Even if they wind up holding the bag Americans evince limited interest in foreign affairs". That expresses an illusion that the world is remote and that punches will land far away. Although the last century proved the contrary the delusion has the staying power of a mummy embedded in a pyramid. The error is understandable even though it is wrong because foreign affairs" seep into the country through its alliances and Swiss cheese-like borders.
An overlooked development concerns Germanys wobbles and Europes future. That country exhibits many virtues and it went from total devastation in 1945 to become a rich society with a booming economy. Concurrently Germany has failings. These are not physical in nature that is they are not upshots of limited means or hostile neighbors. The countrys problem is a past for which even after generations her elites try to atone for by actions whose sense might not convince the present-day observer. The choice of victims to be compensated is fashionably one-sided and the deeds to placate those that cry loudest appear to be overdrawn.
Germanys internal and foreign policy is dominated by complexes that hark back to her National Socialist past. At the same time the exploited consequences of that complex perpetuate insider elites by letting them connect their critics to Nazism".
Through much misfortune Germanys development has not followed the pattern of the rest of Europe. Having missed the era when nation states emerged as a late-comer Germany had to break forcibly into Europes state system. She had been forced to achieve that by challenging the system" which created enemies. Attaining Great Power status German leaders especially the Kaiser of World War One nurtured insecurity about the countrys acceptance and its ability to retain her position among secure established nations.
Nervous over-active sensibility propelled by the fear of a lurking existential threat provoked a tendency to over-react. That was not a condition that Hitler created: he merely amplified what he found. The fear generated by insecurity muted into an inclination to seek security through domination. Superiority had to be proven: one needed to be a leading power have the best army and the most advanced weapons. The operative words for these objectives are most" leading" and supremacy". (It is a dictate of fairness to point out some of the above fits other major states.)
The culturally embedded tendency to engage in the cult of the superlative has survived the collapse of its attempted military realization. Following defeat the pursuit of the mostest" survived while new means were pursued to live out the impulse. Let it be added that what had been done to repair the tort to the victims by National Socialism deserves the adjective admirable".
Atonement as a national mission under the guidance of a leading element produces odd fruits. One is that it elevates the political class to a position that cannot be questioned. The reasoning; critics by attacking those dedicated to right the wrongs of Hitlerism side with the Nazis by questioning the leaders of the present struggle against the National Socialist past. That being an expression of moral superiority will make those thereby endorsed arrogant and blind toward the outsiderss reality.
Beyond her inheritances" burden Germanys current difficulties express a crisis of most of Western Civilizations elites. A sign of the disorientation of the avant guard floats to the surface in the context of the migration crisis that through its consequences awakens the previously docile and passive general population. Not only in Germany the governing class is due to its dogmas incapable to manage the inundation by un-integrable and renitent masses.
The denial of what the mass sees is symptomatic of the confusion of the ruling select. That is because the norms of its secular religion have developed contradictions. Originally these values were complementary and mutually reinforcing. Once the culturally alien masses of the Near East and Africa entered the once self-evident catechisms components collide and have became mutually exclusive.
Not surprisingly post-war Germany embraced anti-antisemitism. One was to be inclusive" and so anyone with pigments became a victim of colonialism" and was as such attributed moral stature. Once the representatives of the Third World turned out to be anti-Semitic either the first principle had to be asserted or the second one was to receive priority. Freedom of religion and culture meaning the right to kill Jews as a religious act? In either case a standard needs to be ignored. The dilemma goes on. Womens rights? What if a victim" group with a colonial" background defines the right of women in a manner that reduces them to illiterate chattels wrapped in a tent? Democratic values defined by the age of Enlightenment? What to do when a minority invokes Freedom of Religion" to renounce these in favor of verdicts attributed to God? Equality? But what to do if victim status is used to demand immunity from the law of the land and to assert that deeds that are a crime for the majority are to be excused as being a to-be-protected cultural trait? (Childhood marriage FGM.)
