I confess to finding German politics to be a little inscrutable these days. US politics of course have a certain bizarre affect this year but Germans? Upset enough to seriously roil the system? Who knew that they were directly emotional about such matters?
Merkel's father took his family to live in the GDR, leaving the safety of West Germany? Say what? Were there many who did this kind of counter-intuitive flight to the Warsaw Pact countries?
Is it the case that the German electorate is going to dump Merkel in unhappiness over her migrant policy and the bribe paid by the EU?
Perhaps some of our German committeemen will explain this to us? pl
http://www.theguardian.com/world/blog/2016/may/12/angela-merkel-suddenly-looking-politically-mortal
http://www.thelocal.de/20160510/major-political-parties-have-never-been-so-unpopular-poll
Colonel,
My school in West-Berlin was located in the American sector, maybe 500 metres from the border of the Soviet sector. It practically consisted of 2 schools, one like any other school in the American sector, and one set up like a school in the Soviet sector, with Russian as first foreign language, and the beginning of the school year in September instead of March, but without the Marx BS. It was setup for people who had already fled to the West, or people who were living in hhe East, but wanted their children to get a Western-style upbringing. That way the pupils were not forced to start afresh with a new foreign language and didn’t have to change class in the middle of the year. It had been chosen for it’s closeness to the Soviet sector, so that pupils did not have to travel too far from the East. In the class of my now wife were 4 children of clergy-men, who were not allowed to attend high school. Mrs. Merkel miraculously was allowed to attend high school, to study and acquire a diploma and even a Ph.D. (Her dissertaion is unfortunately “lost without trace”, which is regrettable, because in the East they usually contained hymnic praise of the party and would have made good reading). Quite a few privileges for the daughter of a clergy-man. I leave it to everybody to draw their own conclusions from these little bits of information.
There were very few, yet high-profile cases of some German individuals “going East” to the German Democratic Republic back in the day. Mostly intellectuals and artists, like Bertolt Brecht.
As for Merkel: She’s been rather well-known to bend in lieu of the direction that the wind’s – supposedly – blowing for a rather long while now. It’s possible that the two intertwined issues you raised – trying to make altruism and philanthropy mandatory for society first before dropping that by way of handing out cash to a much-condemned and mocked persona like Tayyip – were two turns too many. Yet it remains to be seen how the etablissement is going to counter that. Media-PR wise the woman along with her government is very well set up, by and large.
My thoughts on the Telegraph:
Well that’s the first time I’ve seen Charlemagne and Hitler mentioned in the same sentence. If only the former had lived up to the 21st century standards of moral value, or if only his grandfather had been on the other side at Tours, the left would not have this dilemma.
“Most German families, including hers, number ex-refugees among them because of the defeat in 1945 and redrawing of eastern borders.” Of course the that makes all those “refugees” virtuous be extension (unlike the citizens of the UK, Germany or anywhere else that is disobedient to the narrative), especially now that Assad and Trump are both, well, not Charlemagne.
Sir
I don’t follow German politics so can’t really speak with any authority. But…it seems the practical consequences of rampant immigration from mostly Muslim countries in Africa, Middle East and Asia under the guise of political refugees is now causing a backlash. It’s becoming apparent that many are being drawn by visions of a better economic status without having to assimilate or contribute much.
In this context of open borders, I was fascinated by this oped by the former Archbishop of Canterbury supporting Brexit.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-3590851/Why-m-voting-Brexodus-revelatory-call-quit-EU-former-leader-Church-England.html
Clergy?
A little bird told me that hausfrau merkel is of juden ancestry…
YT,
Maybe it would be a good idea if the little bird revealed it’s source.
Interessting,
One must remember that it was Merkel’s father decision… there were allegedly in East Germany some kind of opposition network in the protestant clergy.
But I never saw any information in depth on the Reverent Merkel, have you some sources on this topic ?
Her Marxist upbringing can’t be ignored, nor can the fact she’s childless and menopausal. All factors in why she pushed so hard for this invasion.
YT,
Did the little bird explain how juden ancestry would affect or influence Merkel’s ideas and policies about various things and stuff?
