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Posts by mafketis  

Joined: 31 Mar 2008 / Male ♂ 		Last Post: 5 hrs ago
Threads: Total: 43 / Live: 23 / Archived: 20
Posts: Total: 11921 / Live: 7219 / Archived: 4702 		From: tez nie
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Displayed posts: 7242 / page 208 of 242
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mafketis   
10 Jul 2017
News / Germany After the EU and the Russian Scenario - future of the European Union and Poland [310]

Those countries (with the exclusion of Austria) had been begging for help since the start of 2015

Don't lie, they were not begging for Germany to give hundreds of thousands of people to cross borders illegally. They wanted help in stopping the flow, not increasing it.

But if it was such a great thing I'm sure no other country wants to steal the spotlight from her so she can keep all of them and Poland won't get any. Too bad, we'll just have to muddle on through. Enjoy them, they're on your welfare rolls!
mafketis   
10 Jul 2017
News / Germany After the EU and the Russian Scenario - future of the European Union and Poland [310]

she didn't consult Juncker or the rest of those Eurocrats in Bruxelles

No. She didn't consult ANY OF THE COUNTRIES THAT WERE DIRECTLY AFFECTED!!!! Hungary, Austria, Serbia, Greece.... she tried to force them to follow her policy with zero consulation. Not the mark of a real leader (I could care less about the stinking drunk Juncker or the rest of his foul ilk.... but it would very hard).

So since she didn't consult the leaders of any other European countries before inviting a horde of unemployable and unassimilateable young men.... she's in no position to try to fost off her unwanted rejects. She's welcome to them!
mafketis   
10 Jul 2017
News / Germany After the EU and the Russian Scenario - future of the European Union and Poland [310]

However, when you mention that the populace were never "consulted" regarding such policies

I don't care about the GErman public (well I care some, but a little less every day she stays in power). My biggest problem with her policy was that she did not consult any other European country with her policy to take on all comers and then wants to drag them into her mess to make the decison look slightly less terrible. I know she built her career by never admitting mistakes and finding other people to blame (she was from the DDR after all) but the time for European Solidarity is before you invite a million unvetted foreigners from the worst countries in the world into your country, not after.

Lock up the French then.

They really so have the worst ideas (like the idea of using the ARab world as a catspaw to stop American hegemony - how's that one working out?) The irony is that thanks to computerization the whole justification of the Euro (problems with constantly shifting exchange rates) wasn't really a problem by the time the infernal thing was rolled out.

And it's evolved from whatever it was supposed to be originally into the Deutschmark writ large - so it works great for Germany and few others, is harmless to some other countries but deadly to southern service economies who have to deal with de facto German fiscal polcy while holding a simulacrum of sovreignty.

The Greeks called it "creative accounting",

Well the real problems wasn't the Greek tendency toward patronage and small time dishonesty toward the government, for a few years the Euro created the illusion that high risk Greek bonds were as safe as German bonds (because they denominated in the same currency) and private investors glutted the economy with euros. When a Greek government finally told the truth about the debt all hell broke loose (So no government has an incentive to be truthful, unintended consequences that will doubtless come home to roost).
mafketis   
10 Jul 2017
News / Germany After the EU and the Russian Scenario - future of the European Union and Poland [310]

I distinctly remember hearing politicians during the run up to the Euro say "of course the Greeks are lying" about their debt levels but it was thought that Greece couldn't do much damage to the Euro (with no thought given to the damage the Euro would eventually do to Greece).

I have asked my fellow Greek student why the Greeks want to keep the Euro despite its' difficulties, he told me that many are afraid Greece could end up as Venezuela with the Drachme.

So they're ending up like Venezuela with the Euro.... had they backed out of the Euro in 2010 they woud be in far better shape now. I think it's just national vanity,
mafketis   
10 Jul 2017
News / Poland has accepted over a million Ukrainian refugees. Why does the EU keep telling propaganda about Poland? [304]

And underestimating the threat is just as uncalled for. Almost none of them have any real education or employable skills and they have not improved a single location where they've been placed.

