A Horse Named Stranger Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 von der Leyen new president of the EU Commission... Has she ever held an office she had not been something between bad and horrible. Family Ministry: Zensursula is the first thing that comes to mind. Ministry of Defense: that bottomless pit she dropped money in "drones for the Bundeswehr", than the other one "Gorch Fock" and associated to it the still ongoing "consultant affair", the (unsurprising) "Neo-Nazis in the Bundeswehr scandal". And somehow the European Head of States figured she is qualified for one of the highgest posts in European politics. If anybody has another planet suitable for relocation purposes... Also to go back to the last topic and mindwalker. Nobody bothered to talk about right wing terrorism, because we all know there's no such thing. Right wing terrorists are always lone wolves. only left wing terrorism is terrorism. It is known. No questions asked. Nothing to see there, now move along. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mindwalker Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 THANKS! I was just going to post we badly need a new German politcs thread... Good grief. And the newspaper formerly (a very, very, VERY long time ago) called leftist praises Uschi (and Merkel's political genius): https://taz.de/Portraet-Ursula-von-der-Leyen/!5603914/ https://taz.de/Kommentar-von-der-Leyen-und-Bruessel/!5609282/ A different take: https://www.nachdenkseiten.de/?p=52955 The good news is, of course: less fewer dead German soldiers because of bad material. Gotta see a silver lining... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Hedge Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 Did Lagarde and von der Leyen both get their jobs purely to avoid a German (Jens Weidman) heading the European Central Bank? For the first time a politician, not a central banker, will be running monetary policy in the eurozone. I was tempted to say this is consensus politics at its worst, but on reflection, not sure about Weidman in charge either. That would have been 'rotation' politics gone horribly wrong. I don't know much about von der Leyen, and as political as Lagarde is (the IMF gig wasn't enough for you? Really?), if the only other option was Weidman, then Europe has dodged a bullet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mindwalker Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 You know it's a really great day for Europe, for democracy and so on, when the AfD comment regarding VdL is ... well, correct. And not just AfD, mind you, but one of their most atrocious representatives. I'm not going to honor the stork by linking her, though, so take my word for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Horse Named Stranger Posted July 3, 2019 Author Share Posted July 3, 2019 2 hours ago, Ser Hedge said: Did Lagarde and von der Leyen both get their jobs purely to avoid a German (Jens Weidman) heading the European Central Bank? 2 hours ago, Ser Hedge said: if the only other option was Weidman, then Europe has dodged a bullet. That's like saying. Chris Grayling would make a good PM to avoid a generic banker taking over as the Governor for the bank of England. Think of Weidmann what you will, but at least he'd have been qualified. I mean, von der Leyen has made a mess of every office she has held thus far - I really can't think of any, where she was succesful. The only thing exceeding her unsuitability for political office are her delusions of grandeur and ambitions. She has been linked with a couple of posts, from the German President (at least that's only a representative post, from which she could've done very little damage) to Merkel successor. Just that most people don't particularly like her, and her achievements. So her failing upwards again is really absurd. In a normal reality, she would've been dismissed from her post as Defense Minister after the latest (still ongoing) string of scandals. Either one, Gorch Fock or the Consultants should really be enough to get fired. But she just kept on blabbing about taking responsibility (which in this universe is not connected to taking any blame), while staying in the job. Not just that, she now even gets promoted to one of the highest political offices on the continent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Hedge Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 49 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said: That's like saying. Chris Grayling would make a good PM to avoid a generic banker taking over as the Governor for the bank of England. Think of Weidmann what you will, but at least he'd have been qualified. I mean, von der Leyen has made a mess of every office she has held thus far - I really can't think of any, where she was succesful. The only thing exceeding her unsuitability for political office are her delusions of grandeur and ambitions. She has been linked with a couple of posts, from the German President (at least that's only a representative post, from which she could've done very little damage) to Merkel successor. Just that most people don't particularly like her, and her achievements. So her failing upwards again is really absurd. In a normal reality, she would've been dismissed from her post as Defense Minister after the latest (still ongoing) string of scandals. Either one, Gorch Fock or the Consultants should really be enough to get fired. But she just kept on blabbing about taking responsibility (which in this universe is not connected to taking any blame), while staying in the job. Not just that, she now even gets promoted to one of the highest political offices on the continent. Oh dear, Chris Grayling-level of disaster is pretty bad. Well, with Jens you would have the rest of the Governing Council reining him in admittedly, but if he had his way, we would be back to late 2011 straight away. He was opposed to every single crisis fighting measure introduced since then in the name of orthodoxy. Once all of southern Europe had finished crashing out of the euro (maybe even France) and you only had countries with low debt and no deficits left, and the worst of the second global great depression had eventually passed, then he would just have been your generic banker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mindwalker Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Hedge Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 Looks like der Leyen and Lagarde aren't the only two being kicked upstairs then! Jeez, all this because Merkel became a Lame Duck? What when she's gone for good? