German Political News & Discussion Thread

You're totally wrong, how unusual...

Germany actually does the opposite, they are afraid to stand up and lead Europe.
Are they even allowed to do that though? I thought there were still rules and shit on Germany after WW2, not to mention I don't think any EU nation would want Germany to be the lead given their history.. Germany is like that Nerd in school. He wont blink an eye at your insults, but if you keep poking him and hurting him, eventually he explodes with nerd strength and takes over most of Europe..
 
Are they even allowed to do that though? I thought there were still rules and shit on Germany after WW2, not to mention I don't think any EU nation would want Germany to be the lead given their history...

I don't mean a military takeover of the rest of Europe, just an official leadership role of any kind. I think there is still a national shame here about WWII, and I agree that people are still uneasy about the idea of Germany taking the lead in anything. It's too bad, they have their shit together here in most ways
 
Careful. I got a warning for Calling them that..

It was said pretty flippantly in context, but yeah.

My problem is with Islam as a political ideology and doctrine, not as a 'religious faith'.
 
It s weird it s as if the SPD is not even really trying.
 
in before the media stops posting about Donald Trumps bowel movements.
 
Germany’s election campaign is a snooze—just the way Merkel likes it
Jill Petzinger | August 25, 2017

rtsuvwh-e1481040122152.jpg

When Martin Schulz returned to Germany last year after a long career at the European Parliament in Brussels, the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) welcomed him home like a long-lost son. For a brief time, “Schulzmania” ruled, with many in the media predicting this was the man who could give chancellor Angela Merkel a run for her money in the Sept. 24 federal election.

It didn’t last. The Schulz euphoria has long worn off and his party is now polling at about 24%, versus Merkel’s center-right Christian Democratic Union, which is hovering around 38%.

“It’s a bit like David and Goliath, but David has forgotten to bring his slingshot,” says Gero Neugebauer, a political scientist at the Free University of Berlin. “You see it in the way that he [Schulz] attacks, it’s very cautious, and one reason for that is because Merkel has this ‘elder statesman’ image. She has so many achievements that it is difficult to prove that she has made any mistakes or that she doesn’t know everything.”

The lack of a truly spirited fight between the two likeliest candidates for chancellor makes Germany’s election campaign—coming after momentous, surprising votes in France, the UK, and the US—seem rather lackluster. This, in fact, is Merkel’s strategy. It’s called “asymmetric demobilization” in German political circles.

Merkel’s campaign in 2013 also followed this strategy, says Neugebauer. By ensuring there were no hot-button topics that her opponents could seize upon, it meant potential supporters of other parties thought the differences between the main parties weren’t that big, so they may as well vote for Merkel since she already has the experience.

“The idea with asymmetric demobilization is that you keep political discussion generally at a low-level in order to not provide any point of entry or attack for the opponent,” says Carsten Nickel, managing director at Teneo Intelligence. “She cashes in on topics that the SPD would otherwise claim for themselves.”

Take gay marriage. Merkel not only whisked it out of the SPD’s hands by opening it to a free vote in the parliament—it passed comfortably—but then she actually voted against it herself, placating the stricter conservatives in her party.

In another deft step, she has made outrage about the diesel emissions-cheating scandal her own, expressing annoyance and disappointment with German auto chiefs for covering up years of wrongdoing. From the massive scandal at Volkswagen, to the industry-wide cartel allegations, and the revolving door between the German government and the car industry… all of it happened on Merkel’s watch, and yet she has mostly avoided being taken to task for that so far.

Familiarity and contempt

Some worry that Merkel’s neutralizing campaign methods arguably suffocate robust democratic debate and lull voters into of apathy. “There are people who are fed up with Merkel, she’s been there too long,” Neugebauer says. “They’re looking for an alternative but not finding it, and then they vote without any enthusiasm.”

There is long list of things that are not being debated in great depth during the campaign: globalization, the big gap between rich and poor, the country’s low wages, its role in Europe, the refugee situation, and more. “In as far as discussion is a necessary prerequisite for democracy, then this isn’t a high point,” Neugebauer says.

Refugee policies are currently playing a much less important role in the campaign than might have been expected, given that the country has taken in more than 1 million refugees over the past few years. But a Statista survey in July showed German voter’s top three concerns (link in German) were old-age pensions, social security, and crime and terrorism.

Beneath the surface, there is some anger towards Merkel among citizens who think she rode roughshod over their concerns about integrating so many immigrants, and she has been heckled at recent campaign events because of it.

“The topic is still smoldering in the background and for me this is one of the wildcards to look for,” says Nickel of Teneo Intelligence. The far-right, anti-migrant, anti-Muslim Alternative for Germany party (AFD) is currently polling level with more established parties like the Greens, the Free Democrats, and the Left. A large share of voters still say they are undecided, and Nickel notes that “many people might not admit in a poll that they would vote for the AFD.”

https://qz.com/1061365/angela-merke...on-campaign-boring-just-the-way-she-likes-it/
 
Even if Merkel somehow lost I'm pretty sure the result would either be fixed or ignored.

Perhaps, but highly unlikely as the counting of votes is, of course, done by a number of people, often from members of the different parties and/or people that work for the local municipality. Due to the different interests at play and at least a several-eye principle in counting fixing or ignoring is very unlikely.
 