What's basically going on in the mediterranean is a murky mix of ngos and human smugglers working together (along with some Eruopean governments) to ship warm bodies to Europe in exchange for European taxpayer money. It's profiteering off of ignrorance and anyone who doesn't want to take immediate steps to stop has no moral highground to preach from.
mafketis   
10 Jul 2017
News / Germany After the EU and the Russian Scenario - future of the European Union and Poland [310]

Oh no, hiring Goldman Sachs to cook the books doesn't pay off?.

Well the thing about the Greek government lying for years is that EVERYBODY KNEW THEY WERE LYING! But the governments of other countries pretended to believe them because they wanted that big roll out for the Euro (which wasn't even especially needed by the time it came into being, but that's another story).

It wouldn't have been nice diplomatic form to say "Sorry, we don't believe you. No Euro for you" but everybody would have been better off if they had. But their hubris was such that they didn't build any escape mechanisms into the Euro (quite the opposite). The architects of the Euro should be in prison for economic malfeasance.
mafketis   
9 Jul 2017
News / Germany After the EU and the Russian Scenario - future of the European Union and Poland [310]

Austerity was demanded by all of Greece's creditors

Austerity does not cure economic crises, it deepens them. The whole goal is to weaken the economy so much that the government has to sell everything. It's essentially a mafia bust out.

Greeks do have a lot to answer for but the policies recommended don't really address the big problem which is their horrible delusion that they can stay in the Euro. There are models on how to change currencies and Greek needs to dump the Euro as fast as it can. It's toxic and can never work for them.

Letting the diaspora vote (as required by the constitution IIRC but never employed by Greece's horrible politicians) would also be a step in the right direction as politicians would have to campaign on something other than direct patronage.

But in the Euro all Greece can do is borrow and hope that (somehow) it can become more productive than Germany or the debts will simply keep piling up (that is the math). Greece will NEVER be more productive than Germany (because who can?) so its future in the Euro will simply be more debt and austerity and selling more and more of the country to private interests.
mafketis   
9 Jul 2017
News / Germany After the EU and the Russian Scenario - future of the European Union and Poland [310]

German has not lost its hegemony on the European scene

Yes, the right word for sheer economic brute force. But.... that's all Germany has at present. I wish that weren't the case, but it is.

Vietnamese who survived America's unprovoked, undeclared war on their country doubtless hate American, Americans and American English with equal passion

No. I've known a number of Vietnamese in Poland who were alive and in Vietnam then (including a good friend who once had to hide in rice paddy while the Americans were bombing) who do not hold grudges about that period. Winning against the US might have something to to with that. I've also had colleagues from Iraq who were able to distinguish me from US military policy.

German and Germany represent the future, not the past, to those scores of "unwanted" migrants.

I think you'll find that Germany represents government benefits to the great majority of the Merkel-jugend who don't want to be stuck in miserly Poland when generous Germany is next door (with an uncontrolled border). How many 'refugees' have found work so far? Let me know when the number reaches six (or even five) figures. How many of them know the first thing about German culture (and how many of them will reject it completely when they realize how much pork Germans eat and how much alcohol they consume and how casual they are about nudity etc etc etc).

Her 'refugee' policy was a giant stinkbomb that German citizens will be paying for for decades and Germany can deal with the consequences of her poor judgement all on their own as far as I'm concerned. She didn't ask the opinion of any of her allies before opening the border so.... they're hers. All hers.
mafketis   
9 Jul 2017
News / Germany After the EU and the Russian Scenario - future of the European Union and Poland [310]

the verifiable evidence

I'm ignoring anything before September 2015, because that changed things too much. I've personally seen the number of students learning German (in an insitution devoted to teaching many languages) fall by 90% or so over the last 10 years.

And again, how many popular German authors are there in the EU? Or movies or tv shows? Denmark and Sweden have bigger cultural footprints at present. All Germany has is economic force.

Economic influence is for me part of soft power, whereas military capabiillities are hard power

To me Economics are the hardest power going in the modern world.

The only time a country acted blunt and rash recently was when Poland tried to prevent the reelection of Tusk against the wishes of all other member states.

Not sure if that counts because it went against Polish public wishes as well (it was a disaster for PiS domestically).

