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May 23, 2013
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 Germany Dominates Europe Once AgainPosted on Dec 13, 2011
VIENNA—The great economic crisis has given birth to a smaller and tighter monetary union in Europe, under the influence of a Germany that is undergoing a certain estrangement from its European partners. This amounts to a possibly dangerous wager on what the European Union will ultimately become, which all may not like. In Vienna last weekend, the World Policy Conference, founded by the French Institute of Foreign Relations as a vehicle of European communication and cooperation with the so-called BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China) and other states in the developing world, found its attention riveted on Brussels and the euro-zone states of the EU. A French official who was part of the nearly all-night discussion in Brussels flew to Vienna to brief the gathering there, where decidedly mixed feelings were expressed about this successful German imposition of its own economic norms on an EU in distress. Germany, as we all know, is a problem—especially a disproportionately powerful and united Germany. NATO was formed to keep Germany down, and only after that to keep the Russians out and the Americans in. Keeping Germany down meant finding a way to contain and integrate it into a Western Europe to which it had never in the past fully belonged. Its Christian knights of the Holy Roman Empire, and its trader-merchants, were off exploring the Baltic East, converting pagans and establishing free Hanseatic cities. The concern in 1945 was that Germany could eventually reclaim the European domination first achieved under Bismarck, who created a united and imperial Germany in 1871. It lost that domination by defeat in the First World War, and its devastation was achieved in the Second by the Soviet army and British and American firebombing of Germany’s cities—the consequence of Hitler’s war to give Germans “living space” (Lebensraum) and racial triumph by conquering Eastern Europe and subjugating its “inferior” Slavic peoples. Western and Eastern Europeans wanted no such third German effort to dominate the continent. Stalin created his rampart of states under Russian control, separating Occupied Germany from Russia. NATO was the American-led answer, a defense alliance that eventually turned into an American quasi-occupation of Western Europe, which still continues, although eroding. Advertisement This was the European Coal and Steel Community created by the Treaty of Paris in 1951, in which France and Germany were joined by the Benelux states and Italy. When Monnet presented the proposal to Adenauer, the latter replied: “I have waited 25 years for a move like this. Germany knows that its fate is bound up with that of Western Europe as a whole.” Those who were active in European and American foreign relations during the early postwar years find the Brussels agreements a triumph of that solidarity. As Jean-Dominique Giuliani of the Robert Schuman Foundation put it, the outcome was the expression of “a political determination to break with the spiral of doubt, indecision and division.” For those who have seen EU expansion in membership, powers and authority as essential to Europe’s peaceful future, this has been a critical event, coming at a moment when the EU seemed to face breakup at worst and a crippling failure at best. For those, on the other hand, who have felt unease at the scope of ambition found among the Eurocrat establishment in Brussels, believing expansion of the EU and its powers to be the essential goal, this seems a possible step too far. A series of meetings among leaders and government officials, lacking a mandate to go as far as they have now committed their states to go in advancing the integration of Europe, recalls the unhappy effort to provide Europe with a constitution, rejected by the Netherlands and France. The Brussels agreements again include constitutional revisions in the individual states. A few weeks ago, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou proposed calling a referendum on these matters to clarify his popular mandate and was told by the French and German governments that this could not be tolerated. When Ireland staged its referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, the people said “no.” Brussels and nearly all the EU governments ordered the Irish to go back and think again, and produce an “acceptable” outcome. The Brussels agreements impose a lasting program of economic austerity on EU citizens that reflect the conventional monetarist doctrines of recent decades, the ones that led to the current crisis. Keynesianism is still under intellectual ban. The creation of growth and popular well-being in nations is subordinated to notions of national discipline and sacrifice, reassuring to Germans. The unprivileged citizenry are expected to provide the sacrifices. Britain of course has chosen otherwise, since the City rejects “statist” Europe. Whether this is a good choice or not, it was the inevitable one. As Jonathan Powell has written in the Financial Times, Britain has sought a leading role in Europe while rejecting European involvement in its own affairs ever since the Battle of Waterloo.
