Which is exactly what explains the reluctance of many Germans in this question.I’m not to sure what to think about the scenario of German tanks named after a big car being used in the Ukraine anno 2020’s. There’s something oddly familiar about it.
At what point do we start asking who these German ministers are really working for?
If you ask me she is not only working against any potential tank donations to Ukraine but she is also sabotaging German security with actions like that. How on earth are they going to be able to plan their defences if they can't even do an inventory of existing equipment.Which is exactly what explains the reluctance of many Germans in this question.
And it answers this question - they are working for the slight majority of Germans.
No matter what Germany does, we are always called Hitler by someone, we can only choose by whom. Unfortunately many people make the wrong choice on this, but that's how it works.
True. There is a reason why she was criticised from day one as the worst member of Scholz' cabinet until the pressure on her grew so big that she resigned a few days ago. I am quite sure that Pistorius will get all that in a much better shape (in his own words "wanting to be ahead of the curve to be prepared for any decision that might be made"), although I am not sure which kind of decisions he himself will advocate for. But I see it this way: So far the German military policies weren't good, and their execution was abysmal. He might not improve the general policies by much, but I trust him to execute them much better.If you ask me she is not only working against any potential tank donations to Ukraine but she is also sabotaging German security with actions like that. How on earth are they going to be able to plan their defences if they can't even do an inventory of existing equipment.
1995 Dayton Agreement?What was the last war that ended with “some kind of peace conference”?
And with taking international leadership. The Ukraine war is kind of the perfect storm to show all these issues to the worldGermany has a very complicated relationship both with war and with Russia. It is not easy to understand from the outside, even the nuances at regional level.
So what exactly does Corbyn propose? Does he propose for Russia to leave Ukraine? Or does he propose for Ukraine to concede the "annexed" territories? If he had the power, what would his diplomatic solution look like?
1995 Dayton Agreement?
Isn't throwing someone out of NATO easier than throwing them out of the EU? Does Nato also require unanimity in it's political decisions?
Orban is not going to stop his drop into fascism until the price to pay is too steep.
Suggests sendsing M1 Abrams
What’s the deal with Russia? Pound-for-pound it’s the Poland, Ukraine, and Belarus that have suffered the most as far as countries are concerned from Nazi regime/occupation during ww2. Maybe @stefan92 can elaborate, genuinely interested here.Germany has a very complicated relationship both with war and with Russia. It is not easy to understand from the outside, even the nuances at regional level.
Germany has a very complicated relationship both with war and with Russia. It is not easy to understand from the outside, even the nuances at regional level.
Nemes Tarimo's family in Tanzania warned him against agreeing to fight with Russian forces in Ukraine, but the 33-year-old had a big incentive to sign up.
It is now three weeks since his relatives learnt of the news that confirmed their worst fears. He had died in combat.
Everyone at the family home in the city of Dar es Salaam looks exhausted as they wait for news about when his body might come back.
The waiting is taking its toll.
There are about 15 people in the compound, and relatives are coming in and out all day wanting to hear if there are any updates.
One says they last heard from him in October when he had said he had agreed to sign up with the Russian mercenary group Wagner.
"Nemes informed me and some other family members about joining Wagner, and we advised him not to," the family member, who did not want to give their name, tells the BBC.
But for the young man, who relatives describe as polite, God-fearing and supportive, there was an offer that was hard to resist.
I will try, but no guarantee for this to be all correct:What’s the deal with Russia? Pound-for-pound it’s the Poland, Ukraine, and Belarus that have suffered the most as far as countries are concerned from Nazi regime/occupation during ww2. Maybe @stefan92 can elaborate, genuinely interested here.
Putin was stationed in Germany when he was in KGB, it wouldn't be surprising if he still has an extensive network of agents in Germany today. We should not forget that Germany also contains the former East Germans. These people, for 45 years, were taught in their schools that Russians are the good people and Americans are the devil. Thousands of them worked for Stasi, for East Germany's police, and for various communist agencies. They had contacts in Russia. When Putin gave all the Russian companies to his KGB guys, and Germany wanted to do business with Putin and the Russian mafia he had created, it was natural for the German companies to hire former Stasi people, to contact their Russian buddies and make business deals with the former KGB agents in Russia, who control today all the large companies there. All these people (both Russian and Germans) are very rich today, and they don't want Ukraine to win because they make a lot of money with Putin. Most of them do not want Putin to fall, because the next President of Russia might make their names public.
