The situation is very similar to the one we had in the UK, with Kier Starmer. He simply would not go. Well, he has now, and his replacement is worse, although with a bit more “Feelz”. It’s the policies, stupid.
My feeling as I read this essay was that if I replaced “Merz” with “Starmer” the entire narrative could have been read as the debacle played out in Britain. I dreaded his leaving only because I feared what his replacement might be, and look how that turned out.
Burnham's problem is he has a Chancellor called Healey who from being a paragon of virtue after resigning his defence post because the then Chancellor refused to fund defence, is now Chancellor, refusing to fund defence yet won't resign.
The Chancellor's problem is that he is a Labour Chancellor called Healey In deep financial trouble and hock to the Bond Markets in a Government that won't cut anything the Left loves.
Historically the last UK/Labour Chancellor called Healey in a similar financial bind had to beg the IMF for a few billions in loans AND this one is in danger of needing to do the same. The IMF won't give them without 'cuts' that they will probably oversee.
Shades of Greece, except this time it isn't a Troika, but equally the IMF won't be immolating Greece of the Altar of the Euro, (which it belatedly apologised for doing). It will be immolating the Labour party on the Altar of Financial Conservatism - AND boy will the Left love that!
General Election next Spring anyone? IF not sooner perhaps? Or another Labour PM who is a helpless passenger on a runaway Socialist train?
Indeed. J Healey Esq is an odd person, who upstaged the former DPP, former PM and former MP Mr Starmer KC in the early days of Laybour's administration. Clearly Mr J Healey Esq had more complete briefings than Mr Starmer KC, or one of them was a story teller, or Mr Starmer had been out shopping during his briefing.
The modern updated Mr J Healey does indeed face a massive, massive debt. Not helped by 6.15 million public sector employees.
The sheer stupidity of the CDU's political strategy is like watching a train wreck in slow motion. As Eugyppius points out, they've painted themselves into a corner by refusing to work with the AfD in any way or to take their policy positions seriously. If the CDU truly wanted to weaken the AfD, the easiest way would be to take over their most popular positions to reduce their appeal and/or to work with them and then take credit for the results. Instead, they've decided to "firewall" themselves from political relevance by deciding to do nothing.
What do you expect from a party that has decided-together with the rest of the political cabal that a non-German Germany ever had any chance of success?
The question is not about Merz,Merkel, Macron, Starmer or any other failed politician.
It is the on-going collapse of the Western European society, produced by the lack of the elementary instincts of survival.
I agree the firewall is idiotic. But they have been trying to take over AfD positions for years now. Immigration policy has only become tougher over the past years (including under Scholz). But most AfD voters don't see a difference because the policy change does not have the effect they want to see.
First, implementing reforms is always harder than demanding them from opposition benches. AfD can just promise people to get rid of all the illegals tomorrow because they do not get a chance to prove it anyway. But actually organising mass deportations is much harder if you are constrained by
- the lack of cooperation of deportees (e.g. hiding, faking illness, etc.)
- the lack of cooperation of their home countries (who can deny someone is their citizen or just not give them a passport)
- rule of law (deportees can object to the decision and slow the process)
- international and constitutional law (you can't deport someone to somewhere unsafe, e.g. warzones)
- bureaucratic incompetency (which is the state's responsibility, but no new government could quickly fix this)
...and probably I missed more points.
What is arguably easier is not letting more people in. But that's also easier said than done. We could
...get rid of the right to asylum. But it would require a constitutional reform that requires an unrealistic majority, and then may still be rejected by the Constitutional Court. It would also mean breaking international law with all the negative effects for global reputation.
...strictly enforce the Dublin Agreement and send everyone back to the first EU country they entered. That's actually being done, but it's ineffective for all the reasons listed above, plus immigrants often avoiding registration in e.g. Italy or Bulgaria.
...controlling our borders: this is being done despite being a violation of the Schengen agreement. But we'd need a Berlin wall style border to be effective. The way it is now, border checks are only producing traffic jams and being annoying for people living in border regions. They find people trying to enter illegally, but it's not difficult at all to avoid controls as they mainly just control the major roads and the chances of being stopped while e.g. walking through the greenery are close to zero.
...pay transit countries with less concerns about human rights to already stop refugees/immigrants on the way to Europe: this is being done. It's hard to measure how effective it is, but I believe it does have an effect, although I'm not sure how ethical it is to pay authoritarian regimes / warlords in Egypt or Libya to keep people fleeing from the world's largest humanitarian crisis (Sudan) from getting to Europe.
...making it less attractive to immigrate by cutting benefits: this is being done, and it may have some effect, but despite what AfD tries to make you believe, most immigrants don't come to live of benefits indefinitely. Once you're allowed to work, you can still make a fortune in Germany compared to countries of origin. Granted, a high percentage does keep living on benefits for a long time, but that's in one big part because people underestimate the difficulty of entering the German labor market with little education and language skills, and in another big part because people work illegally cash-in-hand. That's another problem in itself that is not easy to fix.
