[MadIvan]

Truly, "Hold Mein Bier" time. Germany just destroyed themselves.

Regards, Ivan

[MadIvan]

Bump!

[Diogenesis]

Still, they have their businesses with Saddam.

The Germans have decided they are with the Axis of Evil.

Many will not forget this.

[ch.man]

I fully agree with you. Now the little problem is: it probably will impact the economy of other countries, and these countries did not have a chance to vote.

[uncbob]

Ain't our NATO allies just great

Good thing Clinton saved NATO by bombing Belgrade

[gr8eman]

Also what is exacerbatin' now and before is the fact that almost ALL prices went up the day the Euro went into effect! Most Germans can barely afford their rent and cars. So much for Socialist Utopia!

[agitator]

ping

[snopercod]

Germany just destroyed themselves.

This is certainly one more nail in their coffin. But I think their biggest mistake was when the West agreed to merge East-Germany into their country. "Blood and Soil" trumped good sense, I think.

That they accepted the worthless East-German Mark on a one-for-one basis with the ReichsMark was stunning for a country formerly known for ficsal conservatism.

[Kermit]

"There's a lot of ruin in a country."

This is Steven C. Den Beste's take at the USS Clueless:

And so, Schröder's party wins the German elections, after a rancorous campaign in which Schröder and his ally Fischer of the Greens faced a challenge from the right, and in order to win had to play every leftist card they had, including the Anti-American card. Over and over again.

In the course of that, their denunciations of the US became ever more loud and emphatic. At first they simply proclaimed their disagreement with American foreign policy (especially with regard to this or any other war), and said that Germany wouldn't participate in this or any other war. Then, raising the stakes, they claimed that they would try to prevent America from fighting in Iraq, with or without German troops. The next step was to begin to directly criticize President Bush, and it came to a head when the Justice Minister, Herta Daeubler-Gmelin, said a couple of days ago that Bush was trying to stir up a war in order to not have to answer to Americans for the problems of our economy, and that this was just the kind of thing that Hitler used to do.

At which point it hit the fan. Bush and his advisers had been seething anyway, and at that point they went rather public with their dissatisfaction. Schröder apologized.

Sort of. "We're sorry you got the idea from incorrect news reports that we'd compared you to Hitler." He apologized without admitting that anything had happened that should be apologized for, and tried to pretend. I don't think that was enough, and there has been very real damage to German-American relations.

There are rumors that Schröder said privately that once he'd won, he'd make it up to Washington. It's not that easy.

Read this article by Walter Russell Mead on Jacksonian America and Jacksonian American foreign policy. It's a long read, but well worth it.

[Cacique]

SCRUEM, we should have something like the Berlin airlift and drop cyanide tablets oin them. They can save the world by commiting mass suicide a lot faster.

We can then repopulate the region with better people.

[Reagan is King]

(HOLD MEIN BIER ALERT)

Hah! Nice touch Ivan.

[ConservativeNewsNetwork]

Anyone have any ideas on how much our soldiers' paychecks are propping up their economy?

It's time to seriously rethink this whole NATO thing.

[Snuffington]

The result could also spell bad news for the euro.

Tee hee! Which makes it that much easier for us in the UK to avoid! - Ivan

What are the chances of you folks dodging the Euro bullet these days Ivan? Losing the British Pound would not be a good thing for anyone.

[Man of the Right]

Schroeder's biography states he is a former Marxist, which is a synonym for a Communist in America's sphere of influence.

I really question whether he is a former anything, with the exception of his role as chancellor of a country that was formerly taken somewhat seriously, but which is now regarded universally as a joke.