I'm not talking about a puppet state in the likes that the Soviets used to have in eastern europe. Even if countries like Germany don't agree with the Iraq war, they won't really do anything to try to stop it. In some other cases they will accept things that will hurt them, like getting rid of the D-Mark. As far as I can remember the D-Mark was a pretty good currency. The ones who have made the most profit of the EU are countries like Greece and Spain at the cost of Germany. This is what I mean with saying that they have been "pussyfied".
US Recognises Kosovo
- Thread starter Plechazunga
- Start date
I'm not talking about a puppet state in the likes that the Soviets used to have in eastern europe. Even if countries like Germany don't agree with the Iraq war, they won't really do anything to try to stop it. In some other cases they will accept things that will hurt them, like getting rid of the D-Mark. As far as I can remember the D-Mark was a pretty good currency. The ones who have made the most profit of the EU are countries like Greece and Spain at the cost of Germany. This is what I mean with saying that they have been "pussyfied".
No one fact checks any more
To be honest, I've never looked at it that way. Muslims don't have issues practicing their religion in Western democracies. I don't have much knowledge about Kosovars, or even if religion was an important factor in their quest for independence.
I've never been of the opinion US and Britain have been at war with Islam.
Before they were Nazis they were proud Prussians. And they had a strong state with an independent foreign policy. Problem is that the Germans took it too far once or twice.
The Germans were at the forefront of European integration. They knew they'd have to take an economic hit to make it happen, and their people were big enough to accept this. Don't worry about the German economy, they'll be okay.
As for Iraq, when the US wants to go to war somewhere, it goes to war there, unless it's right in China's sphere of influence, in which case it doesn't, not these days. Nowt the Germans can do.
Explain please
Fair enough, Sults
They still have an independent foreign policy, they were vocal in opposition to the war on Iraq, if more diplomatically so than the French.
I know what you mean but in the media to talk about Kosovans is simply bullshit because there are more nationalities in Kosovo than Albanians, there are Serbs, Gypsies, Croats, Gorani, Egyptians, etc. If there are Kosovans then ALL of those ethnic groups are Kosovans. So when you read
"Kosovans are finally free and independent"
"Kosovans see no reason to live in Serbia"
it's all just bollocks because the only people who wanted the independence are Kosovo-Albanians and not 'Kosovans'!
Human nature.
I remember sitting in the back of a taxi in Yugoslavia in 1981 and the driver lamenting to my dad of how his country was made up of 'four peoples forced to be one'.
I'm not so sure, I visited my moms sister and her husband who live in a town called Teilfingen, near Albstadt in Baden Wurttemberg. The whole town is completely dead, more than 70% of the people who can work are unemployed and you constantly see 20-25 year olds walk around in the middle of the day with Whisky and Vodka bottles.
My hometown Berlin is another example. Looks quite depressing and it's getting worse every year. Both of my parents and a number of friends lost their jobs in the last couple of years. And simply nothing is getting better, just nothing.
It's 92% of the population
And gypsies don't give a feck what country they're living in as long as they're left alone
That's just silly - since when did Serbia intervene in the Middle East crisis? Is Serbia then a puppet state of both Israel and Palestine given its inaction? Given its diplomatic recognition of China and India, is it a client of both Beijing and New Delhi in the strategic great game currently taking place in East Asia?
The Germans did well out of the euro until about 2002, as it allowed them to finish absorbing another, poorer country at lower cost, and German companies are still reaping great benefits. These things go in cycles.
Besides, the euro was a political project initiated by France and Germany, so whatever they lost economically, they gained politically.
Like you and your silly notions about how the EU is America's puppet. It's patently not, and you'd see this if you didn't have your head stuck in the sand.
I mistook it for Serbia when I was there.
No it's not. Around 200.000 'Kosovans' are currently not even in Kosovo because they fled after the Albanians got into power.
There is an extremelly high number of Albanians from Albania proper who came into Kosovo and Metohija in the last decade and two and who are legally not even citizens of Serbia.
Also, Kosovo and Metohija are an integral part of Serbia like any other province such as Banat, Srem, Backa, Sumadije etc.etc.
What you have done is simply isolated one part of the country as a whole where it so happened that the majority of the people who live in that province should have the right to decide about their independence. However, that majority is in the context of the country as a whole STILL a minority. Come on Plech, thats so simple!
Strange.
I am studying in Germany right now. And there are a lot of opening for me as an engineer to start work after my degree.
Haha, you bloody racist, the Gypsies like to call themselves Roma and I am friends with loads of them. Those people have Serbian passports and they can vote. Which means that their voices count as well.