Her father’s name was Kasner. Merkel is the name she kept from her first marriage which ended in divorce. The Lutheran church at that time was still unified. He was assigned from Hamburg to East Germany by the church. Whilst that sort of thing happened, a lot of priests refused such an assignment, Mr. Kasner however accepted the call, apparently quite enthusiastically. He became known as “Red” Kasner and apparently showed great sympathy for the regime.
Merkel’s personal experience of being on the wrong side of the wall makes her sympathetic to the refugees’ plight. And it was good politics at first, as European media attention to migrant privations crescendoed from the late summer of 2015 into the winter, culminating in Merkel’s winning Person of the Year. That all changed on a dime after Paris & Cologne.
Merkel stuck to her guns, but while there is still a sizable body of support for her policy in Germany, there isn’t in her center-right-to-right constituency. She’s like Mitt Romney whose bold insurance reforms were once viewed as both compassionate & good politics but then the ground shifted and they became embarrassments & liabilities to the party.
Respectable & mainstream Germans like to believe that the War & its aftermath caused a clean break in German culture & politics, that they have irrevocably evolved to a higher, nicer form of politics characterized by tolerance, moderation, and Europeanism. Unfortunately, no matter how much they try to preserve the memories of 1918-1945 (and the Germans really have tried), the direct connection to the lessons of that time are inexorably fading and Germany is fast reverting to the centuries-long trend of being yet another European nation-state, able & increasingly willing to play power politics with the rest of the nation-states in pursuit of in-group interests.
What exactly is this obsession you have with Jews and or Khazars?
You drag it in at every possible opportunity including a really pathetic site which explained how the Khazars were secretly responsible for everything bad that ever happened.
Remember that?
And no I’m not a Jew or a Khazar.
Telegaph? That would be this article from September of last year? What’s so hard about providing a link to an article you quote?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/11842533/Germans-have-been-refugees-before-they-see-themselves-in-these-Syrians.html
It points out something very obvious that a people with very recent experience of being refugees are likely to have some empathy and sympathy for refugees.
Nothing in that article can even remotely be said to be arguing that all those refugees are virtuous “by extension” as you seem to be trying to claim. And in fact nobody with even the slightest knowledge of the Daily Telegraph’s firmly anti-refugee editorial policy would make so ludicrous an assertion.
You appear to be projecting again. Better luck next time.
While we’re at it which of the several narratives are you complaining about? Because the overwhelming narrative in the press both in Britain and Continental Europe is markedly anti-refugee.
In reply to Tyler 15 May 2016 at 02:10 PM
She was brought up as a Lutheran in the household of a Lutheran pastor. She may have been educated as a Marxist but that’s an entirely different kettle of fish as you are doubtless well aware.
“nor can the fact she’s childless and menopausal”
Even by your low low standards that’s a contemptible argument.
“All factors in why she pushed so hard for this invasion”.
Suddenly Tyler can read minds wow just wow.
German politicians are carefully holding fire on many issues until June 27th and the outcome known in Great Britain. IMO of course.
Both HRC and the Donald need to agree or disagree with the BREXIT again in my opinion. Preferably before June 27th!
Dubz,
Lel. Where to start?
Her “growing up in. Lutheran household” means nothing when compared against the damage she has done to the German state. Trying to handwave away how her childless nature affects her outlook(witness her giggles when she poses with all dem young “refugees”) is typical for an SJW but doesn’t change the facts.
“Wow just wow”
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=wow%20just%20wow
“Self-parodying phrase commonly uttered by intellectually sheltered political ideologues expressing visceral contempt for ideas they can’t logically rebut.”
NAILED IT.You’re so damn basic you’re a friggin meme!
Why, they want to be president of the USA and not of the UK. They should say what is best for the US not Britain and best for the US is to not get involved (officially that is, unofficially the “CIA” should make dam sure England stays in the Union)
” In the class of my now wife were 4 children of clergy-men, who were not allowed to attend high school. Mrs. Merkel miraculously was allowed to attend high school,”
This only means that her father was system conform, not more.
