Are Even The Germans Starting To Wake Up?

From this Green nonsense?

Nope. But there are signs of hope.

Sidelined Greens lose faith in the German coalition – Governing partners accuse each other of ‘crowbar’ politics and ‘exploiting social qualms’

The German Greens once thought they were in the driving seat of Olaf Scholz’s coalition. Some now feel like back-seat passengers on a political road to nowhere.

“There’s a lot of frustration,” said Rasmus Andresen, a Green member of the European parliament. “This coalition promised progress and a fresh start, but, to be honest, I don’t see much evidence of that now.”

The source of their anger is the series of painful concessions forced on them late last month by their coalition partners, Scholz’s Social Democrats and the liberal FDP, which dismayed senior Green leaders and enraged the party’s rank and file.

Scholz is for many Greens the cause of their plight. They once saw him as a natural ally — he had, after all, campaigned at the last election to become Germany’s “climate chancellor”. But these days they increasingly see him as an obstacle, ready to sell out Green interests for the sake of political peace.

“Scholz has sided with the FDP,” said Reinhard Bütikofer, another Green MEP. “The FDP and SPD obviously decided they could score political points by exploiting social qualms about climate policy. But that’s populism.”

Could, Might, Should…

But they won’t.

That the SPD even uses the word “could” says it all.

Germany’s ties with China chould change fundamentally – SPD leader.

Germany would be forced to cut ties with China in the way it has with Russia should China attack Taiwan, the leader of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD) told the weekly Die Zeit in comments published on Wednesday.

Eva K.

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.

No German Going-It-Alone Here

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.”

Mixed Signals

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

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.

Scam? What Scam? Me?

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.

German Of The Day: Stiftung

That means foundation. You know, like the “climate protection foundation” SPD Prime Minister (Governor) of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Manuela Schwesig created to get around American sanctions to help Russia finish the Nord Stream 2 pipeline – which never went into operation although completed, for some strange reason.

Now that she got caught the “foundation’s” chairman of the board has stepped down so it can quietly be liquidated.

The foundation had been the subject of criticism since its establishment in January 2021 because, in addition to climate protection, its main purpose was to secure the completion of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline through the Baltic Sea. Companies involved in the construction had in fact been threatened by US sanctions.

Nord Stream 2 AG paid 20 million euros into the foundation’s coffers. Nord Stream 2 was completed – with the foundation’s support. However, because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it has not received an operating permit from the German authorities. Schwesig has come under criticism for her long adherence to Nord Stream 2. Accusations have been made that Russian forces pulled the strings in key areas of the foundation. Schwesig had played a key role in promoting the establishment of the foundation in 2021.

A Promise Is A Promise

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

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.