https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVjYVka6u10

Why Washington Hates Putin: Scott Horton Explains

 

BULLSHIT FROM BEN HODGES: "PUTIN DESPERATION"

As Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appeals to allies for updated air-defence systems to meet the new threat from Russia, involving an experimental hypersonic missile, FRANCE 24's Gavin Lee welcomes Retired US Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, former Commanding General of US Army Europe. Lt. Gen. Hodges asserts that, despite numerous threats, Russia will never start a nuclear war "because there are zero positive upsides," including the US threat of "catastrophic consequences."

https://www.france24.com/en/video/20241123-lt-gen-hodges-ret-putin-s-war-on-ukraine-could-ve-ended-last-year-had-west-provided-the-tools

 

PUTIN IS NOT DESPERATE, BUT HE COULD BE DISMAYED AT THE INCOMMENSURABLE STUPIDITY OF THE WEST.... see: colleagues....

 

MEANWHILE:

German business confidence falls more than expected

Europe's leading economy is continuing to struggle, according to new business index figures. And with Donald Trump set to return to the White House, experts are not expecting things to get better any time soon.

Confidence in the German business world fell further than expected in November, compounding the economic outlook in a country poised to be the most sluggish performer in the Group of Seven (G7) this year.

According to Munich's Ifo Institute for Economic Research, Germany's rating on its business climate index slumped from 86.5 in October to 85.7 in November, 0.3 points more than analysts had predicted.

What is the Ifo business climate index?

The Ifo index is calculated based on a survey of around 9,000 companies in Europe's largest economy.

Its business confidence rating dropped from 85.7 to 84.3 in the same period, leading Ifo president Clemens Fuest to conclude: "The German economy is lacking strength."

Business expectations, however, only decreased marginally from 87.3 to 87.2, which Robin Winkler, chief economist for Germany at Deutsche Bank Research, finds remarkably stable given the collapse of Germany's coalition government earlier this month and the impending return of US President-elect Donald Trump.

Germany: Trump return could be 'negative' for trade

"Either German companies are not yet overly concerned about US trade policy or these concerns are being offset by the prospect of new elections in Germany," Winkler said.

The decline affected all sectors of the economy with the exception, intriguingly, of trade. According to Ifo, a more on-the-pulse assessment of the current situation may lead retailers and wholesalers to be less pessimistic.

However, as Carsten Brzeski, global head of macro at ING, points out, the impact on Germany of Trump's return to the White House, tax cuts and deregulation in the United States and a potential trade war with the European Union is likely to be "a negative one."

Philipp Scheuermeyer, economist at public lender KfW, concurred, saying it was "no wonder" that the Ifo index had fallen. "Donald Trump's election victory is likely to create new headwinds for the already hard-hit German export industry," he said.

Franziska Palmas, senior Europe economist at Capital Economics, concluded: "The [Ifo] readings confirm that the German economy remains in the doldrums."

mf/msh (Reuters, AFP)

https://www.dw.com/en/german-business-confidence-falls-more-than-expected/a-70879098

 

MEANWHILE:

Ministers from the G7 group of leading democracies [FASCIST/AUTOCRATIC/NAZI COUNTRIES] are meeting for talks on the Middle East and Russia's war in Ukraine. It is the last such event during the administration of US President Joe Biden.

 

https://www.dw.com/en/g7-foreign-ministers-meet-to-talk-middle-east-ukraine/live-70876249

 

READ FROM TOP.

 

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

 

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

 

Both left office years ago, but they have left their mark on global politics. Angela Merkel was once the most powerful woman in the world, while Barack Obama was the world's most powerful person.

Is there such a thing as friendship among sitting leaders whose primary responsibility is to serve the interests of their respective countries? Apparently so. Obama's presidency from 2009 to 2017 was framed, so to speak, by Merkel's 16 years as chancellor from 2005 to 2021, and a strong bond developed between the two. So much so that, toward the end of his term in office, Obama described Merkel as his closest ally.

 It began with the cold shoulder — from both sides

It wasn't always that way. Many Germans rejoiced when Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, but Angela Merkel snubbed him in the summer of that year, while Obama was still only a candidate, by refusing to allow him to use the Brandenburg Gate as a backdrop for his speech during a visit to Berlin.

Obama had to relocate to the square in front of the Victory Column, where around 200,000 people greeted him in a scene reminiscent of John F. Kennedy's iconic visit to West Berlin in 1963.

With the Iraq war in 2003, George W. Bush had driven a wedge between the US and some European allies. Germany, then led by Chancellor Gerhard Schröder of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), was opposed to the war. Merkel, however, had sided with Bush as leader of the opposition.

Obama avoided Berlin in 2009, his first year in office, despite making two visits to Germany. This was interpreted as an affront, and relations between Merkel and Obama remained cool. There were concrete political reasons for this, most notably Germany's decision to abstain from the 2011 UN decision to take military action in the Libyan civil war.