So, AfD policies are being copied to the extent allowed by the constitution, political majorities, and the slow wheels of bureaucracy. New applications for asylum have decreased substantially, although that may not be all due to policy changes. It may also have to do with the stallmate in Ukraine. In any case, the problem remains that the country has changed substantially since 2015, and already long before. Germany's population will never again be as ethnically and culturally homogenous as it has been in the 1950s, nor as in the 2000s. The most radical parts of AfD may have ideas how to achieve that, but deporting naturalised citizens or their children is clearly illegal, impractical, and immoral in the eyes even of a majority of AfD voters, let alone others. You can advance some campaigns to champion cultural Germanness, whatever that would look like. Sing the national anthem in school or have a quota for German music on the radio similar to France or whatever other silly idea you can come up with. But nothing will change that a large percentage of our population now has roots outside Germany and identifies at least partially with some foreign culture. This notably includes people like myself, who has only German ancestors as far as I know, but grew up listening to American music, eating Italian food, and playing with classmates, many of whom spoke Arabic at home.
I'm not trying to paint a carricature. I know that most AfD voters do not want to live in some idolised version of the 1950s where the whole village meets at church on Sunday and then goes home where mom prepared the sunday roast for her husband and her four children. I mean, of course this sounds appealing, but there is no way back. We live in a much more individualist and diverse society, even though much of it is quite messed up. I know most people would be happy if AfD just deported all foreign criminals, put a stop to new immigration except for a measured quota of in-demand skilled workers. But guess what, SPD and CDU want the same thing. Try voting for AfD if you like, I want to see them doing better. But I think they can really only paint themselves as an alternative because they are yet to find out that governing is hard, and that the bureaucracy and lack of international cooperation will kill anything you try in no time.
Realistically, somebody has to start working with the AfD just to get them sullied by the normal political process. A constructive no-confidence vote with AfD support, but with the intention of reforming the firewall coalition, is about the only way to get rid of merz. And it's dubious that AfD would even agree to such a dirty deal
No they are much better off with the Starmer replacement than Starmer himself. Kind of like Canada supports the neo-Trudeau. It's all vibes and little substance.
I do see the AfD finally taking over tho, unlike Reform in Britain.
Carney is not a neo-trudeau and it hurts any Canadian rightist to think so. Trudeau was a vapid marionette for the prog-left whereas Carney is a savvy stormtrooper of global capital. He has his limits but you'd be mistaken to underestimate him as the hapless continuation of blue state brainless progressivism. The Laurentians are back at the wheel in Ottawa.
Worry not. Trump and Bessent have been preparing for the "stormtrooper of global capital" for some time. They're certainly better at trash-talking than the Canadian leadership.
I don't really see this "prof-legt/global-capital" distinction you're trying to make. Like, Trump is trying to cut deals with global capital in some cases, like with the paramount-warner merger, but Trump also cut deals with the progs on criminal justice reform, so even then you're not looking at an actual asymmetry. Unless you want to claim that Scott Bessent represents "global capital" because he ... backstopped the argentine peso? Does the IMF really want the Argentine peso kept solvent like that?
They're two seperate classes. On the one hand you have the prog who hang out at silent discos in faux-rustic clubs in NYC etc, downwardly mobile and angry. On the other ypu have the Gulfstreams and Davos crowd.
I don't see how Trump talking to both changes the calibre and type of people who orbit/influence the last two Canadian PMs.
But the Canadian leadership just couldn't leave it alone. They had to start the globalist one world nonsense right away and seriously talk about joining the E.U. Something that will catch the attention of a lot of people in America who were previously pleased to hear someone crapping on Trump.
But there’s really a lot of coal and it’s always there when we need it unlike wind and sunlight. I have yet to see sunlight renewed at night, or wind renewed during a Dunkelflaute.
Nothing is infinite, including the Universe. BUT fossil fuels will last a lot longer than any Green will admit AND if we went heavily nuclear for electricity, then I understand that a reliable supply of energy could last for a future longer than recorded history.
Also wind/water droughts are increasingly observed - we currently have a potential issue with hydro in Norway due to drought , AND contrary to the MSM the LNG gas price spike of 2022 was a tiny rise due to Putin invading Ukraine on top of a very large rise the previous Autumn when wind and hydro failed (droughts of both - Portugal's Hydro power production fell by 78%) and the world dashed for LNG, including Brazil when the Amazon's hydro power plants couldn't provide enough power.
However it was Germany bidding so much for auctioned LNG that they bid enough for cargoes on the high seas heading for Asia to turn around, pay the penalty prices for breaking contracts with Pakistan and Indonesia to name but two, AND provide a bigger profit than either Pakistan or Indonesia's original contracts produced.
