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German Handelsblatt Releases Stunning Anti-West Op-Ed, Asks If "West Rabble-Rousers Are On The Payroll Of The KGB"
Up until this point Angela Merkel, and German media in general, had been staunchly on the side of the west when it comes to dealing with Russia, Putin and realpolitik in broader terms. That changed dramatically today when Gabor Steingart, the chief editor of Handelsblatt, Germany's leading economic newspaper, came out with a stunning op-ed, in German, English and Russian, titled simply that "The West on the wrong path" in which the editor comes out very vocally against the autopilot mode German media has been on for the past several months and calls for an end to a strategy of sanctions and Russian confrontation that ultimately "harms German interests" and is a dead end.
Some of the "must read" excerpts:
- The politics of escalation does not have a realistic goal – and harms German interests.
- Newspapers we thought to be all about thoughts and ideas now march in lock-step with politicians in their calls for sanctions against Russia's President Putin. Even the headlines betray an aggressive tension as is usually characteristic of hooligans when they 'support' their respective teams. The Tagesspiegel: “Enough talk!“ The FAZ: “Show strength“. The Süddeutsche Zeitung: “Now or never.“ The Spiegel calls for an “End to cowardice“: “Putin's web of lies, propaganda, and deception has been exposed. The wreckage of MH 17 is also the result of a crashed diplomacy.“
- Our purpose is to wipe off some of the foam that has formed on the debating mouths, to steal words from the mouths of both the rabble-rousers and the roused, and put new words there instead. One word that has become disused of late is this: realism.
- Germany has waged war against its eastern neighbor twice in the past 100 years. The German soul, which we generally claim to be on the romantic side, showed its cruel side.
- The politics of escalation show that Europe sorely misses a realistic goal. It's a different thing in the US. Threats and posturing are simply part of the election preparations. When Hillary Clinton compares Putin with Hitler, she does so only to appeal to the Republican vote, i.e. people who do not own a passport. For many of them, Hitler is the only foreigner they know, which is why Adolf Putin is a very welcome fictitious campaign effigy. In this respect, Clinton and Obama have a realistic goal: to appeal to the people, to win elections, to win another Democratic presidency.
- Even the idea that economic pressure and political isolation would bring Russia to its knees was not really thought all the way through. Even if we could succeed: what good would Russia be on its knees? How can you want to live together in the European house with a humiliated people whose elected leadership is treated like a pariah and whose citizens you might have to support in the coming winter.
- It is not too late for the duo Merkel/Steinmeier to use the concepts and ideas of this time. It does not make sense to just follow the strategically idea-less Obama. Everyone can see how he and Putin are driving like in a dream directly towards a sign which reads: Dead End.
- Demonizing Putin is not a policy. It is an alibi for the lack thereof. He advises condensing conflicts, i.e. to make them smaller, shrink them, and then distill them into a solution. At the moment (and for a long time before that) America is doing the opposite. All conflicts are escalated. The attack of a terror group named Al Qaida is turned into a global campaign against Islam. Iraq is bombed using dubious justifications. Then the US Air Force flies on to Afghanistan and Pakistan. The relationship to the Islamic world can safely be considered damaged.
- The American tendency to verbal and then also military escalation, the isolation, demonization, and attacking of enemies has not proven effective. The last successful major military action the US conducted was the Normandy landing. Everything else – Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan – was a clear failure.
Punchline #1:
- Collective movements start in support of the sanctioned, as is the case today in Russia. The country was hardly ever more unified behind their president than now. This could almost lead you to think that the rabble-rousers of the West are on the payroll of the Russian secret service.
And Punchline #2:
- History does not have to repeat itself. Maybe we can find a shortcut.
Also maybe those looking for the moment in time when Germany finally rotated away from its pro-western mindset and took a long, hard look at the rising Eurasian/BRIC/counter US Dollar axis, should remember this article...
* * *
The West on the wrong path
In view of the events in Ukraine, the government and many media have switched from level-headed to agitated. The spectrum of opinions has been narrowed to the width of a sniper scope. The politics of escalation does not have a realistic goal – and harms German interests.
Every war is accompanied by a kind of mental mobilization: war fever. Even smart people are not immune to controlled bouts of this fever. “This war in all its atrociousness is still a great and wonderful thing. It is an experience worth having“ rejoiced Max Weber in 1914 when the lights went out in Europe. Thomas Mann felt a “cleansing, liberation, and a tremendous amount of hope“.
Even when thousands already lay dead on the Belgian battle fields, the war fever did not subside. Exactly 100 years ago, 93 painters, writers, and scientists composed the “Call to the world of culture.“ Max Liebermann, Gerhart Hauptmann, Max Planck, Wilhelm Röntgen, and others encouraged their countrymen to engage in cruelty towards their neighbor: “Without German militarism, German culture would have been swept from the face of the earth a long time ago. The German armed forces and the German people are one. This awareness makes 70 million Germans brothers without prejudice to education, status, or party.“
We interrupt our own train of thought: “History is not repeating itself!” But can we be so sure about that these days? In view of the war events in the Crimean and eastern Ukraine, the heads of states and governments of the West suddenly have no more questions and all the answers. The US Congress is openly discussing arming Ukraine. The former security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski recommends arming the citizens there for house-to-house and street combat. The German Chancellor, as it is her habit, is much less clear but no less ominous: “We are ready to take severe measures.“
German journalism has switched from level-headed to agitated in a matter of weeks. The spectrum of opinions has been narrowed to the field of vision of a sniper scope.
Newspapers we thought to be all about thoughts and ideas now march in lock-step with politicians in their calls for sanctions against Russia's President Putin. Even the headlines betray an aggressive tension as is usually characteristic of hooligans when they 'support' their respective teams.
The Tagesspiegel: “Enough talk!“ The FAZ: “Show strength“. The Süddeutsche Zeitung: “Now or never.“ The Spiegel calls for an “End to cowardice“: “Putin's web of lies, propaganda, and deception has been exposed. The wreckage of MH 17 is also the result of a crashed diplomacy.“
Western politics and German media agree.
Every reflexive string of accusations results in the same outcome: in no time allegations and counter-allegations become so entangled that the facts become almost completely obscured.
Who deceived who first?
Did it all start with the Russian invasion of the Crimean or did the West first promote the destabilization of the Ukraine? Does Russia want to expand into the West or NATO into the East? Or did maybe two world-powers meet at the same door in the middle of the night, driven by very similar intentions towards a defenseless third that now pays for the resulting quagmire with the first phases of a civil war?
If at this point you are still waiting for an answer as to whose fault it is, you might as well just stop reading. You will not miss anything. We are not trying to unearth this hidden truth. We don't know how it started. We don't know how it will end. And we are sitting right here, in the middle of it. At least Peter Sloterdijk has a few words of consolation for us: “To live in the world means to live in uncertainty.“
Our purpose is to wipe off some of the foam that has formed on the debating mouths, to steal words from the mouths of both the rabble-rousers and the roused, and put new words there instead. One word that has become disused of late is this: realism.
The politics of escalation show that Europe sorely misses a realistic goal. It's a different thing in the US. Threats and posturing are simply part of the election preparations. When Hillary Clinton compares Putin with Hitler, she does so only to appeal to the Republican vote, i.e. people who do not own a passport. For many of them, Hitler is the only foreigner they know, which is why Adolf Putin is a very welcome fictitious campaign effigy. In this respect, Clinton and Obama have a realistic goal: to appeal to the people, to win elections, to win another Democratic presidency.
Angela Merkel can hardly claim these mitigating circumstances for herself. Geography forces every German Chancellor to be a bit more serious. As neighbors of Russia, as part of the European community bound in destiny, as recipient of energy and supplier of this and that, we Germans have a clearly more vital interest in stability and communication. We cannot afford to look at Russia through the eyes of the American Tea Party.
Every mistake starts with a mistake in thinking. And we are making this mistake if we believe that only the other party profits from our economic relationship and thus will suffer when this relationship stops. If economic ties were maintained for mutual profit, then severing them will lead to mutual loss. Punishment and self-punishment are the same thing in this case.
Even the idea that economic pressure and political isolation would bring Russia to its knees was not really thought all the way through. Even if we could succeed: what good would Russia be on its knees? How can you want to live together in the European house with a humiliated people whose elected leadership is treated like a pariah and whose citizens you might have to support in the coming winter.
Of course, the current situation requires a strong stance, but more than anything a strong stance against ourselves. Germans have neither wanted nor caused these realities, but they are now our realities. Just consider what Willy Brandt had to listen to when his fate as mayor of Berlin placed him in the shadow of the wall. What sanctions and punishments were suggested to him. But he decided to forgo this festival of outrage. He never turned the screw of retribution.
When he was awarded the Noble Prize for Peace he shed light on what went on around him in the hectic days when the wall was built: “There is still another aspect – that of impotence disguised by verbalism: taking a stand on legal positions which cannot become a reality and planning counter-measures for contingencies that always differ from the one at hand. At critical times we were left to our own devices; the verbalists had nothing to offer.“
The verbalists are back and their headquarters are in Washington D.C. But nobody is forcing us to kowtow to their orders. Following this lead – even if calculatingly and somewhat reluctantly as in the case of Merkel – does not protect the German people, but may well endanger it. This fact remains a fact even if it was not the American but the Russians who were responsible for the original damage in the Crimean and in eastern Ukraine.
Willy Brandt decided clearly differently than Merkel in the present, and that in a clearly more intense situation. As he recalls, he had awoken on the morning of August 13, 1961 “wide awake and at the same time numb“. He had stopped over in Hanover on a trip when he received reports from Berlin about work being done on the large wall separating the city. It was a Sunday morning and the humiliation could hardly be greater for a sitting mayor.
The Soviets had presented him with a fait accompli. The Americans had not informed him even though they had probably received some information from Moscow. Brandt remembers that an “impotent rage“ had risen in him. But what did he do? He reined in his feelings of impotence and displayed his great talent as reality-based politician which would garner him a stint as Chancellor and finally also the Nobel Prize for Peace.