© 2011 Tribune Media Services, Inc. Update: The author of this column attached the following note to his most recent essay: My article last week on the European Union and Germany, for the first time in more than three decades of publication, evoked a unanimously hostile response from those who read my columns in newspaper syndication or online, and who troubled to reply either directly to me by way of my website, or indirectly as comment on its publication in the web magazine truthdig.com. These replies were all roughly parallel in protesting what to me had been a statement of an objective political problem concerning Germany, with roots in European history, which was interpreted as a forecast or warning of a new Hitler, or some other renewal of German expansionism. I had written that Germany historically has “been a problem” to its West European neighbors because of its population, and its well-known economic dynamism. I presented this as a problem generally recognized by the members of the EU, suggesting that Germany’s current determination to impose its own conservative economic norms on all the EU euro-using countries was probably impractical, impolitic and would make trouble (as proved to be the case, provoking the British rejection of the Brussels agreements). It was the Eurocrat expansionism and enthusiasm for federalist solutions that I mainly criticized. I believe the German government has done no service to the EU by its insistence upon what many, like myself, see as an obsolete form of fiscal rectitude. Its obstinate insistence upon Bundesbank-style limitation on the independence of the European Central Bank prevents the ECB from assuming the role of lender of last resort, the role traditionally played by most national central banks. Furthermore, as many have pointed out, if the ECB were authorized to embark on a program of “quantitative easing,” as currently practiced by the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Bank of England, this would go a long way towards solving the present impasse. However this is anathema to the Germans, who insist that the ECB put up “real money” to guarantee European sovereign credit. This provoked Nicolas Sarkozy even to propose borrowing from China: an increasingly unstable state whose own economy is deeply backward by comparison with that of the EU eurozone, relying mostly on low-value-added export manufactures. China has a huge trade surplus, but its GNP per capita (according to 2010 IMF figures based on purchasing-power-parity in current international dollars) is merely $7,544. The European Union’s is $30,455; Belgium’s is $36,274; Germany’s $36,081; France’s $33,910; Spain’s $29,830; Italy’s $29,480—and Greece’s $28,496. Why should such rich countries beg from China?  TAGS:
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By Lee Paxton, December 16, 2011 at 8:48 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
EU, maybe a French idea, but certainly held together by Germany’s economic strength; so,I strongly disagree with this article and indict Russia & America,(the latter should be forced out of European affairs immediately) as the real problems. Why shouldn’t Germany want a strong Euro; far and away the world’s largest economic bloc, and certain to raise havoc on the world economies if not successful, therefore, German strength is an asset, not a liabilty as the author suggests. It’s time the world forgets 13 years of Nazism as the only history of Germany, when in fact, in the last 300, Germany has contributed more genius to Western Civilization than any other country in the West. This should be acknowledged & kept in mind when discussing the past.
Report thisBy drbhelthi, December 16, 2011 at 3:48 am Link to this comment
His years of service in public and private positions, after having completed a
doctorate in economics and social sciences, qualifies Dr. Sarrazin as an expert in
the socio-political area.
In his book, Dr. Sarrazin documented a statistical trend, which if continued, tends
to depopulate Germany of historical Germans. As the reproduction rate of Turkish
and Arab immigrants increases, the reproduction rate of historical Germans
decreases. Dr. Sarrazin has been criticized by envious colleagues, as he was the
first to put into creditable print, thoughts that all had entertained. Similar to the
castigation of the foresightful physician, Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis of Austria, about
1847. Semmelweis introduced the practice of washing hands between patients, at
Vienna General Hospital’s First Obstetrical Clinic, which had three times the
mortality rate of midwives’ wards. He introduced the practice without supervisory
approval, nor did he give them credit for the discovery. Semmelweis was
ostracized, delicensed, lost his family, and forced into a mental hospital, where he
committed suicide. The practice for which he was homicided by MD supervisors,
was legally established by medicine. Years after his death.
Doctor Sarrazin is to be commended for actively defending his accurate treatise
Report thisfrom criticism by envious cowards, who envy his openness, honesty and accuracy.
His intent was not diminutive of immigrants. His intent was to bring to the attention
of German folk, blinded leadership, and immigrant folk, the social consequence of
what has been happening in Germany since the end of WWII.
WHICH GOAL HE ACCOMPLISHED QUITE REMARKABLY.