Pakistan and Indonesia have now turned to coal (really green?!) so as to not be in a position where lack of LNG causes power blackouts.
This winter is interesting UNLESS Global Warming and the Super El Nino produce a warm winter, Europe may be in the business of dashing for even MORE scarce LNG and the price is likely to go interstellar. Unfortunately I can't find the article I read that suggests that for reasons not completely clear, Germany/EU is no longer able to outbid everyone else either.
Interesting times ahead for the UK as well, as Norway brought down a Government over the interconnectors causing Norwegians to pay EU Green prices for their own cheap hydro electricity - the EU Green prices the very expensive Windmill and Solar electricity. Norwegians seemed intent on cutting the interconnectors - now I don't think that is imminent but the UK uses Norwegian imports AND if the Norwegian Hydro generators suffer from a drought, Ed Miliband may be delighted he left Energy to become Foreign Secretary and isn't around IF the lights go out!
The main difference here is that while Starmer didn't have the confidence of the british public, he at least had a majority in parliament. Merz doesn't have that. The CDU probably lacks internal means to change their party leader, and even if they tried their coalition partners probably wouldn't go along with it. Even the AfD probably wouldn't go along with a constructive no-confidence vote just to replace Merz
In situations of no-confidence, typically a caretaker ministry is formed. But Merz's cabinet already has the character of a caretaker ministry, and the CDU is increasingly just a caretaker party.
It is funny for a while, but quite a few countries are in such dire situation. I am not sure the US is doing much better. Clowns to left clowns to the right here I am stuck in the middle... (with my dog).
Eugy, now tell us what you REALLY think of Merz!! Just joking, this is magnificent plain speak. The mystery is how so many people voted for him and his ilk.
We were shouting from the rooftops that he wasn’t to be trusted, that he didn’t intend and indeed wouldn’t be able to keep a single promise he made before the election.
You know the meme with Walter White sitting in the police car, shouting through the closed window? That’s how it felt to watch your neighbors and colleagues fall for this snake oil salesman.
It was so bad that it didn’t even feel good to gloat after the election when the first thing he did was break his most important promise and saddle the country with €500b more debt, in a way that was constitutionally very murky. I can’t remember any chancellor having a worse start and taking less time to piss everybody off.
I assume people like him have been 'captured' to put it politely, by some 'foreign' force? None of them can possibly be working for Germany or the native German people. Aren't they working for some invisible regime or goal?
It's not clear that anybody voted for merz, not even the CDU. The CDU likely only installs a man after he has secured a coalition agreement, meaning that in essence the left-parties get to pick the chancellor, and thus, the CDU leader. Under any coalition-based parliamentary system, it's not clear how such governments are too be distinguished from caretaker ministries.
“…we will now see how long Germany can stumble forwards with a zombie Chancellor who can marshal no support, pass no legislation, and achieve nothing else politically beyond the demise of his own party.”
My sympathies. I must remind you however, that the U.S. managed to get by—as in fool the public—with 4 years of a mentally impaired, no—demented, President when we elected Biden. And we might have elected him once more had they not allowed a “debate” with Trump for all the world to see what a shell of a man he was. If there ever was a “dead man walking”—mentally, it was Biden.
I mean, here in canada that number is 44%, the support for the Carney Liberals, a man who is desperately forcing us to follow the European path to oblivion.
Like many of America's democrats. Teachers unions as one example. And soon the skulls full of mush they have been indoctrinating for years. As Germans start leaning right, we in America are glorifying socialism and our women killing their children.
That’s enough people for an accurate poll, IF the sample is truly random. With today’s polling practices it virtually never is; therefore, modern polls are almost never accurate and the confidence level and interval reported are meaningless, because they are based on the assumption of randomness in the sample selection.
What strikes me is the how the story in so many different countries boils down to the same dynamics. Whether its Germany, Britain, the US (granted which may be a little ahead of others in the timelines) the politics appears so similar. How can this be so? Looking back it seems the same, we had Reagan when Britain had Thatcher, Clinton and Blair...only the accents differ.
Happens everywhere. Here in New Zealand local government CEOs and other chiefs get huge salaries and there's constant reporting on their appalling decision making, lack of judgement and overspending on stupid programmes. They never resign and often get big pay outs to go away before they go on to get a job elsewhere.
That list goes back further. Since Major, every leader has been worse than the last, with the exception of Truss, who I’d replace with Sunak in your list. She was the only one who attempted to reverse the decline with modest cuts to the deficit, and was thus ousted in a little over 6 weeks by the banker’s cartel, and replaced with their man. But the majority of people seem to have swallowed the establishment narrative that she was hopeless and ‘blew up the bond markets’, while missing the obvious point that Sterling borrowing now costs significantly more than it did in her short time, which everyone is relaxed about. Her allegedly uncosted budget is dwarfed by the ‘financial black holes’ created and ‘discovered’ almost weekly under team red.
