German minister calls american ambassador Grenell "Witzfigur" (laughable Clown)

Discussion in 'Latest US & World News' started by Sobo, Aug 11, 2019.

  1. Iranian Monitor

    Iranian Monitor Well-Known Member

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    It all depends on what someone might define as a "threat"?

    If the threat is supposed to be to America, then there is none.

    But if the threat is to Americans trying to extend their hegemony even further, then that "threat" comes in varying degrees of determination and urgency from all over the planet.

    Leading the pack in determination and urgency, combined with some capability, is Iran and its axis of resistance.

    Leading the pack in military/economic capability, are China and then Russia, although the threat from each is offset by the fact that neither is all that eager to upset an apple cart that they are content with keeping as it is right now. Which means neither is all that determined and both are quite willing to make deals (as long as they aren't entirely unreasonable) that chip away at their ultimate ability to one day stand up to the US properly.

    Right behind this pack, you have nations like Turkey on the one hand, and even others like Germany, who aren't really comfortable with the trajectory of things. In the case of the Turks, they have their own ambitions which are being thwarted by America's bullying and actions. In the case of the Germans and some others in the EU, the American behavior has simply become over bearing and intolerable.

    If the nations who are uninterested in a vision of a "New American Century" of bullying, where indeed able to unite and act in concert, America's hegemony would come to an end quickly. The main ingredient behind that hegemony is America's control of international trade through its control of the currency used in that trade, namely the US dollar. While America's control is backed up by its military power, including its nuclear arsenal, no one (not even the crazy folks feeding the frenzy behind extending this American hegemony) are interested in unleashing nuclear war to achieve their aims. And America's dollar hegemony could easily crumble if so many nations otherwise uninterested in such hegemony were not so invested in the system built up on the basis of the US dollar hegemony -- and showed even a tad more determination in refusing to appease it.
     
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  2. Giftedone

    Giftedone Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    cause they do not view it as their obligation... Cold war is over - there is no point in those soldiers being there.
     
  3. Giftedone

    Giftedone Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Right - the country that let in a shwackload of immigrants. The article in your link is a propaganda clown show as is the link itself. Israel is getting in the way of global commerce (and global peace) and dragging the USA into the mud. That's the reality. We are a puppet of Israel's domestic and foreign policy - other nations are not.

    This schism that is developing between the US and the EU is not a good thing. Its a bad thing. This is not what winning looks like - this what losing looks like.
     
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  4. Iranian Monitor

    Iranian Monitor Well-Known Member

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    You are very much correct in many ways, although to be fair it isn't just the pro Israel lobby on its own that has hijacked American government and its policies. It is the combination of the pro Israel lobby and the military industrial lobby, both using (and funding) crazy folks anticipating "rupture" and the like in a Christian evangelical movement they have encouraged for some time to have their foot soldiers to augment the influence they can win by money and their control of the media and government institutions, which is why the whole thing has become as threatening as it has become. In some ways, even Israel itself will ultimately prove a sacrificial lamb and a victim of these folks.

    In the meantime, though, those who have hijacked the American government are quite busy elsewhere too. It is a mistake to assume they only wield influence over US politics. They have (albeit far less) influence all over Europe and, in particular, in places such as the UK (where there is, nonetheless, unlike the US, an offsetting group of influences as well). But overall, the trend which started out in the US in the 1980s under Reagan, is now repeating itself among the Tories in the UK. They won't be able to create the "monopoly" that the pro Israeli lobbies were able to forge in the US, but that only means that the fight in places like the UK will be even more contentious. By comparison, the total takeover of the US government across both political parties (minus some fringe elements among the isolationist wing of the Republican party and more visible but still powerless voices in the Democratic party) was accomplished rather easily without much fanfare. Even as Americans began to look at the term "neocon" as a bad term, the PNAC agenda of those folks today is every bit a part of the fabric of American foreign policy as "containment" once was during the Cold War.
     
  5. Giftedone

    Giftedone Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Yes - I understand who pulls the strings - and it is more than the ones you mentioned. Big money interests who control the Insurance and Healthcare Oligopolies are another .. and lets not forget the financial system.

    In many cases these interests have their hands in more than one pie. That said - there is no other country that drags us around by the nose like Israel.
     
  6. Iranian Monitor

    Iranian Monitor Well-Known Member

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    I totally agree with your focus on Israel. Israel is the linchpin right now. But among all the other influences that can be mentioned, one that stands out the most is the military industrial lobby. And here I am not talking about the American military per se, but those within the military and without it who have a vested interest in seeing a lot of money and attention spent their way.

    On the latter, let me also mention various ways these folks are bribed every day, which also involves Israel. Many former US military officers and congressmen know full well that (besides the fact that rising the ire of the pro Israel lobby can be costly politically in terms of character assassination and other such tactics), they also know there are great rewards (beyond even reelection) if they tow the line. There are hundreds of "defense contractors", "think tanks", media organizations, and even law firms, ready to give these folks very generous "jobs" once their tenure is over. If you are a "general" who follows their brief, you will be virtually guaranteed to land a cushy position with one of these "defense contractors". If you are a politician, you can look for such jobs in various law firms, think tanks, and the like -- all of whom represent interests that are funded by these groups. If you work in academia, you can look for research projects and funding from these "think tanks". Even when you look carefully at some of the "evangelical christian" groups, and their funding, you will soon discover some such hands behind them as well.
     
