Mutti Merkel in peril

[Jetex Jim]

Chukup also had a bad habit of not answering questions asked of him, he would go off at a tangent and pontificate on anything other than the question asked. I note you have not answered my (implied) question to you yesterday at 1734 about why my posting was so 'offensive'. Maybe you could do so and enlighten those of us who see Merkel's actions as treason.

I"d have thought that was obvious. Comparing an humanitarian gesture to the Holocaust.

Really, you guys need to get out more.

[Jetex Jim]

I think the USA is an excellent idea, but their states have far more autonomy than the Member States of the EU, which is why it works on the other side of the Atlantic and doesn't work on this side. And, by the way, I was not talking about visits, but working and living in European countries, speaking the language, eating the food, and (if lucky) rodgering the womenfolk.

You don't have to take my word for it, if Merkles policies are perceived by German citizens (and I am one) as being so bad why didn't the AfD do better? Their only policy is stopping immigration.As the results show the Greens did much better.

The fact is, of course, Germany has had Turkish Muslims in the country for decades and Germans know that the hysteria promoted by certain elements of the press is just that.
(On the subject of my love life I will remain silent.)

[Capetonian]

Thank you for giving a straight answer - Chukup would never have done that.

You call it a humanitarian gesture?

You clearly have a complete and utter disregard for the folk of Europe whose destinies and lives will be forever blighted by this invasion of (mostly) young men who are part of an orchestrated plot to destabilise western civilisation. As several of the Muslim preachers of hate have said : "We will conquer the west through the bellies of our women." I believe it was one of Muammar Qadaffi's war cries, echoed by creatures such as Anjim Choudhouri (sp?).

Some of those people are refugees and need help, and that needs to be dealt with and delivered in their own countries, not by importing their hatred and stone-age barbarism into the west.

Maybe you don't see it. Sand, head, ostrich ......?

[Jetex Jim]

Thank you for giving a straight answer - Chukup would never have done that.

You call it a humanitarian gesture?

You clearly have a complete and utter disregard for the folk of Europe whose destinies and lives will be forever blighted by this invasion of (mostly) young men who are part of an orchestrated plot to destabilise western civilisation. As several of the Muslim preachers of hate have said : "We will conquer the west through the bellies of our women." I believe it was one of Muammar Qadaffi's war cries, echoed by creatures such as Anjim Choudhouri (sp?).

Some of those people are refugees and need help, and that needs to be dealt with and delivered in their own countries, not by importing their hatred and stone-age barbarism into the west.

Maybe you don't see it. Sand, head, ostrich ......?

See my answer to OFSO.

I'll just add that preachers are much like politicians and much of what they say is empty rhetoric.

[OFSO]

Never saw any discrimination against Turks during my 25 years in Germany, at least in my city. They were accepted by the population. Mind you there were some street battles between Turks of different religious beliefs. The feeling today about recent immigrants is quite different, Chuks.

[Capetonian]

I was going to say politicians don't go round killing and maiming innocent people but you would, quite justifiably, pick holes in that argument.
Nevertheless, radical Islam is a far greater scourge than self-serving evil lying politicians and the preachers of hate have done a lot more than spout empty rhetoric.

[llondel]

I think the USA is an excellent idea, but their states have far more autonomy than the Member States of the EU, which is why it works on the other side of the Atlantic and doesn't work on this side. And, by the way, I was not talking about visits, but working and living in European countries, speaking the language, eating the food, and (if lucky) rodgering the womenfolk.

What's standing in the way of a USE is the fact that while the US is pretty diverse (compare California to Kansas), it became one political unit really early on in its history, and as each territory gained statehood, the people could see a clear example of how it should be done. There was also a clear line drawn between state and federal rights. The problem with Europe is that it's sitting on several thousand years of arguments and deep-rooted cultural differences that can't be reconciled in the space of a few years, which is what the EU project is trying to achieve.