” to study and acquire a diploma and even a Ph.D. (Her dissertaion is unfortunately “lost without trace”, which is regrettable, because in the East they usually contained hymnic praise of the party and would have made good reading).”
And? The thesis in the field of theoretical chemistry was very good according to people who have read it. Of course it would contain some but kissing in the “Vorwort”, this was common.
Half of my family lived in the GDR, therefore, I do perfectly understand how some aspects worked especially when you wanted to study and came from the right or wrong family.
So what?
The thesis is on
“A little bird told me that hausfrau merkel is of juden ancestry…”
Sie haben einen Vogel, das ist unübersehbar. 🙂
“Is it the case that the German electorate is going to dump Merkel in unhappiness over her migrant policy and the bribe paid by the EU?”
Dumping Merkel requires an alternative. Who?
The SPD with Sigmar Gabriel is a sitting duck and within the CDU no royal contenter is available. Seehofer is CSU and can, therefore, be ignored.
My bet: Merkel will get elected in 2017. The interesting question is the coalition. As the SPD will lose big, we will very likely see a coalition of CDU/SPD/FDP. The AfD will get around 20-25%.
The whole affair (great coalitions) are poison for the two larger parties as can be seen now in Austria.
Dubz,
“The narrative is against refugees”.
If I needed evidence you were high this is it. Last I checked the police were covering up refugee attacks and the media was aiding them by ignoring stories about their criminality.
Fred, you think we can trigger this guy back to his safe space?
Dubhaltach,
That’s the article linked to above by Col. Lang. My comment is about the reporting, not the opinions of the people in Europe.
Turcopolier
Merkel’s chair is safer than ever before.
The refugee wave has strengthened Merkels position in Germany, exactly because it has created a right wing opposition (AfD) to Merkel’s CDU/CSU. It currently looks like the next parliament will become a 6 factions parliament, where only the CDU will be strcuturally able to form a government. See the polls here:
http://www.wahlrecht.de/umfragen/index.htm
Let me explain: 6 factions (parties) are polled over the threshold to enter parliament. Clearly strongest faction is the CDU/CSU. The hardest hit is the main opposition of the social democrats (SPD), in the polls (20%) and in perspective – it’s so damn bad that nobody in the SPD wants to apply for a 2017 chancellor run, because all know the SPD will lose badly. The problem for the SPD is that they have absolutely no perspective to form a government in the expected 6 party setup against the CDU/CSU. The SPD cannot build a government including the hard right AfD. That leaves only Greens (Grüne), free market liberals (FDP) and left socialists (LINKE) as possible partners for the FDP. But free market liberals (FDP) and left socialists (LINKE) exclude each other.
So the only way to form a government is Merkel’s CDU. CDU/CSU can do with all except the left socialists (LINKE). Merkel will have two good and a not so good option to form a new government after 2017.
– 1. Keep with the SPD
– 2. Drop SPD, and form government with Greens and FDP, or one of them if numbers fit
– and the not so good option: 3. If AfD is very strong and others block, the conservative CDU/CSU could go with the rightwing AfD.
Another plus for Merkel in person: SPD and Greens will likely only want to form a government with the CDU/CSU if Merkel stays, because she is the garantee for that the CDU/CSU keeps the slightly lefty course the CDU/CSU has taken in recent months, for example with refugees. So, with the refugee wave Merkel literally destroyed any viable alternative to her rule for any time soon.
The short time problem will maybe just the other way round. If Merkel decides as a person that 12 years as chancellor are enough and she won’t run again in 9/2016 she will be begged by all sides – including the opposition on the left – to not leave. There were reports after the election 2013 that she would find 12 years enough.
But strategically, the atlanticists position in Germany was weakened. What has changed is that there is now a right wing opposition to the CDU/CSU that is critical on Euro and relatively critical on NATO and quite friendly with Russia. That force (AfD) is a new development in Germany unseen before in Germany. And it may push the CDU/CSU in a similar nationalistic NATO-critical, Russia-friendly direction as AfD to be competitive. I cannot think that Merkel would have any qualms to push the CDU/CSU in such a direction if it fits her needs.