  7. Iranian Monitor

    Iranian Monitor Well-Known Member

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    Incidentally, I think it is worth noting in this thread a news item that may have missed the attention of many folks: the person who was supposed to head INSTEX (the financial institution being developed by the Europeans to counter America's threats and allow at least some level of trade between Iran and the EU), was a former German ambassador to Iran. Under the typical tactics which have proven to work only because of the influence of the pro Israel lobby beyond America's shores, this guy ended up declining his position because he had said some things which appeared "sympathetic" to the Palestinians and the like. The "spin" from the Israeli side tried to say he was somehow connected to "Holocaust deniers"!

    Here is the kind of typical nonsense which serves as their smear campaign against anyone who doesn't tow their line, that passes as news from the pro Israel lobby groups.

    https://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Germ...trade-fired-linked-to-Holocaust-denier-598112
    GERMAN AMB. SET TO RUN EU-IRAN TRADE RESIGNS, LINKED TO HOLOCAUST DENIER
    Germany’s top-selling paper, Bild, reported on Thursday about the latest antisemitism scandal that is consuming Germany’s foreign ministry.
     
    Last edited: Aug 12, 2019
  8. Sobo

    Sobo Banned

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    As long you pay. We celebrate the party.
     
  9. Sobo

    Sobo Banned

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    We killed more people than our nation had inhabitants.
     
  10. Glücksritter

    Glücksritter Well-Known Member

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    All US troops in Europe should be moved to the Baltics ... they have the most beautiful women in the world and the West cannot afford to loose them to a Russian invasion.
    Before someone asks, yes Ukrainian women are beautiful as well, but as the Ukraine is rather a shitholestate in opposition to the well organized Baltic states its doubtworthy if they are worth the effort.
     
  11. Dutch

    Dutch Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Th y don’t? It’s just too bad - until NATO decides otherwise and until Germans leave NATO, obligation it is.

    Bad, bad Trump, pointing out to Germany’s obligations, right?
     
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  12. chris155au

    chris155au Well-Known Member

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    Oh man! I wish I had that image during the CNN "The whole Russia thing is just a big nothingburger" story.
     
    Last edited: Aug 12, 2019
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  13. flyboy56

    flyboy56 Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Excellent article from Military Times regarding putting a US armored division in Poland. According to the article the US has no plans of pulling the 30,000 US troops stationed in Germany out. Many Germans like Sobo would like nothing more than seeing the US leave so they can start building up their military under the guise of defense only. UN restricts Germany from having an offensive capable military and an aircraft carrier would be a step towards having an offensive capable military. I seriously doubt Germany will see a carrier anytime soon.

    https://www.militarytimes.com/news/...ke-us-troops-from-germany-us-ambassador-says/

    Establishing a new U.S. military base in Poland won’t necessitate cuts from U.S. troop numbers in Germany, Kay Bailey Hutchison, the U.S. ambassador to NATO, said Tuesday.

    The Polish government is willing to pay up to $2 billion to establish a permanent U.S. military presence in their country, an offer that has piqued President Donald Trump’s interest. While the basing offer is far from finalized, it wouldn’t necessitate a reduction in U.S. troops posted within the borders of another NATO ally.

    “It wouldn’t be at the expense of Germany,” Hutchison told reporters during a telephone conference before a NATO ministerial meeting in Brussels this week, as first reported by Stars and Stripes. “We have a very large number of forces and bases in Germany that we don’t expect to change."
     
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  14. Dutch

    Dutch Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Right on! Plus, Polish sausage is much better than German bratwurst. :D
     
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  15. Dutch

    Dutch Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Something you're proud of? Or at least, this is how you come across. :hiding:
     
  16. aenigma

    aenigma Well-Known Member

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  17. Sobo

    Sobo Banned

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    As i Said empty words. No wonder your Ambassador is called pathetic clown.
     
  18. gnoib

    gnoib Well-Known Member

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    Oooohhhhh at least :D
     
  19. gnoib

    gnoib Well-Known Member

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    You live in the greatest debt nation of the world, the you US exist only on borrowed money, a credit card and makes minimum payment only.
     
  20. gnoib

    gnoib Well-Known Member

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  21. gnoib

    gnoib Well-Known Member

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    And everybody knows that in Germany.

    That's why the Ambassador is a pathetic clown.
     
  22. fmw

    fmw Well-Known Member

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    I seems your minister has been taking rudeness lessons from Donald Trump.
     
  23. Pro_Line_FL

    Pro_Line_FL Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    We don't have to pay for seas bases, we pay because we choose to maintain them.
     
  24. Sobo

    Sobo Banned

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    We have a saying: Auf einen groben Klotz gehört ein grober Keil. Which means that you need a rough Hammer to smash a rough stone.
     
  25. Hoosier8

    Hoosier8 Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Germans feeling superior again? Color me shocked.
     
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