By david tarbuck, December 16, 2011 at 12:18 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Germany has the best working class in the world; they typically apprentice/intern in the oil and coal dust and produce the most skilled and productive men and women on earth. Some go on seamlessly to DOCTORATES in engineering. Fredrick Engels called them “The heirs to German Philosophy”. This is the force that produces ALL REAL VALUE and enabled Germany to recover from recession faster than any other peoples in Europe and to now help others.
Contrast this with the British who, drssed in starched collars, prefer to strut their stuff and shuffle valueless “financial services” paper. To finance this VALUELESS (fictitious capital) way of life requires that they continually import “wealth” in the form of “invester” invimmigrants who bring BOOTY from other lands; all the while their bigoted population bitches about people of colour or other perceived differences destroying their (lazy) traditions.
So while Germany and France are trying to workers the Brits,backed by their allies on Wall st and in the Federal Reserve are protecting Bankster types and the object of off loading “debt” swindles (bailouts) on working people (99%)who had no hand in creating these debts or the valueless “fictitious capital” they represent
Report thisBy wulewuu, December 15, 2011 at 10:36 pm Link to this comment
Good news for William Pfaff: Mr. Thilo Sarrazin, ex-member of the German
Report thisBundesbank, proves by irrefutable statistics, that the German people will
disappear soon because of very low birth rate and will be replaced by the
courageous sons and fertile daughters of the turkish immigrants living in
Germany.
By peterjkraus, December 15, 2011 at 9:58 pm Link to this comment
A ridiculous article, devoid of insight and
Report thisbrimming with bigoted fearmongering. But,
hey, that´s what I grew up with as a German-
born kid who moved to post-war California in
the late forties, so I´m not hearing
anything new. But it´s great to read so many
well-reasoned views of modern Germany and
Germans. Thanks.
By OzarkMichael, December 15, 2011 at 8:06 pm Link to this comment
Anarcissie said:
Unless the guy driving the car is the one running up huge debts because of his party habits, in which case the Germans will have to pay for his gasoline too!
Report thisBy drbhelthi, December 15, 2011 at 4:46 pm Link to this comment
Being American born, American educated-doctoral level, a veteran, and after
having lived off and on in Germany for twenty eight years, I have an opinion of this article by comrade Pfaff.
I would classify it as horse manure, but horse manure has value; as fertilizer.
The rise of Germany is seen as a problem only by empirists who anticipate a threat to their world-domination aggression. Like, the current US administration.
Report thisBy john mortl, December 15, 2011 at 3:28 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Why oh why is it ever so acceptable to exaggerate the war time excesses of the
Report thisGermans and taboo to demand compelling evidence? While at the same time
playing down the excesses of the Soviet Union and taboo to point out the
considerable Jewish involvement therein. All the while ignoring the excesses of the
western allies as if they had super human ethics.
By diamond, December 15, 2011 at 1:56 pm Link to this comment
“Germany, as we know, is a problem”.
God, Pfaff, you are simply laughable sometimes. “We’ don’t know Germany is a problem. I lived in Germany for three years and I found a humane, civilized and sophisticated country with a fantastic health care system, a first rate publicly funded education system and many features that the average American would be only too happy to have - if only they could find any group of politicians with the guts to pass them into law. Germany isn’t $14 trillion in debt and America is, so tell me again, who is a problem? Germany didn’t start two hideous, destructive and futile wars in the 21st century: that was America. Germany has sworn off war but America has not because its arms corporations make huge amounts of money out of war.
The economic impetus to war has been methodically dissected in Ken Silverstein’s book Private Warriors and his analysis reveals that American society is built on weapons and war, and has so much invested in both, not only financially but in terms of prestige and power, that an outbreak of global peace and justice would literally be disastrous for it. America is the number one arms supplier in the world, far ahead of every other arms- supplying nation. Its arms industry is not only huge but the arms corporations are always hungry for market share and that means a system which creates, promotes and supplies endless wars, including its own. For the arms corporations, and the politicians they bribe, the fall of the Soviet Union was a disaster similar to the one it experienced at the end of World War II. During World War II, US arms corporations’ profits climbed from $250 million in 1939 to $16.7 billion in 1944. As Silverstein describes it:
‘When the shooting stopped so did the companies’ sales. From its number one domestic economic ranking in 1943, the industry dropped to forty fourth by 1947’.