Everyone knowing Merkel confirms that it is not possible to imagine that Merkel just found a heart in herself as she took the refugee decisions she has taken. She’s not that type of person – she is always coolly calculating. The long list of former bigwhigs that girl (Kohl) has coolly destroyed bears witness to that. Total coolness is how she became who she is. The only problem with the refugee wave is that her calculation may be quite complex so it’s not so easy this time to figure it out.
In other EU countries there are similar older developments like Austria – FPÖ, France – Le Pen, Netherlands – Wilders, etc.
Well indeed where to start. Well let’s start with how you falsely tried to claim that she was reared as a Marxist. You can’t actually reply to your being called on that mendacious bullshit so you try to shift the argument to something completely different.
What evidence do you have to support your contention that her childless marital state is responsible for “the damage” that you claim “she has done to the German state.”
Specify that damage, hard solid evidence, please not your usual fact-free blathering.
“Menopausal” – she’s 61. Long past the age of menopause, do you have special knowledge acquired from her doctors that you’re willing to produce here or is that just more of your trashy BS?
“her giggles when she poses with all dem young “refugees””
Evidence please – and this time keep the dialect dog whistling out of it. A video or a report from a reputable German source will do.
SJW – try to refrain from ad hominem. Try to produce some facts in support of your ‘arguments’ such as they are. Or don’t you, me, and everyone reading this know you’ve got nothing.
Thank you. Succinctly put.
In reply to William R. Cumming 15 May 2016 at 05:08 PM
Given that Trump has already contradicted President Obama on the results of a British exit from the Eu he’s already made his position clear wouldn’t you say?
Why do you say “Both HRC and the Donald need to agree or disagree with the BREXIT” what relevance is it to the American presidential election? Or are you trying to say that as potential presidents they should be getting used to telling the British how to vote on domestic political issue?
In reply to Ulenspiegel 15 May 2016 at 07:29 PM
Grand coalitions seem to be political poison everywhere. I agree with you about 2017. My only query is the level of support for AfD could it conceivably go higher?
What are the possibilities if Merkel is unable to form a goverment with a majority in the Bundestag? Is there some provision for a minority government?
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/15/pigs-head-found-outside-german-chancellor-angela-merkels-office
A pigs head was found outside of Merkel’s office. There are over a 1,000 comments
on the thread
Sir,
All apologies.
I seem to have “come under the influence” of my **** associates across America.
They INSIST that ALL (if not a majority) of the evil deeds on this Terra are a consequence of xenophobic talmudic teachings.
Whether that is true or otherwise is a matter of opinion…
P.S.: You are from the Scottish Highlands, yes?
She was not always sympathetic to refugees. Remember this from less than a year ago when she reduced the little Palestinian girl to tears? “Inscrutable” is exactly the right word when you are trying work out what this cow is up to
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/16/angela-merkel-comforts-teenage-palestinian-asylum-seeker-germany
So what? So she might have a Skeleton in the closet. The communists weren’t known for giving away presents, you had to do something for them. If somebody possesses something on her, she might be “persuaded” to change her policy. Are you aware that almost all the “refugees” came from safe places in Turkey, Jordan and Libanon? I said draw your own conclusion, IMO the favors the family had were very conspicuous, e.g. having 2 cars was unheard of in the East.
Anyone who believes that Merkel is driven by empathy or something similar sentimental should get their heads examined. Ask the Greek pensioner or the mostly jobless youth in Spain how emphatic she is.
Merkel wants to keep wage rise pressure away because that is what her sponsors demand. Importing a lot of very cheap labor is supposed to achieve that. The need to feeding them will then be declared to be another reason to cut social security.
She is the worst chancellor for Germany AND Europe since that Adolph guy. But her sponsors, including Obama, have a strong grip on the German media and will not let her go down until they have established a safe replacement.
In reply to Fred 15 May 2016 at 08:35 PM
The colonel linked to an article in the Guardian and one in the German edition of “The Local” a chain of English Language newspapers serving for the most part local news on a country by country basis.