Such collisions abjured by the governing class confront majorities that are lectured that defending their way of life and the system that expresses it is racist" and intolerant". The process of giving way in the name of tolerance to those that are by their expressed principles intolerant is rolling on in Western Europe. This fudging and the publics reaction suggests that the pivotal issue of future politics will be how to preserve the identity of beleaguered indigenous majorities.
Arguably the controversy has arrived to Germany. Due to responses that are increasingly perceived as inadequate the countrys traditional parties are discredited. Recent elections were disastrous to the allegedly conservative Christian Democrats and plucked bare the lefts Social Democrats. The clear winner: the Alternative for Germany" (AfD) a new right of center formation whose name is a teasing response to Merkels pretention that there is no alternative" to her policies.
After much haggling the old left-right coalitions parties have agreed to form a government. The arrangement is shaky as the people" is deserting its ruling experts". The majority of the Great Coalition" is small. Also the deal is just an agreement to keep power and that to do that government will continue to do little while talking loud. The classical Liberals have put it well when they told that it is better not to govern than to govern badly".
Although during the campaign the Social Democrats (SPD) promised never to share power with Merkel they have abandoned that policy and also their comical candidate who accepted the foreign ministry in the proposed cabinet. Under pressure Schulz an EU centralizer who left a safe job in Brussels to govern Germany had to give up the leadership of his party and the consolation ministry. Meanwhile the surveys tell the SPDs support is crashing. Like the Democrats in America the Socialists have lost the blue-collar crowd and became a family" of vegan bike-riding cosmopolitan intellectuals. Where did the old voters go? To the AfD.
Conditions within the allegedly conservative CDU/CSU are equally unstable. The genuine conservatives are distraught by Merkels conservative talk and leftist actions. The chancellor is personally responsible for policies such as the invasion of integration resistant elements- that are unpopular. Merkel has been Germanys best in the substance leftist leader. The conservatives fear that being close to her puts one under a collapsing roof. Assigning key ministries to the socialists is hardly endearing to those in the CDU/CSU that mean the principles they proclaim.
The resulting government will be unlikely to depart from its hither course that the voters desert. Continuing as guided by PC theory at what has already been disproven by reality might be bad. It gets worse because the ruling cabal will be weak it will govern incoherently facing challenges they cope with by denying them with the help of the MSM. One may anticipate that dialogue" will continue to serve as a substitute for self-preservation. How long will that pacifier remain effective?
Naturally a loud about face" could rescue parties whose political capital is melting. At this juncture a traditional German component enters the picture.
Collectively Germans tend to inflate their commitment to abstractions. In doing so they make it a sign of a moral virtue to ignore reality not to ask does it work" and whether once tested the ideal deserves to be supported. This missionary zeal is paired with a tendency to over-compensate for earlier mistakes. There was a time when Europe saw Germans as harmless poets and philosophers. It was followed by an era of unity" expressed by mindless discipline and overacted military virtues. The propensity to over-compensate in a manner that touches upon fanaticism is still discernible in an admittedly dwindling majority. Merkels promise when she let hundreds of thousands of problematic migrants into the country that we will handle it" is an expression of the fanaticism of moderation and virtue.
Even if a widening circle notices that that assurance not unlike an earlier one about the Endsieg" /Final Victory/ does not fly the dogged pursuit of the attempt to save the world continues to have support. How disappointed hopes will affect the countrys political orientation is an open question. For now Germany will be erratically governed by a weak crew. Germany being the determining entity within the EU and the Atlantic Alliance the seemingly local matter has global consequences.
Germany will suffer from the problem a weak government that sets bold goals and that subscribes to the idea that defending ones way of life on ones own turf is racist. The resulting instability translates into a European problem that will at least until real trouble arises bolster French leadership with Germanys means. Paris and Belins proxy agent will be an assertive EU dedicated to replace national member states with a new central organ. If not moderated this pursuit will create fissures within the Union and accelerate the reshaping of the political landscape in several countries.