With the advice from Egon Bahr, he accepted the new situation, knowing that no amount of outrage from the rest of the world would bring this wall down again for a while. He even ordered the West-Berlin police to use batons and water cannons against demonstrators at the wall in order not to slip from the catastrophe of division into the much greater catastrophe of war. He strove for the paradox which Bahr put as follows later: “We acknowledged the Status Quo in order to change it.“
And they managed to accomplish this change. Brandt and Bahr made the specific interests of the West Berlin population for who they were now responsible (from June 1962 onwards this also included this author) into the measure of their politics.
In Bonn they negotiated the Berlin subvention, an eight-percent tax-free subvention on payroll and income tax. In the vernacular it was called the “fear premium“. They also negotiated a travel permit treaty with East Berlin which made the wall permeable again two years after it was put up. Between Christmas 1963 and New Year’s 1964, 700 000 inhabitants of Berlin visited their relatives in the east of the city. Every tear of joy turned into a vote for Brandt a short while later.
The voters realized that here was someone who wanted to affect the way they lived every day, not just generate a headline for the next morning. In an almost completely hopeless situation, this SPD man fought for western values – in this case the values of freedom of movement – without bullhorns, without sanctions, without the threat of violence. The elite in Washington started hearing words that had never been heard in politics before: Compassion. Change through rapprochement. Dialog. Reconciliation of interests. And this in the middle of the Cold War, when the world powers were supposed to attack each other with venom, when the script contained only threats and protestations; set ultimatums, enforce sea blockades, conduct representative wars, this is how the Cold War was supposed to be run.
A German foreign policy striving for reconciliation – in the beginning only the foreign policy of Berlin – not only appeared courageous but also very strange.
The Americans – Kennedy, Johnson, then Nixon – followed the German; it kicked off a process which is unparalleled in the history of enemy nations. Finally, there was a meeting in Helsinki in order to set down the rules. The Soviet Union was guaranteed “non-interference into their internal affairs“ which filled party boss Leonid Brezhnev with satisfaction and made Franz Josef Strauß's blood boil. In return, the Moscow Communist Party leadership had to guarantee the West (and thus their own civil societies) “respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including that of thought, conscience, religion or belief“.
In this way “non-interference“ was bought through “involvement“. Communism had received an eternal guarantee for its territory, but within its borders universal human rights suddenly began to brew. Joachim Gauck remembers: “The word that allowed my generation to go on was Helsinki.“
It is not too late for the duo Merkel/Steinmeier to use the concepts and ideas of this time. It does not make sense to just follow the strategically idea-less Obama. Everyone can see how he and Putin are driving like in a dream directly towards a sign which reads: Dead End.
“The test for politics is not how something starts but how it ends“, so Henry Kissinger, also a Peace Nobel Prize winner. After the occupation of the Crimean by Russia he stated: we should want reconciliation, not dominance. Demonizing Putin is not a policy. It is an alibi for the lack thereof. He advises condensing conflicts, i.e. to make them smaller, shrink them, and then distill them into a solution.
At the moment (and for a long time before that) America is doing the opposite. All conflicts are escalated. The attack of a terror group named Al Qaida is turned into a global campaign against Islam. Iraq is bombed using dubious justifications. Then the US Air Force flies on to Afghanistan and Pakistan. The relationship to the Islamic world can safely be considered damaged.
If the West had judged the then US government which marched into Iraq without a resolution by the UN and without proof of the existence of “WMDs“ by the same standards as today Putin, then George W. Bush would have immediately been banned from entering the EU. The foreign investments of Warren Buffett should have been frozen, the export of vehicles of the brands GM, Ford, and Chrysler banned.
The American tendency to verbal and then also military escalation, the isolation, demonization, and attacking of enemies has not proven effective. The last successful major military action the US conducted was the Normandy landing. Everything else – Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan – was a clear failure. Moving NATO units towards the Polish border and thinking about arming Ukraine is a continuation of a lack of diplomacy by the military means.
This policy of running your head against the wall – and doing so exactly where the wall is the thickest – just gives you a head ache and not much else. And this considering that the wall has a huge door in the relationship of Europe to Russia. And the key to this door is labeled “reconciliation of interests“.
The first step is what Brandt called “compassion“, i.e. the ability to see the world through the eyes of the others. We should stop accusing the 143 million Russian that they look at the world differently than John McCain.
What is needed is help in modernizing the country, no sanctions which will further decrease the dearth of wealth and damage the bond of relationships. Economic relationships are also relationships. International cooperation is akin to tenderness between nations because everyone feels better afterwards.
It is well-known that Russia is an energy super-power and at the same time a developing industrial nation. The policy of reconciliation and mutual interests should attack here. Development aid in return for territorial guarantees; Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier even had the right words to describe this: modernization partnership. He just has to dust it off and use it as an aspirational word. Russia should be integrated, not isolated. Small steps in that direction are better than the great nonsense of exclusionary politics.
Brandt and Bahr have never reached for the tool of economic sanctions. They knew why: there are no recorded cases in which countries under sanctions apologized for their behavior and were obedient ever after. On the contrary: collective movements start in support of the sanctioned, as is the case today in Russia. The country was hardly ever more unified behind their president than now. This could almost lead you to think that the rabble-rousers of the West are on the payroll of the Russian secret service.
One more comment about the tone of the debate. The annexation of the Crimean was in violation of international law. The support of separatists in eastern Ukraine also does not mesh with our ideas of the state sovereignty. The boundaries of states are inviolable.
But every act requires context. And the German context is that we are a society on probation which may not act as if violations of international law started with the events in the Crimean.
Germany has waged war against its eastern neighbor twice in the past 100 years. The German soul, which we generally claim to be on the romantic side, showed its cruel side.
Of course, we who came later can continue to proclaim our outrage against the ruthless Putin and appeal to international law against him, but the way things are this outrage should come with a slight blush of embarrassment. Or to use the words of Willy Brandt: “Claims to absolutes threaten man.“
In the end, even the men who had succumbed to war fever in 1914 had to realize this. After the end of the war, the penitent issued a second call, this time to understanding between nations: “The civilized world became a war camp and battle field. It is time that a great tide of love replaces the devastating wave of hatred.“
We should try to avoid the detour via the battle fields in the 21st century. History does not have to repeat itself. Maybe we can find a shortcut.
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With enemies like this, who needs friends?
The Saker has a great write up on his site, if there is interest.
You wanna be Uncle Sam's bitch? Pay the price!\http://vineyardsaker.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/you-wanna-be-uncle-sams-bit...
"Let these arrogant non-entities like Van Rompuy, Catherine Ashton, Angela Merkel or José Manuel Barroso deal with the shitstorm their stupidity and spinelessness have created." Excellent piece.
Thank you for link. The comments were 5 star.
Uncle Sams bitch, hilarious.
I hope everyone , even the doubting Thomas's read saker. Maybe Tyler(s) you can promote the article to the No.1 position even though many fine comments appear before this.
The responses to the article are equally enjoyable.
After all WE are all being SHAFTED by those whose contempt for Joe and Josephine Public knows no bounds.
Tired of all this fall of the dollar crap. Dollar already fallen as much as it will. At best there was a 1% advantage at one time. In the current rate "environment" its questionable any currency is worth anything. If the BRICS et al want to cut the dollar out of their trades and financing let them. I'm sure that will work out splendidly. Who said it recently, something about "winning a war with no battles?" -Sounds right to me.
"Dollar already fallen as much as it will."
i can take that to the bank right?
I heard an interview with some Brazilian minister on the radio today. He said he was thrilled to get all the business and said they would more then double exports to Russia (like chicken meat, fruits, etc). He said Brazil would honor all the trade agreements they have with the other BRIC members. He said the sanctions were a huge bonus to SA since they would all increase production, increase exports and prosper heartily.
Sounded like he was pretty happy at the EU's Folly.
We should be working on improving the lot of South America anyway.
They have 3 words for you in South America:
Gringo GO HOME
The Russians and Chinese will control South America via Brazil and BRICS
The US is done!
"This could almost lead you to think that the rabble-rousers of the West are on the payroll of the Russian secret service."
More than once I've wondered that about ZH and some of its stridently pro-Putin posters who act like he's channeling Murray Rothbard or something.
Mi Naem
re-read the article and understand:
The "rabble-rousers" are those supporting EU-NATO escalation of conflict against Russia,
which in turn increases Putin's popularity within Russia.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Perhaps something was lost in translation.
"Jingoist rabble-rousers of the West" I think would have more clearly conveyed what the author intended.
Most jingoist rabble rousers will think someone else is meant.
You know you're talking to one when he starts with "I am not a jingoist rabble rouser, but ..."
When one has NO leadership in their own country, it is natural to admire leadership in another- even if you do not always agree with that country's policy.
Have the super-rich in Europe - including Germany - fully fallen in line behind the Anglo-American elite and the world banksters? If Steingart's claim that the entire corporate media of Europe has jumped on the Putin-bashing bandwagon is right, it would seem so. And the situation is rapidly approaching the point of decision, where they would have to break ranks or fully engage in the economic, financial and perhaps military struggle to break Russia and open it and Central Europe to plunder. If that point has not already been passed.
This is bad news for those of us who read too much into Putin's relationship with Merkel.
But it begs the question: what is going on in Europe below that level? Will they be able to bring the rest of their countrymen along with them, especially as the costs of the economic warfare and collapse bite hard? Who is organizing resistance to this, what segments of the population, in what countries, against this disastrous policy? In which countries might this resistance break through into a change of direction, a defection from this war front?
Where are these discussions and debates taking place, that we could listen in on them?
We had a hint in ZH with reports of anti-Fed rallies in 100 German cities and more recently anti Ukraine intervention rallies - both denounced illogically enough as anti-Semitic. I recollect that the anti-globalization movement had deep roots in Germany. We hear reports of German industrialists complaining about the cost of sanctions, and of outrage over uncovered spying and stolen gold. But where can this go?