Neither of those two articles bear even the remotest resemblance to the article in the Telegraph.
Did you even bother to read it ?
So to repeat about the article in The Telegraph:
It points out something very obvious that a people with very recent experience of being refugees are likely to have some empathy and sympathy for refugees.
Nothing in that article can even remotely be said to be arguing that all those refugees are virtuous “by extension” as you seem to be trying to claim. And in fact nobody with even the slightest knowledge of the Daily Telegraph’s firmly anti-refugee editorial policy would make so ludicrous an assertion.
Better luck next time.
In reply to Tyler 15 May 2016 at 07:57 PM
Come back to me with that nonsense when you can read European newspapers in the languages in which they’re written. Similarly for the TV an radio news coverage.
All you’ve got is bluster. As you conclusively proved below with your contrafactual BS about Merkel.
Yes I remember that. I also remember that that particular refugee wound up being granted permanent refugee status.
b,
“Merkel wants to keep wage rise pressure away because that is what her sponsors demand.”
That’s a bit of basic economics missing from the discussion on immigration in the US.
“The need to feeding them will then be declared to be another reason to cut social security.”
That’s another parallel here.
Colonel,
Few weeks ago I saw this on TV5 from the French show : Envoyé Spécial ( at 47 mins) wrt Angela Merkel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9AdtkOh3vI
and here is what Le Figaro has to say:
http://tvmag.lefigaro.fr/programme-tv/article/television/91741/envoye-special-brosse-le-portrait-atypique-d-angela-merkel.html
So you assume FDP will return?
Merkel has been propaganda officer for a regional GDR students’ organisation of the SED, so she got a profound training about the “Klassenfeind” and how it functions. Plus advanced skills in public perception management and propaganda. When she became functionary in the CDU and Helmut Kohl’s favourite pupil, she knew already well how the Western system and the Borg works. So she could pull the correct strings with ease and made her way to the top, leaving stunned competitors in the party behind.
She is not a statesman but a power technologist, and does not allow values and res publicae to disturb her political control. From time to time, she does real statecraft if it coincides with a good public image and the agenda of her borg handlers, both in Europe and the US. But as soon as it becomes problematic, she drops it for the nearest clever opportunistic approach. She knows that politics often are a kind of organized crime and does not hesitate to play it in her interest, even if this includes bowing to offers she cannot reject. Handling blackmailing and being blackmailed is no problem to her, it’s part of the game. So she is the best chancellor money could buy.
Different to Helmut Kohl who had some historical vision he fought for, she does not bother. She is a real danger for Germany and Europe: Giving comfort to the electorate while steering into the abyss.
Dubz,
“Post links to stories that don’t exist! Can’t do it? I win!”
Gtfo out of here with your SJW horse shit and obfuscation. Those goal posts mean absolutely nothing when any one can Google Cologne attacks or migrant violence and get a wealth of stories off the radar and untouchable by Bild, Guardian, and all the others pushing Mutti Merkel’s rapefugees. All you’ve got is a spun sugar narrative that can’t survive contact with reality and a lot of petulant demanding of proof when you post none. Better get back to your safe space before you have to read hatefacts about what’s really going on.
Again with the insane standards of evidence while burying your head in the sand to the reality that rapefugees are a negative for Europe. Merkel’s daddy fled TO Easy Europe, she was a very active member of communist youth groups, but that means nothing because there are no peer reviewed studies about it, m I rite? She evens governs like a cultural marxist but this means nothing in your SJW world where down is up and a man is a woman.
It’s a legitimate observation to make (and one that obviously triggers you) that her being childless has something to do with her obsession with flooding Europe with young foreign men. A certain laisse faireattitude perhaps, seeing as she has no actual progeny to provide for? This is only controversial if you’re an idiot prog having to face a reality he doesn’t like. Again, a Google image search for Merkel and refugees has plenty of her smiling and carrying on with all these strapping rapefugees.
