News / Poland supporting potential new EU members - Georgia and Turkey [32]


It is once it becomes apparant that those arrests are solely made to weaken domestic opposition and are not upholding basic legal standards. Furthermore there are many foreigners arrested and denied due process because Erdogan wants to use them as hostages against other countries. Dozens of foreigners are currently arrested on ridiculous charges and Turkish officials prevent them from meeting with attorneys from their home countries, which is basic international law.

This is very clear in the case of the arrested German-Turkish journalist Mesale Tolu. Her arrest is in itself against Turkish law (because the judge who ordered her arrest and later denied her bail are one and the same person, something that is expressively forbidden under Turkish law).

I don't think that Turkey is a good partner for Poland, even without those circumstances, since Erdogan has become a close partner of Putin, which should made the Polish government suspicious.

News / Austria's swing to the far right on Poland? [229]


The people in the low-wage industry would just love this... .

Genealogy / Are Silesians people German/Germanic? [178]

Hitler had very little historical knowledge, and what he read was often from autors who could not be deemed as serious historians even then.
Needless to say, the claim that today Germans have anything in common with the Germanic tribes of the past is just as ridiculous. I wrote a university paper on the depiction of the Germanic tribes under the Nazis and let's just say, how they proved the "connection" between the Vandals/VisigothsGermanic tribes and the German people has nothing to do with historical research and everything with wishful thinking. And of course, there were attempts to underline the difference between the Germanic people who had "resisted" Roman influence.

Just an example for how the perception has changed. Historians used to depict the troubles of the late Western Roman Empire as a struggle between Romans and Germanic tribes. But as historians have pointed out, most of the Germanic war chiefs (including Alaric who sacked Rome) were actually part of the Roman army, often achieving high or even the highest ranks, so it is more justifiable to see this as an power struggle between Romans.

Genealogy / Are Silesians people German/Germanic? [178]

@Crow This is a lot bs you are talking about. Stop projecting modern concepts of nationality into the past.


Oh my god this is so absurd... . Before the Romans came, therr was nothing in Germania except large forests and some small settlements made of wood. They founded some cities (Cologne, Trier) but generally used the same system they applied elsewhere to secure their dominion: Working with the lical elites. They mostly left the tribes alone on the right side of the Rhine and made no attempt to actively "Romanize" them after conquest became impractical. However the Roman way of life proved very tempting to the "barbarians" which is not surprising.

Out of curiosity, have you ever read a modern history book by a respectable historian? Probably not, because if you did, yould know how utterly wrong your conceptions are.

Would you also claim that the Balkans are inheritely Italian territory? Because the Roman conquered most of it and the territory prospered under their rule like never before and never again in history.

The answer is of course no, since there is no direct link between Italians and Romans since the Roman people consisted of basically half of Europe, parts of Asia and Africa.

Life / Are Poles mentally more Eastern European or Western European? [170]

@Wulkan


Indeed. Poles account for the second largest minority in Germany after Turks, and they are all in all incredibly well integrated. They are often not any from native Germans, and often people are surprised to learn just how many Poles live in Germany.

News / Germany After the EU and the Russian Scenario - future of the European Union and Poland [310]

@Lyzko

Well, it is quite obvious that Merkel is a very skilled diplomate if nothing else, and personally speaking, I'll likely vote for her again this year.


I have to disagree with you here. I think the way Merkel dealt with Greece is one of the best example for her multilateral approach to diplomacy. When everything was said and done, every country agreed to her suggestions.

News / Germany After the EU and the Russian Scenario - future of the European Union and Poland [310]


No media outlet is truly objective, just like in every country they have a specific target audience. That being said Der Spiegel has very good investigative journalists, and they are particulary good in exposing scandals and they are very reliable when it comes to presenting facts. It is just important to keep their critical attitude in mind e.g. when reading articles about Merkel's foreign policy (in general they think Merkel is too hard on Greece, too soft on Erdogan and not vocal enough about the detoriation of democracy in Poland and Hungary).

