Nice No More: The End of the German Fairytale

Written on October 25th, 2015 in politics Comments Off

Published on Spiegel Online International, a commentary by Markus Feldenkirchen, Oct 20, 2015.

The World Cup scandal brought to light by SPIEGEL serves as a reminder that Germany is nowhere near as perfect as it had started to look – ironically, around the time of that historic “fairytale summer” … //

… With its social market economy, Germany also appeared to have defied the law of capitalism that requires one to be a little coarse and unscrupulous in order to prevail.

Success and decency no longer seemed to be mutually incompatible terms. It almost felt like sainthood was about to be declared for Germany.

That won’t be happening just yet. A series of recent exposés have seriously damaged the image of the Good Germany. A darker side of the country is now getting international play: that of the trickster, a nation of cheats with criminal intent. Volkswagen, the archetype of German companies and the epitome of reliability, so brazenly manipulated the emissions data of its automobiles that it has single-handedly transformed “Made in Germany” from a seal of quality to a warning … //

… At some point, the image of the nasty German was replaced by the image of the faultless German. Both are extremes. A more realistic view of Germans is now starting to crystalize. Germany is neither any worse nor any better than other countries. It’s a nation with great strengths and all kinds of weaknesses.

Ultimately, there’s no place for German arrogance and no grounds for any German sense of superiority — which is taking its ugliest form these days in the shape of xenophobia.

(full text).

Links:

Worse Than Fossil Fuels? Why Bioenergy Is Not Green, on naked capitalism, by Yves Smith, Oct 22, 2015;

US: Killing Off Community Banks, Intended Consequence of Dodd-Frank? on Dissident Voice, by Ellen Hodgson Brown, Oct 21, 2015: The Dodd-Frank regulations are so lethal to community banks that some say the intent was to force them to sell out to the megabanks. Community banks are rapidly disappearing – except in North Dakota, where they are thriving …;

Aftermath: Ankara Bombings Leave Turkey More Polarized Than Ever, on Spiegel Online International, by Maximilian Popp and Christoph Reuter, Oct 21, 2015 (Photo Gallery): The terrorist attacks in Ankara have deepened Turkey’s political rifts. While President Erdogan is fueling his supporters’ hostility to the pro-Kurdish HDP ahead of snap elections, his opponents accuse him of being in cahoots with IS; (on en.wikipedia: Selahattin Demirtaş);

Global Peace and Security: Waging “War on Terrorism” in the Middle East Even as We “Embody Terrorism”, on Global Research.ca, by Mahboob A. Khawaja, Oct 20, 2015;

Professor Tells Students to Get Out of the US – Robert Higgs, 3.02 min, uploaded by James Guzman, July 5, 2015 … MISES Institute; /See also;
/External Links

CIA Analyst: We Are All Gonna Die, 25.58 min, uploaded by the Alex Jones Channel, Aug 28, 2014;

Audio: The Face of Imperialism and The 99% Solution – Michael Parenti, 64.22 min, uploaded by blackiron60, Dec 6, 2011 … he speaks at the University of Guelph 2011

… and this:

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