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Post by pieter on May 17, 2023 5:23:39 GMT -7
 The Daily Telegraph, known online and elsewhere as The Telegraph, is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. The Daily Telegraph is a conservative newspaper.
Even Jimmy Carter was more competent than Joe Biden, who has no capacity to change. To discuss the American President and the state of the Republic, Steven Edginton is joined by the historian and classicist Victor Davis Hanson for the latest Off Script podcast. Watch the full episode above or listen on your podcast app by searching “Off Script”. |
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Post by pieter on May 19, 2023 14:21:58 GMT -7
Pieter For the reason of respect for the feelings of our American friends, until this moment have refrained from any mention of the American President, Mr. Joe Biden. But, here we are, Mr. Biden is certainly not welcomed on German soil, the man is considered an idiot with his crazy ideas that would kill our industry. It is thought that the man truly believes he will change the world in his image for climate change. The man though is very successful in ruining the American economy with his craziness, he then placed a great burden upon the American people with very high inflation. His previous step was to destroy the American energy independence with coming down very hard on the American oil companies. For if above was not enough, Mr. Biden made a personal plea to the Saudis to pump more oil to make up for the American loss and was simply laughed at by them as a stupid old man. Now, the man has the gall to try to sell us American produced LPG, the part that is so crazy if not real, the man is taking away gas stoves and gas heaters from American families and businesses. What next? What is dangerous to us all, is with this mans muddling, he has brought together the Saudis and Putin's Russia to create a energy block against the West {which is us} as a economic war. This in effect directly effects the respective economies of all of us of the West. In effect, the Communist Chinese are getting their money's worth for the 1.3 million American dollars they paid him. The following url discloses what was well known some time past on this side of the pond: www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/03/breaking-house-oversight-committee-shows-bidens-received-1-million-after-china-wired-3-million-to-biden-associate/Please noten. The above is of my own opinion and not anything official. Karl
The idea that the world has to change it's mindset, policies and energy production due to climate change is not only present in the USA, but also amongst center left European social liberals, Social Democrats and leftwing socialists and Green parties. The European Commission has adopted a set of proposals to make the EU's climate, energy, transport and taxation policies fit for reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels.
The Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said in 2021; "The countries of Europe must make it clear that we cannot be played off against each other. The example shows just how closely interlinked foreign, economic and trade policy is in our world. We have to strengthen Europe’s sovereignty, as the EU Commission is already doing, having just presented a new mechanism with which the EU can defend itself against such coercive measures."Germany–United States relations Today, Germany and the United States are close and strong allies. In the mid and late 19th century, millions of Germans migrated to farms and industrial jobs in the United States, especially in the Midwest. Later, the two nations fought each other in World War I (1917–1918) and World War II (1941–1945). After 1945 the U.S., with the United Kingdom and France, occupied Western Germany and built a demilitarized democratic society. West Germany achieved independence in 1949. It joined NATO in 1955, with the caveat that its security policy and military development would remain closely tied to that of France, the UK and the United States. While West Germany was becoming closely integrated with the U.S. and NATO, East Germany became an Eastern Bloc satellite state closely tied to the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact. After communist rule ended in Eastern Europe amid the Revolutions of 1989 and the fall of the Berlin Wall, Germany was reunified. The reunified Federal Republic of Germany became a full member of the European Union (then European Community), NATO and one of the closest allies of the United States. Since 2022 Germany has been working with NATO and the European Union to give aid to Ukraine in the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. In the process Germany is sharply reducing its dependence on Russian oil and gas. Germany has the third-largest economy in the world, after the U.S. and China. Today, both the countries enjoy a "special relationship". But that "special relationship" is under pressure due to German irritations and frustrations over the American energy policy, combined with American trade and financial-economical policies. Germany doubts the rationality of Biden's policies, and sees that a large part of the American policies and measures are against the German interest. Germany lost important energy supplies with Nordstream. On 26 September 2022, the NS1 pipeline experienced multiple large pressure drops to almost zero. PoliticsUnited States of AmericaWar in Ukraine: A stress test for US-German relationsWilliam Noah GlucroftWhether Patriots, tanks or jets, getting from no to yes on Western weapons for Ukraine has been fraught — but also formulaic. The back-and-forth has put a new spin on the US-German relationship. The labored decision by Western allies to send Ukraine their main battle tanks is just the most recent iteration of a pattern of support that kicked off with Russia's invasion almost one year ago.
