EU Catch-All |German Election

[Zoo_View]

They’d have to scrap the Euro to do that then reissue a new currency, then would probably need the Bundesbank to buy up a whole bunch of dollars. I think this may be in the cards though because interestingly enough if you go through the annual balance sheet of the Bundesbank, they report that around 40% of Germany’s gold holdings is being stored with the US and roughly 10% with the UK. Meaning that gold is probably being held by the US to force the Germans to have to buy dollars if they want their gold to be repatriated.

You truly are a crypto-conspiracy theory bro.

 

[Batt Boy]

Since WWII, their gold has long been held outside the country. in 2013 they started bring some home, but even today, only about 50% in in Germany. Close to 40% is in NYC with the remainder split between London and Paris. In reality, they have only controlled their own gold since late '51.

 

[AlbionAmerican]

You truly are a crypto-conspiracy theory bro.

And you lack any reading comprehension skills. Please go ahead and tell me what the conspiracy is? It's a literal fact, see below.



Countries are truly only sovereign if they can pay their own debt, meaning, as long as America holds Germany's gold, they really aren't sovereign, neither is the rest of Europe as long as they all bend their own sovereignty to Germany's economic needs.

 

[Zoo_View]

And you lack any reading comprehension skills. Please go ahead and tell me what the conspiracy is? It's a literal fact, see below.



Countries are truly only sovereign if they can pay their own debt, meaning, as long as America holds Germany's gold, they really aren't sovereign, neither is the rest of Europe as long as they all bend their own sovereignty to Germany's economic needs.

My apologies. Sorry about that.

You’re a “gold standard,” crypto-conspiracy bro.

 

[nycfan]

 

[nycfan]

Far-right Herbert Kickl gets his chance to form government in Austria​

Anti-immigrant and Russia-friendly FPÖ is now in pole position to lead in Vienna.

Far-right Herbert Kickl gets his chance to form government in Austria

Anti-immigrant and Russia-friendly FPÖ is now in pole position to lead in Vienna.

www.politico.eu

“… Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen met with Kickl in Vienna on Monday morning and gave him the task of forming the new government, after coalition talks between mainstream parties collapsed late last week after the liberal NEOS quit negotiations.

… On Saturday, conservative Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer announced his resignation, saying that “no agreement” was possible with the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) “on key points” toward forming a government.

On Sunday, the new leader of Nehammer’s conservative Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP), Christian Stocker, said that the ÖVP would “not refuse talks with the FPÖ.”

The anti-immigrant and Russia-friendly FPÖ, which was founded by former Nazis in 1956, won the most seats in the National Assembly in September’s elections, but was initially blocked from forming a government with all other major parties refusing to work with it. …”

 

[nycfan]

Slovakia:

“It’s been 35 years since riot police in Prague suppressed a student demonstration, kicking off the extraordinary 12-day Velvet Revolution of 1989 that ended communist rule in Czechoslovakia.

How difficult it is now to convey the reverence that Czechs and Slovaks felt for democracy back then.

… More than a generation later, in 2025, those earnest hopes seem fustily quaint. Former Communist Party member Robert Fico is now in his fourth term as prime minister of independent Slovakia. Meanwhile, in Czechia, Andrej Babiš — who also served in the Communist Party and even with Czechoslovakia’s ŠtB state security — is on track to return to the premiership in fall 2025 elections, with his populist ANO party running above 35 percent in the polls.

It’s no longer enough to say, as democratic apologists once lamented, that voters feel nostalgic for communism.

The problem is far more grave: A critical mass of people now believes that liberalism, the purported alternative, was always mere cynical performance art — allowing Washington and Brussels to grab power in Central and Eastern Europe after Moscow was forced to relinquish it, with corporations replacing collectives and hamburgers pushing out halušky (potato dumplings).

… So when Dzurinda’s government, which lasted until 2006, became implicated in a multiyear political corruption scheme that became known as “Gorilla” — involving millions of euros in kickbacks and potentially billions in public assets — politicians weren’t the only casualties. The body count ultimately included the liberal democratic order they had fronted.

Gorilla was a surveillance operation run by Slovakia’s secret service (SIS) that purported to document multiple one-on-one meetings in 2005 and 2006 featuring an oligarch, a minister in the Dzurinda government, a senior privatization official and an opposition leader.

The meetings, held in a private apartment in Bratislava, were recorded by SIS officer Peter Holúbek, a counterintelligence analyst, using new eavesdropping tech code-named “Gorilla,” which couldn’t be detected in sweeps for bugs. Holúbek recorded his targets chatting freely about the coordinated bribery of state officials to approve sales of major state assets. Virtually every national political party was implicated, along with dozens of public officials. …”

 

[nycfan]

Greenland’s leader wants independence from Denmark as Trump hovers over Arctic island​

“It is now time to take the next step for our country,” Greenlandic Prime Minister Múte Egede says in hinting at 2025 referendum.

