The U.S. border problem, like everything else, it seems, has its mirror image in Germany.
It is not as uncontrolled as it is in the U.S., but is still a problem, caused by the open-door policy on refugees.
It is complicated because Germany actually lacks skilled workers, but the immigrants we are getting are not skilled and there is no way to train them quickly enough, are a financial burden, etc.
The “far-right” AfD was the first party to complain about this, often enough in the crudest manner so that they acquired a reputation as “racists” and “Nazis”—not undeserved.
But since the Ukraine war the AfD has surged in popularity, with many people, also from the so-called “far left” (the Linke) voting for them because the AfD is also the only one of the five major parties that opposes military aid to Ukraine and economic sanctions against Russia.
Now there is a new party, the BSW (Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance) that split off from the Linke (which has been reduced to virtual obscurity), which is also against the war and not “pro-Russia” but not Russophobic either, and already has a large following.
Thus, the ruling coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP are seriously threatened by not only the largest party (CDU/CSU) but also by the second-largest (AfD) and what may soon become the third-largest, the BSW—especially by the BSW and AfD because they actually oppose the current government policy on two of the three most important issues: Ukraine and Russia. In the meantime, all of the parties have recognized the immigration problem.
The recent massive demonstrations here are actually two different sets. One is real and authentic, that of the farmers opposed to cuts in government subsidies for small farmers.
The second set, I believe intended to merge with and distract from the first, is the extremely media-hyped demonstrations against the “extreme right” and “anti-Semitism.” This is the mirror image of the also much-hyped demonstrations against “anti-Semitism” in the U.S., also meant to distract from and defuse the pro-Palestine and anti-Israeli genocide protests that came first.
It is hard not to see the absurdity of demonstrating against anti-Semitism while both the U.S. and German governments are making a point of “standing with Israel” as Israel proceeds to murder the Palestinians.
Nevertheless, this is the case, and especially here, given Germany’s history, it is hard for most people to overcome the collective guilt over the Holocaust to criticize Israel openly, even now that the Israelis are doing to the Palestinians some of what the Germans did to them. (more...)
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