Robert E. Gross, then head of Lockheed, wrote in a letter, ‘The companies have no idea where any real business is coming from…we have cut 6,000 people out of the place in the last few weeks and are about to take at least as big a cut again’.
I suppose it depends what you consider a problem but as a first step you should stop living in the forties.
Report thisBy David Tarbuck, December 15, 2011 at 12:55 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
This is an exerpt from a paper I wrote that included commentary on the underying economic strength of Germany.
He follows Marx in overlooking the need for standards of competence, that of excellence, to be maintained; the demise of feudal guild monopolies unfortunately resulted in a corresponding demise in respect for the quality workmanship that the guilds always pledged to deliver. Those who would fake their qualifications, do their own thing, and/or pass off shoddy work are the real swindlers; it is these that honest specialists of all trades must collaborate in eliminating. It is that ilk that produces the likes of Chernobyl. Yes the dilemma finds many ways to continue expressing itself. It can be overcome, but only by recognising the need to integrate various skills and abilities into “collaboration”; it will not be overcome by attempting to “sink” skills into “the masses”! Indeed it was such an attempt that resulted in F. Engel’s’*“The heirs to German Philosophy” being delivered, not unto Marx’ “socialist production for consumption”, but unto the worst of the 20th century demagogues, Adolf Hitler. The German working class, best in the world in terms of skills and productivity was not to be “sunk” anywhere but as a group and as individuals wanted to be recognised for what it was and continues to be, the foundation of the most (economically) resilient society in this world; E.g. the recovery from recession of 2008/9. While the British content themselves with paper and starched collars, (Feudal?)Germany rewards those who apprentice or intern in the oil and coal dust; some apprentice boys go on seamlessly to Doctorates in Engineering and surface as Chief Executive Officers of major firms. Obviously they will be deficient in the social sciences, but to overcome this requires more, not less respect from those not so deficient! Then and only then will the top of the working class “move forward to collaborative learning” (and working)!
Germany’s ‘top ofthe working class tops all others; t is this class and NOT militarists or bankers that are the foundation and core of this resilient people.
Indeed Britain has more “financial services” and nuclear weapons than does 21st century Germany.
Report thisBy djnoll, December 15, 2011 at 11:06 am Link to this comment
My husband is currently working on his Masters in Public Administration through an online university. Sadly, since it was sold in 2005 to an international educational institution and has Bill Clinton on its board now, the school’s approach to education has been gradually shifting to one of the far-right/corporatist opinion, which is direct opposition to its mission statement. Now, I bring this up because he is currently taking a course in economics - his second at the school. The school has chosen a textbook by a supporter of the Austrian school of economics which believes that corporations make money, not policy makers, in an economy, and that only through unfettered free market capitalism can they do so efficiently and effectively, with government being a deadweight on an economy. Needless to say, my husband objected to this kind of approach, first complaining about the text, but agreeing to continue in the course, but when he brought Keynesian economics into the discussion as a counterargument, the professor attacked him and suggested he transfer out or not even take the class at all. He transferred to another section. This is the kind of economic philosophy that corporations in America want us to adopt, and which is now taking root and flourishing in much of Europe.
As long as students in this nation are being encouraged to believe that austerity is necessary only for the few, that opposing equitable, not equal, distribution of wealthy is wrong, and that corporations should make monetary policy, we are all in trouble. It is time for us to demand better from those who govern us and from those who educate our young people. Austrian economics is a flawed theory and we are seeing it practice around the world and here in the US. It does not take into account human greed. Germany has become a European powerhouse, not because it allows corporations to determine its policies, but because it, through sound policies, encouraged German firms to retain German manufacturing bases, not go all out on globalization. They maintained a sane agricultural policy that insured a strong base in that area as well. They are economically stable because of government policy, not in spite of it, yet now, like in the US, they are demanding austerity at a time when it is neither justified nor wise of other nations.