Even if they wind up holding the bag Americans evince limited interest in foreign affairs". That expresses an illusion that the world is remote and that punches will land far away. Although the last century proved the contrary the delusion has the staying power of a mummy embedded in a pyramid. The error is understandable even though it is wrong because foreign affairs" seep into the country through its alliances and Swiss cheese-like borders.
An overlooked development concerns Germanys wobbles and Europes future. That country exhibits many virtues and it went from total devastation in 1945 to become a rich society with a booming economy. Concurrently Germany has failings. These are not physical in nature that is they are not upshots of limited means or hostile neighbors. The countrys problem is a past for which even after generations her elites try to atone for by actions whose sense might not convince the present-day observer. The choice of victims to be compensated is fashionably one-sided and the deeds to placate those that cry loudest appear to be overdrawn.
Germanys internal and foreign policy is dominated by complexes that hark back to her National Socialist past. At the same time the exploited consequences of that complex perpetuate insider elites by letting them connect their critics to Nazism".
Through much misfortune Germanys development has not followed the pattern of the rest of Europe. Having missed the era when nation states emerged as a late-comer Germany had to break forcibly into Europes state system. She had been forced to achieve that by challenging the system" which created enemies. Attaining Great Power status German leaders especially the Kaiser of World War One nurtured insecurity about the countrys acceptance and its ability to retain her position among secure established nations.
Nervous over-active sensibility propelled by the fear of a lurking existential threat provoked a tendency to over-react. That was not a condition that Hitler created: he merely amplified what he found. The fear generated by insecurity muted into an inclination to seek security through domination. Superiority had to be proven: one needed to be a leading power have the best army and the most advanced weapons. The operative words for these objectives are most" leading" and supremacy". (It is a dictate of fairness to point out some of the above fits other major states.)
The culturally embedded tendency to engage in the cult of the superlative has survived the collapse of its attempted military realization. Following defeat the pursuit of the mostest" survived while new means were pursued to live out the impulse. Let it be added that what had been done to repair the tort to the victims by National Socialism deserves the adjective admirable".
Atonement as a national mission under the guidance of a leading element produces odd fruits. One is that it elevates the political class to a position that cannot be questioned. The reasoning; critics by attacking those dedicated to right the wrongs of Hitlerism side with the Nazis by questioning the leaders of the present struggle against the National Socialist past. That being an expression of moral superiority will make those thereby endorsed arrogant and blind toward the outsiderss reality.
Beyond her inheritances" burden Germanys current difficulties express a crisis of most of Western Civilizations elites. A sign of the disorientation of the avant guard floats to the surface in the context of the migration crisis that through its consequences awakens the previously docile and passive general population. Not only in Germany the governing class is due to its dogmas incapable to manage the inundation by un-integrable and renitent masses.
The denial of what the mass sees is symptomatic of the confusion of the ruling select. That is because the norms of its secular religion have developed contradictions. Originally these values were complementary and mutually reinforcing. Once the culturally alien masses of the Near East and Africa entered the once self-evident catechisms components collide and have became mutually exclusive.
Not surprisingly post-war Germany embraced anti-antisemitism. One was to be inclusive" and so anyone with pigments became a victim of colonialism" and was as such attributed moral stature. Once the representatives of the Third World turned out to be anti-Semitic either the first principle had to be asserted or the second one was to receive priority. Freedom of religion and culture meaning the right to kill Jews as a religious act? In either case a standard needs to be ignored. The dilemma goes on. Womens rights? What if a victim" group with a colonial" background defines the right of women in a manner that reduces them to illiterate chattels wrapped in a tent? Democratic values defined by the age of Enlightenment? What to do when a minority invokes Freedom of Religion" to renounce these in favor of verdicts attributed to God? Equality? But what to do if victim status is used to demand immunity from the law of the land and to assert that deeds that are a crime for the majority are to be excused as being a to-be-protected cultural trait? (Childhood marriage FGM.)
