"Are the Germans going to break down Europe for the third time in a century?"

mrman2011

I came across a relatively disturbing article today on Reuters regarding the state of German-Greece political relations. What really got to me was a statement from an anonymous senior Italian government official, who posed the simple question:

"Are the Germans going to break down Europe for the third time in a century?".

Considering the recent riots in Greece as a result of harsh austerity measures, in addition to German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble calling for a postponing of Greek elections in April, does anybody support the notion that Germany may be instrumental in the breaking down of Europe for the third time in a century?

Link to article: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/16/us-greece-germany-idUSTRE81F1G720120216

mikom

mrman2011 wrote: »

"Are the Germans going to break down Europe for the third time in a century?".

Break it down........

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIRQf0S3oD0

CiaranC

Ssh, you are not allowed mention Germanys past. None of that stuff ever happened. The current power they wield over the rest of Europe is an entirely new, novel concept.

minidazzler

Nah, I trust the Germans, they've never done anything to steer us wrong, it's our own political landscape that is too corrupt to run itself.

44leto

The Germans are pretty much propping up Europe with their power house economy and going by the thread title they are not getting a lot of thanks.

And coming from an Irish forum who in their history, during WW2 hid behind neutrality when the most evil force in history was running riot in Europe, refused to admit Jewish refugees and our leader was the only one to sign a book of condolences to the German people after the death of hitler. Go Ireland.

The King of Moo

"The Germans"

You can't talk about World War II and the current economic situation like they're the same thing with the same people behind it.

It was the Nazi Party with a lot of popular supporters who led Germany into war.

Now, it's German politicians making economic decisions.

Whatever your opinion on the current situation, you can't act like it's the same people involved.

Coriolanus

Personally I think Europe would be better off under the Germans than the current death-by-committee bull**** that is the eu.

mrman2011

http://www.irishjaunt.com/tedfest-2011/father-ted-careful-now/

dr.bollocko

The King of Moo wrote: »

"The Germans"

You can't talk about World War II and the current economic situation like they're the same thing with the same people behind it.

It was the Nazi Party with a lot of popular supporters who led Germany into war.

Now, it's German politicians making economic decisions.

Whatever your opinion on the current situation, you can't act like it's the same people involved.

But people love to compare people to the nazis.
If we can't do that we might as well shut AH down.

mossyc123

44leto wrote: »

The Germans are pretty much propping up Europe with their power house economy and going by the thread title they are not getting a lot of thanks.

And coming from an Irish forum who in their history, during WW2 hid behind neutrality when the most evil force in history was running riot in Europe, refused to admit Jewish refugees and our leader was the only one to sign a book of condolences to the German people after the death of hitler. Go Ireland.

So what if we didn't help the Jews during WWII.

The extent of what was going on wasn't fully known, we had feck all resources and apart from half-hearted efforts from the Spanish and the French (1798) Europe did nothing for us during our hundreds of years of trying to escape British occupation.

We kept out of the War and kept our sovereignty.

A job well done by our leaders at the time, IMO.

As for the current trend of blaming the Germans... I think it's nonsense. They were sensible and frugal while the rest of Europe binged on cheap credit. It's in their interests to keep the show on the road and hopefully they'll be able to!

CiaranC

44leto wrote: »

And coming from an Irish forum who in their history, during WW2 hid behind neutrality when the most evil force in history was running riot in Europe, refused to admit Jewish refugees and our leader was the only one to sign a book of condolences to the German people after the death of hitler. Go Ireland.

Yeah thats much worse than systematically shovelling six million people into gas ovens

bbam

In fairness the Germans have build up their own economy from disaster twice or three times to near super-power status...
Maybe there is something to be learned from their approach rather than the back-slapping, pocket lining inbred politics we run our own country with...

I wouldn't like to see them in full economic control but it's hard to deny they can build things up from ruin easy enough...

bleg

If they wanted to do it they could have done so about 6 or 7 times over the last 3 years.

admiralofthefleet

dont mention the war

RichieC

poppycock, I say.

mikom

admiralofthefleet wrote: »

dont mention the war

Well, I'll just get your hors d'oeuvres.
Hors d'oeuvres... vich must be obeyed at all times vitout qvestion!

saywhatyousee

minidazzler wrote: »

Nah, I trust the Germans, they've never done anything to steer us wrong, it's our own political landscape that is too corrupt to run itself.

Are you being serious or is that sarcasm i cant decide?

amacachi

mrman2011 wrote: »

Considering the recent riots in Greece as a result of harsh austerity measures

What harsh austerity? Balancing their budget at some point in the future? Disgraceful stuff.

admiralofthefleet

mikom wrote: »

Well, I'll just get your hors d'oeuvres.
Hors d'oeuvres... vich must be obeyed at all times vitout qvestion!

and one colditz salad

The King of Moo

dr.bollocko wrote: »

But people love to compare people to the nazis.
If we can't do that we might as well shut AH down.