I never supported the idea of the EU. I believe in national sovereignty for all nations, and when you see groups of nations tie themselves so closely to each other, eventually, inevitably, you see the rise of one or two, while others either fall into line or collapse. Since 2008 we have seen the dangers of a closely integrated world economy where the well-being of one nation controls the well-being of all the others, and when it fails, it takes everyone else with it. This is dangerous policy for everyone. because nations are NOT corporations, and cannot be run like diversified multi-nationals. It does not work, and it has never worked. It is why empires fail.
It is time for us to teach sound economic policies to our young people and to our leaders. It is time for us to stop trying to run our government like a business, and start running it like a government of, by, and for the people again. ronald Reagan and all his acolytes are wrong - GOVERNMENT IS GOVERNMENT. IT IS NEITHER THE PROBLEM NOR SOLUTION - IT IS BOTH, AND IT IS TIME FOR IT TO START ACTING LIKE A GOVERNMENT AGAIN, NOT A BUSINESS ENTERPRISE FOR SALE TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER!
http://www.weeeevoteamerica2012.org
Report thishttp://www.devonnollforpresident2012.org
Please follow my videos on YouTube, under Devon Noll, where I discuss my programs and policy suggestions for this country. Thanks.
By Anarcissie, December 15, 2011 at 9:30 am Link to this comment
I think we can confidently tell the Germans what to do since we can be sure they won’t listen to us.
However! Money is sort of logical, even if people are not. The rules of the game are that those who want to run a trade surplus must eventually lend to or subsidize their deficit-running partners. Similarly, those who want to drive the car must pay for the gas.
The Germans are probably divided on this issue. Most of them would probably prefer that Germany not attempt to run Europe. But, at least since the foundation of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in the 9th century, that seems to be their fate. However, they’re not allowed to say that’s what they’re doing. It’s all very odd.
Report thisBy Doubtom, December 15, 2011 at 9:13 am Link to this comment
How in hell can we label Germany a “problem” without at the same time revealing
Report thisour monumental hypocrisy? At least the world at large has no difficulty seeing
who the “problem” is.
We’re the only nation in the world masquerading as a free democratic Republic,
while having our military troops stationed in hundreds of foreign and sovereign
nations and our police (FBI, CIA) in hundreds of foreign and sovereign nations.
Our academics are complicit in this farce by continuing to teach our youth that
we’re a nation controlled by the democratic process, when in fact, foreign lobbies
have more say in our conduct than do our citizens.
By sims, December 15, 2011 at 8:05 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
crap article missing the understanding of the euro zone
Report this, Germany is not the problem, the banksystem and NATO
is the problem. Germans are hard working and nice
people!
By OzarkMichael, December 14, 2011 at 10:40 pm Link to this comment
If anyone wants to go the usual Leftist route and say that well-off people have stolen it from the poor, then by all means “Germany is the Problem”, and they should give billions of thier evilly acquired tax money so the other nations can be inefficient, or have a nice safety net, or be lazy, or who knows what else. Because we all know that financial success is the problem and it must be punished.
No. I dont believe that.
The lender has a right to negotiate the terms so there is a chance that the money will be returned, especially because that money doesnt belong to the German chancellor, or to PIIGS, or to Europe, but is the property of the German people.
“PIIGS”? Well, I am Irish, so i am not backing Germany for ethnic or historic reasons. If the German people want to generously pay for the stupidity of other nations thats their business. But if the German people want to help but not throw the money away, that is also their business.
Either way, Germany isnt the problem, they are the solution. Let them decide. Its just really funny how Leftists always want to tell others what to do.
Report thisBy MeHere, December 14, 2011 at 8:59 pm Link to this comment
W. Pfaff says “Germany, as we all know, is a problem.” A strange comment but,
just in case, I’ll add Germany to the ever growing list of countries designated as a
“problem.”
Could it be that Germany has less business and political crooks or more control on
their activities, in addition to better planning, more labor efficiency, and citizens
who support sensible social problems? Is it possible they’re afraid to lose their
achievements?
It’s unclear what Germany can realistically do to ensure that the
Report thisunprivileged citizenry in many European countries shouldn’t have to provide the
sacrifices.
By MeAgain, December 14, 2011 at 7:43 pm Link to this comment
One really has to dig deep to find truth in this article. Who paid to have it published?