But that was not the only reason. Even back then, Washington was urging its German ally to invest more in its defense and claiming that Germany's trade surplus was too high — rhetoric that escalated significantly under Donald Trump.

Spying on friends

Yet despite — or perhaps because of — these disputes, Obama awarded Chancellor Merkel the Medal of Freedom in 2011, the highest honor that the US can bestow on a foreigner. Was it a gesture of reconciliation, an appeal for more responsibility? Commentators drew both conclusions at the time.

In 2013, Obama finally got his Berlin stage at the Brandenburg Gate. He and Merkel put their hands on each other's shoulders in a show of unity. However, tensions escalated again when the extent of the National Security Agency's spying on Germany was revealed.

In October of that year, it came to light that the NSA had even tapped the chancellor's cell phone. Merkel was furious and made what would become one of her most famous statements: "Spying on friends, that's not acceptable." But there were no major political consequences.

Obama praises Merkel's refugee policy

The longer Merkel and Obama were in office, the more they seemed to grow closer politically and personally. Peter Beyer, a member of Merkel's conservative CDU party, once told DW that Obama especially admired Merkel's "pragmatism, reliability, and professionalism."

As Germany's political and economic clout grew, he could no longer ignore the chancellor.

The G7 summit at Schloss Elmau in Bavaria in the summer of 2015 was the site of perhaps the most famous photo of the two: Obama sitting with outstretched arms on a bench, while Merkel appears to be explaining something to him, with the Alpine panorama behind her.

Politically, they had much in common. But how well did they complement each other? "They are very different types," said Beyer. "Obama is a brilliant orator, he reaches out to people. Merkel gets to the point in just a few words, she's not a great speaker, she doesn't sweep people away with enthusiasm." But both appreciated each other because they complemented each other.

A few weeks after the G7 summit, Merkel decided not to close the German border to refugees. The step, which polarized Germany perhaps more than any other decision she made, was praised by Obama: Merkel had "eloquently reminded us that we cannot turn our backs on our fellow human beings who are here now, and need our help now."

GUSNOTE: THIS IS HIGHLY HYPOCRITICAL AS OBAMA BOMBED THE SHIT OUT OF COUNTRIES FROM LIBYA TO SYRIA CREATING WAVES OF REFUGEES...

https://www.dw.com/en/barack-obama-to-present-angela-merkels-book-freedom-in-the-us/a-70918669

 

READ FROM TOP.

 

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

 

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

 

PLEASE DO NOT BLAME RUSSIA IF WW3 STARTS. BLAME YOURSELF.

 

Buying natural gas from Russia was a good deal, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said, rejecting suggestions that it may have been a strategic mistake.

Merkel, who served as chancellor from 2005 to 2021, was in Paris this week to promote her memoir. She gave an exclusive interview to state TV channel France 2, in which she was asked about Germany’s energy relationship with Russia.

“The gas trade with Russia has a deep-rooted tradition. It began during the Cold War and continued throughout my time in office. I do not think it was a mistake, because we obtained Russian gas at a favorable price,” Merkel said in the interview, which aired on Monday evening.

“It was a win-win situation,” the former chancellor added.

Following the escalation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Germany had to source gas elsewhere because “prices exploded,” Merkel said, noting that this would have happened much earlier had Berlin stopped doing business with Moscow during her term.

“I believe it is reasonable to procure the most affordable gas,” she told France 2.

 

Earlier on her press tour, Merkel also defended the decision to build Nord Stream 2, noting that she had “no support from the business community to stop the gas trade with Russia” at the time. The project was launched in 2015 and the first pipes were laid in 2018.

While the government of Merkel’s successor, Olaf Scholz, has accused Moscow of “shutting off” gas to Germany, his coalition partner Robert Habeck had moved to end the energy trade long before the Ukraine conflict and EU sanctions on Russia provided the pretext. The Green Party leader presented giving up gas for “renewables” as an environmentally responsible policy choice.

Berlin thus refused to certify the newly finished Nord Stream 2 pipeline in January 2022. Nord Stream 1 was destroyed by a series of underwater explosions in September 2022. Investigations by Germany, Sweden, and Denmark have not pointed to a culprit yet, though German media reports have blamed a “rogue” group of Ukrainians.

One of the lines of Nord Stream 2 survived the bombing unharmed and could still deliver gas to Germany should Berlin change its policy and certify the pipeline.

The loss of Russian gas and reliance on the far more expensive US alternative has since pushed energy prices in Germany beyond what a lot of industrial enterprises could afford, triggering a wave of shutdowns and bankruptcies.

In a December 2022 interview, Merkel revealed that Germany and France considered the Minsk Agreements – a framework to peacefully resolve the dispute between Kiev and the two Donbass republics – as a play for time until the West could arm Ukraine for a confrontation with Russia. Former French President Francois Hollande has confirmed her claim.

https://www.rt.com/news/609154-merkel-russian-gas-france/

 

READ FROM TOP.

 

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

 

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

 

PLEASE DO NOT BLAME RUSSIA IF WW3 STARTS. BLAME YOURSELF.