Reaching for the Bomb

WARSAW/HAMBURG/BERLIN (Own report) – The Polish government’s éminence grise, Jarosław Kaczyński, has picked up the German establishment’s call to acquire its own nuclear weapons. He would welcome it, if the EU would become a “nuclear superpower,” Kaczyński told a leading German daily. Last week, the left liberal, government critical “Panorama” television program of the ARD’s Norddeutscher Rundfunk channel called for launching an “open debate” on the “German nuclear bomb,” because “no state” could presently be “confident” that the USA, under President Trump, would “unconditionally defend the other NATO allies.” To “deter” Russia from attacking a member of the Alliance, in this situation, it is necessary to have national control over nuclear weapons, claimed the authors of the program. Numerous experts from think tanks, the media and from the political domain have expressed similar views, even while differing, on whether to confide the nuclear war potential to the authority of the EU’s military bodies or to the German government.

Germany’s New Propaganda Bureau — Big Brother is Watching YOU!

 

• A married couple, Peter and Melanie M., were prosecuted and convicted in July 2016 of creating a Facebook group that criticized the government’s migration policy. Also, in July 2016, 60 people suspected of writing “hate speech” online had their homes raided by German police.

• None of the above seems to be enough, however, for the president of the Bundestag, Norbert Lammert, from Angela Merkel’s CDU party, who believes that what Facebook is already doing against “hate speech” is not enough. According to the CDU politician, there is a need for more legislation.

• The German government’s view of what constitutes “hate speech” is highly selective and appears limited to protecting the government’s own policies on immigration from legitimate criticism.

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• Firebombing a synagogue, on the other hand, is simply an “act of protest”.

Officials in Germany’s Interior Ministry are urging Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière to establish a “Defense Center against Disinformation” (Ab­wehr­zen­trum ge­gen Des­in­for­ma­ti­on) to combat what they call “political disinformation,” a euphemism for “fake news.”

An Essential Part of the West

WASHINGTON/BERLIN (Own report) – After Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential elections, the German government announced that it will continue its close cooperation with the United States and is calling for enhancing Germany’s position in the transatlantic relationship. Chancellor Angela Merkel “offered” President-elect Donald Trump “close cooperation” on the basis of particular conditions. Jürgen Hardt, the German government’s Coordinator of Transatlantic Relations, spoke of the “necessity for us Europeans, and particularly for us Germans, to assume more responsibility.” This “responsibility” would “grow” under a US President Trump and this concerns “all … instruments of foreign and security policy.” The call for more German influence reiterates positions recently voiced in Berlin’s foreign policy establishment, demanding “not to leave stability policy proposals up to the USA,” but to independently evaluate how to “shape the future global order.” German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen and Chairman of the Munich Security Conference, Wolfgang Ischinger, are linking this demand to a call for significantly increasing the German military budget.

Germany in China-bashing mode over strategic takeovers

Sectors of the government in Berlin are calling bluntly for an intervention of the European Union (EU) to protect its members against unfair investment practices from Chinese state-owned and private companies. While both EU institutions and member states are sending mixed signals over this German proposal, hawkish supporters of Brexit – Britain’s exit from the EU – are pushing for their leaders to seize on the “China-bashing” that is taking place across the Channel.

Berlin fears that the rise in China’s takeovers of German national assets, notably in the dual-use (i.e. civil and military) hi-tech industry, is driven in large part by the Chinese undisguised desire to buy up Western know-how and intellectual properties, something that will negatively affect the country’s security.

Will Blockchain Technology Replace Cash?

Wisdom from May of 2016 for today:

 

If Europe is heading toward a cashless society, the loss of freedom will follow.

The European Central Bank (ecb) decided on May 4 to withdraw the €500 banknote from circulation by the end of 2018. The stated reason is that the bill is often used for illicit cash transactions. Although most supporters of this policy say they don’t want to totally abolish cash, some economic analysts believe a cashless monetary system will be the next step, leading to the loss of many freedoms.

The German government also plans to limit all cash transactions to less than €5,000, saying that terrorism is often sponsored by high-cash transactions. The March terrorist attacks in Brussels, Belgium, gave these advocates a significant push forward. Even after banning the €500 note, millions of euros could still be carried in a small handbag. Nobert Haring, a German economist and business journalist, explained in an interview with N-tv that terrorists would not be bothered by the planned limit on cash transactions. He said a total ban of cash would be required to have an effect on terrorists.

Financial CRISIS: Will Deutsche Bank collapse be WORSE than Lehman Brothers in 2008?

WOULD the collapse of the German banking giant be another Lehman moment for the global banking sector? 

The dramatic collapse of Lehman Brothers eight years ago this month was a defining moment of the devastating financial crisis.

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Eight years on, Deutsche Bank’s shares fell to an all-time low today amid fears that it cannot afford to pay a huge fine from the US. 

Green Beret warns: “World governments are preparing for disaster and war”

manhhai/Flickr

 

 

This is alarming, as the U.S. has been playing an indirect cat-and-mouse game with Russia

As written in previous articles, it is my firm conviction that we will be involved in a World War that will be initiated by an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) weapon detonated over the continental United States.

That being said, this piece summarizes recent events that reinforce such a conclusion, a conviction that is shared by world leaders, senior military personnel, and prominent analysts, as well as being a general consensus of opinion worldwide.  As of this writing, the German government has instructed its citizens to prepare for a forthcoming disaster by stockpiling at least 10 days-worth of food and 5 days of water.  In Berlin, they are considering bringing back mandatory conscription (a draft) in view of the influx of Muslim aliens entering Europe.