One amusing story which highlights their bias against the CDU. Der Spiegel was vehently against every foreign political decision the first chancellor Konrad Adenauer made (although they did have respect for the man), particulary his decision to anchor West Germany to the West and thus (supposedly) perpetuated division of Germany. Their opposition to his government even laid the ground for the incident that cemented his reputation.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiegel_Affair

In a recent edition that celebrated an anniversary of their magazine, they covered every post-war German chancellor until now. In the passage about Adenauer, they put much emphasis on his (undeniable) more controversial domestic decisions, while they only talked about his foreign policy in passing. They sheepishly ended the passage with the statement: Today, most historians agree that Adenauer was right on the most important foreign political questions of his time. That is a bit odd, considering that Adenauer's lasting legacy was mostly in him laying the framework in which German foreign policy works until today.


@ mafketis


They were begging for other countries to relief the pressure on them by taking in some of the refugees. In fact Tsiprashas afterwards expressed his gratitude to Merkel for her decision.

global.handelsblatt.com/politics/how-greece-learned-to-love-merkel-484454

Merkel knows the fragile situation in the Balkans better than most Western leaders. With the decision to take in those refugees who are still on the Balkan route, she probably prevented an escalition of the situation that might have ended in violence, which could have happened if the countries in the Balkans had decided to shuffle to refugees around until they were stuck by fences.

theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/05/angela-merkel-europe-unfinished-business-balkans

News / Germany After the EU and the Russian Scenario - future of the European Union and Poland [310]

@Lyzko

This is hardly surprising. The SPD wants to distance itself from Merkel because they intend to win the election and have their own cancellor. Usually the SPD is the strongest rival of the CDU, it only has happened twice before that they formed a government together.

Der Spiegel is Germany's most respected news magazine, but they are also since their inception fundamentally against the CDU and want the SPD to govern.

It is only natural that not every party member agree to everything Merkel does, we are living in a democracy after all. That being said, it is important to note that Merkel's biggest advantage is that she is still irreplacable for the CDU. There is nobody who comes even close to her approval ratings or her reputation as chancellor, the CDU needs her to win the election this year. Von der Leyen, while often cited as her likeliest succesor, is often seen as boring and less likely to attract votes.

I'll anser your emails properly later, once I have the time. :)

News / Germany After the EU and the Russian Scenario - future of the European Union and Poland [310]


The AfD might not even make it into the parliament. Ever since they revealed that their leader have schown sympathy with openly racist and revanchist ideology, the AfD has lost massively in popularity, and Trumps election also reminded many Germans what happens if you vote for guys like this. Merkel on the other hand benefited from this.


Those countries (with the exclusion of Austria) had been begging for help since the start of 2015. Merkel provided them with relief, and particulary Greece was grateful for this.

News / Germany After the EU and the Russian Scenario - future of the European Union and Poland [310]


And to be fair, all governments can be creative with their accounting. France's current budget deficite would probably look worse without it. It can also take different forms, for example, most European defence budgets would look even worse if pensions were not included, which many governments do.

But what Greece did was unprecedented in scale.


As bad as the situation in Greece is, it is far worse in Venezuela. At least basic products like toilet paper are still available. The fact that Greece heavily depends on imports is another reason why they dont want to lose the Euro.

News / Germany After the EU and the Russian Scenario - future of the European Union and Poland [310]

True it is possible that some politicians suspected that the Greek numbers were altered. That being said it is very unlikely that they supected how bad they looked in reality, nor could they have known that given how far Greece went to falsify data. And even then, who could have expected that Greek politicians would act increasingly more stupid and spend money so recklessly?

It is also worth pointing out that back then therr were hardly any ways to check the national deficite independently from the data the national governments provided. You had to somewhat trust them on this.


I agree. Germany was btw. initially against Greece's membership, but relented when Greece mentioned the 2WW and after France pushed for it.


It is always possible for a country to leave the Euro, they just need to start printing their own money. Greece had plans for reintroducing the Drachme, but backed out after thinking about it. 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.