[Capetonian]

It has proved almost impossible to achieve unity within many countries (GB, BE, IT, ES, FR, to name just a few) which harbour seperate nations, so how anyone thought it would work across Europe is beyond most rational thinkers. It was a political experiment, cynical and unrealistic. It contains the seeds of its own destruction, and must fail, or end in misery.

[Jetex Jim]

As some of you seem to be questioning my credentials as a source on the ground in Germany I'll give you a little background.
For four years I lived in the same village as Horst Seehofer. My dentist was literally Seehofer s next door neighbor.
When the first tranche of asylum seekers arrived my girlfriend and I went to an impromptu greeting ceremony at one of the camps.
Subsequently I saw the kids settling in. On one occasion some of them had got stumps and other kit and were playing cricket. Surely not a first for Germany but the first cricket Id seen on German soil.
Later I often stopped and gave lifts to various kids. One young man often had several Ikea bags full of empty plastic bottles. He took them to a supermarket to get a few cents for the recovered plastic.
He told me many of the others had been sent home. They'd failed the vetting and had been deemed economic migrants.
I saw him again a few months later, he had a job in the supermarket stacking shelves.

You'll forgive me perhaps for not seeing all of these people as the devil incarnate. But that's what happens when you get info from the real world. Like I say, some of you guys need to get off your computers and get out more.

[Capetonian]

I for one am certainly not questioning your credentials, it would be unreasonable for me to do so. Somebody on this forum annoyed me by foolishly questioning my right to comment on something to do with the UK railway system, as 'Capetonian' cannot possibly know anything about the UK and has probably never left ZA. What an idiot.

What I am questioning is your sense of judgment, perception, and reality. I have many friends who live, or have lived, in Germany and the majority of them say that large parts of it, and I accept that this may not apply everywhere, have changed for the worse and are no longer the safe and carefree places they once were. This I observed myself a couple of years ago at Munich Hbf, since when it can only have got worse. I had an hour or so to wait between trains and would normally have gone for a walk around, found a 'stuebl' and had a beer and a meal. Looking around I felt distinctly uneasy at the large number of dubious looking dark-skinned characters, aimlessly hanging around and eying up passers by, and this was even worse outside the station.

This could have been any European mainline railway station, I have seen the same at stations in BRU, PAR, MIL, ROM, and VIE in recent years. I blame much of this on Merkels' insanity. If you choose to call me racist or paranoid for saying so, then that's fine with me. And I certainly don't need to 'get out more'. I spend most of my time 'out'.

There are none so blind as those who don't want to see.

[Capetonian]

I rather like the sound of Horst Seehofer :

Thousands of cultural figures in Germany have signed a petition demanding the resignation of the conservative interior minister Horst Seehofer over his hardline stance on immigration.

Seehofer is head of the Christian Social Union (CSU), a regional Bavarian party and a traditional ally of Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU). His party is a crucial part of Merkel’s fragile governing coalition.

The politician has made a number of controversial comments in recent weeks, aimed mostly at immigrants. In one instance, he responded to a violent far-right march in the East-German town of Chemnitz in September by labeling immigration as “the mother of all political problems,” and adding that he too would have participated in the protest had he not been in office.

The authors of the petition—writer Jan Böttcher, director Matthias Luthardt, artist Rebecca Rause, writer Moritz Rinke, and writer and director Mathias Schönsee—call Seehofer unfit for office and condemn his stance as “outrageous” and “provocative, backward, and undignified towards humans.” The signatories also accuse the interior minister of sabotaging “the working capacity of the federal government and damaging the international perception of the country.”

