Germany's von der Leyen voted new European Commission president

Discussion in 'Latest US & World News' started by Canell, Jul 16, 2019.

  1. Canell

    Canell Well-Known Member

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    Well, I have only one thing to say about that - let's hope Mrs. von der Leyen doesn not become Mrs. von der Lie-en. :cake:
     
  2. Durandal

    Durandal Well-Known Member Donor

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    Considering her stance on climate and a "strong Europe," the usual suspects are bound to call her a liar.
     
  3. Steady Pie

    Steady Pie Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    As someone who wants to see the EU either abolished or otherwise radically reformed, I hope she pushes a "strong Europe" narrative as hard as she can.

    We could use the support.
     
  4. Canell

    Canell Well-Known Member

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  5. Durandal

    Durandal Well-Known Member Donor

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    She is a federalist with a history of advocating ever-closer ties between EU member states, and she once called Brexit “a burst bubble of hollow promises.”​

    The usual suspects will hate her.
     
  6. Pollycy

    Pollycy Well-Known Member

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    Ursula von der Leyen is a purely political apparatchik, owned and controlled by the European Central Bank. She was Germany's Defense Minister, and in that capacity she littered Germany with fighters that don't fly, tanks that don't run, and ships that don't sail anywhere -- because none of these things are kept in operational condition, and there are no SPARE PARTS! There's no money for it, either. The German Government spends all its money on 'social programs' and bailing all the EU "partners" out -- along with shoveling out billions of euros on ancient 'Nazi-guilt' bullshit....

    Poland, Greece, and other countries in Europe know that whenever they need a big cash infusion, all they need to do is start bitching about World War II again, and again, and again....

    [​IMG]. Everybody figured out that they can milk it for a few billion more... from time to time.... :rock_slayer:
     
    Last edited: Jul 17, 2019
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  7. aenigma

    aenigma Well-Known Member

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    pretty sure Germany has a huge budget surplus
    they could spend more on the army if they actually want to
    https://www.dw.com/en/germany-closed-2018-with-record-budget-surplus/a-47626726-0
     
  8. Caligula

    Caligula Well-Known Member

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    Unfortunately, there are quite a few things very wrong here (as almost always).
    Von der Leyen didn't litter Germany with fighters or tanks that don't work. These projects were almost always negotiated and then started before she became the Defence Minister. Making her responsible for bad planning that her predecessors were involved in is highly incorrect.
    She has been criticized in the recent past, like almost every Defence Minister in the past. It simply is a job that not many are willing to do and is sometimes called "Schleudersitz" (ejection seat). The equipment for the Bundeswehr could be better in many areas, yes. This, however, is more than anything else a question of better planning and that's one of the things von der Leyen has been criticized for. The Bundeswehr is currently involved in 14 Nato missions around the globe, but, of course 'none of these things (fighters, tanks, ships) are kept in operational condition.' Simply false.
    The claim that there is no money is false, so is the claim that the government spends all its money on social programs. I wish people would familiarize themselves with these topics first, before they comment. It's as if some people get paid to make painfully superficial and highly incorrect claims. The info is just a finger tip away, why not use it? Seems too difficult.

    Greece has brought up the topic of reparations several times, and, of course, that means they want money. Every German government has denied it. Every now and then, Poland tries the same, not even seriously debated and denied every time. In fact, the so-called Greek crisis has created a huge plus (billions) for Germany. There are no billions spent on 'ancient Nazi guilt BS.'
    https://www.zeit.de/wirtschaft/2018-06/griechenland-rettungsschirm-deutschland-profit-milliarden
    https://www.tagesspiegel.de/wirtsch...arden-mit-griechenland-krediten/22717682.html
    https://www.sueddeutsche.de/wirtschaft/griechenland-hilfe-deutschland-milliarden-gewinn-1.4025519
     
    Last edited: Jul 18, 2019
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  9. Pollycy

    Pollycy Well-Known Member

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    Greece is still trying to get the €279 billion euros it claims Germany owes it for World War II. Since Greece owes everybody else in Europe approximately €240 billion euros in various 'loans' funneled through the IMF, it is obvious why they have been trying for several years to gouge this out of Germany, 74 years after the war ended.

