Tag Archives: Russia

We Looted The Loot First

June 23, 2013 By in Habeas Corpus, Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, High Art, History, Home Cooking, Humor, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

The grand opening of a joint German-Russian art exhibition in St Petersburg was spoiled on Friday when Moscow objected to Angela Merkel’s plan to use her speech to refer to hundreds of looted German works of art looted by Red Army soldiers after the war.

Art

The Germans claim that some 1 million looted objects are still missing, including the Treasure of Priamos, objects looted by the Germans in Troy under the direction of Heinrich Schliemann way back in 1873.

Moscow appears to be open to compromise, but only when the Russian artworks destroyed by German troops during World War II – estimated to be more than 110m books and publications following the plundering of 427 Soviet museums and 4,000 libraries – be returned, as well.

“This is a very touchy question for the societies of both countries. We need to look for solutions, rather than inflating the problem.”

German Government’s Concern About NGO Raids Has Russians Shaking In Their Fur-Lined Boots

March 27, 2013 By in Habeas Corpus, Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Higher Education, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

After German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle himself summoned a Russian envoy to “express the German government’s concern” about a series of raids on German NGOs in Russia, the envoy broke down in tears of regret, fell to his knees, grovelled around for a bit and then promised that his country would never ever ever do anything bad like that again.

Guido

The Russian offices of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung have both come under intense scrutiny recently by Russian authorities seeking “foreign agents” who support domestic dissidents because, well, that’s what Russian authorities do. But all of this will come to a screeching halt now, I guess.

“Hampering the activity of German foundations could inflict lasting damage on bilateral relations.”

Gazprom Gerd Strikes Again

March 7, 2012 By in Habitudes, Heconomy, Helections, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

Former chancellor Gerhard Schroeder (SPD) is always good for popping a cork or two.

This time he’s ruffled a few German feathers by getting all warm and fuzzy about his good old buddy Vladimir Putin again. More specifically about Putin’s stunning (not) election victory over the weekend, praising him for being the “flawless democrat” that he is.

But this is nothing new. Schroeder has always been generous with praise for Putin. Especially since landing that 1 million euro-per-year consulting job from him at Gazprom’s Nord Stream consortium – just a few months (weeks?) after having left office.

It’s the gas, stupid.

Wes Brot ich ess, des Lied ich sing.

Let The Protests Begin

February 2, 2012 By in Habitudes, Hate, Helplessness, Hi-tech, Hurt Feelings, Hysteria Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

Now that the command center for NATO’s missile shield program will be based here in Germany, it’s time for the German Left (that’s the middle of the road here, by the way) to start telling us why this is an awful bad horrible idea.

My guess is that that we will find out that there are actually no such things as rogue states like Iran (only morally challenged ones), that a missle shield like this is absolutely positively technically impossible to implement, and that putting one into operation (even though it is absolutely positively technically impossible to implement) would hurt Russia’s feelings.

There’s not much happening on the Peace Front either these days, you see. And spring is just around the corner. And folks do get easily bored, you know?

The United States insists that the missile shield aims to counter missile threats from Iran, but Russia has voiced concerns that it would target its own strategic deterrent.

Let’s Deepen German-Russian Ties

July 16, 2011 By in Habitudes, Heconomy Tags: , , , , , , , , , 7 Comments

And let’s do so by cancelling a German freedom prize that was to be awarded to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin just days before German Chancellor Angela Merkel is to meet with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to discuss reinforcing their countries’ growing economic and trade ties.

Whatever. But he’ll be heartbroken for sure.

The Quadriga award annually honors people who are “role models for and from Germany” and is “dedicated to all those whose courage tears down walls and whose commitment builds bridges.”