News / Poland has accepted over a million Ukrainian refugees. Why does the EU keep telling propaganda about Poland? [304]


We are talking about civilians here, not foreign soldiers who ride in on their horses and plan to burn down your houses. Even subscribe to the idea that there is a higher number of potential criminals among them than usual, most of them are never going to commit any crimes, verbally dehumanizing them to such an extent is uncalled for.

News / Germany After the EU and the Russian Scenario - future of the European Union and Poland [310]

Or having an island supposedly full of blind people...

News / Germany After the EU and the Russian Scenario - future of the European Union and Poland [310]


1) Austerity was demanded by all of Greece's creditors. In fact several countries were far more keen on punishing Greece than Germany.

Poorer than Greece: the EU countries that reject a new Athens bailout

theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/09/poorer-than-greece-the-eu-countries-that-reject-a-new-athens-bailout

2) You (and many Greeks) seem to have a very strange understanding on how negotiations between two countries work. Tsipras promised that he would end austerity and Euro would keep the Euro if the Greeks voted No in the referendum. All European politicians stated this was not an option. Greece could either accept austerity or leave the Euro. Tsipras was simply dishonest about how the situation looked like. He told the Greeks that they could have their cake and eat it. No country was willing to make any concessions to Greece, and if they had held a referendum in any European country, probably a majority would have voted to kick Greece out of the Euro.

Of course, Tsipras could have drawn the conclusion that having failed to get any concessions, in order to respect the referendum, he'd have to lead Greece out of the Eurozone. However since polls indicated that the Greeks also wanted to keep the Euro (which in return just shows you how bizarre that whole referendum was) he decided to agree to the demands. That was his decision, no one else.


The Greek economy was artificially bloated by reckless public spending and other measures, it is now closer to what it actually produces. It will take Greece many years until it recovers to the standards it held pre 2009, but this time, it will be honesty earned. And as a bonus, it looks like they have learned how to properly fight tax evasion and organize a proper bureaucracy. I just pity the young Greeks who have to pay the price of their parents excesses.

A fellow Greek student of mine told me an interesting story about his small home town. A few years ago, he passed the very difficult test to get a job in the Greek bureaucracy. Yet there are currently no positions open. The one spot he could have applied for is held by a middle aged man who got his job two decades ago because he was friend with the local mayor. The position requires a university education, yet the man hasn't even finished high school. According to proposals by the Troika, such obviously unqualified civil servants should be fired, but consecutive governments have refused to do so. My fellow student decided to leave the country eventually because he has given up hope that anything will change.

News / Germany After the EU and the Russian Scenario - future of the European Union and Poland [310]


So you just ignore all the verifiable evidence I have shown you (more demand for German language courses) because of your personal impression? That is not very academic of you.


We might have a different understanding what the term "soft power" means. I am using the definition as stated in the article of the Economist. Economic influence is for me part of soft power, whereas military capabiillities are hard power. The way things are handled within the EU certainly don't qualify as hard power, they are done by votes and debates. 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.


It is Greek austerity and I don't think this is related to the topic at hand. Well maybe except as an example as to why the blatant attempt of Greece to blackmail its' creditors back in 2015 was doomed to fail against the united consensus of the other Euro members.

News / Germany After the EU and the Russian Scenario - future of the European Union and Poland [310]


You are aware that Berlin is (along with London) the main reason why Poland was admitted so early to the EU in the first place right, when other countries like France were against EU enlargement? And that Germany remains the top destination for Poles so I am not sure what your outrage is all about. The German labour market was not ready for that many new arrivals back then, plain and simple. And apparantly, neither was the UK. Strangely the Brexiteers like to complain that the EU forced them to take in all the Polish immigrants even though it would have been entirely within London's power to prevent it.

That being said I am very happy that so many Poles are working in Germany. There are in general hard-working. well integrated, and unlike e.g. those from Rumania und Bulgaria, are less likely to abuse our social security system.