Such collisions abjured by the governing class confront majorities that are lectured that defending their way of life and the system that expresses it is racist" and intolerant". The process of giving way in the name of tolerance to those that are by their expressed principles intolerant is rolling on in Western Europe. This fudging and the publics reaction suggests that the pivotal issue of future politics will be how to preserve the identity of beleaguered indigenous majorities.
Arguably the controversy has arrived to Germany. Due to responses that are increasingly perceived as inadequate the countrys traditional parties are discredited. Recent elections were disastrous to the allegedly conservative Christian Democrats and plucked bare the lefts Social Democrats. The clear winner: the Alternative for Germany" (AfD) a new right of center formation whose name is a teasing response to Merkels pretention that there is no alternative" to her policies.
After much haggling the old left-right coalitions parties have agreed to form a government. The arrangement is shaky as the people" is deserting its ruling experts". The majority of the Great Coalition" is small. Also the deal is just an agreement to keep power and that to do that government will continue to do little while talking loud. The classical Liberals have put it well when they told that it is better not to govern than to govern badly".
Although during the campaign the Social Democrats (SPD) promised never to share power with Merkel they have abandoned that policy and also their comical candidate who accepted the foreign ministry in the proposed cabinet. Under pressure Schulz an EU centralizer who left a safe job in Brussels to govern Germany had to give up the leadership of his party and the consolation ministry. Meanwhile the surveys tell the SPDs support is crashing. Like the Democrats in America the Socialists have lost the blue-collar crowd and became a family" of vegan bike-riding cosmopolitan intellectuals. Where did the old voters go? To the AfD.
Conditions within the allegedly conservative CDU/CSU are equally unstable. The genuine conservatives are distraught by Merkels conservative talk and leftist actions. The chancellor is personally responsible for policies such as the invasion of integration resistant elements- that are unpopular. Merkel has been Germanys best in the substance leftist leader. The conservatives fear that being close to her puts one under a collapsing roof. Assigning key ministries to the socialists is hardly endearing to those in the CDU/CSU that mean the principles they proclaim.
The resulting government will be unlikely to depart from its hither course that the voters desert. Continuing as guided by PC theory at what has already been disproven by reality might be bad. It gets worse because the ruling cabal will be weak it will govern incoherently facing challenges they cope with by denying them with the help of the MSM. One may anticipate that dialogue" will continue to serve as a substitute for self-preservation. How long will that pacifier remain effective?
Naturally a loud about face" could rescue parties whose political capital is melting. At this juncture a traditional German component enters the picture.
Collectively Germans tend to inflate their commitment to abstractions. In doing so they make it a sign of a moral virtue to ignore reality not to ask does it work" and whether once tested the ideal deserves to be supported. This missionary zeal is paired with a tendency to over-compensate for earlier mistakes. There was a time when Europe saw Germans as harmless poets and philosophers. It was followed by an era of unity" expressed by mindless discipline and overacted military virtues. The propensity to over-compensate in a manner that touches upon fanaticism is still discernible in an admittedly dwindling majority. Merkels promise when she let hundreds of thousands of problematic migrants into the country that we will handle it" is an expression of the fanaticism of moderation and virtue.
Even if a widening circle notices that that assurance not unlike an earlier one about the Endsieg" /Final Victory/ does not fly the dogged pursuit of the attempt to save the world continues to have support. How disappointed hopes will affect the countrys political orientation is an open question. For now Germany will be erratically governed by a weak crew. Germany being the determining entity within the EU and the Atlantic Alliance the seemingly local matter has global consequences.
Germany will suffer from the problem a weak government that sets bold goals and that subscribes to the idea that defending ones way of life on ones own turf is racist. The resulting instability translates into a European problem that will at least until real trouble arises bolster French leadership with Germanys means. Paris and Belins proxy agent will be an assertive EU dedicated to replace national member states with a new central organ. If not moderated this pursuit will create fissures within the Union and accelerate the reshaping of the political landscape in several countries.