*heads over to sexism thread to make baseless "feminazi" accusation to redress the balance*

mikom

admiralofthefleet wrote: »

and one colditz salad

And two Prawn Goebbels.

marty1985

The Germans are OK with me. I think it's this big European project that people are sick of, created by elites and largely confined to them.

charlemont

saywhatyousee wrote: »

Are you being serious or is that sarcasm i cant decide?

I think she is being serious but personally I agree with her, I blame the system not the Germans. By system I mean banks, politicians. It must be an awful burden on Germany too.

admiralofthefleet

i knew a dirty german woman

Mance Rayder

44leto wrote: »

The Germans are pretty much propping up Europe with their power house economy.

Proof that countrys with Industry are more stable and better equipped to stand the test of time. We have nothing here, UK has virtually no Industry left. We can't all just pretend that we are gonna run an entire country on 'services' as UK does.

In the end the Countrys with mega Industries, Germany, Russia, France, Brazil, China, USA etc will survive while the rest of us will be lucky just to pick up the crumbs from their tables.

Nevore wrote: »

Personally I think Europe would be better off under the Germans than the current death-by-committee bull**** that is the eu.

Yes the EU is a farcicle orginisation. We pretend democracy when we all know who calls the shots, and yet we can't decide on anything without years and years of summits.

German's are better at running a country - Sad but true. Maybe we would be better off with them. At least crime would be significantly reduced.

Dr. Manhattan

mrman2011 wrote: »

I came across a relatively disturbing article today on Reuters regarding the state of German-Greece political relations. What really got to me was a statement from an anonymous senior Italian government official, who posed the simple question:

"Are the Germans going to break down Europe for the third time in a century?".

Seem there's the key right there, they just want to know which side to join, so than can plan their surrender in advance.

saywhatyousee

charlemont wrote: »

I think she is being serious but personally I agree with her, I blame the system not the Germans. By system I mean banks, politicians. It must be an awful burden on Germany too.

You can blame the ECB the most Trichet rang Brian Lenihan the night before the bank guarantee and told him that no European bank was to be let fail and that the Ecb would support the Irish government.Look at what we have now.....

BrenCooney

We were on a spending spree.
Needed more money so we borrowed from the Germans.
Now its time to pay back the loan and we say sorry can no do, we're a bit short at the moment.
But we like the luxury life.
So Germany lends us a bit more to tide us over the rough time until we are back on our feet and we can pay them back.

and its the Germans fault !!
its obvious i need to do a course in logic!?

DEFTLEFTHAND

Third time lucky perhaps?

mikom

BrenCooney wrote: »

We were on a spending spree.
Needed more money so we borrowed from the Germans.
Now its time to pay back the loan and we say sorry can no do, we're a bit short at the moment.
But we like the luxury life.

More of this "we" business shite.

I'm sure all Germans say "we" were all Nazis in WWII as well.

mossyc123

mikom wrote: »

More of this "we" business shite.

I'm sure all Germans say "we" were all Nazis in WWII as well.

In fairness absolutely everyone in the country benifitted from the influx of cheap money.

Doc Ruby

BrenCooney wrote: »

We were on a spending spree.
Needed more money so we borrowed from the Germans.
Now its time to pay back the loan and we say sorry can no do, we're a bit short at the moment.
But we like the luxury life.

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q24zJmIF0zA

Yeah, brilliant.

Anyway no I don't really trust the Germans, like most countries they can be relied upon to do exactly whatever is good for themselves. The problem is that they hold a disproportionate amount of power in Europe, and the potential for abuse is troubling.

BrenCooney

Well "we" irish democratic nation spent alot of money and the lenders would like it back.
its all well and good saying it was banks who were lending it and they should be burnt.
But dont forget that money is somebodys pension.
And "we" did look an honost bunch.

mikom

mossyc123 wrote: »

In fairness absolutely everyone in the country benifitted from the influx of cheap money.

"Trickle-down economics"....... more shite

http://filipspagnoli.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/trickle-down.jpg?w=269&h=316

BrenCooney

Yes "we" did borrow it.
A small few did shout stop but nobody listened.
Not only that but if a person objected they were told to go commit suicide.
If only "we" had behaved with more probity and "we" elected good quality politicians etc who were cautious etc, like the germans "we" would not be in the silly mess "WE" are in now.

saywhatyousee

BrenCooney wrote: »

We were on a spending spree.
Needed more money so we borrowed from the Germans.
Now its time to pay back the loan and we say sorry can no do, we're a bit short at the moment.
But we like the luxury life.
So Germany lends us a bit more to tide us over the rough time until we are back on our feet and we can pay them back.

and its the Germans fault !!
its obvious i need to do a course in logic!?

One of my favorite quotes of all time comes from Joseph Goebbles
Holding up a picture of a triangle at a meeting of all the Nazi ministers
"I can make all of Germany believe this Triangle is a square all i have to do is say it enough times"
Notice the amount "We" in your sentence

Latchy

44leto wrote: »

The Germans are pretty much propping up Europe with their power house economy and going by the thread title they are not getting a lot of thanks.