You are an SJW, and you don’t set the rules here. Furthermore you don’t even know how to use ad hominem correctly. I have you pegged dead to rights as another basic b-tch SJW who runs around demanding proof from anyone who screws with the Narrative, and then invents reasons to disqualify them while refusing to provide any of his own or running to easily debunked articles from Huff Post.
As an aside, do you have asperger’s? Your stilted style and inability to process sarcasm and rhetoric is pointing towards yes.
As others more knowledgeable about German politics have noted Merkel and the Borg have the wind on their backs.
The Borg can retain power as they control the levers of power. Even as the bottom 90% fall behind and there is more push back the Borg seems to be able to get ahead. All this is doing is slowly strengthening the extremes on both the right and left. The question is how long before a demagogue corrals enough support and ends the facade of democracy.
I think this Fall’s US election will be instructive. Will the Borg Queen prevail? Will The Donald turn out to be another Mr. Hope & Change?
Clearly resentment is building among large swathes of the population as they keep falling behind and they see the political and financial elites screwing them over. IMO, a point is going to be reached sooner than later when governments and central banks can’t prop up the growing systemic financial leverage.
Things are starting to break down. The socialist paradise of Venezuela is one spark away from anarchy. In Brazil a corrupt “Bernie Sanders” government was replaced by an even more corrupt “Ted Cruz” one without any election. In China Xi Jinping is concerned enough to directly head the military. Danger signs abound for another global conflagration. The Borg is so entrenched and so far removed from the realities of the average person they seem destined to make the same errors that previous generations of elites have made in the past.
Dubhaltach,
The Guardian article by line is Mr. Michael White. The sentence with Charlemagne and Hitler is in paragraph 15.
“Nothing in that article can even remotely be said to be arguing that all those refugees are virtuous “by extension””
My interpretation differs from yours. I’m simply a humble graduate of Al’s College and Muffler shop; where if you don’t do things right the thing makes more noise than a Benghazi technical. If only I had gone to a nice SJW school like Harvard. There if things don’t go right you pile on what you learned in the MBA (More Bull Available) program.
“It’s a legitimate observation to make (and one that obviously triggers you) that her being childless has something to do with her obsession with flooding Europe with young foreign men.”
I guess another option is that she is unable to control her hormonal urges and wants to have sex with young, foreign men. Let’s face it, Angela is just a German cougar.
Steve
“So she might have a Skeleton in the closet. ”
As far as I am concerned she behaved like 99% of all students in the GDR; as long as nobody can prove that Merkel was an informer and wrecked the careers/lifes of her peers it is only hot air. Or do you really believe that members of others parties did not work hard to find some dirt?
And again, if her father got a bonus because he cooperated you can not blame Merkel for this, sorry, Sippenhaft is not longer a feature of our of our legal system.
BTW The family (not relatives) we sent every christmas parcels had a son/daughter in law who were in church and had no problems to study.
“Merkel’s daddy fled TO Easy Europe, she was a very active member of communist youth groups, but that means nothing because there are no peer reviewed studies about it, m I rite?”
Both is wrong. You have obviously no clue what you are talking about and pull your “facts” out of your arse. Sorry.
I live as German in Austria and have seen the development in Germany around 10 years ago in Austria (FPÖ/BZÖ = AfD). The larger parties lose voters to the right and struggle in Asutria to find a good discussion that creates permanent pressure on the FPÖ.
When the FPÖ can survive and strive with an dud like H.C. Strache at the helm then there is a real issue, especially when the only Federal State with FPÖ government in the past (Carinthia) went bankrupt.
Why should Merkel be unable to form a government, FDP or Greens will form a coalition.
“Merkel has been propaganda officer for a regional GDR students’ organisation of the SED, so she got a profound training about the “Klassenfeind” and how it functions. Plus advanced skills in public perception management and propaganda.”
OMG, do you really know what her function was? Do you have a clue about the GDR?
“Different to Helmut Kohl who had some historical vision he fought for, she does not bother.”
How do you know?
“So she is the best chancellor money could buy.”
That is funny. Sheis Kanzler because she was NOT bought, something that killed Kohl and Schäuble. Your ability to handle reality is “interesting”. 🙂
“She’s not that type of person – she is always coolly calculating.”