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alarich II Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 Best commentary so far (not translatable): Bei der Bundeswehr halt sie alle für ein Flugzeug - egal was sie macht, sie fliegt einfach nicht. A terrible, terrible decision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Hedge Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 Maybe Parliament don't approve her? (While Brexit Party MEPs run around shooting water pistols at each other for their own entertainment) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Horse Named Stranger Posted July 3, 2019 Author Share Posted July 3, 2019 That is most certainly a possibility. But I wouldn't hold my breath. But as Sonneborn's tweet said, the entire package is such a shitshow. I just hope the EUropean parliament does that and says: "fuck you, you are not forcing your shitty choices down our throats. we vote for who we like, come back with a palatable suggestion." Last couple of days I had some hope with Timmermans being Macron's compromise choice. I mean, I am glad, that they blocked Weber. But von der Leyen, she is not any better. And arguably even worse than Weber. I mean, my expectations are not exceptionnaly high. Basically somebody who has a.) experience, and b.) shown competence at their previous goverment appointments. and c.) not a tarnished legal history. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loge Posted July 16, 2019 Share Posted July 16, 2019 There goes any hope that the European parliament might reject her: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-49010801 At least we are rid of her as defence secretary in Germany. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mindwalker Posted July 16, 2019 Share Posted July 16, 2019 Yeah, Zensursula got the job. And nobody will ask anymore questions about scandals and such... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karneol Posted July 16, 2019 Share Posted July 16, 2019 So apparently either Jens Spahn or AKK will succeed von der Leyen. I really don't know who I would like to see more as the new secretary of defense. And that's not because I love them so much ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Horse Named Stranger Posted July 16, 2019 Author Share Posted July 16, 2019 Spahn has done a pretty reasonable job at the health ministry. There's even policies he pushed for that I actually like. So if he switched over, there's a fair chance his successor there would've been worse, especially if that was gonna AKK (or Merz) in the end. Anyway, apparently AKK is going for the post as defense miniter. I am still not over the fact, that this deadbeat minister von der Leyen has become President of the EU Commission. I mean, every time I hear her in an interview, I feel like a part of my brain wants to lobotomize itself. It's so painful to listen to her. Then we have a track record as minister, and her total lack of self-awareness or the ability to criticiise her own performance. For the record, I don't give a fuck that a German is now holding that post. I care about qualifications/ability, and von der Leyen is obviously lacking in those categories. Well, the best I can say about AKK as new minister of defense. At least nobody put forward the inevitable Friedrich Merz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mindwalker Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 Yeah, VdL bugs me, too. Of course I should have known that socialists and social democrats are turncloaks and pushovers. How strange that in moments as these, you never hear anything from Kevin Kühnert. I'm surprised that everyone acts surprised at AKK becoming minister of defense. Merkel wants her to be the next Chancellor, she wasn't doing great in polls, and so a cabinet post will probably, sadly, fix that. The good news: We're not likely to attack anyone anytime soon. ETA: Nice short speech by Martin Sonneborn. Basically what he tweeted before, but with a nice final sentence. And VdL pretending to find it funny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loge Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 1 hour ago, Mindwalker said: Yeah, VdL bugs me, too. Of course I should have known that socialists and social democrats are turncloaks and pushovers. How strange that in moments as these, you never hear anything from Kevin Kühnert. I'm surprised that everyone acts surprised at AKK becoming minister of defense. Merkel wants her to be the next Chancellor, she wasn't doing great in polls, and so a cabinet post will probably, sadly, fix that. The good news: We're not likely to attack anyone anytime soon. The defence ministry is a graveyard of careers. The next scandal is always around the corner. VdL has endured longer than she should have but the office has put an end to the prospect of her ever being chancellor at least. I don't see how AKK could gain popularity holding that post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Horse Named Stranger Posted July 17, 2019 Author Share Posted July 17, 2019 4 hours ago, Loge said: VdL has endured longer than she should have but the office has put an end to the prospect of her ever being chancellor at least. Give her five years at the head of the EU comission, and let AKK not perform too well at the next election, and we have her name back as chancellor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loge Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 2 hours ago, A Horse Named Stranger said: Give her five years at the head of the EU comission, and let AKK not perform too well at the next election, and we have her name back as chancellor. I very much doubt that. At the end of her term in Brussels she'll be 66. And if AKK fails the CDU will need a new leader way before 2024. VdL is out of German politics for good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Horse Named Stranger Posted July 17, 2019 Author Share Posted July 17, 2019 One would hope so. But then again, I also assumed I would never ever be bothered by Friedrich fucking Merz again (which would've been Merkel's true accomplishment). And age has never stopped one from seeking a higher office - I would buy into it, if she were past the magical mark of 70. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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