    With Poland, it's even more stunning. Less than three months ago, Poland's "Law and Justice Party" (PiS) announced that Germany owes Poland approximately €758 billion euros, according to Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-poland-germany-reparations/ge
    rmany-owes-poland-over-850-billion-in-ww2-reparations-senior-lawmaker-idUSKCN1S215R

    Nothing new about any of this. If you're the only rich guy around, everybody wants to pick YOUR pocket.

    [​IMG]. "Awa! Was ist das bloß für eine Rechnung...?!" :eyepopping:

    And as far as the current tragic status of the Bundeswehr is concerned, you may wish to see the following:

    https://www.dw.com/en/potential-pitfalls-for-germanys-new-defense-minister/a-49617427-0
    https://dsm.forecastinternational.c...31/germanys-military-readiness-woes-continue/
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ailable/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.c7e459adc7ee

    No, AKK won't be able to 'fix' the problem because, as you accurately say, the problems involving a broken, underfunded Bundeswehr have gone on and on for years. Actually, they seem to have gained momentum after the Soviet Union imploded starting in 1991. Germans found other things to spend money on beside the military, and clearly they went overboard. But, this experience will give AKK a good 'maturing' and 'seasoning' process....
     
  10. Caligula

    Caligula Well-Known Member

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    I pointed out the false statements in your comment, I'm familiar with the Bundeswehr & its underfunding, the on-off debate around it and German domestic poltics in general, more than you I dare to say. Simple geography.
    Not sure what those links are for, they don't tell me anything new, and I prefer the primary sources anyway. Those links are simplified summaries.
    http://dip21.bundestag.de/dip21/btd/19/072/1907200.pdf
    http://dip21.bundestag.de/dip21/btd/19/007/1900700.pdf

    I'm familiar with Greece's demands as well as the Polish stratgey. The remaining Kaczyński has mentioned his intentions several times in the last years, and so did his brother. Every German government is fully aware that once they give in half a dozen other countries will line up and demand their share, so no money spent on 'Nazi guilt BS', which, of course, does not mean Greece and a few others will stop trying.
     
  11. Pollycy

    Pollycy Well-Known Member

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    Perhaps we can agree on that one point, then, that "Greece and a few others" will continue to get as much money as they can out of Germany -- for World War II, which, logically absolutely-equals-to 'Nazi guilt BS'... nicht war...?

    As far as the sad state of the German military is concerned, from the .pdf's you cited, here is just one of many excerpts (translated into English, with emphasis mine):

    In a circular letter to members of his association, a naval commander writes in 2018: "We are at the limit of resource resources and live off the substance.

    Requirements for us, the actual condition of our material and the availability
    of personnel are not in the balance to the readiness in the required
    Scale up and distribute loads in a balanced way.
    "

    A thesis paper from the army command analyzes: "The current procurement practice
    is aimed at excluding risks as far as possible and strives for maximum (legal)
    Safety and regulatory compliance. More and more complex, sometimes even mutually exclusive
    conflicting regulations generate ever higher sequential coordination requirements
    and diverse interfaces. "

    And the Luftwaffe inspector announced in the summer of 2018 in public: "The Air Force
    is at a low point.
    "

    This honesty is good. It is existential for the future of the Bundeswehr. Nothing comes by itself. Who wants improvements, must address grievances. Decisions are needed. Waiting can no longer be an option. The Bundeswehr as a parliamentary army is more transparent than the forces of other nations, but often struggle with very similar problems. :lonely:

    And who was the German Defense Minister? Ursula von der Leyen. When the report cited was written, she had already been in that position for FIVE YEARS....

    It is to be hoped that she will do a better job running the EU for the European Central Bank than she did in running the Bundeswehr!

    It seems her greatest accomplishment in that capacity was in having pictures of German Chancellor, Helmut Schmidt, pulled down off the walls of military buildings because they showed him in his uniform, serving his country as he was sworn to do....

    [​IMG] [​IMG]."Doch, ja, VERBOTEN!"