But you know, the gypsies are such horrible people. They were terrorizing the poor Albanians whenever they could (have you not heard about it in the news??) This is why the Albanians chose to kill them, burn their houses and drive them out of Kosovo
.Well my parents are not engineers, unfortunatelly, and if you live in Germany you should know damn well that the economy is slowly going down, that unemployment is still increasing and that the Hartz IV was a desaster.
Hang on - is that the same as Tailfingen near Albstadt?
I thought they had big textile factories in Albstadt - surprised me a bit when I heard they were doing well
This is like something out of Lewis Carroll
I haven't isolated anything, they themselves have declared independence within that region
If the Scots declared independence, and succeeded in getting the Americans and most of Europe to recognise them, we couldn't then claim that they didn't represent a majority, simply because they are a minority within Britain.
I really don't know what you're on about here.
My point is that decisions by the US that hurts countries like Germany won't be met with any serious resistance by the German government, and this makes them in my view a sort of a puppet state.
How exactly will an independent Kosovo sustain itself? Does it have the economy and resources to do so?
These explosions in mini-nationalism of the past twenty years seem to offer more chance of economic conflicts down the road as the battle for resources becomes more intense.
These explosions in mini-nationalism of the past twenty years seem to offer more chance of economic conflicts down the road as the battle for resources becomes more intense.
Yes Tailfingen it is, I didn't spell it correctly before. I did notice old abandoned buildings where there used to be textile factories when I was there. They have moved to other countries where people work for less money I suppose.
And those decisions are?
EU money, and will probably start to join the EU to get a crack at the common market.
Ok Plech, what if the majority of people living in East Midlands are Pakistani Muslims and one day they decide to become independent and declare Leicester as their capital city.
And the people in England would just sit back and think 'well, they are the majority in that region, it's their will, so be it'. Is that how things should be according to your logic?
No surprise. Textiles are a bad place to be in.
Things where Germany is competitive though, are booming. Apartment rents in Frankfurt and Berlin have rocketed in the last few years. The politicians need to find a way to make that trickle down to everyone else.
Exactly.
Kosovo declared independence Sunday, but it's unlikely any time soon to become the world's 193rd country. What it will almost certainly be is a failed state, unrecognized by the United Nations, unable to govern itself, dependent on Europe for its police and NATO for its armed forces.
After eight years as an international protectorate and billions of dollars in aid and reconstruction funds, its economic prospects are grim. Unemployment is 57 percent, and among youths it's more like 70 percent; half the population is under 25. Small wonder then that its chief export is organized crime. It remains ethnically cleansed of its Serb minority, who only survive in the province under armed guard by NATO. And it has the potential of provoking a wider conflict as other powers try to work out just what to do about yet another intractable Balkan mess.
from today's Newsweek
Haha, you bloody racist, the Gypsies like to call themselves Roma and I am friends with loads of them. Those people have Serbian passports and they can vote. Which means that their voices count as well.
But you know, the gypsies are such horrible people. They were terrorizing the poor Albanians whenever they could (have you not heard about it in the news??) This is why the Albanians chose to kill them, burn their houses and drive them out of Kosovo
I know some Gypsies as well, and I've read loads about them, they tend not to be very nationalistic because they identify more with their own ethnic group and sub-group within it than with the state.
And the Albanians are far from alone in burning their houses. There've been pogroms against Gypsies in Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland (I think) and elsewhere in recent years.
So what are big Russians doing about all this? Probably nothing, as I predicted a month ago
Definitelly not true for Berlin which only last year had around 160.000 empty apartments!
Not any real so far considering we haven't really been in a world crisis since Germany was unified, but I'm thinking more of what will happend in the future when things start to go badly.
No, there'd obviously be opposition, and I'm not saying I don't understand the feelings of Serbs.
But if they somehow got enough military power and recognition to succeed, it would be nonsensical to claim they weren't the majority in their new state on the grounds that they were a minority in the country overall.
Well if this is how you see it than even the new Kosovo should split in half because the Albanians do NOT represent the majority in the Northern parts of their new independent state.
Once you start something like this you have to be consistent. In a couple of years you could then have 20 more new little countries.
I was quoted €300 a month for a 1 bedder beginning last year I think. Now it's €500, and 2 bedders are €800-1000. That's pretty fast growth for me.
I wonder why nobody mentions the amount of drugs that are being produced in Kosovo and exported and the amount of organized crime and prostitution. How they think that Kosovo will function as an independent nation is beyond me. I understand that the EU will pretty much administrate the region in the beggning if Kosovo is recognised but they'll have some work to do if they want to achieve something.
At some point it won't be worth it economically. I reckon Kosovo should make it, just about.
Shut up, you was probably looking for an apartment in the posh parts such as the Potsdamer Platz or Unter den Linden etc.
Admit it.