It’s been a little while since a German chancellor spoke this way:
Peace should not be taken for granted if the euro fails, German chancellor Merkel told MPs Wednesday (26 October) ahead of the eurozone summit where an increase of the bail-out fund firepower may lead to Germany’s own state assets being taken as collateral.
In a dark blue jacket reflecting the mood in and about the eurozone, Merkel abandoned her usual cautious rhetoric warned outright of a war.
“Nobody should take for granted another 50 years of peace and prosperity in Europe. They are not for granted. That’s why I say: If the euro fails, Europe fails,” Merkel said, followed by a long applause from all political groups.
Having cannibalized their national military forces to subsidize growingly unaffordable social programs, they’d have to go at with plowshares and pitchforks, prolly.
Which, “Peace in our time,” and so on.
Europe just chose a unique way of getting there.
Gee I wonder who gets Alsace and Lorraine this time..
I held that human nature does not change,we never will.
Any time hear the words: “Progressive,Smart,and Evolved”
I want to throw up..
All of France would have been better off to have been annexed by Germany. If Wilhelm II had maintained Bismarck’s policies they would have been aligned with Great Britain and Russia, rather than Austria-Hungary (we have allied ourselves with a corpse!) and there probably would not have been a war in 1914.
Europe has backed itself into “peace in our time” through neglect of their military. The Germans are still good at war, but they have few tools with which to do it these days. The French are probably better equipped now.
That’s Elsass and Lothringen, you Francophile!
If the bankers cannot keep making money with peace, they will make money with war. Merkel knows who pays her bills.
Europe didn’t turn their swords into plowshares, they turned them into ATMs. Unfortunately for them (and, by the inevitable economic extension, us) they’ve all been drained feeding the “safety net.” Guess that just leaves pitchforks for the ATM-dependent crowd….for gun-controlled Evropa, that is…WE, OTOH, have other options–at least a certain segment of we “clingers” do..
You just named my new band: The Bitter Clingers!
You know, every time a European power has gone bankrupt and unstable, they got aggressive. Tribute from conquered nations balances the budget nicely.
The problem is, the last time it happened, we got World War II…and the time before triggered the Napoleonic Wars.
Who exactly is going to fill the jackboots this time? Trust me, I work with Euros on a daily basis… all the testosterone filled males were killed off in the last century. There is no way that any leader in Europe is going to convince its populace to go to war against a neighbor.
No, Europe will not devolve into war…. that requires too much discipline.
It may devolve into anarchy, but that’s a different set of issues. (I say we let them fight it out between themselves this time though…)
Anarchy has historically led to war. There are enough young men with testosterone left to fight. They just sublimate in in other pursuits these days.
The euro cannot succeed. Greece will default since the bail-out agreement is a 50% bath on privately held bonds, but not the bonds held the ECB. The issue won’t be Greece, but Italy, Spain, Portugal and ireland. They all see the gentle handedness given to Greece and guess what they want? The same discount on their debt. So the ECB needs another trillion or so euros. And I still fail to believe that when all is said and done, that the productive German worker in Augsberg or Ulm will want his hard work going to support some 50 year old retired Greek hairdresser (which is listed as a strenuous occupation meaning retirement eligible at 50)sitting in a cafe in Thessaloniki.
Remind me, why do we still have bases in Germany??
Now, Sk, you know why we have those bases.
We’re there for the beer. Can’t let Fritz have it all.
QM – We have plenty of beer…what we need are most are German Beer-Maidens…
Like these – http://www.fulhamdfc.com/?fid=128&pid=707
As the Germans would say, ” Ausgezeichnet ! ” (German for EXCELLENT !)
Das stimmt!
I’ve always liked a tight dirndl.
There is nothing sexier than a cute girl speaking German to you. Ach!
I think it’s that uvular “R” sound. Sigh.
I think it’s that uvular “R”.
It amazes that when the German Chancellor rhetorically mentioned the highly charged word “war” she not only gets what she wants almost immediately, but also sends many here all atwitter on interesting if not tangential ramblings.
With the rhetorical word of “war” she immediately won her parliamentary support. Then only hours later Eurozone leaders made their desperate 1 trillion Eurodollar bid to save the currency and bail out Greece. The German DAX today is on a 12-week high as a result, with our DOW up over 350 points in part due to the Merkel’s words, along with our new growing economy report.
BT
It is illogical for excessive German military forces still to exist, so long after the fall of the Soviet Union Red Threat. A reduction in German forces is not “cannibalization.” It is merely logical. Whom does Germany now have to fear, to justify unnecessary military capabilities designed for the Fulda Gap and WWIII with the USSR?
One also wonders with Germany’s economy more robust than ours, why 50,000 of our troops are still in a score of army bases supporting German local economies? Maybe we should bring those troops home and spend their money here, not there. Conversely, why not have Germany build and supply 20 German army bases scattered around here in the US, and import say, 50,000 of their troops to support our lagging local economies? Eh?
One of the themes on how to solve the GFC is that global trade imbalences must be corrected, as it is not sustainable for the consumer nations like America or France or the UK to continue to borrow excessively and for the producer nations it is equally unsustainable for Germany or Japan or China to continuely loan. Yet how can that occur? There are only so many burgers, fancy wines or [I'd like to write an example of something the British are known to produce well, but can't think of any]. There needs to be a different means beyond consumer goods.
Maybe the answer is an old fashioned military build up. Germany and Japan have weak military forces and China has outdated technology. America is the dominant leader, France and the UK are proficient in the technology.
Angus, the obvious for things that the Brits do well is Lucas Electric.
Oh, and pickled onions.
angus:
The UK produces a fine supply of ***holes, Hog Day being a notable exception.
Paul
If we imported a bunch of Bundeswehr rowdies not many would go home. You can get away with a lot more here than you can in the old country. They’d love it here.
Bring a few thou Bier Maedchens with them, and I would approve, even if I don’t trink Bier.
Budweiser rowdies? Good lord, don’t we have enough frat rats?
Fliterman and QM; Reston, Virginia has a ostensible NATO office called the German Command of the U.S. And Canada. Been there for about 50 years. They’re good neighbors. They do a lot of flight and armor training coordination. Dulles Airport also has quite a few Luftwaffe logistics flights.
Sorry, you got the context wrong.
These words are more less a standard text element in political German, used whenever – for what reasons so ever – some new billions are thrown down the EU: without these billions these meassures cannot come true, without these measures no EU, without the EU a fallback to warlike nation states. It is standard yap yap yap and as such can be safely applauded.
It is not the reason the bill got through, it is as relevant as the pre-election promise “no new taxes”. It only got noticed by international media this time because everybody looks at the situation in Europe, while usually something else would have had the news coverage.
German parliament voted for the bill in the hope that this is now the last barrel-load of money thrown down Southern European budget crisis. If not, ze war will have its first (political) victim. German souvereign (das Volk) is royally displeased.
Looks like we will be beating our swords into begging bowls ourselves: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/10/27/panetta-pentagon-to-cut-up-to-260-billion-in-5-year-budget/
I think most of us here are descended from Europeans, who have been famously efficient and cheerful killers of each other for a looonnng time. Some of us might have some African ancestry. They are no slouches when it comes to killin’, either.
People complain about chimps biting peoples’ faces off, but I contend that humans are the most dangerous monkeys on the planet. Only a human will kill you because he dislikes your taste in music. Yes, I have thought about doing that. Take off that stupid rap CD and cue up some Mozart and we’re cool, though.
In the event of war, Europeans would expect American kids to die protecting their behinds.
Defend yourselves, ungrateful moochers.
[...] Merkel thinks there would be war without the EU [...]
This time they can have France.