You are quite right. Sunak should be there, if only for showing how being nice and telegenic don’t mean that you can achieve anything of substance. Truss had the right ideas but was politically inept. At least she had a plan for growth, rather than just saying the magic word.
I have written here several times that there IS no “ woke “ physics .
The substack “ Doomberg” , an energy outfit speaks more eloquently and convincingly of Germans impending fall .
It is basically the rejection of fossil fuels that will doom the country .
I guess you can just pray for a warm winter . You are going to need it because someone is asleep at the switch . It will be impossible to obtain the NatGas now . It is too late . So pray .
Long term ( like 5 years ) ,unless something truly radical happens , things will unravel there .
From the USA it looks like a suicide impulse has gripped the country .
Who not only shutters nuclear plants but blows them up .? Why would drive your auto industry into bankruptcy? Why do you still want a re match with the Russians ? One ass Kick is not enough ? I was stunned to see the Berlin LGBT freak show gay parade a few weeks back .
“ Berlin means Boys “ was the word in 1920’s . You are defining Deviacy Down .
It saddens me but this is of your own making and it seems inevitable at this point ..the point of no return …tick tock .
I maintain a well-honed copypasta about how if "eternal vigilance" is the sole protector of freedom, it is an impossible expectation, a surrender of your liberties to professional parasites who have no other personal responsibilities.
Catgirl kulak says that random interneicene violence promotes virtue and makes the mafiosi afraid of disesfranchising the citizenry, so there is that at least.
I am reluctant to hope, because I have been hurt so many times, but it seems to me that Rupert may actually be the real deal. He radiates a sense of authenticity that I haven‘t seen from a politician in a long while. Perhaps that just means that he is a better actor.
No, Lowe is the real deal. He raised funding for an investigation into the Muslim gangs raping and trafficking white British children. He allowed victims to give their testimonies. This has been ongoing since the 1950's and continues to this day, because no politician with the exception Rupert is prepared to call it out.
Yes, people with over-boiled pasta for veins and mayonnaise for sinews aren't going to be effective at anything. What a hopelessly failed human being he is.
The people who are our "leaders" are those who _did_ do that research. Reached their hand in and weighed up the turds in the air; then thought "That's what I want to be!".
You're better of being ignorant on this question...
What strikes me about Merz even across the Atlantic is his acting like no one told him a course of events could happen even though the warnings were being shouted. This was true for these elections, Trump, China, energy, trade, foreign policy etc. I’m not talking about being surprised an undesirable result happened but being shocked it was even a possibility.
This reads like an after-action-takedown of the suburban women's club officer election...
pinned
The power of an organisation has no bearing on the vanity of the people who will fight for status within it.
😂 yessss indeedy
You have no idea how much time and effort goes into the politics of a village’s parish council!
do tell.
The situation is very similar to the one we had in the UK, with Kier Starmer. He simply would not go. Well, he has now, and his replacement is worse, although with a bit more “Feelz”. It’s the policies, stupid.
My feeling as I read this essay was that if I replaced “Merz” with “Starmer” the entire narrative could have been read as the debacle played out in Britain. I dreaded his leaving only because I feared what his replacement might be, and look how that turned out.
A pretty man. Well, Mr Burnham-well thinks so, anyway.
Burnham's problem is he has a Chancellor called Healey who from being a paragon of virtue after resigning his defence post because the then Chancellor refused to fund defence, is now Chancellor, refusing to fund defence yet won't resign.
The Chancellor's problem is that he is a Labour Chancellor called Healey In deep financial trouble and hock to the Bond Markets in a Government that won't cut anything the Left loves.
Historically the last UK/Labour Chancellor called Healey in a similar financial bind had to beg the IMF for a few billions in loans AND this one is in danger of needing to do the same. The IMF won't give them without 'cuts' that they will probably oversee.
Shades of Greece, except this time it isn't a Troika, but equally the IMF won't be immolating Greece of the Altar of the Euro, (which it belatedly apologised for doing). It will be immolating the Labour party on the Altar of Financial Conservatism - AND boy will the Left love that!
General Election next Spring anyone? IF not sooner perhaps? Or another Labour PM who is a helpless passenger on a runaway Socialist train?
Indeed. J Healey Esq is an odd person, who upstaged the former DPP, former PM and former MP Mr Starmer KC in the early days of Laybour's administration. Clearly Mr J Healey Esq had more complete briefings than Mr Starmer KC, or one of them was a story teller, or Mr Starmer had been out shopping during his briefing.
