Thank goodness. I wish someone would have told them this earlier. These tensions with Russia have been really sucky lately. Germany may not be much when it comes to hands-on action in matters like these but they really take the Kuchen (cake) when it comes to giving good advice.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) on Sunday criticized Russia for a series of activities beyond its borders, blaming it for a cyber attack on his own ministry, and said Moscow must change its ways.

Maas listed a series of what he called problematic actions that also included the lack of progress in implementing a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, a poison gas attack in Britain, support for the Syrian government, and efforts to influence Western elections.

“It is time, I think, to point out that we expect constructive contributions from the Russian side, including on the Syrian conflict. And also that they don’t always simply protect (Syrian President Bashar) al-Assad.”