Exit polls show defeat for Schroeder party in German state elections

APNewsAlert | February 2002

[RepublicanHippy]

I'm sorry Oskar!

Are you referring to Oskar LaFontaine? Wasn't he a thorn in Schmidt's side during the election a few years back?

[rs79bm]

This does not surprise me.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Good explanation.

Of course, over here, NOTHING has been said in detail about the major defeat of a anti-war, anti-Bush faction of the GDR.

"That" (news supporting Bush!) would not represent what our news media in the national press corpse want to present to the public.

I find it interesting that he is holding on the power ONLY by linking arms solidly with the Communists/enviro-wackos of the Green Party in Germany.

[BlueOneGolf]

Axis of Weasels BUMP!!!!

[Atchafalaya]

How many elections does it take to select a leader? Sounds like an Aggie joke but I'm serious. I thought they ,just elected the prick, now this. I'm so confused!!

[tictoc]

Are you referring to Oskar LaFontaine? Wasn't he a thorn in Schmidt's side during the election a few years back?

You have a good memory. Lafontaine was the guy who said that (former SPD chancellor) Helmut Schmidt's so-called "secondary virtues" (honesty, integrity, discipline, loyalty) would have made him an ideal commandant of a Nazi concentration camp.

This didn't stop Schroeder from later making Lafontaine his senior cabinet minister, in charge of the finance portfolio, but Lafontaine quit in frustration after only a year because his loony politics were too far left even for Schroeder.

[Michael81Dus]

Hi,

Kurt Biedenkopf will never become Chancellor, nor President. He has resigned last year after governing Saxony for 12 years. He´s retired now and we can not expect that he´ll run for any office again.

I agree, the reunification caused more hopes we couldn´t fulfill within such a short time. Still, the people there suffer from 40 years of "real-existing socialism".

Regards,

Michael

[Michael81Dus]

;-) Yeah, I can imagine that it was hard for you.
Art. 116 Basic Law shouldn´t be new to you?
We´re thinking about changing that Article, because too many Russians come over here and know NO word German, say they feel as Russians and just come here because they want work. - They´ll receive German passports if they can prove that they´ve any German ancestor.

[Michael81Dus]

You don´t need to be confused. Yesterday we had state elections, that means, the people voted for their state parliaments (and Governors by doing so). But because of the strong federal influence on the campaign, the outcome of the elections was a complete defeat of Schröders party.

The voters said NO to the government. BTW, the states have influence on federal politics by the Federal Council (Bundesrat), in which now the centre-right opposition has a comfortable lead.

[Michael81Dus]

Correct, the media on boths sides of the Atlantic wouldn´t cover news closing a bit the wide gap between us. Too bad.

[RepublicanHippy]

"We´re thinking about changing that Article, because too many Russians come over here and know NO word German, say they feel as Russians and just come here because they want work. - They´ll receive German passports if they can prove that they´ve any German ancestor."

Oh yeh, I learned Article 116 very well. The problem of Russian-Germans coming to Germany after the collapse of communism is exactly what my thesis was about, all 218 pages of it! The German government was very helpful and sent me tons of stuff. They even gave me permission to use some photos taken in West Siberia of some of the German language centers. I also went to Germany to do some research.

[RepublicanHippy]

"We´re thinking about changing that Article"

It's kind of late now isn't it? At last count (in 1997) there were over 2 million Aussiedler already in Germany from the former Soviet Union. My estimate was that there was still around 2 million more Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Russia, Etc. How many are there living in Germany now? I know the German government spent a lot of money trying to keep some of them in the former Soviet Union and not exercising their right to return to Germany.

If I remember correctly, a lot of the Aussiedler had intermarried with Central Asians over the years (Muslims). Has the migration of Aussiedler to Germany included a lot of Muslims in recent years?

[Michael81Dus]

No, Aussiedler are mostly Orthodox Christians or Jews. Most Muslims come from Turkey. I think up to 150,000 Aussiedler immigrate to Germany per year - too much for my taste!