     
  12. Caligula

    Caligula Well-Known Member

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    I'll refrain from quoting your comment, it's just so huge.
    Please, get your facts straight. We already talked about this months ago, but you don't seem to care for reality that much. Von der Leyen didn't order to pull down pictures of Helmut Schmidt wearing his Wehrmacht uniform. That's simply false. I find it quite weird that I, apprarently, have to explain this again.
    After the strange case of Bundeswehr officer Franco A., von der Leyen issued an order to remove Wehrmacht memorabilia from barracks and other military buildings (so far, so true). The Bundeswehr university in Hamburg then took said pic down thinking that is what the defence ministy ordered. This created quite a heated public debate as Schmidt is a very popular figure (as you probably know). The ministry itself got in touch with the university and told them it was unnecessary to take the pic down and this was not what they had in mind. So, von der Leyen never ordered to pull it down - full stop. The pic was put back up again a few weeks later. Btw, we're talking about one picture (in words: one), not pictures!

    Von der Leyen has been criticized for the way she handled this, but also for quite a few other things - as I already mentioned - for instance on lack of equipment, too much bureaucracy, not enough transparency where it's considered needed, and also for having advisors coming in from the outside (e.g. Katrin Suder) taking up powerful positions within the ministry and creating a rather dubious climate of nepotism. A parliarmentary enquiry committe heavily criticized von der Leyen and K. Suder later resigned. IMO, von der Leyen should have resigned as well.
    https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik...inisterium-freund-staatssekretaerin-1.4293274
    https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deut...timo-noetzel-offenbar-hinweise-a-1274746.html


    You don't have to quote the pdfs I linked, I usually read the sources that I use, hence I'm familiar with them.

    "nicht war" should be "nicht wahr."
    "war" = was
    "wahr" = true
    I'm fairly sure the new conservative Greek government will try to reignite the reparation debate. So far, everything Greece has tried has been fruitless, and I don't see them getting what they want, not now, not in the future.
     
    Last edited: Jul 20, 2019
  13. Sobo

    Sobo Banned

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    I think thats good new. She ruined our military and now is in a pure represential position, where she can do not much damage.
     
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  14. Pollycy

    Pollycy Well-Known Member

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    Gibt acht, Sobo! Now she's going to be a rubber-stamp 'Haushund' for the European Central Bank while making a schauspiel of running the EU. And guess who is going to be running the European Central Bank! CHRISTINE LAGARDE! :roflol:

    Oh, the sheer pathos of this continuing European tragicomedy is such a 'perfect storm' of sheer, unadulterated HILARITY!

    [​IMG]. "It just doesn't get any better than THIS...!" :twisted:
     
    Last edited: Jul 20, 2019
  15. Canell

    Canell Well-Known Member

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    So, she ruined Germany's military and now is about to ruin the European Union?
     
  16. Yakamaru

    Yakamaru Well-Known Member

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    Oh please, let her ruin the EU too!

    The EU is going to die within a decade anyway. At best, two.

    I'm just going to watch while eating popcorn as the EU kills themselves over time due to their Authoritarian/Totalitarian mentality of "We're right and everyone else are wrong".
     
  17. Sobo

    Sobo Banned

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    How so? Her new position has less influence than the cleaning Crew. She is a so called "Grüßaugust"
     
  18. Canell

    Canell Well-Known Member

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    How about two years? ;)

    So, being head of the European Commission is less responsible than being Germany's defense minister?
     
  19. Pollycy

    Pollycy Well-Known Member

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    The EU will not 'die'... the European Central Bank will not ALLOW it to die! The ECB and all the other internationalist central banks in this vast, planet-wide banking cartel are all working together to control the economies (and, thus, the GOVERNMENTS) of every country they can penetrate and subvert. The cartel appears in many guises -- as the Federal Reserve System in the U. S.; the Bank of England; the Bank of Japan; etc., etc., etc.

    The ECB will 'manufacture' as much new money as is required to keep the whole economic 'fraud-balloon' floating....

    Hint: only two major nations on Earth are not ruled by central banks -- the Russian Federation, and, China. Russia and China have central banks, but they don't interfere with or manipulate the economies of either country....
     