What starts as a hard no, whether to heavy weaponry, advanced air defense, or top-tier armored vehicles, slowly softens to a yes, but only after weeks of negotiations, technical excuses, and efforts among allies to show unity even as those that want to move faster put pressure on more reluctant partners.
For the United States and Germany, the alliance's largest members particularly in terms of economic might, industrial capacity, and purchasing power, the question of how and how much to help Ukraine defend itself has colored the bilateral relationship in new ways. And that is just one part of a much more complex, global picture. After weeks of discussions behind closed doors, Germany has agreed to send Leopard 2 main battle tanks to UkraineFrom pressure to patienceAfter the bullying years of President Donald Trump, his successor, Joe Biden, has taken a catch-more-flies-with-honey approach to European allies. Rather than a "strategy of blame," he and his administration have shown patience and frequently praised Germany for its contributions.
That is also an effort to give Germany the diplomatic "cover" it needs to make uncomfortable policy decisions, Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff, senior expert with the German Marshall Fund's Berlin office, told DW.
Most recently, Biden publicly complimented Chancellor Olaf Scholz for his "steadfast commitment" to Ukraine and credited Germany for having "stepped up."
Behind closed doors, however, Kleine-Brockhoff said, the debate over the recent issue of battle tank deliveries took on a different tone.
"The German chancellor put pressure on the Americans and said, 'I will not before you do.'" Kleine-Brockhoff explained. "That has caused some irritation on the Washington side," especially because the US has refrained from pushing Germany.
Although Biden denied that pressure from Scholz forced him to change his mind on sending US Abrams tanks, the weeks-long exchange was a reminder of the German need for its bigger ally to show its hand before it feels it can reveal its own.
Policymakers in Washington have now realized "how much the Germans actually want to be following, not leading," Kleine-Brockhoff said. Old tensions ease, new ones ariseFor Scholz's critics, that seems to contradict his blustery address to the Bundestag, the German parliament, just days after Russia's invasion of Ukraine last February. In it, he declared a "Zeitenwende" — a historic turning point — that demanded a significant boost in military spending and a more robust security policy.
"It took a war for the Germans to shift course" on long-simmering "irritants" in the US-German relationship, Kleine-Brockhoff said.
For the Americans, those were Germany's resistance to higher military spending — it has been falling short of the NATO agreement of 2% of GDP — and its Nord Stream gas projects with Russia. Germany, for its part, was irked by the idea that an ally would threaten sanctions to deter from that energy deal.
Those issues have since fallen by the wayside, as has Germany's domestic debate about its participation in NATO "nuclear sharing," a policy that puts US nuclear weapons on German soil and requires German aircraft to carry them.www.dw.com/en/war-in-ukraine-a-stress-test-for-us-german-relations/a-64592605Biden's impulse to put American interests first, such as with the subsidy-rich Inflation Reduction Act, competing with his vision of a coalition of democracies standing up to autocracies, make for a complex balancing act that plays out in the US-German relationship.
EU nerves frayed over US subsidy scheme: DW's Teri Schultz
Whereas Germany views Ukraine as a matter of regional security, for the US the war there is one piece in a convoluted game of geopolitical chess. A weaker Russia could be a boon to US interests elsewhere — a view that Germany simply doesn't share.
"With a few exceptions, [Germany] doesn't even have the mental or intellectual firepower to think in those terms," James Davis, the director of the Institute for Political Science at the University of St. Gallen, told DW. "Nobody is trained to do that."