The modern updated Mr J Healey does indeed face a massive, massive debt. Not helped by 6.15 million public sector employees.
The sheer stupidity of the CDU's political strategy is like watching a train wreck in slow motion. As Eugyppius points out, they've painted themselves into a corner by refusing to work with the AfD in any way or to take their policy positions seriously. If the CDU truly wanted to weaken the AfD, the easiest way would be to take over their most popular positions to reduce their appeal and/or to work with them and then take credit for the results. Instead, they've decided to "firewall" themselves from political relevance by deciding to do nothing.
What do you expect from a party that has decided-together with the rest of the political cabal that a non-German Germany ever had any chance of success?
The question is not about Merz,Merkel, Macron, Starmer or any other failed politician.
It is the on-going collapse of the Western European society, produced by the lack of the elementary instincts of survival.
The Pigeon Chancellor tried that, but fluttered away the second the media came after him.
I agree the firewall is idiotic. But they have been trying to take over AfD positions for years now. Immigration policy has only become tougher over the past years (including under Scholz). But most AfD voters don't see a difference because the policy change does not have the effect they want to see.
First, implementing reforms is always harder than demanding them from opposition benches. AfD can just promise people to get rid of all the illegals tomorrow because they do not get a chance to prove it anyway. But actually organising mass deportations is much harder if you are constrained by
- the lack of cooperation of deportees (e.g. hiding, faking illness, etc.)
- the lack of cooperation of their home countries (who can deny someone is their citizen or just not give them a passport)
- rule of law (deportees can object to the decision and slow the process)
- international and constitutional law (you can't deport someone to somewhere unsafe, e.g. warzones)
- bureaucratic incompetency (which is the state's responsibility, but no new government could quickly fix this)
...and probably I missed more points.
What is arguably easier is not letting more people in. But that's also easier said than done. We could
...get rid of the right to asylum. But it would require a constitutional reform that requires an unrealistic majority, and then may still be rejected by the Constitutional Court. It would also mean breaking international law with all the negative effects for global reputation.
...strictly enforce the Dublin Agreement and send everyone back to the first EU country they entered. That's actually being done, but it's ineffective for all the reasons listed above, plus immigrants often avoiding registration in e.g. Italy or Bulgaria.
...controlling our borders: this is being done despite being a violation of the Schengen agreement. But we'd need a Berlin wall style border to be effective. The way it is now, border checks are only producing traffic jams and being annoying for people living in border regions. They find people trying to enter illegally, but it's not difficult at all to avoid controls as they mainly just control the major roads and the chances of being stopped while e.g. walking through the greenery are close to zero.
...pay transit countries with less concerns about human rights to already stop refugees/immigrants on the way to Europe: this is being done. It's hard to measure how effective it is, but I believe it does have an effect, although I'm not sure how ethical it is to pay authoritarian regimes / warlords in Egypt or Libya to keep people fleeing from the world's largest humanitarian crisis (Sudan) from getting to Europe.
...making it less attractive to immigrate by cutting benefits: this is being done, and it may have some effect, but despite what AfD tries to make you believe, most immigrants don't come to live of benefits indefinitely. Once you're allowed to work, you can still make a fortune in Germany compared to countries of origin. Granted, a high percentage does keep living on benefits for a long time, but that's in one big part because people underestimate the difficulty of entering the German labor market with little education and language skills, and in another big part because people work illegally cash-in-hand. That's another problem in itself that is not easy to fix.
So, AfD policies are being copied to the extent allowed by the constitution, political majorities, and the slow wheels of bureaucracy. New applications for asylum have decreased substantially, although that may not be all due to policy changes. It may also have to do with the stallmate in Ukraine. In any case, the problem remains that the country has changed substantially since 2015, and already long before. Germany's population will never again be as ethnically and culturally homogenous as it has been in the 1950s, nor as in the 2000s. The most radical parts of AfD may have ideas how to achieve that, but deporting naturalised citizens or their children is clearly illegal, impractical, and immoral in the eyes even of a majority of AfD voters, let alone others. You can advance some campaigns to champion cultural Germanness, whatever that would look like. Sing the national anthem in school or have a quota for German music on the radio similar to France or whatever other silly idea you can come up with. But nothing will change that a large percentage of our population now has roots outside Germany and identifies at least partially with some foreign culture. This notably includes people like myself, who has only German ancestors as far as I know, but grew up listening to American music, eating Italian food, and playing with classmates, many of whom spoke Arabic at home.
I'm not trying to paint a carricature. I know that most AfD voters do not want to live in some idolised version of the 1950s where the whole village meets at church on Sunday and then goes home where mom prepared the sunday roast for her husband and her four children. I mean, of course this sounds appealing, but there is no way back. We live in a much more individualist and diverse society, even though much of it is quite messed up. I know most people would be happy if AfD just deported all foreign criminals, put a stop to new immigration except for a measured quota of in-demand skilled workers. But guess what, SPD and CDU want the same thing. Try voting for AfD if you like, I want to see them doing better. But I think they can really only paint themselves as an alternative because they are yet to find out that governing is hard, and that the bureaucracy and lack of international cooperation will kill anything you try in no time.