We need more information. Good links anyone?
OK, evidently this article is coming from an inner circle of Germany's elite. It's a trial balloon. By its own admission it's going against the tide, at least at the level of the media barons.
What's behind it? This is another glimpse of something big stirring below the surface. There are thousands, maybe millions of people involved in that "something big". Where are their voices and how do we get them into focus?
The Yellowstone Cauldera comes to mind. The ground is heaving and shaking a bit, guysers die and new ones appear, but nothing much seems to be happening. But Yellowstone, no one knows how to predict it. This one is perhaps more like a pregnant woman. Not much showing yet, but her time is at hand.
<brace for bad Merkel jokes>
The inner bad guys only directly control the banks and the media. The rest of the elites were on the same side because it made them money but now the banking mafia are pushing the world towards WW3 the outer part of the elites will start to want to change sides.
@ WhyWait Excellent questions and i am only the 2nd vote UP so far. Appears as is the normal human span of attention ( even with the folks on Z/H ) your comment will go mostly unread.
Despite belonging to the GROUP 99% such is the inability to organize against the 1% who control MSM we remain fragmented. Of course there are many BLOGS and great individual thinkers like RON PAUL who will not receive the recognition they deserve due to the limited access to mainstream platform OWNERSHIP.
BUT as the great Bob Dylan said The Times they are a Changin'
Keep reading Z/H because hopefully ONE DAY a LEADER may appear to TAKE US TO THE PROMISED LAND. RESPECT
"The annexation of the Crimean was in violation of international law."
No, it wasn't.
"When Hillary Clinton compares Putin with Hitler, she does so only to appeal to the Republican vote." Right. It's only "realism" that she should be allowed to gravely insult the elected President of another country.
Well, at least the guy calls for the end of the warmongering. Better than nothing...
yeah, he can't get it too corect someone would accuse him of being a Russophile.
standing on the Republican Right, she doesn't appeal to me, even when she says stupid shit
The world is dropping its dollar dependency like lightning. I don't blame them. The great satan is riding a rocket into history. Good bye, america. we hardly recognized you from our history lessons. Fascist, Fucking Statists in DC killed the golden goose. Way to go, assholes.
Let's see, rack up trillions in debt, eavesdrop on your allies, fuck over other nations banks with your sovereign banking laws, start the world on fire with "military actions" in just about every third world nation, tell every other nation how to run their business. Hell, buy a peace prize or two. It's a wonder they're still talking to us, and not invading us.
Historically, the Germans look East. Not West.
Good luck to them.
The motto of the US State Dept. and of the CIA - "Deinde Perdere" or "Let's see what we can fuck-up next."....
endlich!
a bit of reason from the Germans.
now the question is, can this be converted into action?
Germany was seduced into the EU with the prospect of having Europe at its feet-some thing the Germans have spent 100 years and untold treasure attempting.
The reality has turned out to be 180 degrees different-Europe is a millstone around the neck of the Germans. To be frank, the Eurons in Brussels live in fear the day the Germans act on that reality.
NOT TRUE. Germany was forced into the EEC when the US wanted German Re-Armament in 1957 and France wanted control over German Steel and Coal.
It was a defeated nation forced to accept France control of German coal and steel just as when France took the Saarland after two world wars, and occuped The Ruhr in 1923.
German did not choose the EEC - it was forced into it by the USA to pacify France
Sandmann, you are twisting real history like a freaking bretzel
If stand behind this view, then explain what Germany did want at that time, or later, or now
fact is that both France and Germany did not want to squabble about steel and coal... ever again
I do like the European project and think the Franco-German friendship is crucial ( if that fails, we all suffer ).
But in all fairness, was Germany really a sovereign nation in 1956 ? Is it really sovereign today ? I believe part of the anti-Europe and anti-euro sentiment in Germany can be explained by the fact some Germans feel they had very little say or choice in any of this. E.g. : the euro ( your beloved project ) was the price Germany paid for reunification, without the German people even being aware at the time such a deal was done.
I rather agree with Sandmann.
What Germany did want at the time or now ? Probably have a real say in those kind of decisions. And yes, maybe the decisions they would have made if they really had had a choice would not have been very different from what they have now.
Correct me if I am wrong, you are much more knowledgable than I am about all this stuff.
@piratepiet, I thought this thread was nearly dead
in all fairness: not much. yet the main medium and long-term goals of all mainstream parties in Western Germany were clear and are well documented. and having little say is not the same as having nothing to say
unification was very high on that list, for example. avoidance/prevention of all wars among european nations still is
of course part of the anti-EU and anti-EUR sentiment in all of europe is based on a conservative, nationalistic wish for a return to the full sovereignty of 100 years ago
yet this sentiment is very limited, and in Germany it's less than 10% of the population
Germany is having a real say on many things. but not many of them are of Sandmann's taste
a thought for you: what would be Germany's political and diplomatic situation now without the EU and without the EUR?
the first is a trade alliance which has many, many features which give manouver space in trade wars
the second is a monetary alliance which has many, many features which give manouver space in currency wars
now, lo and behold, what do we have? currency and trade wars. and Germany is definitely an important leader in Europe in both
what the German leadership of the last 60 years had to learn was that if you want something, you have to provide yourself the diplomatic space for it. because if you don't have manouver space, your options are limited more by contingent facts than by your will
and yes, this is all a very "elitist" view, based on a reading over decades of what the German political elites said and did. which of course is not necessarily what the German People in general not being aware of much of the details. and this is a pity of... the usual general disinterest of the masses
now again, imagine Germany with a direct embargo of it's trade from the BRICS and the Deutsche Mark under speculative pressure from everywhere
note how options would be more limited? a case where what you want is even further away, and all options are only of reaction to external pressure?
@Ghordius
Thanks for your excellent reply.
I can imagine a few scenarios of what Germany would look like without the EU or euro, all unattractive to US, France and Britain. For one Germany would be better able to engage in mutual beneficial relations with Russia.
It has been said that Germany is too big for Europe and too small for the world.
The value of the European project is mainly in maintaining peace in my opinion, more than in the economic aspects you seem to stress ( but they are linked of course ).
The point in the future will be to ( keep ) convince(ing) the German public of the same.
The advantages of being part of the EU, for instance the size of the EU in negotiating trade agreements with the rest of the world as you mentioned, come at a price for Germany. And whether they are willing to pay that price ( not solely in terms of money ) is up to them I hope. Another thought that occurs to me is that really these huge export surplusses are maybe not necessary from a German national point of view ( this is of course paying off handsomely to foreign shareholders; only 49 percent of shares of Deutsche bank are owned by Germans I believe ).
There is a political awakening in Germany. It took them quite a while. ( Simplifying I would say that Germans are masters in natural sciences, the Anglos in social sciences/humanities; I do not really belong to either group ). E.g. the founding of Alternative für Deutschland party which did better in the European elections than in the German national elections. If the elites want to keep this European show on the road they will have to address this (perceived) lack of real choice. The EU and euro have really been too much of a thing imposed on the Germans, for historical reasons. Continuing in a similar fashion would be a mistake I think.
Nationalize German factories on U.S. soil! Then bomb Iceland!
Can you please explain that joke ?
with the FSO to keep tabs on what they are up to
Yeah Adolph, I've heard of him. Meat tenderizer right?
The German corporate nazis express surprise when the Anglos choose primary inputs over value added goods.
Its most likely that Vlad of the KGB is following the wests "mistakes" closely
this is in fact a signal that it wants to break up the euro value added entrepot.
Germany demands declaration of all American spies in Germany
http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/spionage-bundesregierung-aufde...
Our govt would demand the same if it wasn't already in the control of aliens
endlich!
something out of Germany
that doesn't sound like neocon babble.
are they just words or is there action behind them?
The New York Times crew chart the decline of Europe via its decline of wine consumption.
"Partly, this is because everybody’s world has become so much bigger. About 50 to 75 years ago, most Europeans outside of big cities drank only the local wine. It was all that was available. You bought a barrel for the year, or refilled your demijohn at the local cooperative.
Even 10 years ago on a trip to Campania, I met wine consultants who knew nothing of Barolo. Why should they? They were from Campania! Such narrowness would be unthinkable today."
The quality of the produce has increased but you don't have the tokens to buy it as the costs of current trade practices has been socialized.
This is known as capitalistic overproduction which causes a total breakdown of local trade
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/27/dining/in-wine-drinking-europe-and-america-trade-places.html?_r=0
The solution from their point of view is to make the world smaller again.
What can we learn from this.
Never EVER BECOME THE BANKERS FAVOURITE CHILD PRODIGY - IT ALWAYS ENDS IN TEARS FOR THE CHILD (GERMANY)
Condensed wisdom.
TD,
thanks for this...however, you forgot to embolden this single, salient line:
"Demonizing Putin is not a policy. It is an alibi for the lack thereof."
sorta sez it all...brilliant in its brevity, poignant in its pithiness and efficiently engineered for maximum effect (the way germans do).
oh, and, thank you handelsblatt...i didn't know whether there was a legitimate press left in the west; and it's strange to see the fourth estate conducting itself as such -- but it's welcome round here.
janus
But they have a policy -- encircle and eventually dismember Russia, install compliant leadership in the Kremlin (think of Yeltsin, Gaidar, Khodorkovsky, etc.), prevent a Eurasian rapprochement from Lisbon to Vladivostok (the happy prospect Reagan and Gorbachev had opened up), and seize Russia's fabulous natural resource wealth.
The demonization of Putin is part and parcel of implementing this policy.
Germany has a Muslim problem like America has a Kenyan problem, the real question is why is Germany taking marching orders from Muslims?
Do they like being the EU Muslim experiment's tax bitch?
Merkel notwithstanding, German citizens overwhelmingly favor a Herman Cain responce to american imperialism: "NEIN, NEIN, NEIN".
