Tag Archives: Greens

Time to say goodbye

December 5, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

To your latest Green fantasies.

The money. She is gone, señor.

Germany’s Greens thought their moment had finally come… But then, last month, Germany’s top court handed down a ruling that effectively stripped the ruling coalition of the full financial firepower it needs to make those ambitions a reality.

The bombshell ruling by Germany’s Constitutional Court blew a €60 billion hole in the country’s finances, leaving the government scrambling to fill the gap. At the same time, the ruling sharply limits the government’s ability to draw from special funds created to circumvent the country’s constitutional debt brake, which restricts the federal deficit to 0.35 percent of GDP except in times of emergency.

These special funds were supposed to help finance several projects which are core to the Greens’ agenda — such as the transition of steel plants to hydrogen energy, subsidies for battery and microchip production, and the modernization of the country’s railway network.

I sea what you did there…

December 4, 2023 By in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

But I’m not shore if you were serious.

What goes around comes around.

Island strife: Greece serves Germany a dose of its own medicine – A former minister in Athens turns the tables with a proposal that recalls unwelcome advice during the debt crisis.

As Greece sank into the mother of all debt crises in 2010, the German tabloid Bild ran a story under the headline: “Sell your islands, you bankrupt Greeks! And sell the Acropolis, too!”

One former Greek government minister never forgot the newspaper’s impertinent advice. Like a reincarnation of Nemesis, the ancient Greek goddess, Panagiotis Lafazanis last week recommended — in an interview with Bild, no less — that Germany should consider selling an island or two to overcome a budgetary emergency of its own.

“Who?”

November 30, 2023 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

“Germany has a president?”

“You, there! You look official. Drive down to the airport when you get a minute and welcome him.”

Germany’s Steinmeier left waiting on tarmac in Qatar – Standing with arms folded at the doors of the airplane was probably not how German President Steinmeier thought he would spend almost 30 minutes of his official 3-hour visit to Doha...

In Germany, Doha’s influence on the Israel-Hamas war is seen as somewhat controversial as Qatar is home to Hamas’ political wing. That led some to wonder if Wednesday’s apparent snub was a response to statements made recently by German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock prior to Al Thani’s long-planned visit to Berlin back in October.

“We do not accept support for terror,” Baerbock told public broadcaster ZDF at the time. “To put an end to this terrorism,” she added, “countries like Qatar have a special responsibility.”

Put a positive spin on it, I say. Maybe Germany’s Steinmeier was just being überpunktlich. German diplomat-types can often be that way. If they ever arrive at all. They’re not always so punctual when it comes to leaving, however.

Asking a government to “fund honestly?”

November 24, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

A government with Net Zero Honesty? Good luck with that.

The truth hurts too much.

Germany Faces the Green Fiscal Truth – The constitutional court rules Berlin will have to fund net zero honestly.

Things have gone from bad to worse in Germany this week after a court ruling that’s forcing the government to do something truly shocking: level with voters about how much the net-zero energy transition will cost. Please pass the smelling salts.

Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle…

November 21, 2023 By in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Let’s watch them squirm.

We… must… spend… more… money we don’t have! There just has to be a way around this debt brake!

Germany freezes spending as budget crisis deepens – As Germany’s financial woes grow more acute, there are growing calls to suspend the country’s damned debt brake.

Germany’s finance ministry has imposed a spending freeze on all federal ministries, deepening a budget crisis that has rocked the ruling coalition since a bombshell ruling by the country’s top court last week.

The finance ministry decision, which halts most new spending authorizations, followed a ruling by the constitutional court last week that blew a €60 billion hole in the government’s coffers.

He’s just talking the talk

November 8, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Wait and see. “Good” Germans never walk the walk.

German chancellor Olaf Scholz agrees ‘historic’ stricter migration policy – Move comes hours after Italy unveils plan to build asylum reception centres in Albania for those arriving by sea.

Stricter measures to deal with a large number of migrants arriving in Germany have been agreed by the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and state leaders, as NGOs criticised Italy’s plans to create centres in Albania to accommodate asylum seekers.

After a marathon session of talks in Berlin that continued into the early hours of Tuesday, Scholz said the measures would help speed up asylum procedures, restrict social benefits for migrants, and provide more federal funding for local communities.

Consequences?

November 3, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

In Germany? There are never any consequences here.

It’s just like back home in the Banana Republic itself. Nice try, though.

Germany’s Habeck warns antisemitism bears consequences – Germany’s vice-chancellor has underlined the country’s commitment to the security of the state of Israel. He also condemned a rise in antisemitic incidents and warned some offenders could face deportation.

German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck has spoken out emphatically about antisemitism in Germany — and, in particular, an uptick in hate crimes since the Israel-Hamas war began.

In a video posted online, the Green Party politician also warned that there would be consequences for those who exhibit antisemitic hatred.

“Lost its luster?”

November 2, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

It’s called being confronted with reality.

This is a classic German Green phenomenon. As soon as they’re given power, they promptly proceed to shoot themselves in the foot by proposing “solutions” to non-existent problems that “regular folks” simply can’t understand, much less afford. They’ve been given enough rope, in other words.

How Germany’s Greens Lost Their Luster – The party was riding high when it entered the government two years ago. Now it is stumbling, blamed for driving voters to the far right.

What a difference two years make. And a Russian invasion of Ukraine. And rising energy costs. And a host of missteps that some even within the party concede has stalled the Greens’ momentum.

Today the Greens are widely viewed as a drag on the government of the Social Democratic chancellor, Olaf Scholz, which one poll gave a mere 19 percent approval rating. The Greens have drawn withering attacks from even their own coalition partners. To their opponents, the Greens have overreached on their agenda and become the face of an out-of-touch environmental elitism that has alienated many voters, sending droves to the far right.

German Politicians Bewildered

October 3, 2023 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Like, what are we supposed to do? Take the concerns of our fellow citizens seriously (see Migrant Madness, unaffordable energy, the housing crisis, inflation, Ukraine, etc.)?

That’s out of the question.

Germany bewildered about how to halt the rise of the AfD – The far right’s rise is sending shock waves through the country’s political landscape.

In Germany, news regarding the seemingly unstoppable rise of the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) appears on an almost weekly basis. But nowadays this isn’t just true of the notoriously AfD-friendly states in east Germany, it’s also spreading further west.

In Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg, the AfD is currently running well above 30 percent. The party is gaining ground in the former West German states of Hesse and Bavaria as well, where it is expected to land at around 15 percent in this weekend’s elections.