Tag Archives: Europe

German Of The Day: “Flucht Nach Vorne”

January 23, 2023 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means “escaping by going forward.”

Defense? By going on the offensive? Well, if all the other kids are jumping off the bridge… Let us give tanks?

“I think the Ukrainians want to, at some point, launch counteroffensives. And that’s much more effective with heavy armor — as much as you can get. Especially modern systems, which probably have more penetrating power.”

The Leopard can travel up to 44 mph out to a range of 275 miles. It is armed with a 120 mm smoothbore cannon, a 7.62 mm machine gun, and automatic grenade launchers. Additionally, the tank has ballistic and mine protections, and it’s seen operational experience in Kosovo, Syria, and Afghanistan.

I See Germany, I See France

January 22, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, History Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

I see the same old phony song and dance.

Best friends forever! Sort of.

At joint appearances, Macron and Scholz like to ritually reaffirm their nations’ close relations, but so far there has not been much evidence of personal closeness. Politically, too, there is a certain friction at the moment, especially on how to deal with the war in Ukraine. It took a long time for Macron and Scholz to travel together to Kyiv. Scholz has shown himself more hesitant than Macron in delivering arms to Ukraine. On the issue of a gas price cap, Macron even publicly warned that Germany was “isolating itself” in Europe — an affront to Berlin. The two sides are also making very slow progress on joint armaments projects, for example on the development of a fighter aircraft.

Eva K.

December 11, 2022 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Beautiful corrupt EU socialist technocrat of the week.

Because somebody has to admire them.

European Parliament Vice President Eva Kaili has been arrested in an investigation into suspected bribery by a Gulf state…

Cash worth about €600,000 ($632,000; £515,000) was seized by Belgian police in 16 searches in Brussels on Friday. Computers and mobile phones were also taken by police in order to examine their contents.

Is Germany Finally Waking Up?

November 9, 2022 By in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

Probably not. But still. It’s starting to roll around a little in its sleep.

German economy ministry favours blocking Chinese takeover of Elmos’ chip production – Germany’s economy ministry has recommended to the cabinet that the government block the Chinese takeover of Elmos’ (ELGG.DE) chip factory, saying it would pose a threat to national security, ministry sources said on Tuesday.

Mixed Signals

November 7, 2022 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

And all of them bad.

The next German Alleingang (going it alone).

European Commissioner for Industry and the Internal Market Thierry Breton, a Frenchman, warned Scholz: “The time for naivety is over. We must be on guard.” The behaviour of the individual EU members towards China must be coordinated and not decided alone, “as China apparently prefers.” French President Emmanuel Macron suggested that he and Scholz should fly to China together at a later date to demonstrate European unity, a suggestion which Scholz ignored.

Christian Democratic Union (CDU) foreign policy expert Norbert Röttgen also attacked Scholz sharply. He accused him of damaging Germany’s foreign policy during his trip, “because it costs us our partners’ trust. It does not even strengthen our reputation with the Chinese, because they only react to strength and despise weakness.”

Germany Finally Waking Up To Smell The Nuclear Coffee?

August 9, 2022 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

“It’s as if the pope were suddenly advocating the use of birth control pills.”

For years, despite bemusement of many outside Germany, the country seemed set on its nuclear exit course. This year, as Europe began its sanctions on Russian fossil fuels, Germany’s Green energy minister seemed more willing to turn on carbon-intensive coal plants rather than reopening the issue of nuclear power.

“This is painful for all of us.”

Yeah. Reality can be that way.

Border Checks?

June 12, 2022 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

In Germany? To “prevent potential perpetrators of violence” from entering the country?

It’s far too late for that, I’m afraid. And since when does Germany have borders?

Germany to introduce some border checks during G7 summit – Germany says it will temporarily introduce some border controls as the country gets ready to host the Group of Seven summit later this month in the Bavarian Alps

“The controls are intended to prevent potential perpetrators of violence from entering German territory, the statement said, adding that ”travelers must therefore expect to be subject to checks during this period.”

Inflation Tax 101

May 24, 2022 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

Thanks for the warning, German central bank, one of the main culprits behind the problem you’re warning about.

Germans are suffering large cuts in real pay, Bundesbank report says – Workers in Germany are experiencing large cuts in their purchasing power as modest pay rises fail to keep up with record-high inflation, the country’s central bank said in a report on Monday.

It’s an age-old dirty trick. The EU, the central banks and the German government itself are pursuing policies that magically generate more tax revenue without openly raising taxes. If prices go up 10%, say, the tax receipts increase 10% too. Inflation also reduces government debt (if they borrowed 1000 but only have to pay back 900 in real terms). But thanks for the warning. That’s very considerate of you.

Germany Introduces Radically New Defense Concept

March 15, 2022 By in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, History, Home Cooking, Hostility, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

It’s never been tried before but the times they are a changin’ and call for desperate measures.

It goes like this: Instead of developing their own comparable European weapon system that will take three times longer to develop and cost three times more than planned (and then not work), Germany will buy a fully-functioning weapon system from US-Amerika that already exists and is immediately deliverable instead.

Germany to buy F-35 warplanes for nuclear deterrence – Germany will buy up to 35 copies of the U.S.-made F-35 fighter jet, reversing years-long plans that saw the fifth-generation warplane eliminated from consideration, defense leaders announced Monday.

German Greens Red With Green Rage

January 2, 2022 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

Because the rest of Europe seems prepared to finally get rid of some out-dated Green ideological ballast. Time to bury an unshakeable, near-religious conviction that never had a place in the real world in the first place.

EU drafts plan to label gas and nuclear investments as green – The European Union has drawn up plans to label some natural gas and nuclear energy projects as “green” investments after a year-long battle between governments over which investments are truly climate-friendly.

The European Commission is expected to propose rules in January deciding whether gas and nuclear projects will be included in the EU “sustainable finance taxonomy”.

This is a list of economic activities and the environmental criteria they must meet to be labelled as green investments.

By restricting the “green” label to truly climate-friendly projects, the system aims to make those investments more attractive to private capital, and stop “greenwashing”, where companies or investors overstate their eco-friendly credentials.