Mixed Signals

November 7, 2022 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Hurt Feelings Tags: China, Dependency, EU, Europe, Germany, Olaf Scholz, SPD 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.”

Country With Army That Uses Broomsticks For Guns Calls For Military Autonomy

October 16, 2022 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hypocrisy Tags: Armies, Defense, EU, German, Germans, Germany, Military, Olaf Scholz, Social Democrats, Socialists, SPD Leave a comment

They’ll be using their own, domestically produced broomsticks for training in the future, I guess.

German Chancellor Calls for EU Reforms, Military Autonomy – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz Saturday called for reforms of the European Union to make it fit for the admission of new countries as well as more military autonomy of the 27-country bloc.

Speaking at the Congress of the Party of European Socialists in Berlin, Scholz advocated for gradually abolishing the principle of unanimity for decisions in foreign policy, but also in other areas such as tax policy…

Scholz also supports more military autonomy of the EU. He called for coordinated procurement of weapons and equipment, the establishment of an EU rapid reaction force by 2025, and for an EU headquarters for European armed forces.

I’m No Joe Biden

August 21, 2022 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: German, Germans, Germany, Joe Biden, Olaf Scholz, Polls, Popularity, Surveys Leave a comment

But I’m pretty damned unpopular all the same.

Over 60% of Germans are Dissatisfied with the Work of Chancellor Olaf Scholz – Currently, only 25% of Germans are satisfied with Scholz’s performance as chancellor, and as many as 62% are dissatisfied – a record low during his tenure.

If the chancellor had been elected directly, Scholz would have taken only third place. According to the survey, 25 percent would choose current Economy Minister Robert Habeck as Germany’s chancellor, 19 percent would choose CDU leader Friedrich Merz and only 18 percent would choose Scholz of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).

Scam? What Scam? Me?

August 12, 2022 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helections, Hideology, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: Banking, Corruption, German, Germans, Germany, Olaf Scholz, Politicians, Scams, Social Democracy, SPD, Tax evasion Leave a comment

How could I have played a role? I don’t remember anything. I know nothing, nothing!

And German state media does its duty and doesn’t know anything either. Scholz is one of the good guys, you see (SPD).

Germany: Pressure grows on Scholz over tax scam ties – Germany’s main opposition party has called on Chancellor Olaf Scholz to explain his role in a large-scale tax evasion scam while he was mayor of Hamburg.

Germany’s main opposition party has called on Chancellor Olaf Scholz to explain his role in a large-scale tax evasion scam while he was mayor of Hamburg.

Scholz has been dogged by questions about meetings he had with private bank M.M. Warburg in 2016 and 2017. Hamburg officials later dropped demands for the bank to repay millions of euros in tax refunds it had wrongly claimed for share trades.

A Promise Is A Promise

May 9, 2022 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: Defense, German, Germans, Germany, NATO, Olaf Scholz, Politicians, Promises, Social Democracy, SPD Leave a comment

Not.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised two months ago to deliver a substantial increase in defense spending. Where is that money now? Funny you should ask, since Mr. Scholz’s waffling on his signature pledge is a growing controversy in Berlin.

The “turning point” speech Mr. Scholz delivered on Feb. 27 included two promises: increase the annual military budget to at least 2% of GDP, in line with North Atlantic Treaty Organization targets, and create a one-time €100 billion ($105 billion) special fund for procurement. Crucially, the procurement fund would be exempt from the constitutional limit on government debt, although the regular military budget wouldn’t be…

Yet Mr. Scholz is struggling to say what he meant by his twin promises. His February speech neglected to specify whether he meant he’d spend 2% of GDP plus €100 billion, or whether he’d spend 2% of GDP including the €100 billion. The distinction matters.

German Of The Day: Beleidigte Leberwurst

May 4, 2022 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Hurt Feelings Tags: Frank-Walter Steinmeier, German, Germans, Germany, Language, Olaf Scholz, Pipelines, Politicians, Russia, SPD, Ukraine Leave a comment

Literally: Insulted liverwurst. It means to be offended, to sulk, to be in a huff.