This is america you drop the dollar and they torch the whole fucking planet. It is all or literally nothing, that is the only bullet they have left...
+100 The irony of Nixon's so-called mad dog "act" is that it's not an act .
Yes these days TRUTH is stunning
The article is a good start but they just couldn't bring themselves to go all the way. The author dropped the ball when he referred to the Crimea thing as illegal and that they (Germans) are all for territorial integrity (Hello? Kosovo, anyone?).
Bunch of hypocrites.
Wasn't surprised to see Der Spiegel pumping the war-on-Russia message. Isn't that rag owned by Rupert Murdoch?
No, Der Spiegel is not owned by Murdoch. Majority owned by the employees + Gruener und Jahr + the family of Rudolf Augstein.
Good to know.
Murdoch is like the Squid of the media world.
WHO started Der Spiegel????
The author dropped the ball when he referred to the Crimea thing as illegal and that they (Germans) are all for territorial integrity (Hello? Kosovo, anyone?).
100% agree . . . .
"If I didn't have Unintended Consequences, I'd have no consequences at all"...distilled from Henry Hazliitt's "Economics in One Lesson" (1946)(1978). The wise man does at the Beginning, what the fool does at the End.
On Commencement Day; the games are On.
I'm deeply offended by his rational, well-thought out points that conflict with the endless government media propaganda stream I watch, so I'm just going to say he's obviously an American-hating commie that wants Americans in Muslim chains.
He's probably gay for Putin too.
?????? ??????, ????? ????????,
????? ????????? ????????,
? ?? ????? ??? ?????????
?????? ?? ????? ?????????...
That's the question. ???
You need to write in Latin Characters and not in Either cyrillic or Greek Mate
Thats greek ?????????
that's Russian ??????????
I don't own a passport, and I'm not a Republican. I would like to travel, but I'm too poor to do so. Why would I have a passport? Fuck you, German elitist.
There are the 6 media companies that exist today in the U.S. There used to be 88. These 6 all get their news from Reuters and the Associated Press. Reuters owns the AP. And the Rothschilds own Reuters. The Rothschilds also have control of the three European news agencies, Wolff (est. 1849) in Germany, Reuters (est. 1851) in England, and Havas (est. 1835) in France. That means they control most of what we read or see on the MSM. We are being programmed. Most of what we believe, do, feel, want to buy, and want to TOLERATE is programmed. It is not a stretch to say we are treated like mushrooms -- we live in the dark and are fed lots of shit. “If my sons did not want wars, there would be none.” Gutle Schnaper Rothschild
I'm really surprised that the German populace would be so gullible and fall so easily into the MSM driven traps. One would think that after WWI and WWWII they would be much more inclined to think for themselves and won't allow some Zionists media to manipulate them into every form of mental slavery. It appears to me that this is the first article out of Germany that attempts to see things differently. The White House Bolsheviks, with their Leninist-in-Chief should be worried...very war-ried .
If the West had judged the then US government which marched into Iraq without a resolution by the UN and without proof of the existence of “WMDs“ by the same standards as today Putin, then George W. Bush would have immediately been banned from entering the EU. The foreign investments of Warren Buffett should have been frozen, the export of vehicles of the brands GM, Ford, and Chrysler banned.
AWESOME! Coming from a mainstream western publication maybe this portends a crack in the armor of American hegemony - much like the first cracks that eventually brought down the Berlin wall and ultimately the Soviet Union.
The US government is embarrassing in its poor decisions, is authoritarianism, and its general arrogance and ineptitude.
Putin's actions in Ukraine are understandable. Putin is aiming to achieve Russian interests, embarrass the US for daring to intervene in a Russian Client state, and to enhance Russian international prestige
The problem with the WAY that he did it is that it clearly communicated to the world that the way to show strength and prestige is by way of military invasion.
You are already seeing others act likewise.
What do small nations do when they see that a stronger neighbor may cut short the internal debates in a country, and simply militarily intervene?
Well, we have at least 2000 years of history to tell us the answer: They make alliances amongst themselves, and/or with any foreign strongman who is slightly more distant, and then they actively work to weaken their strong neighbor.
Where does this go?
It goes to the Mongol Invasion, the 100 Years War, The 30 years war, and ultimately to WWI.
That is my complaint with how the 'annexation' of Crimea was achieved. That the Crimeans actually wanted to be part of Russia is not a problem. It is how it was done that will be a big problem for us all.
"Military invasion"? What military invasion?
That is my complaint with how the 'annexation' of Crimea was achieved. That the Crimeans actually wanted to be part of Russia is not a problem. It is how it was done that will be a big problem for us all.
So I suppose you would rather have this kind of thing dealt with like NATO handled Kosovo, right? Bomb the shit out of the people not wanted in power, frame and imprison the leader of the country that is objected to (and have him mysteriously die while in prison) and then make an acclamation that a new country exists.
80+% of the people in Crimea voted in the referendum to re-join Russia and of those 80% over 95% of the voters were in favour of the reunion. Putting all the propoganda from the US and EU aside regarding "Russian coercion" to pressure voters to vote for the reunification, the Crimea referendum was a classic example of democracy in action. Also, there was no Russian invasion of Crimea prior to, or after, the referendum. By treaty with Ukraine they had ~20,000 troops stationed there to begin with.
Try to get a large group of diverse people and get 95% of them to agree on anything let alone what type of gov't they should have. This idiocy gets repeated ad finitium on here time and time again the last few months.
They did not vote on what kind of government to have, they voted on whether or not to be reunited with the Russian Federation - big difference. Whether or not the actual end result of the vote was 70%, 80% or 95% of the cast ballots the result was overwhelmingly in favor of reunification with Russia. That's not idiocy, it's a fact, so deal with it.
"military invasion"
Russian naval base with 20,000 troops legally based there just like the 100s of US bases around the world with tens of thousands of US troops legally based there.
There was no invasion. It was a big lie by the media.
That Handelsblatt editorial is one of the best opinion pieces that I have ever read. That editorial makes cogent, common sense arguments throughout and the language it chooses to express those arguments is excellent.
Thanks for bring this editorial to our attention, ZH.
If you liked the editorial, then you'll love this speech in the Irish parlament a few days ago. If only one of our neutered politicians in Washington had the balls to make such an honest speech on the floor of the House or Senate. Goose bumps.
http://thepensivequill.am/2014/08/david-norris-in-devasting-form-on-gaza.html
For one thing, I've seen more accusations, here, there, and everywhere, on comment boards, where people accuse one another of being paid trolls for X more than I used to.
While likely true every once in a while, I find it hard to believe, for example, the NSA, or British Intelligence bothers tasking someone with putting "disinfo" on sites as small as this or "infowars" - as to the latter, Alex Jonestown seems to be doing a great job of providing shitty information all on his own, although he's the Brittanica compaired to Veterans Today.
Anyhow, I think American Foreign policy has been manifestly hijacked away from pursuing the interests of the American people and into an obvious, whatever you want to call it - militarist globalism, obvious MIC/corporate and yes, Israeli factions... but the punchline always seems to be avoidable, counter-productive war.
What's frightening is the total lack of perspective many Americans, most older Americans have as to the yellow journalism and strange anti-Russian narrative of the MSM. Don't these people remember Iraq, and how the NYT and others basically regurgitated the neocons' sham info.
One need not want to be anally violated by Herr Putin to not buy the sort of shit Dick Cheney et al are saying about him. I'm a little disappointed I have to say so.
war is, perhaps, the last refuge of conflict resolution
representing the trance of acceptance of total personal
and collective failure.
it's also a product of government and the state and gets
all wrapped up in those terms and memes. wave the flag of
technological superiority here and pray away the human
loss.
.
finance partly sold itself as a superior means of conflict
resolution, war by other means, as long as growth of the
system could be represented as the need for further financialization
and price inflation, opportunity flourished. when obstacles
or resistance to this growth and expansion were confronted,
limited military operations, war by another term, was used
to eliminate or co-opt the resistance.
however, when limits are reached, things crash into
brick walls so to speak.
we appear to be at the end stage of a system that functioned
that way; the event horizon of financialization as no limited
operation is going to provide the assets to further financialize
and no expansion is possible without great resistance, either
outwardly or inward.
the people can only work so many jobs for less and less product;
the fees, fines and taxes can only take so much of the flesh.
the money can only be created out of nothing and stolen for
so long till a great many someones on the train notices there are no more
rails on this line.
.
at this point only the blind and desperate would lead their
fellows into a suicidal war. that, or the stupid. this is not
your father's depression, it is on you and strikes to your
intelligence and understanding of the ways of man and the
ways of the world.
i say god bless and good luck. you can do this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VVBrEteNLQ
Paul Thorn 'Sure Sign That She's Gone'
you know a tree by its fruit. not the fruit
under the tree or the fruit the tree dreams of,
but, by its own actual fruit.
the money system is the bad fruit that has
poisoned the legal system that calls for the
destruction of external "threats" that will result in
self destruction. watch ......
"When Hillary Clinton compares Putin with Hitler, she does so only to appeal to the Republican vote, i.e. people who do not own a passport. For many of them, Hitler is the only foreigner they know,"
LOL, many here might argue something else....
"LOL, many here might argue something else...."
for example?
lot of innuendo - where's the beef? :)
Polonius.
"I did enact Julius Caesar. I was killed i' th' Capitol. Brutus killed me."
From time to time I have a jolly paranoid conspiracy, and the above quote from "Hamlet" prompted one.
Think about it. The US is Ceasar. The conspiring Senators are the fed up members of the EU. The UK can be Mark Antony.
So we don't know what's happening because the EU hatches it's little plot without telling us, unlike the conspiring Senators' dialogue early in Shakespeare's other play.
The US keeps pushing and pushing the worthless sanctions on Russia which do nothing but cost the EU members valuable exports, but do nothing to the US which prints its own currency ad lib.
The Ides of March. The Capitol steps. The assassination and resulting chaos. They're all there.