The US needs Germany to share more of the burden of defending Europe so it can commit more resources to contest China in the Pacific. Meanwhile, Germany needs to know it can count on US support in Europe.
"Would you place your bets with the US right now? It's a fair question," Davis said.
Coming out of the damage of the Trump years, US allies like Germany face bipartisan interest in the Pacific and an expectation to get tougher on China. An unpredictable Republican Party controls Congress, which threatens a cataclysmic debt default in the US and serves as a sober reminder that the clock on the Biden White House is ticking. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and her US counterpart Anthony Blinken are both known not to like mincing their wordsNew inputs, similar outputsIt's striking, Davis said, that despite major changes to the US-German relationship since the post-9/11 years, Germany's reluctance to lead on foreign policy issues remains much the same.
German governments were critical of US militarism in Iraq, torture and abuse of captured fighters, and a mass spying campaign — of which the German government at the time was a target — which the political scientist said led them to want to keep away from the US and do little on the world stage.
The transatlantic relationship is now much warmer, but that hesitation remains.
"There's still this frustration, this kind of tension in the trans-Atlantic relationship," Davis said, "but this time it's because the Germans say, 'only with you.'"
The center-left Social Democrats, who lead Germany's three-party government coalition, have often advocated a cooperative approach with Russia, the biggest country in Europe and a major trading partner until the invasion. Many SPD lawmakers have changed their stance as a result of Russian aggression, but the party's critics remain skeptical.
Political ambivalence gets some backing from voters in eastern Germany, the erstwhile communist GDR that was a client state of the Soviet Union, who feel culturally closer to Russia than those in Germany's western parts, and have little appetite for confrontation with Moscow.
Former West Germany may be more pro-American, but the sentiment comes with the Cold War-era expectation of the US taking the lead.
"You've had quite a long time to grow into the new role," Davis said, rejecting the validity of the German "refrain" of its Nazi past and subsequent aversion to military power. "It reminds me of 30-year-olds who don't want to move out of their parents' houses," he added.Edited by Rina GoldenbergWhile you're here: Every Tuesday, DW editors round up what is happening in German politics and society. You can sign up here for the weekly email newsletter Berlin Briefing. |
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Post by karl on May 19, 2023 19:22:17 GMT -7
Pieter
I think perhaps you have struck the nail directly upon the head with the statement of,"you first", meaning if the Americans want weapons of Germany to be used in Ukrainian conflict, then the Americans must then go forth with their own commitments. There is a reality that is left out of this discourse, and that first of all, for the Americans to ship out their Abrams tanks, they must deactivate the secrets of its armour, Mr. Biden has little idea what that means or entails in his talks. Likewise though of our Leopard 2 panzers {tanks}, for there are on the home use machines of some electronics that are changed out on most all units exported. No matter the circumstances, some of these units will be destroyed or fall into enemy hands, with this their matter as of ours of reverse engineering those secrets for theirs/ours use.
www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/01/26/us-send-abrams-tanks-ukraine-minus-secret-uranium-armour/
Then, there is the matter of the blow up of the Nord Stream earth gas lines that a very strong finger pointing is at him as the instigator as a political blow against Putin's Russia. Business is what it is, not a political matter. For Norwegian earth gas is much closer and is very viable to be compressed for shipping to Western Europe.
Please do not think Germany is becoming anti-American, for this is far from reality, it is their government that is crossing our swords by. Europe is not an American political playground.
Karl
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Post by Jaga on May 20, 2023 5:00:09 GMT -7
Hello Karl,
interesting views. I could not reach the source of your information (the source is considered dangerous conspiracy theory). This source supports pro-Trump January 6 rioters as prisoners of Gulag: "Donate Here. Visit AmericanGulag.org to learn how to help the prisoners of the protest on January 6th. "
The Gateway Pundit (TGP) is an American far-right fake news website. The website is known for publishing falsehoods, hoaxes, and conspiracy theories.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gateway_Pundit
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