Report thisBy Anarcissie, December 14, 2011 at 6:37 pm Link to this comment
Apparently it’s not a matter of hard work:
http://www.creditwritedowns.com/2011/12/italy-more-work-hours-than-germany-france.html
Italy is, of course, one of the bad countries, along with Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain—the PIIGS.
Report thisBy OzarkMichael, December 14, 2011 at 6:01 pm Link to this comment
Germany was being demonized in the article. I was oing to point out how that works but its already been well done by others. I am impressed at the posts here.
Germany’s hard earned prosperity and willingness to tie their own fortunes(literally) to ailing economies has to be made onsome sort of terms. The terms have two opposite directions, one impulse is that there should be few if any strings attached to the money. (That would be where the Truthdig article wants Germany to go, by the way, if you didnt figure it out.) In that case the debtor nations can keep running deficits and the Germans would be the suckers who have to pay for it forever. When things got worse the Germans would just have to pay more.
What Germany seems to have chosen is to give the money but to insist on the debtors working towards some solvency. Unfortunately the debtors will have to balance their budgets a little better. This proposal is apparently too “German” and “we all know” how Germany is “the problem”.
The article tries to conjure up Nazism as if its a permanent German trait, hoping to shame Germans into giving billions away. Yeah, let the German people work harder so the rest dont have to!
I am most impressed that so many here arent buying to that.
Report thisBy Marian Griffith, December 14, 2011 at 3:43 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Keynes may be banned, but that is for good reasons. While his theory demands that governments spend money to offset a recession, there are two conditions on it that are not met.
First is that the governmental spending goes to programs that increase employment.
Second is that the governments offset this spending by cutting back once the recession is over so that they will not run up too much of a debt.
For the first requirement it has been clear for some time now that programs intended to increase income are drained out of the economy too quickly by mechanisms set up by the rich and powerful. Basically households are either too poor to profit much or they are too deeply into debt to start spending. Money will first used by them to pay off debts and then as a buffer against the expected leaner times ahead (i.e. unemployment).
The second requirement can no longer be met after the previous round of bailing out banks. Countries ran up a huge deficit already just to keep banks afloat and much of the current economic crisis is because countries have too much debt for their income. Doubling that debt is only going to make matters worse.
A Keynesian approach might have been possible in 2008, but it would have been at the expense of massive bankruptcy of the world’s banks, and a probably nationalisation of the remaining banks.
Of course this is likely to happen anyway as the ability of another round of bailouts has vanished along with those trillions of bailout money.
Report thisBy Gulam, December 14, 2011 at 1:35 pm Link to this comment
The astonishing thing about this anti-Germanic bigorty
is that during the 19th century Germany was for Jews
very much what America became in the 20th. Both were
dynamic economies that were the most liberal and the
most open and free place for Jews of any major nations
of their time. Jews, therefore, in large numbers moved
back from Eastern Europe where many had moved during the era of the plague.
Jews became major players in, some might say that they came to dominate,
German finance, academia, and the arts. The film noir movies were primarily
produced and directed by secular Jews, that is to say atheists who still identify
with their Jewish roots on the basis of culture and race. A majority of the Jews
one meets in Israel when asked about their faith place themselves in this
category.
When the Berlin Stock Exchange crashed in 1929, over 1200 of fewer than 1500
Report thisseats were in Jewish hands, and the Germans had just witnessed a revolution in
near-by Russia that murdered most of the upper class; hundreds of thousands
were executed. That revolution was inspired by Marx and led by Lenin and
Trotsky, and many other secular Jews were disproportionally represented
throughout the party. The German fear of growing secular Jewish power was not
without some justification. What the Germans did was terrible and, to a degree
so extreme as to be unforgivable, but it is high time Americans stopped
pretending that it happened in a vacuum without any provocation. That lie is
not going to prevent a recurrence; it is enabling one.
By Richard Clark, December 14, 2011 at 1:02 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
“Germany, as we all know, is a problem” Wow, someone can write shit like that?
Report thisBy Heinz Müller, December 14, 2011 at 12:55 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
“Germany, as we all know, is a problem—especially a disproportionately powerful and united Germany.”
Why on earth should that be the case? Modern Germany is a peaceful democratic country. The people that live here don’t want anything that would harm any other nation. There has never been a war between two democratic nations. I think that’s because basically, every human wants the same things: freedom, prosperity and stability. War and conflicts stand in the way of these basic goals.