I'll be the soothsayer.
Mumbles: "Ay, Ceasar, but not gone."
Nice one.... but methinks that "action" will take place pre the Ides of March. With the midterm election in November methinks one should be watching the Lies of October to predict the action.
Sirrah, the coming election on the first Kalends in November has as much chance of changing our future as crossing your fingers and hopping around on one foot.
I trust I make myself clear.
http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2014/08/gold-daily-and-silver-w...
07 AUGUST 2014
Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - And the Times, They Are a Changin'
.
...
"We have come to the end of the informal Bretton Woods II agreement, which was to stay with the US dollar as the primary basis for world trade, an arrangement that had been in place since the end of WW II. The US dollar based on a relationship to gold became the petrodollar when Nixon unilaterally closed the gold window in 1971.
The banks agreed to continue to use it as the de facto standard for international currency valuation The 'management' of gold as just another currency was carried out through leasing arrangements and targeted sales. By 2004 at the latest, a number of the world's central banks broke from this arrangement, which started quickly falling apart. By 2006 the central banks turned from net sellers of gold to net buyers.
The agreement finally succumbed to the Greenspan Fed, and the band of Merry Pranksters in the government, who finally played one too many one-sided games with the other sovereign nations. The credibility of the US hit a virtual brick wall in the aftermath of the obtuse behaviour that followed the world's outpouring of favourable sentiment for the US after 9/11.
Bush laid the egg, and Obama hatched it, to borrow a historical metaphor about another Reformation that came after a long period of abuses and a rising tide of nationalism after the long fall of an Empire.
We know who these central banks are, and we have a good idea of why they are doing it, if we are still a little rough on the details, which is understandable given the strategic nature of their actions." jca ......
The Germans are not "pro-Russian", they are simply pro-not committing national suicide for the third time in little over 100 years.
They have already been smacked once with the shock wave of the 2008 crisis that came out of the USA and hit the EU especially hard. A made in the USA economic insanity following soon upon the political/military insanity of 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq. Now the USA is trying to drag the EU into a confrontation with Russia.
The German state was principally, but certainly not exclusively, responsible for launching the chain of events that lead to national catastrophe. That's a truth and consequence that is stamped upon the head of every even half-educated German like a jackboot.
Now Germany finds itself again in the pivot of historical destiny. Once again it has the power to either launch or halt the march to war. What an irony it is that Germany is today one of the mose "liked" countries in the world. Yet Germany could go from merely being liked for its BMW's and Benzes, to real historical greatness if only it would throw a spanner in the NATO war machine. It has the power to do so. Does it's people have the understanding and will?
The queen's interest harms all life and attempts to invalidate the very essence of existence.
She is a stupid, dangerous, queen and should be replaced by open source software.
The queen was replaced long ago by software. She bows to the pope. The instructions come down from the top from the hidden hand. You need a copy of the organization chart.
The USA MIC can't tolerate their weakened position and will angle for war because the Banksters will profit and so will the MIC. New tanks require loans and so do wars. The agenda is obvious with 77 million unemployed Americans unable to afford a few petro-dollars for a burger n' fries let alone a subprime car loan for a recalled Chevy. Face facts and realize that the USA has nowhere to go in a global village that has reached a consensus on American Hegemony with a collective voice that says.....
Up yours, America!
OCCUPY THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA & WALL STREET - OCCUPY EVERYTHING
If it is not obvious to you by now that AIPAC runs America, then you are not paying attention. They call it a policy coup. Strategic maneuvering to surround this international disaster called Israel is underway. Containing and neutralizing this blight on earth will set us all free.
As an American now living in retirement permanently in Odessa, Ukraine and Simferopol, Crimea since 2009, I agree with you completely.
The U.S. government is now INSANE !!!
The America in which I was born and raised no longer exists. It has been slowly bled to death since 1913 and devolved into a full-blown police state in 2001, following the 9/11 WTC controlled demolitions. That is why I left America permanently, with no intention of ever returning.
“The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is naive and usually idiotic. He is, more likely, one who likes his country more than the rest of us, and is thus more disturbed than the rest of us when he sees it debauched. He is not a bad citizen turning to crime; he is a good citizen driven to despair.”
AND
“It is the invariable habit of bureaucracies, at all times and everywhere, to assume that every citizen is a criminal. Their one apparent purpose, pursued with a relentless and furious diligence, is to convert the assumption into a fact. They hunt endlessly for proofs, and, when proofs are lacking, for mere suspicions. The moment they become aware of a definite citizen, John Doe, seeking what is his right under the law, they begin searching feverishly for an excuse for withholding it from him.”
Henry L. Mencken (1880-1956), Journalist and Author
I hope the world sees the difference between the people and the corp. government. The American people have been conditioned by the best in the world. Thru every media
I think almost all of us know the difference.
I had a Criminal Psychology professor that claimed everyone was a 'criminal' in one way or another. I quit the course right after that lecture and moved on to a less biased professor/course instead. Theory
is not to viewed as dogma!
Its one thing for an Israel or France to throw up their hands in despair at the fumblings of the American imperium.
Germany? Below the water-line.
nation state nouns are mere diversions to misdirect
the people from the main plot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrtuBas3Ipw Netanyahu Unaware camera is still running
This is a bizarre mismatch of historical points sprinkled with the typical German arrogance. German businesses do generally have more to lose from this than to gain especially since they have direct investments there in much larger % of numbers than American corps but this viewpoint that Putin want to minimize conflict and will go along with 'modernization partnership' is a real stretch.
Russian invaded Georgia (who stupidly proded the Russians and took the Russian bait to move into South Ossetia) and then carved out large security and permanent 'security zones' in Abkhazia and South Ossetia which have become essentially become parts of Russia and were in strict violation of the accord signed by Putin with Sarkozy who were supposed to remove all Russian troops in 1 year.
It isn't quite the same thing but Putin is essentially tyring to do the same thing in Eastern Ukraine but only on a larger scale than in Georgia. US is playing Agent Provacteur with the gov't in Kiev but its laughable to mention Willy Brandt (a genuine peacemaker) with 2 warmongers and realpolitik politicians like Kissinger and Putin.
As an American who has lived permanently in Odessa, Ukraine since 2009, I disagree that Putin wants to annex eastern and/or southern Ukraine.
Crimea was vital to Russia militarily, since Russia's Black Sea fleet is headquartered in Sevastopol, Crimea - the best deep-water port on the Black Sea.
However, the coal mines of eastern Ukraine are of little value to Russia, given Russia's abundance of oil, natural gas and coal. Second, the manufacturing industries in eastern Ukraine use nearly obsolete equipment and their production (compared to Russia's modern factories) is extremely inefficient. The port of Odessa is vital to Ukraine, but offers very little added benefit to Russia, which has many simlar deep-water commercial ports on the Black Sea, its Pacific caost and in the Baltic Sea.
Finally, compared to Russia, the standard of living of the average Ukrainian is far below that of the average Russian. In fact, Russia has one of the fastest growing middle classes in the world. Russia is the largest market for European-manufactured cars, especially German cars and the more expensive brands such as Audi, BMW, and Mercedes.
In short, eastern and southern Ukraine (the most affluent regions in Ukraine) would be a great financial burden to Russia with little to show for the money. Even repairing the roads and highways in Ukraine would be a massive and enormously expensive undertaking, since the roads and highways here are among the worst I have ever driven on.
The annexation of Ukraine (either as a whole or in part) would be an enormous financial drain on Russia.
Even if the Kiev government offered to let Russia annex parts of Ukraine, I highly doubt Putin would accept such an offer!!!!
yeah it doesn't make sense economically for russian to annex Ukraine given the relative lack of natural resources there and still the issues with widespread pollution from Chernoybl which destroyed some of the most productive farm land in the world.
I do bet that Putin will send Russian troops over the border at some point to set up 'security zones' in the East part of the country which will become essentially parts of Russia and ensure that a Russian-friendly gov't is ultimately put in place in Kiev. Exactly what the Russian did in Georgia.
Russian modern factories? In what magical place do these exist and the reasons the German auto manufacturers have set up in Russia is that it is even 10-30% cheaper than similiar facilities in Eastern Europe along with the Russian state providing massive subsidies and incredibly-favorable loans to build the factories along with creating tax-free investment zones. Of course a German manufacturer will have a very hard time to say 'no' that just as Americans have found it nearly impossible in China. State-backed capitalism on a massive-scale.
89% of Russian exports are oil or natural gas; 5% are chemicals or agricultural raw goods or refined/finished food prducts
Modern Russian factories my a$$. Russian hasn't exported anything of real industrial value except weapons since the end of the Cold War and still doesn't.
Facts always get down voted on ZH where the Zerotards come out in force and it goes against the collective group think.
Georgia was a color revolution funded by US oligarchs to install a puppet govt which would allow the oligarchs to loot Georgia's natural resources. The newly installed govt was prodded into war by the neocons as part of their ongoing plan to destabilize Russia.
Exactly the same as Ukraine now.
You seem to think that the 'neocons' magically control all US-based institutions when there is a huge diversity of competing interests within each institution regardless of whom is even president or what party controls the White House/Congress.
Georgia was a color revolution and I would agree to a point that it was installed by the US to have a 'pro-US' friendly gov't there more for its strategic value as a footprint to get to the Central Asian republics than the natural resources contained there.
You still didn't acknowledge the fact that a complete and large-scale invasion of Georgia was completely unnecessary by Russian except to achieve its real aim - humiliate and neuter the American-backed gov't and install a more pro-Russian friendly gov't. It succeeded.
Two breakaway republics which were supposed to be given their sovereignty back by Russian have become Russian vassal states too including the citizens have Russian passports, living by Russian law and paying Russian taxes, and having Russian troops stationed there permanently.
This viewpoint of Putin as some kind of peaceful and reasonable politician is BS. He is a realpolitik politican who if he has to smash some skulls and spill some blood to accomplish his goals he'll do it in a heartbeat. Doens't make it any worse or better than some of the despicable policies the US and some of its politicans and their decisions especially the past decade.