Here is also interesting article about Germany and soft power:

economist.com/news/europe/21663257-once-language-schiller-and-goethe-then-hitler-german-hip-again-sprechen-sie-power

This article also shows how Germany uses soft power in the Baltic states.

ssoar.info/ssoar/handle/document/51412

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. In hindsight it is very obvious that this the smart way to do. Germany was suffering from high unemployment at the time, and letting in competition from Eastern Europe probably would have turned poorer Germans against the EU and foreigners. When the restriction was lifted, Germany needed more workers and we have seen a large number of Poles emigrating to Germany in the last few years. And Germany remains a very attractive destination for Poles.

thenews.pl/1/12/Artykul/285368,Germany-most-popular-destination-for-Poles-seeking-work

Currently many European citizens from Eastern Europe are emigrating to Germany. 2015 saw 147.910 Poles arriving in Germany. (Even more arrived from Rumania with 174.000)

zeit.de/politik/ausland/2016-07/eu-buerger-migration-nach-deutschland-rekordhoch-rumaenien-osteuropa


Firstly, German seems to be quite popular in Poland.

goethe.de/en/uun/akt/20512365.html

In fact there has been a noticeable increase in interest for German language classes:

monitor.icef.com/2015/04/german-language-study-on-the-rise-worldwide

Let's not kid ourself, there is no way German could supplant English as the leading language in Europe, even if a few millions more could speak it. English is the language everybody speaks, and this won't change. Let's just hope that Chinese won't usurp English as world language, because that would be far more difficult to learn for Europeans ;


I think this is your bias speaking here. Germany has due historically reasons focuesd on its' soft power over the years, and analyzer acknowledge the extent of this.

thelocal.de/20131121/germany-number-one-for-soft-power

News / Germany After the EU and the Russian Scenario - future of the European Union and Poland [310]

Children are rarely the problem. The main problem is that they cannotg practice their German at home with their parents.

brookings.edu/blog/education-plus-development/2016/05/23/inside-syrian-refugee-schools-syrian-children-in-germany

News / Germany After the EU and the Russian Scenario - future of the European Union and Poland [310]


Of course they do.

News / Germany After the EU and the Russian Scenario - future of the European Union and Poland [310]

@mafketis


Germany has in many ways changed its' approach to immigration integration, especially towards refugees. There is now great effort taken to offer refugees education, and German lessons are now mandatory for the new arrivals. So far it seems that this new approach could work out.


I haven't found any statistic on a quick search, and I suspect that it will be difficult to find any reliable data, since there are a lot of factors to consider (e.g. second-generation German-Turks who only have a german passport and so on). From my personal experience though, the son of my former landlord married a Turkish women a few years ago. Her other sisters are also married to Germans.


We have in Germany the problem that in more than almost any other OSCE country, the performance of children in school depends on their parentage. There is still a low number of worker-class children who enter university, even among German-born parents. The same counts for Turkish-born children. One major step to improve this is the establishment of daycares that take care of children the whole day long (whereas previously kindergarten were only open for half a day) so that children can learn and practice their German properly.

News / Germany After the EU and the Russian Scenario - future of the European Union and Poland [310]

Because Sarazin has been mentioned frequently here, it is worth pointing out that he comitted several factual errors in his books. There are numerous articles that highlight his mistakes and simplifications, e.g. a very long one here: (The following is just a short quotation giving some examples)

"Sarrazin, for example, writes that Germany's population will be 20 million in 2100. Yet demographers estimate that there will be 46 million Germans in 2100.
[...]

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

The entire article can be found here:
spiegel.de/international/germany/the-man-who-divided-germany-why-sarrazin-s-integration-demagoguery-has-many-followers-a-715876-3.html]http:

The next page of the article debunks his statements about genetics, Jewiish and immigrant genes and so on. It makes for an interesting read, but since it would make my post to long I'll refrain from citing them.