16 years Merkel before us. In my opinion, Germany is a regime and not a democracy. Almost the entire media spectrum is left, the brainwashing is worse than CNN and they were successful to label being right = racist, populist.

Europe is done. Just a question of time.
 
The German police few days ago, gay pride <Lmaoo>

IMG_5442.jpg


IMG_5443.jpg


polbremen.jpg
 
Obviously they are not actual Nazis. But the party has already been dragged through the mud by the media, and other politicians who draw comparison to Nazis, triggering a sense of engineered shame and guilt among German population. Associating with the party leads to a direct loss of social status. Voting for Merkel is a "safe option" in the sense that she is atleast not a left-over from the DDR era, and can bring economic growth, although at the expense of German national identity. The socialist alternatives can only bring about stagnation.

German propaganda machine is much more over the top and unchecked by a right-wing alternative, than America's. Here is how they portray Trump to the German masses:

stern-cover-zeigt-donald-trump-mit-hitlergruss.jpg


4381956F00000578-0-image-a-31_1503537044253.jpg
Goebels is back
 
The German police few days ago, gay pride <Lmaoo>

IMG_5442.jpg


IMG_5443.jpg


polbremen.jpg

Hah.

Well, Germany has always been a beacon of LGBT, homoerotic and free-body culture alike tbf and that wasn't even something it lost entirely during the 12 years of the NSDAP regime with Männerbund actually influencing a major cornerstone of the ideology, even placed on equal footing if not above the family unit; a lot of contradictions.

Anyhow, the first modern public discourse for LGBT orientation, first gay rights organization, first publication were all started in Germany. It also has the largest non-hetero population percentage in Europe today but I mean, a lot of people in general are some form of bisexual if not particularly open about it or even comfortable with it themselves. The modern stereotypical, overtly effeminate and flamboyant image is pretty insufferable though so that's understandable.
 
And all it takes is the chancellor of Germany clicking their heels three times while saying "no more immigrants" for everyone of them to disappear.

If Merkel party is winning is because.

1.- Economically, its kicking ass.

2.- The other parties platforms suck balls.

Exactly why Donald Trump won.
 
Exactly why Donald Trump won.

That was my point, Americans voters as a group are stupid and they will vote based on emotions.

That's why the founding fathers and other great leaders put so many checks and balances along with several independent institutions.

They envisioned that as a voting bloc the American voter is retarded and may end up with someone like Trump.
 
Merkel is the epitome of a technocrat. Her government has been almost ridiculously efficient, yeah it's boring, but it works. She has also stepped up and made confrontrations on the global stage when it mattered e.g. against Putin and Trump, and shown to be able to compromise on her beliefs, for the benefit of the majority opinion (gay marriage).

In a world of colorful candidates and their empty speeches of grandeur, it's nice to also have a leader like Merkel that just likes to get shit done and keep the wheels rolling. I'm very happy to have her as the leader of a country like Germany.
 
Merkel is the epitome of a technocrat. Her government has been almost ridiculously efficient, yeah it's boring, but it works. She has also stepped up and made confrontrations on the global stage when it mattered e.g. against Putin and Trump, and shown to be able to compromise on her beliefs, for the benefit of the majority opinion (gay marriage).

In a world of colorful candidates and their empty speeches of grandeur, it's nice to also have a leader like Merkel that just likes to get shit done and keep the wheels rolling. I'm very happy to have her as the leader of a country like Germany.

But she plotted with the United States to wreck the Middle East and Africa decades before she was elected in order to import millions of third world savages ON PURPOSE.
 
This is where journalism is losing its way"

The inject that paragraph, so nonchalantly, without further explication. They clearly want readers to believe the mass rape issue is being fabricated.

That's just terrible, terrible fucking journalism. That's editorializing outside the editorial section.
Will have to catch up on this thread, but you've nailed the exact issue I have with so many outlets. I used to read the BBC quite regularly and found that as the election grew in terms of news focus, they started to add in all of these little snippets of editorial along with the story. Same thing goes on TV.

It's garbage, and why local news tends to be the best (not a big enough budget, normally haha) since its just the facts.
 
I lived in Germany for almost 4 years, and yet have never met a single Merkel supporter

I find that very odd
 
Less than 10% of the nearly one million migrant arrivals of 2015 have managed to find work up to this point according to the German Institute for Employment Research and very likely won't meet the best estimate 50% employment by 2020 despite a €94 billion commitment through the same period being plunked down - some it taken out of the coffers of the public health care fund - for housing and fostering of integration.
 
I lived in Germany for almost 4 years, and yet have never met a single Merkel supporter

I find that very odd


Here's the typical German for you:

1.Complains about his life constantly (Taxes,work pay,Refugees/Muslims/crime,Infrastructure)

2.Votes for the people running the country anyway.

You should see the CDU campaign signs.Its a collection of the most empty phrases imaginable.
And Merkel is the queen of empty phrases.

Election season in German is called "Wahlkampf (Election Battle)", it couldnt be further from it.
Our foreign minister and former SPD leader already openly gave up on winning the election a week ago.
Let that sink in.


This is why i enjoy people like Trump, Farage or Boris Johnson evn though i mostly disagree with them politically.
 
Back
Top