Just a nasty place and neither side has the moral imperative or high-ground.
Give up your part-time job earning college tuition and get a waiter job somewhere. You do not belong on an adult forum.
"Russian invaded Georgia (who stupidly proded the Russians and took the Russian bait to move into South Ossetia) "
what?
"This is a bizarre mismatch of historical points sprinkled with the typical German arrogance. "
what?
a lot of whats to your "analysis" - " a real stretch. "
The US plotted and funded the "color revolution" in Georgia. And it was Georgia that started the military conflict against Russia, again under US prodding.
All the conflicts in Europe and the Middle East have been the works of neo con lunatics in the US (particularly the CFR and the MIC)
Yeah they did and Putin upped the game by having the South Ossetian 'rebels' (eg Russian-trained and led troops) shell and raid Georgian villages although the border. Georgia foolishly decided to send troops over the border into South Ossetia and then Putin used it as a massive excuse to send Russian troops over the South Ossetian border but also several other places in a full-fledged invasion of Georgia.
Putin also never honored the terms of the cease-fire either and all citizens in the 2 regions I mentinoed all have Russian passports, pay Russian taxes, and have Russian troops stationed there including at the border. They have become ipso de facto Russain citizens and part of Russia for all intensive purposes and it was a massive violation of the ceasefire that was signed on 3 major points.
Only way that the EU and the Germans will truly get behind the Atlantic viewpoint espoused by the US is if Putin rolls Russian armored columns deep into the heart of Ukraine all the way to Kiev.
Putin realizes that and isn't nearly foolish to exchange in it even if the US and NATO aren't remotely in a position to stop it either. Instead the proxy war will continue between US and Russians in Eastern Ukraine with as usual the citizens in the areas being used as folder and collateral. Done it now for nearly 70 years and both sides have left a wide wake of destruction and corpses in their wake in Latin America, Africa, and most parts of Asia.
I have a distant relative who is elderly,unwell,and living in the South of Germany.The area,heavily forested,seems to get about three months of warmish weather a year.Part of her health problems are due to an infection from a sand flea bite received in Dubai some years ago.
I know this is a little off-topic,but there is going to be a huge impact to the Europeans if there is a disruption to the gas supplies next Winter.
THE ELDERLY FEEL THE COLD MORE THAN MOST FOLKS.
Also,bearing in mind our ENRON fiasco,the Europeans could find the price being bid upwards for limited energy supplies.Someone always is tempted to profit by someone elses' misfortune.
There will be a political shitstorm if I am correct about the above.
I also would point out that with Germany's pluralistic system,it was a minority party that insisted on an audit some years back of the overseas gold reserves.
We are now beginning to see what is truly important in life.
Regarding "THE ELDERLY FEEL THE COLD MORE THAN MOST FOLKS."
As a former physician and medical researcher (now retired), the above statement is not true for ALL elderly people. However, it is true for MANY elderly folks. There are several reasons, but the most common reason is the reduction in the elasticity of the connective tissue within the skin (epidermis), along with a thinning of the fat layers immediately below the skin (subcutaneous fat). This layer of fat acts as a type of "insulation", reducing heat loss through the skin (called conductive heat loss, as opposed to heat loss due to sweating and the subsequent evapoation of that sweat) This thinning and reduced elasticity of the skin is best demonstrated by "pinching" a person's skin between two of your fingers. In a young person, the tissue between your finger will be thicker and, when released, will quickly snap back into its normal condition.In addition, the underlying veins are often dificult to see. (Just ask any third-year medical student tying to draw bllod or insert a catheter (for intravennous fluids) into a vein in the arm of an elderly person. The veins are extremely easy to see, but penetrating a needle through the paper-like skin and into the "hardened" veins (which typically then burst open) can be a medical student's nightmare.)
In contrast, just viewing the skin of an elderly person reveals the underlying veins, due to the reduced fat layer below the skin. The skin itself appears very thin and a sort of "wrinkled paper" appearance. Pinching the skin of an elderly person will result in a very thin layer of tissue between your fingers. and realeasing that pinch will result in a much slower return to its previous condition and appearnace.
While many physicians regard this as part of the "natural aging process" (whatever that means), there are sveral processes at work. To name just a few: the body's reduced production of anabolic steroids (which build up tissue) as opposed to catabolic steroids (which reduce tissue mass by the conversion of tissue protein (into amino acids and glucose), stored glycogen into glucose (the main type of sugar used by cells) and fat into fatty acids, etc. In short, due to hormonal cahnges, he body starts to break down its own tissues.
A second reason may be reduced insulin production by the pancreas, resulting in diabetes. The primary function of insulin is to reduce the amount of glucose (a type of sugar) in the blood by forcing other tissues to absorb that glucose for energy production within the cells. Insulin also functions as a "safety mechanism" during time periods when ittle food is available. When food is eaten in abundance, the excess glucose is converted and stiored in the liver (and some other tissues) as glycogen, which in hards times can most rapidly convert that glycogen to glucose to feed the cells within your body. As already described above, similar processes exist for fat and protein.
Thus, while insulin's main is to store food in variouos tissues for use later when food is unavailable, an excess of insulin results in a condition caled diabetes mellitus or simply diabetes. A consequence of diabetes is the deposition of various fats and connective tissues within the blood vessels - what is termed "atherosclerosis" or "hardening of the arteries". The process reduces blood flow most especially in the smaller arteries and the very smallest type of artery called "arterioles"and the even smalller capillaries. This loss to arterial blood flow to tissues such as the skin and the fat layer below result in cooler skin temperatures, simply because much less warm blood is arriving fast enough to the skin. This reduced blood flow also decreases the thickness of both the skin and fat layers, therby decreasing the "insulation" effect.
There are literally hundreds of other causes of decreased blood flow to the skin and fat layers, including many heart conditions that reduce blood flow, infections, liver and kidney diseases, and on and on.
But I will stop here for three reasons: first, that is proobably much more than you wanted to know; second, you probably don't really give a shit about such details; and third, I am now retired and have forgotten a great deal of this information already.
Citation: "German Handelsblatt Releases Stunning Anti-West Op-Ed"
You got something wrong: This is exactly what the article doesn't want to express.
This way of "black-and-white"-thinking is leading us straight towards disaster unless we does react against it.
Hey Germans,
You want the USA to FUCK you in the ASS or the RUSSIANS?
The US let you be fucked by the Russians in '45, I guess you want that experience again!
SH
We've been F***ed by the tribe since '13.
just 'cause kaiser/hitler et al were aholes, doesn't mean 3-4 gens later are the same. they don't want the good thing they got goin' to get fucked-up by mccain and the monkey.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DT7bX-B1Mg
And it's gone (original)
.re German Handelsblatt Asks If "West Rabble-Rousers Are On The Payroll Of The KGB
Nope - they're on the payroll of the TALMUDIC NEO-BOLSHEVIKS - known in the USSA - for purposes of obfuscation - as "NEO-CONS".
A Voice of Reason Finally Emanates from Germany
by John-Henry Hill, M.D.
August 9, 2014
http://JohnHenryHill.Wordpress.com
Comment re: article “German Handelsblatt Releases Stunning Anti-West Op-Ed, Asks If "West Rabble-Rousers Are On The Payroll Of The KGB"
Source: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-08-08/german-handelsblatt-releases-stunning-anti-west-op-ed-asks-if-west-rabble-rousers-ar
As an American living in Ukraine since 2009, my sentiment is:"At last a voice of reason from a European nation!"
Lest we forget, the U.S government planned and funded the Maidan Square protests and the February 2014 coup d'etat in Kiev. The sanctions on Russia by the U.S. (and forced upon the EU nations) are KILLING the economies of western Europe. The sanctions are also quickening the demise of the U.S. dollar as the world's "reserve currency", with the BRICS nations rapidly developing an alternate system of currency and credit, separate from the U.S. Federal Reserve, IMF, World Bank and Bank of International Settlements (BIS). And with the rapidly increasing purchases (along with domestic production) of physical GOLD by Russia and China, with significant increases of gold purchases by the people of India, one wonders if a gold-backed currency based on the Chinese Yuan and the Russian rouble is close at hand.
To ZeroHedge readers in Europe and the U.S., I can assure you that, prior to the Maidan Square protests and the February 2014 coup d'etat in Kiev, the vast majority of the people with whom I have spoken throughout Ukraine and Crimea never even considered the idea of seceding from Ukraine, much less annexation by Russia. Of course they viewed the Yanukovitch regime as corrupt, just as ALL previous administrations in Kiev since Ukraine's independence have been corrupt. In Ukraine, such political corruption, though greatly disliked, is taken as the norm. The same oligarchs that bribed the politicians in Kiev immediately following Ukraine's independence, and then seized and "privatized" formerly state-owned industries and properties throughout Ukraine, remain in power today. The people in northwestern Ukraine (the areas closest to the Polish border) were and remain decidedly anti-Russian and pro-European Union. A few years ago on a visit to the western Ukraine city of Lviv during the Spring, my wife and I, along with thousands of Ukrainian people, witnessed a rather astonishing site: a parade down the city's main avenue by men wearing Nazi-like uniforms and carrying NAZI flags and similar regalia. We learned that the march was an annual event in Lviv, honoring the Ukrainian regiments that fought with German troops during World War 2. Indeed, many of the "German guards" at the infamous concentration camps in Poland were, in fact, Ukrainians soldiers from northwestern Ukraine. Consequently, when some news sites on the Internet speak of neo-NAZIs leading the Maidan Square protests in Kiev and currently serving as "special militia" units alongside the regular Ukraine army in eastern Ukraine, they are not far from the truth.
