Posted on 02/21/2017 6:25:55 AM PST by Olog-hai
The future of NATO and trans-Atlantic relations will be at the top of the agenda at the Munich Security Conference, which begins on Friday. British political scientist Anthony Glees says that Germany must become a “muscular democracy” and take the lead in Europe. […]
“The largest weight is now on Germany’s shoulders. Chancellor Merkel must continue to convince people of the EU’s importance; she must spearhead the effort to redefine the EU. In order to do this, Germany must become a muscular democracy. It needs to shoulder far more responsibility for the physical security of Europe, especially Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean. So far, unfortunately, Germany has taken the lead in disrespecting Europe’s borders by opening its doors to more than a million refugees and migrants.” […]
“The pacifist streak in German politics is a problem. But Greens and Social Democrats have to ask themselves: In an imperfect world, what do they prefer? The rise of the right or the success of the European project?” […]
“German dominance in the EU is a fact of life. But for historical reasons, it would be the last country to be swept away by a populist wave. And one thing is certain: If Germany goes down, Europe goes down, and with it all the values which we thought are worth living for. Germany has to be the champion of these values.” …
(Excerpt) Read more at spiegel.de ...
Why in hell can’t Germans just be content to run their own country? They always have this outward looking crap that they have to lead, dictate, set the rules, be first among equals, etc.
Germany, for once in your control freak history as a nation state, please STFU.
Mr. Mercat and I, trapped in a Super8 Motel in Mound City MO, watched an original Star Trek episode where Kirk, Spock and McCoy are flung back in time to 1930. They know that McCoy did something to disrupt the space time continuum. After a series of classic adventures, Spock builds a computer and a TV and they realize that the girl Kirk has fallen in love with has to die and that McCoy saves her in one time line. In the alternate time line she becomes a peace advocate and delays the entry of the US into WWII and Germany gets the bomb and wins the war. Weird comparisons to today.
What a strange, non-informative, emotional article.
What are the “values” the professor speaks of? They are not at all clear.
He obviously knows little of President Trump.
I could make little of what was said, except “Trump bad, EU good!”
They're going to virtue-signal themselves into oblivion.
Maybe they can get ahead of the wave by putting themselves into concentration camps.
They can call them "gated communities" (bewachte Wohnanlagen).
Germans have a pacifist streak, but in a conformist, controlling, leftist- fascist kind of way.
It seems like a paradox, but I know these people well.
‘City on the edge of forever’
And all Kirk really had to do was talk Edith Keeler into becoming a war hawk.
“Of course the people don’t want war. But after all, it’s the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it’s always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it’s a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to greater danger.”Given what Björn Höcke recently exposed among crowds of Germans by the rhetoric he used, things are more precarious than that.
— Hermann Goering
He sounds like a Brit who would have been among those who favored Hitler in the 1930s, believing “unity” in Europe was itself a top principle, on any terms.
While NATO “unified” western Europe in a security sense, beyond the “common market” the other political additions to the EU’s writ were neither essential or necessary except for centralizing political power, period, and zip, zilch, nada else.
Indeed. Always “unity” at the expense of freedom.
I question the strategic value of today’s Europe...what does the US get in return for providing these socialist thumb suckers a security blanket anyway?
And that pacifist streak historically is followed by a “well that didn’t work, so let’s take over Europe” phase.
The EU was just another phase of the nations in Europe trying to dominate each other - only different this time because they all agreed to do it to each other simultaneously, and by agreement instead of war. Like always, won’t last.
“Why in hell can’t Germans just be content to run their own country?”
Same reason NY and CA keep trying to boss the other 48 US states around.
Two world wars killed off all the alpha males.
Germans are pacifists simply because Germany was so badly bombed and beaten in WW2.
Many German cities were bombed nearly flat.
The rise of the right is mainly because of the needless pilfering of wallets and purses.
People are also scared of losing their democratic voice, so they vote to keep the right to an effective vote.
By being part of the EU, they have abrogated that voice. However, there isn’t a single politician in Germany that wants the EU to go away, even the so-called “euroskeptic” ones.
Almost everything that’s happened since the end of WW2 has benefited Germany. They’ve grown fabulously wealthy while shouldering no responsibility for their own defense and while accepting no global obligations apart from their own business dealings. It’s time for Germany to step up to the plate.
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