And coming from an Irish forum who in their history, during WW2 hid behind neutrality when the most evil force in history was running riot in Europe, refused to admit Jewish refugees and our leader was the only one to sign a book of condolences to the German people after the death of hitler . Go Ireland.

Dev probably did that as much to spite Churchill and Roosevelt as anything else ,such was his 'pull up the gangplank ' mentality' and was terrified of been invaded again by anybody .

saywhatyousee

BrenCooney wrote: »

Well "we" irish democratic nation spent alot of money and the lenders would like it back.
its all well and good saying it was banks who were lending it and they should be burnt.
But dont forget that money is somebodys pension.
And "we" did look an honost bunch.

Tough luck you put your money in a bank your making an investment that is why you get paid interest.If it goes tits up that is your fault for making a bad investment keep your money under your mattress the next time

Gummy Panda

Angela Merkel is a lizard and here to steal our precious water!

humanji

saywhatyousee wrote: »

One of my favorite quotes of all time comes from Joseph Goebbles
Holding up a picture of a triangle at a meeting of all the Nazi ministers
"I can make all of Germany believe this Triangle is a square all i have to do is say it enough times"
Notice the amount "We" in your sentence

You could say the same about the excessive use of the word "Nazi" in this thread.

Sonnenblumen

mrman2011 wrote: »

I came across a relatively disturbing article today on Reuters regarding the state of German-Greece political relations. What really got to me was a statement from an anonymous senior Italian government official, who posed the simple question:

"Are the Germans going to break down Europe for the third time in a century?".

Considering the recent riots in Greece as a result of harsh austerity measures, in addition to German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble calling for a postponing of Greek elections in April, does anybody support the notion that Germany may be instrumental in the breaking down of Europe for the third time in a century?

Link to article: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/16/us-greece-germany-idUSTRE81F1G720120216

Geduld, Geduld, wir kommen!

saywhatyousee

humanji wrote: »

You could say the same about the excessive use of the word "Nazi" in this thread.

Just after a quick browse back over this thread and how is Nazi used excessively ?It was the name of the party same thing as saying Fine Gael ect

mikom

saywhatyousee wrote: »

Just after a quick browse back over this thread and how is Nazi used excessively ?It was the name of the party same thing as saying Fine Gael ect

Quite similar actually.
Shur the Blueshirts once wore military-style uniforms and greeted each other with the Roman salute.

BrenCooney

Now we are looking to anybody/everybody for more money in order to keep the show on the road. Pay for the oil/gas to generate electricity. To pay wages. To pay unemployment benefit.
Nobody wants to give us money, well not at low intrest rates at any rate.
Except the Germany government.
If I were them I dont think I would be that trusting of giving us their money, which they have worked hard for and were prudent to put away.

mikom

BrenCooney wrote: »

Now we are looking to anybody/everybody for more money in order to keep the show on the road. Pay for the oil/gas to generate electricity. To pay wages. To pay unemployment benefit.
Nobody wants to give us money, well not at low intrest rates at any rate.
Except the Germany government.
If I were them I dont think I would be that trusting of giving us their money, which they have worked hard for and were prudent to put away.

"We" again.
I am doing no such thing.

Zebra3

BrenCooney wrote: »

Yes "we" did borrow it.
A small few did shout stop but nobody listened.
Not only that but if a person objected they were told to go commit suicide.
If only "we" had behaved with more probity and "we" elected good quality politicians etc who were cautious etc, like the germans "we" would not be in the silly mess "WE" are in now.

Ireland is screwed because of the bank guarantee and the subsequent debts from the collapse of Anglo Irish which served an elite few.

German banks didn't give a f**k when they were making a fortune. They lent irresponsibly. Their problem, not mine.

KeithAFC

admiralofthefleet wrote: »

dont mention the war

The war should be mentioned. Germany should have absolutely no control in Europe.

humanji

saywhatyousee wrote: »

Just after a quick browse back over this thread and how is Nazi used excessively ?It was the name of the party same thing as saying Fine Gael ect

And its use here is to compare modern Germans with the Nazis. It's dehumanises them. It's the exact same type of propaganda that you mentioned.

BrenCooney

Except our problem is that we are still looking for more cheap money and nobody is prepared to lend to us except the germans.

so lets not go cutting of the nose to spite the face and be a bit thankful some body is still prepared to stick with us and guide us on our path to a bit of maturity.

Zebra3

KeithAFC wrote: »

The war should be mentioned. Germany should have absolutely no control in Europe.

No country that has invaded so many other people's lands should.

Mance Rayder

The Nazi's are a drop in the ocean as far as Germans history of conquest goes. The British have a history of colonialism. USA a History of selling arms to countries, destablising them and then invading them. The French have a history of revolution and the Germans have a history of trying to take over Europe.

Leopards and spots and all that.