    Last edited: Jul 21, 2019
  20. Jeannette

    Jeannette Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    If Merkel didn't want to face the Greek bill for war crimes, then maybe she shouldn't have destroyed Greece to placate the bankers and let Greece declare bankruptcy the way Iceland did. That way Greece could have been out of debt in two years, but instead she imposed austerity on them to make sure their economy could not grow.

    To add insult to injury she lied last year and said she didn't know that austerity wouldn't work and won't do it to any other country. In other words the poor disabled and elderly Greeks who had died from a lack of medicine were dispensable, because when Veroufakis told Dijsselbloam that austerity will not work and made suggestions to build up the economy, he laughed in his face and said they know that.

    The loans were supposedly to help the people and the country, yet not one penny of that money went to the Greek people. It all went back to Germany in interest rates, or to buy more subs and what not to combat a Turkish threat that Germany could have very well stopped but didn't.

    So much for the EU. As Nigel Farage said, the only nation that benefitted from it is Germany. In Italy there are more unemployed young people today than there ever was.


     
  21. Pollycy

    Pollycy Well-Known Member

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    The Iceland bankruptcy was a strange thing, brought on directly by Iceland's banks. I believe the information in this story is essentially correct: https://www.thebalance.com/iceland-financial-crisis-bankruptcy-and-economy-3306347

    Although I don't see a direct connection to Germany, per se, indicated, it does pinpoint the IMF, and, as I've already noted, the lock-step relationship between the IMF and the European Central Bank (and thus, Germany) is clear.

    There was (and will remain until at least 2060) a direct connection between Germany and Greece's 'bailout' problems, however, and this next story seems to explain what's happened with that rather different situation: https://www.thebalance.com/what-is-the-greece-debt-crisis-3305525

    I am not taking sides in the Germany/Greece situation, but it seems logical that if Germany was repulsed by the sloppy, irresponsibly stupid, socialistic economy of Greece, then Germany should have steered CLEAR of it in the first place. But, of course, by its very nature, the EU and the European Central Bank have always encouraged all member countries to "bathe in each other's bath water".

    Perhaps the most revealing thing about the Greek problem is described in the article this way:

    "Most importantly, the measures required Greece to reform its pension system. Pension payments had absorbed 17.5 percent of GDP, higher than in any other EU country. Public pensions were 9 percent underfunded, compared to 3 percent for other nations. Austerity measures required Greece to cut pensions by 1 percent of GDP. It also required a higher pension contribution by employees and limited early retirement.

    Half of Greek households relied on pension income since one out of five Greeks were 65 or older. Workers weren’t thrilled paying contributions so seniors can receive higher pensions."

    The austerity measures you described seem to be much, much more devastating than indicated by a one (ONE) percent pension cut by the Greek government, but I don't dispute what you say. Moreover, I've got no love whatever for banks, German or otherwise, but if Greece owed German banks money, then they needed to pay -- period.
     
  22. Jeannette

    Jeannette Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    From what I know the Greeks fell into debt for two reasons. One was the mortgages that were being given out before the collapse of 2008, and the other was the massive fires that broke out in the Pelopennusus the day the trade winds started. The smoke could be seen as far away as Italy. I'm positive it was arson/sabotage - and it was done by their neighbor with the intent to hurt the economy.

    Regardless of the tax evasion which was endemic, and the rest of the Greek stupidities, Merkel had no right to impose austerity on the country knowing it would stifle the economy and push them deeper into debt. The people who suffered were those that least deserved it. If they had gone after the millionaires and tax evaders it would have been different, but they attacked the poor and vulnerable.

    The Greek people knew from the start that the debt was not sustainable, so the journalists were invited to a seminar in Washington, no doubt Soros' to teach them how to convince the people otherwise. Fishy, I think so, as was the false arrest of Strauss Khan the head of the IMF the day before he was going to Greece to help them out. l

    I can see only one reason why Germany would put Greece into debt, and that was to gain the oil and gas deposits in the Greek territorial waters. There is one major problem though, Turkey is eyeing them as well.
     
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