Like German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. He’s an insulted liverwurst and won’t visit Ukraine because Kyiv refused to invite his Parteifreund (fellow SPD party member) and Germany’s head of state, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

German opposition leader visits Kyiv, Scholz refuses to go – Germany’s conservative opposition leader has traveled to Kyiv for meetings with Ukrainian officials including President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

German Of The Day: Hörig

April 25, 2022 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: German, Germans, Germany, Language, Olaf Scholz, Russia, Social Democracy, Socialists, SPD, Ukraine, Weapons Leave a comment

That means to be obedient, servile, to be in bondage or a slave, etc.

You know, as in “Germany is in bondage to Putin?”

For weeks, Olaf Scholz (63, SPD) has been hesitant to supply Ukraine with heavy weapons. In an interview on Friday, he spoke about his reasons: Concern about World War III and a nuclear conflict.

This has met with sharp criticism not only in Germany, but also in Europe. And in the U.S., too, people are reacting with displeasure to the chancellor’s lurching course. “What must happen for Germany to finally stand up to Russia?” the Los Angeles Times now asks in a commentary.

SPD

April 20, 2022 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hypocrisy Tags: German, Germans, Germany, Olaf Scholz, Political Parties, Russia, Social Democracy, Socialism, SPD, Ukraine Leave a comment

Socialists Pretending to like Democracy? Sleazy Politicians in Denial? Shallow, Phony and Dishonest?

Yes to all three, I’d say. And the WC on the picture rocks too.

The SPD is the Reason Germany is always afraid – Berlin hesitates on everything because of its ruling party’s identity problems.

German Of The Day: Zwickmühle

April 14, 2022 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: Frank-Walter Steinmeier, German, Germans, Germany, Language, Nord Stream II, Olaf Scholz, Poland, Russia, SPD, Ukraine Leave a comment

To be in the Zwickmuhle is to be in a predicament, to be on the horns of a dilemma.

As in Germany’s neighbors (see Ukraine and Poland) despising the pro-Russian policy it has been following forever, bypassing and ignoring them in the process. The punch line: Now the Germans are surprised, even offended that everyone is so upset about it. But it’s not much of a “dilemma,” if you ask me. It’s quite straightforward, really: The Germans went it alone, yet again, placed all their money on Putin & Co., and lost.

The reason for the rejection (for German President Steinmeier being unwelcome in Ukraine) is clearly Steinmeier’s course in recent years, which Kiev considers too Russia-friendly. As foreign minister, he had, among other things, always pushed for the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. “The warnings, it’s true, from our Eastern European partners we should have taken more seriously. Especially as far as the period after 2014 was concerned and the expansion of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. And that’s why holding on was certainly a mistake,” Steinmeier had admitted last week. But despite the admission of mistakes and errors: The extent to which Germany’s Russia policy in recent years has caused disquiet and upset in Kiev is only now becoming really clear.

Europe’s Sleeping Giant Awakes?

March 2, 2022 By Hermann Observer in Helplessness, Hideology, Humility, Humor, Hurt Feelings Tags: German, Germans, Germany, Military, Olaf Scholz, Russia, Taboos, Ukraine Leave a comment

Uh, believe me. Germany is still sleeping. Sound asleep. And a giant is the last thing it is. Certainly not when it comes to its military.

Europe’s Sleeping Giant Awakens – Politics in Berlin has undergone a cataclysm that no one saw coming.

Scholz announced that Germany would end its dependence on Russian gas (no, they won’t), spend an additional 100 billion euros on its military (a lot but not nearly enough), and deliver hundreds of anti-tank weapons and Stinger missiles to Ukraine in order to help its overmatched military counter Russia’s all-out assault (nice symbolic gesture). Germany may also be forced to extend the life of its nuclear plants to fill the energy gap created by the halt to Russian gas supplies (ha, ha, ha).

“Freedom does not mean as much in Germany as it might in other places,” this person told me, speaking on the condition of anonymity in order to candidly discuss German political mores. “If the trade-off is between economic decline and an erosion of freedoms, Germany could well choose the latter.”

Observing Hermann

“Was interessiert mich mein Geschwätz von gestern?”

Tag Archives: Olaf Scholz