Germany to tell people to stockpile food and water in case of attacks: FAS

BERLIN (Reuters) – For the first time since the end of the Cold War, the German government plans to tell citizens to stockpile food and water in case of an attack or catastrophe, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung newspaper reported on Sunday.

Germany is currently on high alert after two Islamist attacks and a shooting rampage by a mentally unstable teenager last month. Berlin announced measures earlier this month to spend considerably more on its police and security forces and to create a special unit to counter cyber crime and terrorism.

Fundamental Readjustment

BERLIN (Own report) – Just a few days before the NATO summit opens in Poland’s capital Warsaw, German think tanks are not only pushing for stationing combat troops at Russia’s borders but even for the expansion of the West’s nuclear arsenal. A “revision” of NATO’s “nuclear strategy” is “urgently needed,” because, vis à vis Moscow, for a “credible deterrence” a “nuclear component” is necessary, explained the CDU-affiliated Konrad Adenauer Foundation. The German government’s main military policy think tank, the Federal College for Security Studies (BAKS) is also calling for the transatlantic alliance to reach a “new strategic nuclear consensus,” to contain Russia, the “anti-western power.” The implementation of the missile defense system in NATO’s eastern European member countries is also explained with Moscow’s alleged “aggressivity” and the derived need for “deterrence.” The western military alliance demonstrates its “political capability to take action” against Russia, by its “close involvement” of the formally neutral countries Sweden and Finland “in NATO processes,” according to the author. Besides, both think tanks admit their commitment to militaristic “global crisis management.” According to the Adenauer Foundation, NATO must be able to address and “neutralize threats wherever they arise.” The think tank explicitly considers the “flow of migrants” in this category.

The Collapse of Western Democracy

If you don’t believe today’s infiltrated and corrupted America would wage economic warfare on its “ally”, Great Britain, think again. It already happened. You just missed the boat:

S&P cuts UK credit rating on Brexit fears

 

In the US Donald Trump has won the Republican presidential nomination. However, Republican convention delegates are plotting to deny Trump the nomination that the people have voted him. The Republican political establishment is showing an unwillingness to accept democratic outcomes.

The people chose, but their choice is unacceptable to the establishment which intends to substitute its choice for the people’s choice.

German 10-year sovereign bond yields turn negative for first time

 Video commentary available at the source.

 

The yield on the 10-year benchmark German bund fell into negative territory for the first time ever on Tuesday morning, amid global growth concerns and jitters over the U.K.’s upcoming referendum on its European Union membership.

At around 8.30 a.m. London time, the yield hit zero and briefly fell into negative territory as investors continued to flock to safe-haven assets. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions and a negative yield implies that investors are effectively paying the German government for the privilege of parking their cash.

Is Germany About to Side With Russia Against America?

Europe could be in the early stages of a geopolitical earthquake.

Key German leaders want to end sanctions against Russia. Such a decision might seem like a minor piece of economic news, but it could be the beginning of a major break between Europe and America and the separation of Germany from the Western security alliance.

European sanctions on Russia are up for renewal in July. The European Union and the United States imposed the sanctions after Russia invaded Crimea in March 2014. The plan was to keep the sanctions in place until the Minsk Protocol, a protocol aimed at ending the fighting in Ukraine, was fully implemented.

But with little to no progress on the Minsk agreement, some leaders in Germany want to end the sanctions. On May 31, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier suggested ending the sanctions “step-by-step,” rather than waiting for Minsk to be completed.

Germany’s Leading Role

BERLIN/CIUDAD DE MÉXICO (Own report) – Following her talks yesterday with Mexico’s President Enrique Peña Nieto in Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced that Germany will strengthen its partnership with Mexico. It will train members of the police and armed forces and enhance economic cooperation with that country. Mexico, traditionally, has been one of the German companies’ two most important trading partners in Latin America. Particularly German automobile companies use Mexico as a low-wage production site for the lucrative US market. Cooperation now will also be strengthened with the military and in the field of domestic repression. This must be seen in the context of the gradual polarization on both shores of the Pacific, as Western powers and their allies take up positions in opposition to the People’s Republic of China, while several governments, which had refused to bow to western hegemony, have been recently either voted out of office or are threatened with being ousted. Berlin is offensively supporting those forces, cooperating with the West – such as Mexico, whose President Peña Nieto, in turn, explicitly recognizes Germany’s “leading role.”

Germany Can Deploy Armed Forces Abroad Without Parliament’s Approval

The German federal government is allowed to order the deployment of armed forces abroad in case of emergency without waiting for the Bundestag’s pre-approval. The corresponding decision was made by the Federal Constitutional Court on Wednesday, DWN reported.

German-Russian Flagship Projects

KASSEL/MOSCOW (Own report) – The German natural gas company, Wintershall Holding GmbH, is intensifying cooperation with Russia’s Gazprom and will receive direct access to large Siberian gas fields. Last Friday, the two companies announced they would finalize an asset swap this year, which would allow Wintershall to participate in the exploitation of two blocks in the Achimov formation of the Urengoy natural gas field. The deal had been signed back in 2013, but was canceled by Moscow in late 2014, because of the escalation of the conflict with the West. This resumption enables BASF’s subsidiary, Wintershall, to continue its rise in the global gas sector. The Austrian company, OMV, since July 1, under the management of former Wintershall CEO, Rainer Seele, is also participating. Gazprom, Wintershall, OMV and other gas companies have agreed to expand the Russia-to-Germany “Nord Stream” pipeline with two more pipelines. German business circles explicitly describe both as “flagship projects” and push for a rapid re-intensification of cooperation at the political level.