Realistically, somebody has to start working with the AfD just to get them sullied by the normal political process. A constructive no-confidence vote with AfD support, but with the intention of reforming the firewall coalition, is about the only way to get rid of merz. And it's dubious that AfD would even agree to such a dirty deal
No they are much better off with the Starmer replacement than Starmer himself. Kind of like Canada supports the neo-Trudeau. It's all vibes and little substance.
I do see the AfD finally taking over tho, unlike Reform in Britain.
Carney is not a neo-trudeau and it hurts any Canadian rightist to think so. Trudeau was a vapid marionette for the prog-left whereas Carney is a savvy stormtrooper of global capital. He has his limits but you'd be mistaken to underestimate him as the hapless continuation of blue state brainless progressivism. The Laurentians are back at the wheel in Ottawa.
Worry not. Trump and Bessent have been preparing for the "stormtrooper of global capital" for some time. They're certainly better at trash-talking than the Canadian leadership.
I don't really see this "prof-legt/global-capital" distinction you're trying to make. Like, Trump is trying to cut deals with global capital in some cases, like with the paramount-warner merger, but Trump also cut deals with the progs on criminal justice reform, so even then you're not looking at an actual asymmetry. Unless you want to claim that Scott Bessent represents "global capital" because he ... backstopped the argentine peso? Does the IMF really want the Argentine peso kept solvent like that?
They're two seperate classes. On the one hand you have the prog who hang out at silent discos in faux-rustic clubs in NYC etc, downwardly mobile and angry. On the other ypu have the Gulfstreams and Davos crowd.
I don't see how Trump talking to both changes the calibre and type of people who orbit/influence the last two Canadian PMs.
Jebis, blind?
As a Canadian, I agree with your assessment.
The Canadians are using anti-Trumpism to stay in power.
Gary Edwards
But the Canadian leadership just couldn't leave it alone. They had to start the globalist one world nonsense right away and seriously talk about joining the E.U. Something that will catch the attention of a lot of people in America who were previously pleased to hear someone crapping on Trump.
Will anyone use fossil fuels for energy ? Or will you willingly succumb to the inevitable decline?
Coal. It's not renewable, but when Germans are freezing their asses off, no one will care. Decline is not inevitable.
Nothing is renewable.
But there’s really a lot of coal and it’s always there when we need it unlike wind and sunlight. I have yet to see sunlight renewed at night, or wind renewed during a Dunkelflaute.
Peat is semi-renewable if you make sure you're swamp stays a carbon-sink.
Nothing is infinite, including the Universe. BUT fossil fuels will last a lot longer than any Green will admit AND if we went heavily nuclear for electricity, then I understand that a reliable supply of energy could last for a future longer than recorded history.
Also wind/water droughts are increasingly observed - we currently have a potential issue with hydro in Norway due to drought , AND contrary to the MSM the LNG gas price spike of 2022 was a tiny rise due to Putin invading Ukraine on top of a very large rise the previous Autumn when wind and hydro failed (droughts of both - Portugal's Hydro power production fell by 78%) and the world dashed for LNG, including Brazil when the Amazon's hydro power plants couldn't provide enough power.
However it was Germany bidding so much for auctioned LNG that they bid enough for cargoes on the high seas heading for Asia to turn around, pay the penalty prices for breaking contracts with Pakistan and Indonesia to name but two, AND provide a bigger profit than either Pakistan or Indonesia's original contracts produced.
Pakistan and Indonesia have now turned to coal (really green?!) so as to not be in a position where lack of LNG causes power blackouts.
This winter is interesting UNLESS Global Warming and the Super El Nino produce a warm winter, Europe may be in the business of dashing for even MORE scarce LNG and the price is likely to go interstellar. Unfortunately I can't find the article I read that suggests that for reasons not completely clear, Germany/EU is no longer able to outbid everyone else either.
Interesting times ahead for the UK as well, as Norway brought down a Government over the interconnectors causing Norwegians to pay EU Green prices for their own cheap hydro electricity - the EU Green prices the very expensive Windmill and Solar electricity. Norwegians seemed intent on cutting the interconnectors - now I don't think that is imminent but the UK uses Norwegian imports AND if the Norwegian Hydro generators suffer from a drought, Ed Miliband may be delighted he left Energy to become Foreign Secretary and isn't around IF the lights go out!
Our elites are being pushed aside.
But fighting hard (and very dirty) to prevent it!