It is Greek austerity

Demanded and enforced by Germany (which de facto overturned the results of two elections, which is as hard as power gets).

Greece lost 30 % of its GDP with not real prospect for recovery ever because the Euro is not a currency*, it's a loan shark scheme that benefits manufacturing and tax haven economies. It can never work in a service economy. Anyone who knew anything about economics knew that Greece (and Portugal and Spain and Italy did not belong in the Euro).

*and wont' be until there is a common fiscal policy (which no one wants) or monetary transfers from north to south (which Germany doesn't want).
mafketis   
9 Jul 2017
News / Germany After the EU and the Russian Scenario - future of the European Union and Poland [310]

I am not sure what your outrage is all about.

Lyzko said something about how importan German is, but I can tell you that being in an academic environment dealing with languages in Poland.... German has become a niche language (though I remember when it rivalled English in popularity). I'm rather fond of German myself but I can't blame European youth for turning away from it.

The further point is that Germany has no cultural power, it's all brute economic force and your links about Germany's soft power are either before the Merkel Wave of Pseudo-Refugees or are about micro-endeavors (tied to economics) and don't translate into real soft power.

Finally, Germany couldn't afford Poish employees in 2004, fine. Poland can't afford German refugees in 2017. And Greece can't afford German austerity.
mafketis   
8 Jul 2017
News / Germany After the EU and the Russian Scenario - future of the European Union and Poland [310]

With good reason though, as evidenced by the UK

Then Germany can go fvck itself and keep all its precious refugees to itself. When it starts showing concern to other EU countries maybe they'll return the favor and not one second before.

Germany has due historically reasons focuesd on its' soft power over the years

Name three GErman TV series people in Europe watch, name three German popular singers people listen to, name three GErman authors who are popular outside of Germany (or Austria/Switzerland).

No. Soft. Power.
mafketis   
8 Jul 2017
News / Germany After the EU and the Russian Scenario - future of the European Union and Poland [310]

it really isn't, you know.

It's very strange. Germany is THE economic power in the EU (completely lopsided with not challengers whatsoever) but the Germany has NO cultural relevance or soft power*. It's all brute economic force.

To be sure, I wish it were different. But that's the real way things are at present. Try to go around different countries in Europe speaking German and see what kind of reception you get. Indifference at best and outright hostility as the norm.

This is not a healthy situation for the EU and Germany largely has itself to blame.

*apparently a cause of concern in Germany itself
mafketis   
8 Jul 2017
News / Germany After the EU and the Russian Scenario - future of the European Union and Poland [310]

Oho, don't kid yourself! German is THE prestige language of Europe now because of the German-speaking countries, especially the FRG, which is the engine driving the continent momentarily:-)

Who's the one living in Poland? After, Germany FINALLY AFTER 7 FRICKIN' YEARS had to give Poles free access to the German labor market (and which they were still against) experts were predicting a big rash of German language learning.... nope. Nada.

German has almost no prestige in Poland anymore. Had Gemany followed the UK's lead in 2004 then German might be challenging English as lingua franca of the EU but... nope. Own goal all because they wanted to keep the dirty Poles out of their labor market.

I know of a German teacher who can't get work in GDANSK. That's how many bridges GErmany burned with Poland.
mafketis   
8 Jul 2017
News / Germany After the EU and the Russian Scenario - future of the European Union and Poland [310]

It is true that Sarazzin did a lot to highlight several problems with migration to Germany and he deserves credit for opening a debate about this

Is there any real indication that there is debate? I'm certainly not invested in Sarrazin and am glad to know mistakes he's made... But then people like Lyzko run and pretend that everything's fine and there are no problems whatsoever.

I'm not interested in ending all immigration to Europe but I am in favor of better policy than GErmany has at present (which is terrible in many ways).

men with Turkish backgrounds marry German women, a percentage that increases in future generations

A better indication of integration is percentage of women that marry German men. Any figures there?
mafketis   
8 Jul 2017
News / Germany After the EU and the Russian Scenario - future of the European Union and Poland [310]

Maf, my whole point is that you're running the risk of judging an entire peoples by that "bad lot" in Cologne!

Why not let me worry about that...