If you check her body language during her first years of minister she was clearly insecure, in clear contrast to a Schroeder or Putin. She was a grey mouse and considered not dangerous by the CDU alpha males, especially because she had absolutely no power base in the CDU.
The fascinating aspect of her career is that starting as unimportant minister 1991-1998 she build up a power base, avoided scandals, had no critical political inheritence from her GDR times, and killed politically Kohl and severly damaged Schäuble with one action and survived.
Indeed!
It’s a pity that such skills are used for malevolence…
German politics are perhaps the most complicated in the world despite looking somewhat middle of the road among democracies. The world should be thankful for the choice of Merkle. Why? Largely uncorruptable while many western politicians now almost totally govern and vote based on their self-dealing. The Islamic world of governance is almost totally being disrupted by sectarian warfare. At least in Germany between Protestant and Catholic religion not a driver.
I am guessing American Presidents unlikley to be majoritarian for the near future.
Coalition governing very tough work IMO.
When studying at the Academy of Sciences, she became a member of the FDJ district board and secretary for “Agitprop” (Agitation and Propaganda). I know the GDR pretty well even if I did not live there, but I frequently visited good friends living in the GDR and got quite some insights into life there. I have no problem with her role at that time – it is simply a specific qualification she got there, which as any tool, may be used for any purpose it is made for. IMHO, she masters this tool, and this is a relevant component of her political career.
Helmut Kohl was an unscrupulous party manager who knew from his time as general secretary of the CDU all dirty laundry of his party colleagues very well. His tutorship of Merkel certainly provided further insights to her, in particular, how to survive inside the CDU. I do not glorify him, but he had the political standing and historic committment to push for the reunification against all odds – in particular by building trust with Russia. This was an ambivalent act, but I guess, for him it has been driven by some sincere learning from the catastrophic WWII experience his generation had.
Both, Kohl and Schäuble have not been killed by receiving illegal funds. Merkel got only a small window of opportunity against competitors from her party when this scandal broke out. Anyway, these illegal funds are the way the system works to a large extent, money is power, and none of those who got blamed in this rare case bubbling up suffered from serious consequences beyond some loss of face. None of them has been bribed individually, so your point she had never been bought misses the point. Merkel knows that the political support she gets from the 1%ers is worth much more than some annual cash flow (which is received by others for her party anyway, this is not her business), and she serves that power (“Marktkonforme Demokratie”). Even her superficial Caritas for refugees is closely linked to increase the supply on the labour market before the Unions come to terms and the minimum wage regulations have a major effect.
You ask: How do you know? Well, I know the tune and her songbook texts. If you look for proof, well, bad luck.
I cannot see any real committment to the res publicae of Germany and Europe in her doings. Her talk, of course, is something completely different.
Steve,
I know, as a progressive, you want to deny nature, but that is a very real play here.
Ulen,
Actually looking at stuff others have linked here to, I am actually right and you are the one burying his head in his arse.
As is your par. Have you taken to inviting the rapefugees in your home yet? TIA.
^^^^^
“Wow, just wow”, European edition.
“As far as I am concerned she behaved like 99% of all students in the GDR”
Yes, but 99% of the people in the GDR didn’t have 2 cars
“as long as nobody can prove that Merkel was an informer and wrecked the careers/lifes of her peers it is only hot air”
Unfortunately I lost my key to the vaults where the proof is stored. I remember vaguely saying that anyone can draw their own conclusions from rather conspicious details. Please follow the debate on HRC, who is innocent yet, but a lot of people find a few things conspicuous.
“sorry, Sippenhaft is not longer a feature of our of our legal system.”
That is getting nasty. I was aware of a few conspicious things others might not be aware of, and offered to share them. It is silly to demand proof from a common person regards a public figure. Suspicions are being aired all the time, and rightfully so.