However, the areas in southern and eastern Ukraine (that is, all areas south of an imaginary horizontal line starting from northwestern Ukraine to the area immediately south of Kiev and ending at the Ukrainian-Russian border in northeastern Ukraine) were pro-Russian only in terms of language, customs and culture. It should not be forgotten that Kiev was once the capital of Russia. These people previously had expressed no desire to join the Russian Federation. And if such a sentiment has increased in these areas, it is more out of concern for their own safety from the Kiev regime's troops, rather than any allegiance to Russia.
My personal opinion is that Putin, once confronted by a political take-over of Ukraine by pro-Western forces funded by the U.S., reacted first to protect Russia's Black Sea fleet based in Sevastopol, Crimea. His next greatest fear was probably the further extension of NATO into Ukraine and beyond, as the U.S. and its NATO allies had already broken their promise to Russia NOT to expand NATO following the fall of the Soviet Union. The sole area in southwestern Ukraine and eastern Moldava which has actively sought annexation by Russia for at least a decade is the Transdnestr Republic, also known as the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR). Transdnestr's strong links to Russia date back to 1792, when Tiraspol became an outpost of the Russian empire following the Russo-Turkish war. The region was subsequently settled by an eclectic mix of ethnicities including Russians, Ukrainians, Poles, Bulgarians, Jews and Germans. In the 20th century Transdnestr served as a strategically important military base for the Soviet Union's 14th Army. With a population of about 550,000, it comprises the area east of the Dniester River up to the current western border of Ukraine and extending south to the Black Sea. Its capital city is Tiraspol, located a mere 101 Km (63 miles) from Odessa, Ukraine and 77 Km (48 miles) from Chisinau, the capital of Moldava. The Transdnestr Republic is recognized as an independent state by Russia, but not by any Western nations, who consider it part of Moldava. During the Soviet era Transdnestr served as a strategically important military base for the Soviet Union's 14th Army and consequently was garrisoned by some of the most highly trained and experienced troops within the Soviet military, armed with the Soviet's finest artillery, tanks and missile systems. Had NATO troops ever attempted to invade the Ukraine Republic of the Soviet Union, they would have had only two routes of entry: the first from southern Poland directly south into northwestern Ukraine and/or a second route from within Moldava through a narrow corridor near Tiraspol and Bender in Transdnestr. The territory north of Tiraspol-Bender Transdnestr corridor to the Polish border is blocked by the Carpathian Mountain range. The area south of Tiraspol-Bender Transdnestr corridor to the Black Sea is a quagmire of numerous rivers, streams and extensive marshland. To this day approximately 1500 Soviet troops remain on active duty as "peacekeepers" in Transdnestr. Transdnestr has its own government, currency, passports, police and army. More importantly, the Transdnestr military is extremely well-armed and highly-trained, with an over-abundance of military hardware left behind by the Soviets, with more recent upgrades by the Russian military. In short, the military forces of Transdnestr are no "Mickey Mouse" outfit, in contrast to the Moldavan military. Of great geopolitical importance is that the Transdnestr people declared the region's secession from Moldova in September 1990, followed by referenda held in 2006 and 2011, in which the population of Transdnestr voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence from Moldova and an eventual union with Russia. Further,Transdnestr is still viewed by many people within Russia as an historic part of Russia and who, consequently, actively support its annexation by Russia.
In contrast to the population of Transdnestr, the vast majority of people in southern Ukraine (especially in the Odessa region) and in eastern Ukraine did not and still do not support the annexation of those regions by Russia. While the people are overwhelmingly Russian by tradition, language and culture, prior to the February 2014 Kiev coup, there was little talk of independence from Ukraine. Even today in the Odessa region, most people apparently favor remaining part of Ukraine, provided that new elections are held, monitored closely by independent observers. The most extreme view I have heard in the Odessa region is semi-independence from Kiev; a loose federation of independent oblasts (similar to states with the U.S., but with a much weaker central government in Kiev). A similar view seemed to hold in the eastern Ukraine following the Kiev coup of February 2014. However, this attitude has changed markedly since the Kiev regime began its military actions against eastern Ukraine, with the destruction of several towns and cities in eastern Ukraine by the Kiev regime’s artillery, missile systems and bombing raids, resulting in thousands of civilian casualties and a mass migration of an estimated one million people or more from eastern Ukraine into Russia and southern Ukraine toward Crimea. From friends living in the eastern Ukraine area and the fact that two cities have declared themselves independent republics, my impression is that the people of eastern Ukraine now favor total independence from Kiev, but NOT annexation with Russia. At most, the people in eastern Ukraine with whom I have spoken recently (including today) favor some type of temporary military and humanitarian intervention by Russia simply in order to survive the current military conflict. A truce might then be enforced by the Russian military and some additional non-NATO military force, followed by referenda conducted separately by each oblast, rather than the eastern Ukraine region as a whole.
Whatever the eventual outcomes of the political and military crises in the southern and eastern regions of Ukraine, the problem of Transdnestr’s insistence through repeated referenda on annexation by Russia will remain a “thorn in the side” of both the West and Russia.
Wonderful piece. Very informative. Great thanks to the author of the piece and the one who posted it.
now let's hope it doesn't get buried in neocon noise.
Is that a photo of Molotov and Ribbentrop?
Yes.
Thelonious Monk - Rhythm a Ning (live)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Di_mswqhLU
This isn't a serious think piece -- it is a piece of propaganda very cunningly inserted in an influential newspaper. Russia has always been good at propaganda, and there's no reason to suppose that with its back against the wall it won't mobilize its resources in the west. This includes the author -- a well-placed, pro-Russian syncophant -- perhaps on the payroll of Russia, with his predictable, knee-jerk anti-Americanism.
He pretends to be disinterested. Obviously, he isn't.
What interests me is how he starts with the status quo, without referring to the status quo ante, that is, when the USSR controled East Germany and the bloc. A convenient periodization, huh? I think so. Russia wants the ol' USSR back. It wants the status quo ante, not the status quo. This piece is written with this goal in mind.
We need to be more careful when reading overt Soviet/Russian propaganda. And, we need to be wary of Russian toadies pretending to be objective editorialists in a major German paper. Germany is still riddled with operatives. This guy is one of them.
Bollocks!
REPLY to Boodles:
As an American living permanently in Odessa, Ukraine and Simferopol, Crimea since 2009, I find your tactic of ATTACKING THE MESSENGER, rather than attempting to REFUTE THE MESSAGE, very offensive,
If you have FACTS that refute the assertions of the author of this article, please present those facts.
Your above comment insults the intelligence of your fellow readers of ZeroHedge.com, who read the articles in search of verifiable information, NOT ad hominem attacks.
Definition:
ad homi·nem adv.Usage Note: As the principal meaning of the preposition ad suggests, the homo of ad hominem was originally the person to whom an argument was addressed, not its subject. The phrase denoted an argument designed to appeal to the listener's emotions rather than to reason ... The phrase now chiefly describes an argument based on the failings of an adversary rather than on the merits of the case:
Ad hominem attacks on one's opponent are a tried-and-true strategy for people who have a case that is weak
"We need to be more careful when reading overt Soviet/Russian propaganda. And, we need to be wary of Russian toadies pretending to be objective editorialists in a major German paper."
preachy little creature aren't you. sounds like something out of the mccarthy days.
calling it propaganda doesn't dismiss it.
Boodles is a few noodles short of a take-out.
Boodles, you're all wet. Russia is good at propaganda? Are you kidding? They don't begin to have clue and cannot match the US foreign policy establishment and our embedded, regime media. The USSR had some succcess in this area, but the RF, forget about it.
Russia wants the USSR back? Are you serious or is this a joke? I see no evidence that anyone in the RF political structure or among the population wants to see a return to the dictatorship of the proletariat, the leading role of the party, the expropiration of all private property, official atheisim, the GULag archipelago of hard labor camps, etc.
Is Mosocw interested in reliable buffer states along its border? Yes, and not without reason. A hostile NATO keeps inching closer in Washington's misguided desire to encircle and ultimately disemember the RF the better to get its mits on Russia's vast natural resource wealth.
In our expansionist fervor, in the tendency of our regime to prevaricate shamelessly, in the regime's radical devotion to secularism (and an agnosticsm so pervasive and deeply held as to amount to atheism), in the casual brutality with which we deal with countries all over the world, in our mania for spying and eavesdropping on people (virtually everyone) at home and abroad, in our insane attachment to central economic planning, etc., etc., the dear old USA is fare more reminiscent of the USSR than the Russian Federation.
Exactly !
Hard hitting for american ears maybe. But this voices exactly what a lot of people in Europe think and say privately. You have to understand that you'll never hear it out of leaders as we like them to be the picture of moderation and normalcy. The political culture is way different from Anglosaxon politics.
Up until this point Angela Merkel, and German media in general, had been staunchly on the side of the west when it comes to dealing with Russia, Putin and realpolitik in broader terms.
Is incorrect. Verbally, yes. She definitely has her own dialogue going with Putin, but that's private. These phonecalls Obama does with Putin.. They're ridiculous. He's watched too many cold war thrillers. That's not how it's done, that's how kids play pretend it's done. It's about forging long term relationships with people...it's not the position, it's the person holding it. But also about working the layers...you can be bashing Russia on one level but collaborating with them on another. Half a century of cold war will create that. Europe knows that with the US its all about posturing. Fuck yeah Mr bush let's go kick some international jihadi terrorist ass..right after we sell them these guns.
Case in point...that ship France is building.
Hard hitting for american ears maybe. But this voices exactly what a lot of people in Europe think and say privately. You have to understand that you'll never hear it out of leaders as we like them to be the picture of moderation and normalcy. The political culture is way different from Anglosaxon politics.
Up until this point Angela Merkel, and German media in general, had been staunchly on the side of the west when it comes to dealing with Russia, Putin and realpolitik in broader terms.
