Gideon Rachman; (link updated)
One of the truly impressive things about modern Germany is that, more than any other country I can think of, it has thought hard about the lessons of history, and learnt them with thoroughness and humility. So it is baffling that a German leader could stand in a beer-tent in Bavaria and announce a separation from Britain and the US while bracketing those two countries with Russia. The historical resonances should be chilling.
She’s done a thorough job of wrecking Germany – why stop there?
Try this link ft.com/content/dc911cb8-4449-11e7-8519-9f94ee97d996
Kathy Griffin fired from CNN for headless horsing around.
https://www.tmz.com/2017/05/31/kathy-griffin-fired-cnn-new-years-eve/
Thanks for the link …. well sort of the link. This one is more straightforward:
https://www.ft.com/content/dc911cb8-4449-11e7-8519-9f94ee97d996
It’s the Financial Times …. negative Trump at all times. And I don’t exaggerate. So, some valid observations but just gotta get their digs in:
“None of this is meant to suggest that Ms Merkel is on the same moral and political level as Mr Trump. The US president has repeatedly displayed contempt for core western values — from freedom of the press to the prohibition on torture and the support of democracies around the world.”
If only Hillary had won the election. Clinton, Merkel, and May would hold the line on Western values.
I never vote for women politicians and for good reason.
You have to remember who she is. Not only from East Germany but her family chose to move from West Germany to East Germany and she worked her way up and into the DRG leadership. Why the West Germans (and the repressed portion of the East Germans) would choose such a person is beyond me, but they did. I’m sure Putin exactly understands how her kind operates and how they will behave in a pinch.
The geopolitics of 1939 versus 2017 between Germany and Russia have not changed all that much. Germany has the capital and smarts and Russia has the cheap labor and resources. Simple as that.
As the EU slowly falls apart the Germans will have to make hard choices about what relationships benefit them most.
[…] The historical resonances should be chilling. {…]
The Article continues:
// None of this is meant to suggest that Ms Merkel is on the same moral and political level as Mr Trump. The US president has repeatedly displayed contempt for core western values — from freedom of the press to the prohibition on torture and the support of democracies around the world. //
As for Kate’s throwaway line, perhaps she’s just wrecking her idea of Germany, which I imagine also has “historical resonances”
For convenience or otherwise, live links to FT articles are usually present in this form [cut back for site]
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https://www.ft.com/content/dc911cb8-4449-11e7-8519-9f94ee97d996
Would not think that Merkel has wrecked Germany, the country, for now has the critical mass of Germans and other Europeans to handle the barbarians from other continents.
They have the knowhow and the will to produce superior product that unsurprisingly is made with labor from the said continents. Of course the knowhow and pure automaton labor works well since the labor won’t interfere with anything but a strike with the development and production planning.
It would take probably a whole lot to destroy the German economy, though not an impossible task for socialists and communists, they are supremely qualified and specialists on getting it done.
Paywall can go suck it.
How can you even talk about pre-second-world-war German/Russian alliances when Trump is tweeting “covfefe.” I mean puh-leeze, let’s get a little perspective. /sarc
My response to some of the points made in the column.
“In a speech to Nato, the US president failed to reaffirm Article 5, the alliance’s mutual defence clause. This was not an accidental oversight and sent a clear message that America’s commitment to the defence of Europe can no longer be taken for granted.”
In other words, Europe, buck up and do your share, we’re tired of doing all the heavy lifting for you.
——————————————-
“At a G7 summit, Mr Trump stood alone in his failure to endorse the Paris climate accord.”
Good for him! Setting a sensible example for Europe to follow.
—————————————–
“None of this is meant to suggest that Ms Merkel is on the same moral and political level as Mr Trump.”
No, she has a long way to go before she climbs to his level.
—————————————–
“The sad reality is that Ms Merkel seems to have little interest in fighting to save the western alliance.”
No, the sad reality is she seems bound and determined to surrender Europe to foreign invaders.
Donald Trump plays it straight. Would the USA get involved in a shooting war with Russia over Latvia? I think the answer is no, and always has been no, which means that Latvia and all the other East European states should never have been admitted to NATO. Russia was given assurances that NATO would not expand at the time of the collapse of the FSU, assurances that “we” have not honoured. Merkel’s position is nothing short of astonishing. If the UK is offered a Dream Brexit then we will persevere with NATO. If not then I expect we will turn our back on Europe and NATO and seek to form a new alliance with the US and Canada. At that point it will be interesting to see which way the remainder of the old NATO countries fall.
with 530 million population, compared to Russia’s 145 million, Russia has one large advantage over the EU/nato, and that is the European socialist mind set
Thank you Dirtman; I was starting to think I inadvertently slid into MSNBC. I only hope Canadians grit their Teeth and strive against a Socialist Light-Heavy B.C. political party or a Socialist Heavy-Light political party separated by one Legislative Seat.
The pandering; buying votes; during the Islamic/ISIS Surge into Canada will complete the Lost British Columbia Intelligence; probably forever.
Let me set the record about “crass” behavior … it is NOT crass for President Trump to publicly call-out ALL the NATO members who are NOT paying their fair share of the NATO financial commitment. Their lack of making a SERIOUS … yet minimal … financial commitment is FAR more demonstrative of a lack of commitment than President Trump failing to call out Article 5. The vast majority of the member NATO nations are behaving completely crass and lacking decent manners … despite their “purdy” rhetoric. Actions (and inactions) speak louder than words,, eh ? Eh, Mssr. Trudeau ?