The main difference here is that while Starmer didn't have the confidence of the british public, he at least had a majority in parliament. Merz doesn't have that. The CDU probably lacks internal means to change their party leader, and even if they tried their coalition partners probably wouldn't go along with it. Even the AfD probably wouldn't go along with a constructive no-confidence vote just to replace Merz
In situations of no-confidence, typically a caretaker ministry is formed. But Merz's cabinet already has the character of a caretaker ministry, and the CDU is increasingly just a caretaker party.
Compared to Merz, Keir Starmer was the embodiment of sparking wit, joie de vivre, and intelligence and insight. *sigh
Merz=Germany’s Biden
That's a bit harsh. Biden doesn't deserve that. He's only a bit like Biden. There's also a resemblance to Obama and GW Bush.
At least he is doing it himself, he probably does not use an automatic pen.
I always called Obama the "Fifth Bush Brother."
Laughter is the best medicine and you Doctor, wrote a fantastic and brief Rx
It is funny for a while, but quite a few countries are in such dire situation. I am not sure the US is doing much better. Clowns to left clowns to the right here I am stuck in the middle... (with my dog).
Durden Dog 2028!
Seriously. Can’t be worse that what we’ve had
Eugy, now tell us what you REALLY think of Merz!! Just joking, this is magnificent plain speak. The mystery is how so many people voted for him and his ilk.
It was insanely frustrating.
We were shouting from the rooftops that he wasn’t to be trusted, that he didn’t intend and indeed wouldn’t be able to keep a single promise he made before the election.
You know the meme with Walter White sitting in the police car, shouting through the closed window? That’s how it felt to watch your neighbors and colleagues fall for this snake oil salesman.
It was so bad that it didn’t even feel good to gloat after the election when the first thing he did was break his most important promise and saddle the country with €500b more debt, in a way that was constitutionally very murky. I can’t remember any chancellor having a worse start and taking less time to piss everybody off.
I assume people like him have been 'captured' to put it politely, by some 'foreign' force? None of them can possibly be working for Germany or the native German people. Aren't they working for some invisible regime or goal?
Worse. He's a caretaker, he has no legislative agenda because he needs no legislative agenda to stay in power.
It's not clear that anybody voted for merz, not even the CDU. The CDU likely only installs a man after he has secured a coalition agreement, meaning that in essence the left-parties get to pick the chancellor, and thus, the CDU leader. Under any coalition-based parliamentary system, it's not clear how such governments are too be distinguished from caretaker ministries.
“…we will now see how long Germany can stumble forwards with a zombie Chancellor who can marshal no support, pass no legislation, and achieve nothing else politically beyond the demise of his own party.”
My sympathies. I must remind you however, that the U.S. managed to get by—as in fool the public—with 4 years of a mentally impaired, no—demented, President when we elected Biden. And we might have elected him once more had they not allowed a “debate” with Trump for all the world to see what a shell of a man he was. If there ever was a “dead man walking”—mentally, it was Biden.
Thank God for Yarvin's esoteric bidenism. Sometimes being in the controlling opposition is fun too!
Yet it seems 14% think he's ok. That's a good few million voters.
Why I'd like to know.
There are always people who don’t read, don’t know anything, they are likely just reflexive CDU voters.
I mean, here in canada that number is 44%, the support for the Carney Liberals, a man who is desperately forcing us to follow the European path to oblivion.
European path? More like marching to china’s communism.
I blame the British Crown.
It’s both of course
Like many of America's democrats. Teachers unions as one example. And soon the skulls full of mush they have been indoctrinating for years. As Germans start leaning right, we in America are glorifying socialism and our women killing their children.
Pensioners. They are the CDU’s main voter base.
You could have an opinion poll on breathing and 10-15% will say they're against it.
that is how much I trust opinion polls too. they call 2000 or so people and make a poll out of it.
That’s enough people for an accurate poll, IF the sample is truly random. With today’s polling practices it virtually never is; therefore, modern polls are almost never accurate and the confidence level and interval reported are meaningless, because they are based on the assumption of randomness in the sample selection.
If ever compelled to respond to a pollster it's best to lie.
A comatose government that passes no legislation until 2029 is probably the best outcome we can expect.
What strikes me is the how the story in so many different countries boils down to the same dynamics. Whether its Germany, Britain, the US (granted which may be a little ahead of others in the timelines) the politics appears so similar. How can this be so? Looking back it seems the same, we had Reagan when Britain had Thatcher, Clinton and Blair...only the accents differ.
How does a guy who is so obviously absurdly incompetent do so well in private life?
It is common . You can ass kiss your way up in corporate America .
When I worked at Morgan Stanley I often encountered “ the suits “ from NYC .
They were clueless. But they dressed well .