As a German, I feel insulted by this bigoted statement. As a citizen of Europe, I feel worried about the deep nationalism and rascism that this article is a symptom of.
Report thisBy Anarcissie, December 14, 2011 at 12:48 pm Link to this comment
Someone joked that Germany fought two ruinous wars to dominate Europe, and now everyone is afraid they don’t want the job.
Or that they do, I suppose.
Report thisBy guacamaya, December 14, 2011 at 11:56 am Link to this comment
I usually agree with William Pfaff, but as a European who is pro-EU, I think that he is way out this time. This is more the view of the British living in isolated splendour on their island with a European view rusted in the 50’s.
Report thisBy doublestandards/glasshouses, December 14, 2011 at 11:43 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Not that a disproportionally powerful United States has ever been a problem to anyone.
Report thisBy balkas, December 14, 2011 at 9:27 am Link to this comment
governances of nearly all [or even all] european lands are founded on
supremacism [also known as fascism, nazism, discrimination, racism,
exploitation, abuse of all kinds] so, shall i worry whether cyprus, latvia,
or germany dominates europe?
u.s governance is founded also on supremacistic ideology [and i may
add also a peculiar godology]
and it dominates the world; includes germany. u have noticed, haven’t
u, that germany does not have wmd and i doubt that it, iran, nepal, et al
wld ever be allowed to have them.
and why not? what do i think about why iran wld not ever be allowed to
acquire wmd and israel wld! it’s the peculiar and strange godology and
supremacism, stupid!
so, folks, do not worry, supremacism is in charge of all of the europe,
Report thismuch of s.america, all of n.america, parts of asia, and all of afrika.
it controls with iran fist about 6bln people.
now, that’s the domination i fret about and not the german one. tnx
By E Blair, December 14, 2011 at 8:27 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
The author just can’t get over hating the Germans. The US is the problem. Besides going along with NATO adventures, Germany has not invaded any land in over 65 years. Meanwhile the US bankocracy loves to destroy national economies and use its jackbooted thugs, aka US Army and Marines, to kill many thousands of people just to make a point.
Report thisBy NC-Tom, December 14, 2011 at 5:31 am Link to this comment
‘We all know that
GermanyAmerica is a problem.’There, fixed that for you…
Report thisBy kerryrose, December 14, 2011 at 2:23 am Link to this comment
‘We all know that Germany is a problem.’
That is a bigoted statement. It was a unique set of events that set the events of WWI and led to Germany’s insanity during WWII. It was not a uniquely German ‘problem.’ It is a ‘human problem’—- one that we are all capable of given the right circumstance.
German=baiting while vaguely refering to the Holocaust is just fear mongering and ignorant.
Report thisBy Patrick, December 14, 2011 at 12:57 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
NO! What the world needs to fear - and does - is a united United States. This country is the most destructive force on the planet, and pointing fingers elsewhere reeks of hypocrisy.
Report thisBy cheaptrx, December 13, 2011 at 10:38 pm Link to this comment
the world has moved on, out from under us. Empires have a way of creating coalitions of other nations that oppose them…
Report thisBy prisnersdilema, December 13, 2011 at 8:52 pm Link to this comment
How quickly the old rivalries return, along with the old fears and all those old feelings…
In Pfaff’s world view we have nothing to fear from China, buy we should be concerned
about a reunited, Germany, that is not kept down…Germany is just too powerful for it’s
own good, imagine, just imagine.. A Europe dominated by Germania….
Where would America’s own attempts at Reichdom fit in? We have already turned most
of Mexico, and Central America into slave labor, along with our own serfs, endlessly
slipping slurpies, at big box stores…Yet somehow, it seems to me that the real fear this
time, is that somehow the roles have become reversed. Germany as the savior of
Europe is not a good mirror to look at. Which makes us a land, quickly
metamorphasizing, into a land filled with trash, bad debt, and poor credit risks on food
stamps, detested by it’s own elite.
While America basks in the fruits of 40 years of conservative politics, some of the rest of
Report thisthe world has moved on, out from under us. Empires have a way of creating coalitions
of other nations that oppose them…