I can only add in Italy there is still some shame (and shaming) in the families of former relevant fascist people, after one full century… just imagine how proportionally bigger (and even more lacerating) it is in Germany.
Who is "they" ?
The "businessmen" with Russian contacts. The Russian oligarchs were making deals with Germans, right?
I don't know. I thought the oligarchs were scattered all over the place and not necessarily in Germany.
Of course they are. There are many in Greece and Cyprus too. But the density of former Stasi agents is not the same everywhere, most East Germans stayed in Germany, right?
I don't know if they did or not. I would imagine most that did assimilated into new lives in a united Germany.
I will try, but no guarantee for this to be all correct:
At first you are right when you talk about who suffered the most in WW2 due to German occupation, but even then it's mostly focused on the organised genocide on the jews, not on Poles, Belarussians etc as such. Russians also not. So because of Auschwitz, the Warsaw Ghetto etc Germany has a very special relationship to Israel, not really to Poland. Keep in mind, a lot of what today is Poland historically was the actual East Germany, and what today is called East Germany was Middle Germany - which still is present in things like the "Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk" being an East German regional TV station. So especially Poland is a territory were a lot of Germans actually have their ancestry and were forced to come as refugees into current Germany.
Russia was were it all went wrong in WW2. The trauma of losing a world war started with battles like Kursk or Stalingrad - all in Russia. Those countries you mentioned weren't such a big obstacle, especially not Poland, and therefore are not present as places were a terrible war happened - simply because it was over so fast. Russia is, and that's what the Germans don't want to repeat.
And it's not only about WW2 - at least since the 70s it was believed by many Germans that a strong German-Russian relationship would be key to tearing down the wall through Germany some day. Yes, I am aware that it was the Soviet Union at the time - but I do think we all agree the SU was dominated by Russians and used to oppress other peoples. So while not entirely correct to relate the SU just to the Russians I think it is ok when we are considering the power structure there. And it worked. Economic deals like the first gas pipelines worked for mutual benefit and in the end it paved the road to the peaceful reunion of Germany in 1990. The SU could have tried to bring the GDR back into the fold by force (like it sadly did try with your country) but it didn't. It's difficult to come to terms that a state is fighting cruel wars that here behaved reasonable and peaceful when it mattered most.
Looking further back into history (like to the time of Catherine the Great) you see a lot of German families who were invited to move to Russia - and lots of those moved back centuries later after the SU collapsed. A lot of those still are more or less fond of Russia and would like to see their two countries having close ties.
And finally a lot of Germans are quite critical of the US and see Russia as the natural counter weight. There is more or less of a solid base for them (considering the lies the US used to attack Iraq, their involvement in countless wars all over the world etc), but sadly some of those simply are stuck in a world view that sees Russia as the lesser evil (if evil at all) and necessary to balance the power in the world.
And I am sure there are a lot more facets to the topic of German-Russian relationship and mutual feelings that I didn't think about now.
Well I tried to give an explanation for the German feelings as I perceive them at the moment. While your post is factually true, not everything is present in the German public discussion all the time.Sorry, but this post is slightly misinformed imo.
The Germans didn’t just commit genocide to the Jews, they also spent several years terrorizing entire populations such as towards Leningrad. The Nazis committed the most horrific crimes towards the general Russian population in Russia occupied or not. The Nazis terrorized entire populations where ever they went including in Germany itself.
The Germans are well aware of their violent history and therefore they tend to turn to pacifism. They are reluctant to get involved in any conflict in any shape or form. They have deep industrial interests & reliance on Russia. Nevertheless, they are very much against Russian aggression in Ukraine.
Well I tried to give an explanation for the German feelings as I perceive them at the moment. While your post is factually true, not everything is present in the German public discussion all the time.
Yes, and it's a fact that you can get an emotional response by mentioning Auschwitz or Stalingrad, but usually won't get one by mentioning Leningrad. That Russian suffering simply isn't present in the public discussion and therefore doesn't really influence the opinion Germans have towards Russia.I’m just pointing out that the Russian civil population suffered the most from the Nazis and not less. I’m not referring to your feelings as you perceive them. Hence I wrote ‘slightly misinformed’. I think it’s important to get the facts right though.