The fact is that middle eastern cultures are the way they are and in their own contexts work (for some value of 'work'). But people from that cultural environment mostly deal poorly with the challenges of living in radically different cultural environments. No European country has been very successful with large scale muslim immigration - why not end the experiment? How many turkeys are you going to drop off the Empire State Building before realizing that they don't really fly?

Highly educated and secularly oriented muslims do muc better in Europe (partly because they're trying to get awa from their countrymen) and I'm fine with them. But muslim countries mostly have terrible education systems so the numbers of them are small.
mafketis   
8 Jul 2017
News / Germany After the EU and the Russian Scenario - future of the European Union and Poland [310]

Change doesn't happen overnight. But it happens.

Yes, very gradually progressive westerners are coming to accept FGM and burkas (surely honor killings and domestic violence cannot be far behind)

dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/hitting-wives-a-beautiful-blessing-from-allah-says-sydney-muslim-womens-group/news-story/3f7ba05642ed2d399edd979d9624bfed
mafketis   
8 Jul 2017
News / Germany After the EU and the Russian Scenario - future of the European Union and Poland [310]

are you forever going to hold against migrants IN GENERAL the heinous actions of a dastardly few?

Unlike you, I don't want honor killings, burkas or female genital mutilation in Europe, muslim immigrants (when they arrive in large numbers) bring all three and hold onto them quite tenaciously.

he whole point Merkel's making about the concept of "tolerance" and the like is that it's not worth beans if it's too easy to be tolerant

So immigration policy should be about bringing in the worst immigrants possible. Noted.

like Christian virtues

I'm not a Christian.

I personally think it's moraly reprehensible for Merkel to express her Christian values in a way that COSTS HER NOTHING! Random German citizens pay the price for her pseudo-moralizing. The government of any country should put the interests of citizens first, legal non-citizens next and then can worry about charity and do-gooding.

If Merkel really wants to do good then she can bail out Greece.

I'm no saint, neither are you, neither are any of us

How generous of you to admit it. But the point is that adults have their own agendas and migrants are not eager to be your playthings and status symbols so you can show off how moral you are. I actually respect the cultures of the migrants more than you do.
mafketis   
8 Jul 2017
News / Germany After the EU and the Russian Scenario - future of the European Union and Poland [310]

You're arguing in terms of "facts" which don't enter into this type of discussion

Au contraire mon amis, facts about the perfromance of given immigrant groups should be the basis of future policy. If group B commits less crimes and starts more businesses and pays more taxes and has a higher graduation rate than group A then a rational immigration policy would favor group B over group A.

But apparently for all their logic Germans are incapable of thinking of immigration in any terms but charity and noblesse oblige (which will backfire badly at some time in the future).

The truth of the matter remains that compassion has no statute of limitations

So your future of Europe is New Year's in Cologne forever.....
mafketis   
8 Jul 2017
News / Germany After the EU and the Russian Scenario - future of the European Union and Poland [310]

relativizing IS trvializing by its very nature!

I have no idea what you're talking about. I asked for examples of Sarazzin being factually wrong and you make a vague allusion to 'trivializing' (while allowing that it might be factually correct)

If you can't give examples of him getting the facts (not attitude) wrong, then... he's right (as unsettling as thight might be for you).

Don't lash out at me.
mafketis   
4 Jul 2017
News / Germany After the EU and the Russian Scenario - future of the European Union and Poland [310]

Merkel will handily take the upcoming election:-)

You say that like you think it's a good thing: Here's a great article on the Merkel tendency to force German policies on EU countries, short story: What gets called "Anti-EU" sentiment is rebellion agains the incresingly authoritarian stance of Germany vis a vis the rest of the EU. If the EU does break up (or is drastically weakened) a lot of that can be laid at her door.

lrb.co.uk/v38/n07/wolfgang-streeck/scenario-for-a-wonderful-tomorrow
mafketis   
4 Jul 2017
Life / How are electric cars doing in Poland? [413]

I was just in London and saw a few of those roadside charging ports.

I recently saw a row of them at an upscale housing development in Poznan (City Park) about a half dozen and one or two were being used. I had no idea what they were at first.