Is incorrect. Verbally, yes. She definitely has her own dialogue going with Putin, but that's private. These phonecalls Obama does with Putin.. They're ridiculous. He's watched too many cold war thrillers. That's not how it's done, that's how kids play pretend it's done. It's about forging long term relationships with people...it's not the position, it's the person holding it. But also about working the layers...you can be bashing Russia on one level but collaborating with them on another. Half a century of cold war will create that. Europe knows that with the US its all about posturing. Fuck yeah Mr bush let's go kick some international jihadi terrorist ass..right after we sell them these guns.
Case in point...that ship France is building.
JIm Willie
July 23rd: Germany plans to leave Euro and NATO (4 indictment charges identified) then work with Russia & China on the BRICS project of creating a gold-backed currency, false sham energy assurance offer given by US to EU, France will follow Germany
http://usawatchdog.com/germany-secretly-planning-on-joining-brics-jim-wi...
http://www.goldenjackass.com/main5.html
Hell !!! I made this prediction on my blog and in comments on various news web sites over 6 months ago. ;-) ;-) ;-)
Germany's economic future lies with Russia, China and the other BRICS nations. Repeated polls have shown that the German people are sick and trired of bailing out the other EU nations; and extremely apprehensive about the status of Germany's physical gold supposedly held by the NY Federal Reserve.
The German people and their government are slowly coming to the realization that Germany's gold supposedly held by the NY Fed was sold or loaned out a long time ago. (Isn't it odd that Ukraine's 3 tons of gold was flown from KIev to the NY Fed in a private plane in one night, while the 5 tons of gold actually delivered to Germany by the NY Fed took ONE YEAR to deliver?)
I find Jim Willie's interviews very informative; and his enthusiasm is almost infectious. Howver, I have never seen a photo or video of him. My aged ears may be deceiving me, but doesn't he sound exactly like the comedian Dennis Miller from the "Saturday Night Live" (SNL) TV show of many years ago and who nnow occasionally appears on Bill "The Screaming Moron" O'Reilly's show on Fox News?
The West is run by the Tribe, what's not to like?
Hi, primary the sanctions are there to control weaken and damage EU, secondary, the sanctions might also damage Russia.
If the banking mafia hadn't offshored the US economy then the US could mount its own sanctions and not need to bully other country's into wrecking their economies on behalf of the US.
In literally EVERY country I have visited (with the possible exceptions of the cities of Paris, London and New York), I have found the PEOPLE to be extremely friendly, while the respective governments with their massive bureaucracies were a total "pain in the ass."
I think my fellow Americans can best be summed up by the following joke:
One American man asked another, "What do think about the ignorance and apathy of the average American?" To which the second man replied, "I don't know and I don't care!"
Jul 11, 2013 - Power-mad bird (Merkel) sticking close to top guy (Stasi agent Osten). The picture above was taken in 1986. It depicts an outing to the Baltic ...
GOLITSYN, ANATOLE THE NEW LIES FOR OLD ONES ... archive.org › eBook and Texts › Community Texts
Internet ArchiveAug 24, 2009 - Though published in 1984, New Lies for Old allows us to answer these disturbing 'post USSR' questions for ourselves. Defecting in 1961, KGB ...
Fall of Communism - the World Affairs Brief www.worldaffairsbrief.com/keytopics/Communism.html
MORE CRUCIAL EVIDENCE THAT THE "FALL OF COMMUNISM" WAS A DECEPTION ... However, the following interview of Petr Cibulka, conducted by Czech ...
paranoic = paranoic
error
Cibulka = paranoid
Jul 11, 2013 - Power-mad bird (Merkel) sticking close to top guy (Stasi agent Osten). The picture above was taken in 1986. It depicts an outing to the Baltic ...
GOLITSYN, ANATOLE THE NEW LIES FOR OLD ONES ... archive.org › eBook and Texts › Community Texts
Internet ArchiveAug 24, 2009 - Though published in 1984, New Lies for Old allows us to answer these disturbing 'post USSR' questions for ourselves. Defecting in 1961, KGB ...
Fall of Communism - the World Affairs Brief www.worldaffairsbrief.com/keytopics/Communism.html
MORE CRUCIAL EVIDENCE THAT THE "FALL OF COMMUNISM" WAS A DECEPTION ... However, the following interview of Petr Cibulka, conducted by Czech ...
Brillant!
Must real interview - the germans wake up:
http://goldswitzerland.com/people-causing-crises-stand-to-gain-the-most-...
Germany had a policy of economic triangulation between US and Russia now Putin has gone and ruined it. What you see in this article is a attempt push Germany into a neutral position to try and save that policy. Wont happen US, EU, Eastern Europe are all on one side and Russia is on the other. Germany will be forced to choose sides and the math here is all against Russia. The basic fallacy is that somehow Germany can keep economic ties to Russia and not lose Economically with others.
A similar triangulation policy fell apart in regards to Iraq and was one of the main reasons Germany and France were so opposed to the Iraq war.
Germany cant go to Washington and say well yes we have a policy to exploit the tensions between US and Russia to make money exporting things to Russia that they would have bought from you instead. But please don't ruin it for us. There is nothing in that position for the US. Its hostile to US interests both politically and economically with the potential of being a military threat as well also In this case though its Putin that is driving the conflict unlike Iraq where US was the one pushing the conflict.
Germany could very easily be pushed into the same bad position regarding China because the same triangulation policy is in play.
If Germany maintains a non-agressive stance to Russia and trades which is mutually beneficial and it is contrary to US aggression, then how is Putin driving the conflict?
How is peaceful relations between Germany and Russia a military threat to the US?
That would be only the case if an aggressive US/ NATO stance towards Russia wanted a faithful Euro lapdog to ignore it's own interests to follow a NATO encirclement policy towards Russia.
You have the cart before the horse. The US is clearly the instigator of the Ukrainian coup and the subsequent saber-rattling towards Russia.
"No one saw this coming...."
I see only one problem:
Germany is still occupiede terrotory, for Germasny the WWII did not end yet. Germany is a US vasal state with ho sovereignity and no constitution.
Jews decided to destroy germany. NWO is happy to see Germany, german nation and german culture destoryed.
How can the occupied country break out? NEVER.
"How can the occupied country break out? NEVER."
You got it right there! There are not enough American nationalists who understand that our government, first and foremost, represents global corporate and private interests and not our national interests and certainly not of the people therein.
The dozens of countries we occupy will have to throw off the shackles. Unfortunately, USSA will not go down quietly - it will likely come to global war first - and even then, the globalists control most of the guns, microphones, and screens to which the masses submit.
Germany's position is worse with the US than being neutral, or even supporting Russia.
Else Germany will end up as the USA's proxy fighting in the Ukraine and against Russia. Now the problem with that in addition to casualities on the front is they then invite strikes against their and US bases in Germany, the war will come onto German soil....again.
And even without a proper war the economic problems that will strike Europe will compound in Germany, which will then because of energy shortages be competing for energy at higher prices. In other words, going any further against Russia Will lead to a long recession in Germany, and a backlash against a Govt friendly to US intersts. The German public will get very sick of the US should Germany have to bear any more burden in America's geopolitical game against Russia.
This stands true for lots of Europeans and their governments, sick of the burden the US brings them for no worthwhile gain. The age of puppet Europe is drawing to a close, and since 9/11 the US has done nothing except shit in all its nests.
Even in remaining neutral Germany has to be careful about the US being able to use Germany as a military staging point into Ukraine/Russia.
The US is on a loser in the Ukraine as anybody with half a brain in the main European governments will intimately understand from a long historical context that Russia will never give the US a foothold in the Ukraine....at any cost. Just as the US would fight at all costs to stop Russia from gaining a strong miliary foothold in Mexico...unthinkable.
I see Hilary's campaign has started off with a bang in Germany.
"America...All conflicts are escalated." Yep.
Would it be impolite to mention that Normandy was only possible because Germany had already been critically weakened by the Allies and especially Russia (at the expense of 8.7 million military lives and 14% of their population)?
For the priviledge of doing the hard work, Russia finished the war owing the US $11bn in Lend-Lease payments ($144bn today). The US chose to profit from the war rather than join, and suffered less than 150 thousand military lives in Europe.
In other words, the last successful military action of the US only suceeded with Russia's help. So how could the US possibly go well in a war against Russia, without Russia's help?
http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/article/2010/05/2010051811461...
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/ref/Casualties/Casualties-1.html
You are totally correct. USSR won the Second World War. Everything else is pure propaganda. The US decided to go in when the war was already won and the Soviets were close to invade Germany.
Absolutely 100% spot on... The turning point in the war in Europe was the battle of Stalingrad, which was over by February of 1943, seven months before the pussy Americans and Brits dared step foot on mainland Europe during their invasion of Italy in September 1943, and more than a year before D-Day.
Before the Americans and Brits finally set foot on mainland Europe, Stalin had been begging Roosevelt and Churchhill to open up a western front for a couple of years, because the Red Army was carrying nearly all of the real war effort by themselves. But duplicitous SOB's decided to let the Reds and the Nazis slaughter each other on the continent before engaging. Nice noble huys.... Yeah right.
BTW... All of those silly Hollyweird WW2 flicks (e.g. Saving Private Ryan, Patton, etc.) are fairy tales for my fellow dumb Americans. D-Day was play school compared to the blood bath at the battle of Stalingrad. And then there was the seige of Leningrad which my father-in-law surived...
Don't get me started on how the west doesn't acknowledge, let alone show gratutude for the blood that Russia spilled to damned near defeat the Nazis by themselves. I was franky disgusted that Putin kissed ass by showing up at the D-Day ceremony a couple of months ago. When was the last time a western leader showed up to honor the far greater number of Russians who died at the battle of Stalingrad or the siege of Leningrad?
So the Americans bug Merkel's phone and steal Germany's gold then spend $5 Billion funding a Nazi coup in the Ukraine that leads to thousands of innocents being victimised and Germany sits like a fat stupid patsy and not only allows this to occur but offers to sacrifice its economy , through pissing off its energy supplier with sanctions and it takes the German media years before anyone starts pointing out this is stupid. Should we cheer or cry?