[spiegel.de/international/germany/the-man-who-divided-germany-why-sarrazin-s-integration-demagoguery-has-many-followers-a-715876-4.html

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. But like many people with a good cause, he radicalized himself with time and included topics in his books about which he lacked the proper knowledge to analyze them, and furthermore did not properly analyze the data and statistics he used. His credibility suffered greatly from this, which is why almost no one takes notice anymore when he voices his opinion anymore.

Please read rule#11 on copy-paste

News / Germany After the EU and the Russian Scenario - future of the European Union and Poland [310]


Germany so far had only sensible leaders after WWII. Hopefully this will continue to do. At the very least, German aversion to military power will make sure that even stupid German leaders won't be a danger to its' neighbours.

News / Germany After the EU and the Russian Scenario - future of the European Union and Poland [310]


I'd argue so too, but apparantly it'll take some time for some people to accept this. As evidenced by the current Polish government, resentiments run deep.

News / Germany After the EU and the Russian Scenario - future of the European Union and Poland [310]


I can live with that. Isn't it better to be feared than to be loved, if you can't have both? ;) But who knows how things'll look in another 50 years.@Crow


It is a good thing Serbia was stopped the last time they wanted to follow in German or Turkish footsteps. ;) I am sure Belgrad has learned by now like Germany did that attempting to increase your territory by war will inevitable lead to a decrease in territory.

News / Germany After the EU and the Russian Scenario - future of the European Union and Poland [310]

No hard feelings here, it looks like the Serbians learned their lessons a lot quicker than the Germans.

On a side note, I am very glad that Merkel invested a lot of effort into presenting the Balkans with a European option. Germans know from their history how long it can take for a people to come to terms with its' past, but I sincerely hope that Serbia will one day within my lifetime join the EU, and thus bring the project of pacifying the Balkans to a conclusive end.

News / Germany After the EU and the Russian Scenario - future of the European Union and Poland [310]


That doesn't prevent them from asking them for German investment, or even closer military cooperation though. I am sure with time they'll come to accept that Germany wants mutual benefical relation with them. The Czech Republic for example has greatly benefited from the close economic cooperation with Germany, as do others.

I don't think any European government has spoken out against German leadership, except Poland and Hungary (and even Orban made sure not to upset too many Germans), in fact most have voiced their displeasure about German reluctance to lead in the past. Personally I think it is good that we have a strong French president with Macron again, so that the sole responsibility does not lie with Merkel any longer.

News / Germany After the EU and the Russian Scenario - future of the European Union and Poland [310]

Crows' posts are an excellent example for the latter. ;)

News / Germany After the EU and the Russian Scenario - future of the European Union and Poland [310]

Of course, history would hardly be interesting if it wasn't open to interpretation. That being said, historians nowadays are more aware about the many problems that can arise if you apply modern views on historical sources, and of course how ancient sources are often problematic as well.

I mean we have many Roman historians who have written about the Germanic tribes (Tacitus was notably among them), and applied names to them like Sueben et al. But they most likely never visited these lands, nor is their any evidence that those tribes called temselves like the Romans did, or considered themselves part of "Germanic" tribes.

News / Germany After the EU and the Russian Scenario - future of the European Union and Poland [310]

Sadly, the police in Germany is only allowed to act with great restrain. Which is why you have regularly people who like violence and who apparantly think that they can have some "fun" with the police.


If you want to interprete history like the early 20th century historians you might have a point (and even then, 3/4 of today's Germany was never settled by any tribes that could be called "slavic"). I know some people in the Balkans have still some catching up to do until they are at a civiliatorical with the rest of Europe, and evidently you belong to them. But from my my previous travels to Serbia, I am aware that you only present shrinking minority among your people.

News / Germany After the EU and the Russian Scenario - future of the European Union and Poland [310]


No not free speech. Hate speech. Due to historical reasons, Germany draws a line when it comes to inciting violence and hatred. You can criticize the government because of the refugee crisis, bit calling for the murder of refugees or politicians will get you in trouble and rightly so. Especially because many local politicians were the victims of personal threats and insults, who have not personal bodyguards to protect them.