Greenland’s leader wants independence from Denmark as Trump hovers over Arctic island

“It is now time to take the next step for our country,” Greenlandic Prime Minister Múte Egede says in hinting at 2025 referendum.

www.politico.eu

“… Greenland, the world’s largest island with a population of around 60,000, was a Danish colony until it became self-ruling with its own parliament in 1979. It remains a territory of Denmark, with Copenhagen exercising control over its foreign and defense policy.

… Egede, who has led Greenland since 2021 and hails from the pro-independence Community of the People (IA) party, said Denmark’s relations with Greenland had not created “full equality,” and that the island deserves to represent itself on the world stage.

“Our cooperation with other countries, and our trade relations, cannot continue to take place solely through Denmark,” he said.

Under a 2009 agreement with Denmark, Greenland can declare independence only after a successful referendum — which Egede appeared to hint at holding in tandem with the island’s upcoming parliamentary election in April. …”

 

[nycfan]

 

[Mulberry Heel]

It would appear that authoritarian, anti-immigrant right-wing populist movements are in the ascendance nearly everywhere, except for maybe the UK (which overwhelmingly rejected the Tories last year) and Australia (which kicked out their right-wing PM in 2022). Beyond that it's hard to find much good news anywhere right now. And I'm sure that someone will come along to point out that even the UK and Australia aren't in great shape either, but I'll take whatever positivity that I can get right now.

 

[nycfan]

 

[nycfan]

AP: Germany election live updates: Voters head to the polls to elect a new parliament

• What happens on election day? Polling stations open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. (0700 GMT-1700 GMT). Germans can also vote by postal ballot, but their ballot must arrive by the time polling stations close on election day to be counted.
• When will we know the winner? Vote-counting will begin immediately after voting ends, and the general picture of the outcome should be clear very quickly thanks to exit polls. A final official result is expected early Monday.
• Who are the contenders? Four candidatesare running to be Germany’s next leader: incumbent Chancellor Olaf Scholz, of the center-left Social Democrats; Friedrich Merzof the mainstream conservative Christian Democratic Union party; current Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, of the environmentalist Greens; and Alice Weidel, of the far-right, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany, or AfD.

 

[p5mmr9]

It's strange how no one seems to be asking why JD Vance and the shadow POTUS Musk are legitimizing and endorsing AFD. Germany HAS a "Conservative" Party. Why aren't JD Vance and the shadow POTUS endorsing that party???

 

[p5mmr9]

Alternative for Germany (AfD) Party: What You Need To Know

www.adl.org

 

[Centerpiece]

It's strange how no one seems to be asking why JD Vance and the shadow POTUS Musk are legitimizing and endorsing AFD. Germany HAS a "Conservative" Party. Why aren't JD Vance and the shadow POTUS endorsing that party???

It's just like Maga taking over the "Conservative" GOP we already had here. AFD is the Maga of Deutschland. As has been proven, the old school "regular" conservative party isn't hard right enough.

 

[Geisterfahrer]

And you lack any reading comprehension skills. Please go ahead and tell me what the conspiracy is? It's a literal fact, see below.



Countries are truly only sovereign if they can pay their own debt, meaning, as long as America holds Germany's gold, they really aren't sovereign, neither is the rest of Europe as long as they all bend their own sovereignty to Germany's economic needs.

Gold doesn’t mean shit and you’re a fool to think so.

 

[Centerpiece]

Of course the same could be said of the left - some think the "regular" liberal party isn't progressive enough... or that the mainstream Dem party has shifted too far to the center to where they are deemed "center-right" now.

I don't think human nature allows us to stay in the middle or "center". Our brains are wired to go one side of the fence or the other. And the farther we stray from the fence (which runs right through the middle) the more we tend to run in that direction - right, or left. Once we've lost sight of the fence completely, we not only can't see the middle ground, we can't see the other side of the fence at all. We can't even fathom that there is another "side" of the fence. A middle ground we can't see. You're either with us, or against us... and we shall take it all out against you. It's like the Key and Peele skit about the Kebapi:

 

[BlooVooDoo]

It's strange how no one seems to be asking why JD Vance and the shadow POTUS Musk are legitimizing and endorsing AFD. Germany HAS a "Conservative" Party. Why aren't JD Vance and the shadow POTUS endorsing that party???

I think they’re all in on Putin’s vision for a fractured Europe.

 

[nycfan]

 

[finesse]

With any luck, what's happening to us will be an example to them.