Happens everywhere. Here in New Zealand local government CEOs and other chiefs get huge salaries and there's constant reporting on their appalling decision making, lack of judgement and overspending on stupid programmes. They never resign and often get big pay outs to go away before they go on to get a job elsewhere.
"but they dressed well"
😁. The lyrics to Zappa's "Cocaine Decisions" are informative here:
"While the accountants tell you - Yes Yes Yes,
You make Expensive Ugliness"
Britain has given us form with May, Johnson, Truss, Starmer and our mate, Andy.
That list goes back further. Since Major, every leader has been worse than the last, with the exception of Truss, who I’d replace with Sunak in your list. She was the only one who attempted to reverse the decline with modest cuts to the deficit, and was thus ousted in a little over 6 weeks by the banker’s cartel, and replaced with their man. But the majority of people seem to have swallowed the establishment narrative that she was hopeless and ‘blew up the bond markets’, while missing the obvious point that Sterling borrowing now costs significantly more than it did in her short time, which everyone is relaxed about. Her allegedly uncosted budget is dwarfed by the ‘financial black holes’ created and ‘discovered’ almost weekly under team red.
You are quite right. Sunak should be there, if only for showing how being nice and telegenic don’t mean that you can achieve anything of substance. Truss had the right ideas but was politically inept. At least she had a plan for growth, rather than just saying the magic word.
I have written here several times that there IS no “ woke “ physics .
The substack “ Doomberg” , an energy outfit speaks more eloquently and convincingly of Germans impending fall .
It is basically the rejection of fossil fuels that will doom the country .
I guess you can just pray for a warm winter . You are going to need it because someone is asleep at the switch . It will be impossible to obtain the NatGas now . It is too late . So pray .
Long term ( like 5 years ) ,unless something truly radical happens , things will unravel there .
From the USA it looks like a suicide impulse has gripped the country .
Who not only shutters nuclear plants but blows them up .? Why would drive your auto industry into bankruptcy? Why do you still want a re match with the Russians ? One ass Kick is not enough ? I was stunned to see the Berlin LGBT freak show gay parade a few weeks back .
“ Berlin means Boys “ was the word in 1920’s . You are defining Deviacy Down .
It saddens me but this is of your own making and it seems inevitable at this point ..the point of no return …tick tock .
Sad thing is, over here,my Canadian friends to the north have a premier that looks up to the moron Merz.
Why are we seemly so dumb to politics?
Productive people are too busy with their productive lives.
Politicians exploit this feature to screw us while we're not looking.
I maintain a well-honed copypasta about how if "eternal vigilance" is the sole protector of freedom, it is an impossible expectation, a surrender of your liberties to professional parasites who have no other personal responsibilities.
Catgirl kulak says that random interneicene violence promotes virtue and makes the mafiosi afraid of disesfranchising the citizenry, so there is that at least.
Yes !
We suffer similarly in the benighted UK. To better times, and to the extinction of the deservedly reviled UniParty.
I am reluctant to hope, because I have been hurt so many times, but it seems to me that Rupert may actually be the real deal. He radiates a sense of authenticity that I haven‘t seen from a politician in a long while. Perhaps that just means that he is a better actor.
No, Lowe is the real deal. He raised funding for an investigation into the Muslim gangs raping and trafficking white British children. He allowed victims to give their testimonies. This has been ongoing since the 1950's and continues to this day, because no politician with the exception Rupert is prepared to call it out.
"Thomas Massie is the real deal, he named the epstein co-conspirators on the house floor"
Yes, people with over-boiled pasta for veins and mayonnaise for sinews aren't going to be effective at anything. What a hopelessly failed human being he is.
LOLOL you made my day. Now I have to cook pasta tonight.
Keep it al dente!
Politics is the only profession where you fail upwards. Only the morons become leaders.
100%. Look at von der Leyen and Kaja Kallas. When Kallas was Estonian PM, her "approval" rating was, like, 17% or 19%.
Queen vd Leyen is dangerous, but Queen Kaja Kallas is super-dangerous.
Send the idiots to Brussels.
They can't do anything!!!!
Oh fuck!
That is a polite way of describing the certain types of turd that seem to float to the top. I have never worked out why some do, and some don’t.
I think that’s a conundrum we all struggle with
The people who are our "leaders" are those who _did_ do that research. Reached their hand in and weighed up the turds in the air; then thought "That's what I want to be!".
You're better of being ignorant on this question...
Stupid, ambitious and useful for the roles they have been installed in.
And with zero qualifications for the job at hand.
An arts degree or social science, media, political science degree or some such.
What strikes me about Merz even across the Atlantic is his acting like no one told him a course of events could happen even though the warnings were being shouted. This was true for these elections, Trump, China, energy, trade, foreign policy etc. I’m not talking about being surprised an undesirable result happened but being shocked it was even a possibility.
When there’s no way out, one sees the hands of the gods at work