Tag Archives: Olaf Scholz

Corruption?

December 20, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

In Germany? At the highest levels of government?

Yawn. Been there, done that. On a near daily basis even. Just look at the Banana Republic of Amerika if you need a role model.

German banker’s diaries add to Olaf Scholz’s political woes – Chancellor is facing questions over his term as Hamburg mayor, when city wrote off bank’s tax bill.

“It is pretty clear that a wealthy banker successfully influenced public decision making in his favour,” said Gerhard Schick, a former Green MP and head of Finanzwende, a financial reform lobby group, adding that policymakers later also tried to derail inquiries into the matter.

“What is at stake here is a very fundamental principle: the rule of law in a democratic society.” Scholz’s vast memory gaps were “implausible”, he added.

We did it!

December 14, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

My back is starting to hurt from all the patting I’ve been giving it.

We’ll just get around that old debt brake six months from now by declaring another “unforseen emergency” for more debt our high court can’t stop us from making. We’ve even announced what that unforeseen emergency will most likely be: Ukraine.

Germany clinches last-minute 2024 budget deal, keeps debt brake – Germany’s government clinched a last-minute deal on its 2024 budget on Wednesday that will see Berlin return to its self-imposed limits on new debt despite warnings this could hamper growth in Europe’s top economy and its green transition.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party coalition was faced with either suspending what is known as the debt brake or finding some 17 billion euros ($18.3 billion) in savings and tax hikes after a Nov. 15 constitutional court ruling threw its plans into disarray…

Others said the deal simply delayed a necessary decision on how to fund investments in an economy that has already suffered years of chronic underinvestment. Last month’s court ruling has made clear the government will not be able to resort as easily to off-budget funds going forwards.

Berlin doing everything it can to prevent war escalation by sending more German tanks to Ukraine

August 11, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

These are tanks of peace or something.

Well, tanks for nothing.

Germany pursues a responsible policy in providing military aid to Ukraine and ensures that the war remains the one between Ukraine and Russia. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said this on Thursday as he spoke with residents of Erfurt, Thuringia, Ukrinform reports.

“With all the decisions we make, we prevent escalation, the war between Russia and NATO; we make sure that the war remains the one between Russia and Ukraine. But we support Ukraine, which is defending itself,” said Scholz.

Shouldn’t You Unveil A First-Ever Army First?

June 14, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

This is kind of like leading from behind. Or being led from a behind, if you get my drift.

Germany to unveil first-ever National Security Strategy – Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government is set to unveil Germany’s first National Security Strategy on Wednesday which aims to provide an overview of the country’s foreign policy and ensure a cohesive cross-ministry approach to security.

Germany has had policy documents in the past addressing security but Scholz’s three-way coalition agreed it wanted a more comprehensive strategy in its pact in November 2021.

German Of The Day: Umarmung

May 26, 2023 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Humor Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

That means hug.

Frankfurt: A driver joined the convoy of Chancellor Olaf Scholz in his private car without authorization and hugged him after getting out without bodyguards intervening in time.

This incident raises significant questions.

Question number one: Why would you want to hug that guy? Question number two: Nope. That’s it, actually. I don’t have any other questions.

German Of The Day: Willkommensgeschenk

May 15, 2023 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means welcome gift.

Gift in German, by the way, means poison.

As a welcome gift, Scholz put together an arms package worth 2.7 billion euros. Germany is supplying more infantry fighting vehicles, older Leopard-1s, howitzers, armored combat vehicles, reconnaissance drones and ammunition. It is the most extensive pledge by the German government since the start of the war.

Thanks For Nothing

March 5, 2023 By in Habitudes, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

From Mr. Nothing himself.

To Mini-Mr. Nothing himself. Wow, and to think that he flew all the way over from Germany just to receive this nothing. But it was “profound” nothing, after all. And that’s certainly better than nothing. So think nothing of it.

Biden thanks Scholz for ‘profound’ German support on Ukraine – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and President Biden praised trans-Atlantic unity and vowed to keep up their joint cooperation to support Ukraine during Scholz’s visit to the White House.

German Of The Day: Selbstzufriedenheit

December 28, 2022 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

That means complacency or smugness.

A long and highly valued German state of mind.

I still recall the sardonic, patronizing response I received in the German Chancellery around 2010, when I tried to warn my interlocutors about the danger of Russian hybrid warfare tactics—the cocktail of disinformation, economic coercion, subversion, espionage, and threats of force that Russia uses against its neighbors. “You are not seriously saying that Russia would conduct these operations against the Federal Republic of Germany?” my hosts asked, incredulously.

“Duh, yes,” I replied.

Scholz publicly hankers for a return to Europe’s “pre-war peace order,” suggesting that the lessons of 2022 have yet to sink in.

No German Going-It-Alone Here

November 24, 2022 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

They have another word for it. It’s called Alleingang.

That means going-it-alone, of course. Although that is something Germans regularly claim they would never ever do. Apparently, only Germans are capable of believing such nonsense.

Olaf Scholz Is Undermining Western Unity on China – The German chancellor’s go-it-alone approach has alienated domestic, EU, and international partners.

The German chancellor sought to get ahead of the pack. Scholz argued it was time to speak directly with Xi after a three-year hiatus in such bilateral meetings due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The chancellor said he sought to confront issues in the Germany-China relationship precisely because it isn’t business as usual. In an op-ed in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Scholz wrote that “as China changes, so must our approach to the country.”