[BobL]

"There is another similarity: Germany in the 1930s had a minority Jewish population of around 500,000 -- just under 1 percent of the country's total -- that it blamed for all its troubles. Germany in 2004 has a foreign-born population of about 7 million (of whom an estimated 3 million are Muslim), which is around 9 percent of the country"

I guess the difference is that the Germans don't need to fabricate an enemy - they got a real enemy this time.

I don't know why Stratfor seems intent on treating Ms. Merkels as the second coming of Hitler, but may they have some hidden love of these monsters themselves.

[hinckley buzzard]

Well. This "analysis" seems to have more than four corners, whatever that means. They are reaching way beyond the data in their search for Hitler's second coming. Pretty lame piece actually.

[Billthedrill]

Now, that comparison to Hitler was a bit below STRATFOR's usual standards, IMHO. It is rather a different thing to insist on racial purity as Hitler did and insist that newcomers respect one's culture and history, as Merkel did.

That said, an interesting analysis. A rightist coalition incorporating some radical elements is not beyond imagination, and there we do see a parallel with Weimar Germany. I will leave it to German FReepers to comment on just how likely that is, and what the SDP is likely to do in reply.

[swilhelm73]

More BS from Stratfor.

Comparing CDU to NAZIs is about as off the wall as comparing Republicans to them.

While the German do have a neo-nazi problem, along with all of old Europe, calling for significant change to the nation's foolish open borders policy is in no way racist.

[Southack]

"Merkel's statements echo the sentiments of a certain earlier German government, and the re-emergence of right-wing parties there could portend another shift in the country's policies toward foreigners."

This is one of Stratfor's better analysis pieces (though any use of "Hitler" is bound to be widely misinterpreted).

...Now if they could only figure out that it is Germany who is likewise attempting a European powerplay by breaking the Ukraine off from Russia to move into the new EU-only military being formed (now in charge of Bosnia "peacekeeping" in fact).

[FreedomSurge]

"Germany in the 1930s had a minority Jewish population of around 500,000 -- just under 1 percent of the country's total -- that it blamed for all its troubles. "

Blamed of all of its troubles??? These people must be very ignorant of history or have a hidden agenda.

I don't believe they are ignorant of history.

[Malesherbes]

I try to keep up with German affairs, and if you leave out all references to Hitler and the Nazis, there are some facts in this "analysis." The larger fact, however, is that Germany under Hitler had a burgeoning population. Germans today face a demographic meltdown, don't reproduce, and couldn't man an army of any size if them wanted to.