No. If only governments were held responsible, do you imagine what mess we would have in international relations? So, communists took billions of loans. Who should pay them after the collapse of communism?
How about this: US government lends a lot of money to another country. There is a coup de etat and their government is overthrown. The old guys have been executed. The new guys in power say the US can kiss the loan goodbye. . Will you be happy about it as an American tax payer?
This means that if the US authorities demand the payment of the debt from a country despite its government, communist countries had to repay their debts even after the collapse of communism. Isn`t it obvious? :):)
Sure. The Commies got duped twice, once by their own leaders, the second time by the new regime! Either way, they got screwed big time. Obvious? It's as plain as the nose on your face.
I checked the whole thread and this topic hasn`t been mentioned yet.
Poland received a lot of Leopard tanks from German Army, practically for free. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopard_2#Current_operators
The Polish Land Forces operate 142 Leopard 2A4s, 105 Leopard 2A5s and two Fahrschulpanzer Leopard 2 (turretless driver training vehicle) locally known as Leopard 2 NJ. All Polish Leopard 2 tanks come from German Army stocks.
You mean the old Mig-29? We got about 20 of them from Germany, but they are being withdrawn from the service. The main fighter we have now is F-16 (48 of them), and of course - as you well know - we are currently waiting for the brand-new, cutting-edge, merciless-killing-machines F-35. :)
Poland also has most of its fighter jets from Germany
If you mean MiG-29s, 22 planes in 2003, they never made "most" in Polish air force. :) I didn`t mention them because they were already obsolete at the time and in poor technical condition. Germans simply got rid of them for free, so it wasn`t anything to be grateful for.
While Leopards were in good condition and the German Army could still use them. I know today`s opinions about those gift Leopards - some German military experts regret that their army was so generous for Poland.
You should keep the old Mig-s9 in storage. If you ever have a war against an industrial nation, the F-35 is useless. It can only be used against countreis without radar and airforce, like Syria.
I had to laugh about merciless killing machines though. Funny branding for teh slowest fighter jet on the market that has only one engine and is not capable for suepr sonic flight. :D
Poland was erstwhile considered the country of farmland and space. while Germany was the country of industry, technology, and know-how. No longer!
While Germany is still the lean, mean business machine of the Continent, Poland is scarcely a backwater nowadays and is perhaps the Silicon Valley of Eastern Europe with a travel willing, financially flexible work force:-)
Tough though to paper over a sterling reputation merely because of latent missteps in current leadership, Maf. Sure Scholz looks thus far like lame duck, you can't erase generations of Siemens, Krupp, Schering, BMW, Audi, SAP etc. in a matter of months.
You seem to be suffering from a lack of comprehension.... I said in my post that the only thing that can save Germany is a break up of The EU. That implies that Germany will fare better as an independent state. One of Germany's major drawbacks is The EU. They need to get out, but too many Germans are still transfixed by this notion of a United Europe...... That old Nazi guilt complex again.....
About the latter, I'm in utter accord, Milo! And it's been this strangling of free expression which to this day continues to equate "free" speech with unprotected hate speech.
It's up to the German education system to educate youngsters from early on, along of course with their parents, as to how to modulate expressing an honest opinion and prevent it from becoming a rant or tirade against another person or persons.
A break up of the EU on the other hand, would seem to empower PEGIDA and her supporters, making folks like Hoecke and Gauland more of a threat!
.the only thing that will save Germany is the break up of The EU
How so? The problems of Germany come from bad leadership (esp Merkel... in office at least six years too long) and her decision to make Germany utterly dependent upon Russian good will (shutting down atomic plants and pushing NS2) and poor demographics and awful migration policy (too many of those let in will never be able to participate in a modern industrialized society and neither will their children or childrens' childen - cascading generational failure).
And the descent into full blown neoliberal deconstruction of state mechanisms doesn't help...
Merkel was indeed misguided on issues, chiefly, the migrant situation. She was in this respect a typical product of her generation, just as Adenauer was of his or any number of other German heads of state:-)