[OFSO]

There is always another side this story. My German colleague on the Pensioners Governing Board, ex NATO staff member, recounted how his small town near Aachen was not pleased when a family of Albanian refugees was dumped on them: however he set to, teaching them German. The father got a job and was good at it. The son entered school and did well, also becoming a star player in the town football team. The wife kept an excellent household and was liked by her German neighbours. Everyone was proud of their refugee family - " just what Germany needs !" Said my colleague. Then disaster struck. The Albanians were told that as there was no war in Albania and their house was needed for Syrian refugees they were to be deported back home. The town was in uproar. The mayor, employer, headmaster, town priest, all wrote to Bonn saying that the Albanians should be granted exceptional status and allowed to remain. This was rejected and with much sorrow on both sides they were deported. And the Syrians arrived. My friend said "what's the point of getting involved helping people when Merkel's government could change its mind tomorrow and send them back too." And that was that.

[Jetex Jim]

Hörst Seehofer is nothing if not an opportunist and a populist and although the majority of CSU votes seem to have been lost to the Greens it seems possible that by borrowing the AfD clothes he may win a few back. He has form in this area.

He's my Zahnarzt next door neighbor and after the Scottish Independence referendum he suggested that might be the next move for Bayern. Naturally Bayern would remain part of the EU but no longer directly under Berlin. Cute hey?

[Jetex Jim]

Yes, Captonia you've shared the München Hbf Story with us before. I've been there a few times this year. Picking up a GF coming in from Stuttgart. Neither she not I observed any signs of radical islam but perhaps we only had eyes for each other.

As I said my opinion on the subject counts for little, just one vote in fact. And it was the Greens not the AfD who have profited the most from Merkles troubles and the SPD have also lost ground. Together suggesting that a demographically related power shift is underway rather than something fuelled by febrile anti immigration sentiment. That kind of stuff is way more apparent here and at TOP.

[Capetonian]

JJ :

I didn't say anything about 'radical islam', and if you wish to quote or reference what I have written, please do so accurately, not on the basis of how you would like to twist my words to suit your agenda.

For the record, I think Islam should have a capital I, although I can see that grammatical accuracy is not your strong point.

[Jetex Jim]

Well Captonia perhaps a penant might say that I was reporting what I didn't see rather than commenting on what you say you saw.

As regards grammer, oh dear. I will say I'm in the middle of a marathon road trip, Munich to Pozna and back. A friend of mine asked me to drive her to her friends place in Pozna and this dialogue is being conducted in pee breaks. And, moreover is distracting from the pressing question, why are Polish women so hot while Polish men all look like contenders in a pie eating contest?

Have a nice day.

[Jetex Jim]

Thinking more about Islam I'm minded to think how selective the rhetoric is.

No one seems too worried by the fact that both the UK and the USA supply very high-tech arms to the Saudies.
(I think I can guess why) Imagine that, a wealthy Islamic state armed to the teeth.

Going back to the early 1970s when I was at Cosford and Newton a large contingent of Pakistani military were located there. As the time I doubt if any of my classmates were aware that they were Muslims, still less gave a *****. Back then the only guys who spoke about religion were the ones from Glasgow and Liverpool.

Going back to the 50s and 60s we had an influx of cheap labour, also from Pakistan, to work in the textile factories in the north of England. Although subsequently Enoch Powell jumped on the race bandwagon I don't recall any particular emphasis on Islam - it was all about skin colour.
.
And I think a few descended from that tranche of immigrants may now vote Conservative and even for Brexit. It's a funny old world.

[Seenenough]

I suspect we should welcome Chuksie back out of hiding.

[Capetonian]

I can't help thinking the same thing. Chukup of course never made spelling and grammatical mistakes, he was an absolute pedant, but maybe JJ is him in disguise, and trying a little too hard to introduce a few errors.

[Seenenough]

I can't help thinking the same thing. Chukup of course never made spelling and grammatical mistakes, he was an absolute pedant, but maybe JJ is him in disguise, and trying a little too hard to introduce a few errors.

Cape ,JJ's style of wording is very similar to the ramblings that we have seen from Professor Chuksie before.

The Professor did make some slip ups from time to time.He once spelled his beloved Angela's name as Agnela.