“But no worries, the US “destabiliziert die Welt” while you’re living in perfect harmony and peace with your neighbors “
I just read the Bundesregierung is preparing to send combat groups to the south of afghanistan.
As I ALWAYS said to you (while you where obnoxious, anoying, insulting - and probably unshaved) we need some time to recover from our 60ies and from the times when the world had more fears for german soldiers then demand of them.
Schröder and Fischer where reformers - they used to be hippy peacenicks and had to cope with reality all of a sudden. They took a lot of pacifism out of germany because they where trusted by those people who you’d have to adress with postings (rather then posting this shit to me)
Bottom line- In the Cold War, “your” ass was on the line. Your politicians didn’t play games. They knew they had to have the Pershing's and GLCMs ets and they were willing to stand out there and have eggs through at them. The Cold War is over, the perceived threat to most in the German Volk is gone. It’s not Germany that is in the lead, dealing with problems such as N. Korea, Iran, or even Libya and former Saddam’s Iraq; it’s the US. Germany has gone from the nation on the forefront as an asset in standing against the Soviet threat to a political liability in some instances when dealing with rouge states and regional problems, although overall the Germans sit in the same boat, often even more at threat than we are (Example: Libya - Germany was of no assistance in this matter and the credit for having Libya open it’s doors to inspectors and abandon it’s WMD program at least for now goes completely to the US and UK, something your media does not write about in their diatribe about imaginary oil pipelines running through Afghanistan)! Germany will be quick to ask for help, such as in the Balkans, and they will expect that the missile defense shield protect them too. They will expect us to evacuate their citizens, as was the case in Africa years ago, but they don’t want to stand in the spot light, and they ultimately do not want to pay the political, economic, and blood toll of being a major player on the world stage dealing with these threats. This task will be left to the US, Great Britain, when it fits into France’s agenda, them too.
There is a reason why the US is repositioning in Europe. Ask yourself why.
Reformers change things and attempt to be innovative in problem management the word is not a synonym for a liberal who simply applies the same old socialist ideology. Neither of them offered anything other than the same old answer, more taxes, more government, more laws, rules, bureaucracy, social programs.... There was nothing “reforming” about them.
Take a socialist lawyer with a nice hair due and marry him up to a leftist pacifist (who likes beating on cops however) green “szene macho” who never even finished an abitur nor can hold down a job in an Opel assembly plant or as taxi cab driver and you get the infamous Schroeder/Fischer duo.
In a way it’s funny. Two men who probably would be rejected through proper approval channels to receive a security clearance, guys who would be washed out in military leadership training, one of whom is only qualified in menial labor jobs end up at the helm of the third largest economy and 81 million people; steering this entire nation for 7 years. “Reformers” is a very kind description. A description that overlooks nearly 13% unemployment, practically no growth in an economy, decay of military capabilities, loss of influence within NATO, the Middle East, loss of trust by the US, decrease in real per capita incomes inflation adjusted, increase in inflation, decrease in R&D spending as part of GDP. I guess they did change a lot, so maybe they are “reformers” after all, it just depends how one sees it!