My paternal Grandfater (German) convinced my paternal Grandfather (also German) to move over to the GDR out of love. He was quite the charmer, and a comitted communist (hilariously enough, he couldnt prove being a communist after being taken prisoner of war by the red army, but he successfully disappeared himself out of the pow camp, and moved west pretending to be French thanks to a uniform he found in a bombed theatre. He had a close encounter with a Francophile Polish RKKA officer who nearly figured out that he is German, but grandpa had enough booze, and was openhanded enough with it, to pass off as a drunk frenchmen who speeks with slurred and thus german sounding accents because he is drunk).
GDR was sometimes a pretty ironic country. Grandpa was a Eurocommunist, and on the “wrong side of the prague spring” as far as SED central was concerned. His punishment? 1: He would never become a full professor and 2: He would have to teach Marxism instead of art history.
As far as Merkel is concerned: She was pretty standard run of the mill “Anpasser”.
Now, “President Gauck” is likely a serial traitor.
My reasoning for Gauck having been Stasi goes as follows:
1: Gaucks family got real and serious privileges. You could get the privileges of Merckel without fully inserting yourself into the SEDs rear end, but Gauck? He had family who could move abroad, could get a western car, travel to the west etc.
This is not a prove, but the first “strike”.
2: Stasi was very intensively interested in finding compromat on west german decision makers. They were also pretty good at it. After the GDR fell, the question was of course what to do with the Compromat gold mine that is Stasi. Had any of the west German factions controlled it, they could have used the compromat to run roughshod over their adversaries. Whoever got the control of it automatically gained huge power. However, the Stasi files were very usefull for purging East Germany, and opening up many quite cushy jobs for West Germans. The solution of course was ingenious. Who would be the person damaged the most by the revelation that he was a Stasi agent? Someone who made a career out of being against the Stasi. And well, the double (at least) agent Gauck was easily blackmailable, and quite controllable. Since he is also a traitor, he hates those he betrayed with a particular passion (noone is more spitefull in victory then a victorious traitor) and thus could be relied to be unrelenting towards East Germans.
So, put Gauch in charge of the Stasi archive, after handing out copies of his own (unabridged) Stasi activities to the German (and perhaps not just German) powers that be. Gauck cannot try to use Stasi compromat to blackmail west German politicians, or take particular sides in West German political disputes but is reliably anti East German. Best of all worlds.
3: Well, did you know that Gauck actually employed a number of Stasi personel in his archives? And that this happened only in the central archive which he himself ran? My reading is that those who are employed there are the ones who know enough about Gauck to inconvenience him, and they basically made a deal. There is no other possible reason for super-anti-stasi witchhunter Gauck to be benign to any Stasi officer other then Gauck getting blackmailed.
To paraphrase a joke among former Stasi:
“Former stasi agents can be divided, by their treatment in the FRG, into 3 classes. The first, and worst treated, are those who were totally uninvolved with the causa Gauck. The second, and intermediatly treated, are those who knew of the causa Gauck. The third, and very well treated, class of former Stasi agents consists of Mr. Gauck himself.”
Sorry Kassandra, you bend the realitry a little bit too much for my tatste:
1) It was part of the GDR life that you have to play a role in the “political theatre” if you want to get admission into university and science. That was SOP and not the issue.
It is naive to assume that after 10 years nobody within the CDU or SPD would have come with incriminating evidence if there had been something; many her opponents had access to governmental tools for at least four years to mine the data.
2)Kohl was considered before the unification a dud. You only have read Helmut Schmidt’s comments. He grew afterwards. To assign him the unification is shallow and wrong. The team around Genscher did the actual work and was in contrast to Kohl highly qualified for the task. Sorry.
3) When Merkel published her FAZ interview, Kohl was already politically a walking dead, knee-deep in the affair. Merkels timing was perfect to kill Schäuble, because until then nobody outside the CDU had known that he was involved too and had lied before. Schäuble died politically within two months. The fact that she survived this interview should tell something about her ability to build a power base.
4) Her take on the refugee crisis was first and formost an aknowledgement of reality: We had 1.2 million refugees in the EU and we needed a solution. Provide alternatives then we can talk. And here you should read the interview of the former Polish foreign minister Sikorskion this topic, quite educational.