A Three-Party Alliance is Set To Govern Germany (npr.org) 88
Three German parties have reached a deal to form a new government that will end the era of longtime Chancellor Angela Merkel, according to Olaf Scholz, who is poised to replace her. From a report: Scholz, of the center-left Social Democrats, said he expects that members of the parties will give their blessing to the deal in the next 10 days. At a news conference, Scholz and other leaders gave some indications of how the coalition would govern. Among the first measures agreed: compulsory vaccinations in places where particularly vulnerable people are cared for, with the option of expanding that rule. That comes as Germany is seeing a surge in cases, and the political transition has somewhat hampered the country's response. Scholz also stressed the importance of a sovereign Europe, friendship with France and partnership with the United States as key cornerstones of the government's foreign policy -- continuing a long post-war tradition. The new government will not seek "the lowest common denominator, but the politics of big impacts," Scholz promised. Robert Habeck, co-leader of the environmentalist Green party, meanwhile, said measures planned by the government would put Germany on a path to meet the goals of the 2015 Paris climate accord.
Re: (Score:3)
Because before this, I thought we'd sooner be killed by a meteorite than seeing Green and Liberal party enter into a coalition as they are almost polar opposites on a lot of issues (except stuff like legalizing some drugs).
Re: (Score:2)
Merkel's generation-long uninterrupted rule made a lot of people in German politics desperate for power at any cost. Frankly, that sort of long leadership is really bad for political parties, because it made a lot of competent people go into regional politics in Germany instead. Both within CDU and without. When top positions are not on offer, best people invest their talents elsewhere.
Re: (Score:2)
It's a very good thing for regional politics, but it results in national outcomes like this one, where Merkel's own chosen successor is so bad at national level politics, that he manages to lose to another party as they successfully market themselves as "better continuation of Merkel's policies than Merkel's own hand picked successor".
You need top tier talent at national politics as well, and one of the biggest problems with Merkel-induced stagnation in national level politics in Germany is that there's now
Re: (Score:2)
as people who have not a faintest clue how to operate the levers of German national bureaucracy will have to learn on the job
It should be noted that the majority party of the new coalition (the SPD) was the junior partner of Merkel's coalition for the last 8 years, and that the designated chancellor is Merkel's minister of finance. The FDP (the third party of the new coalition) was Merkels coalition partner 2009-2013. These are not all inexperienced dummies.
Re: (Score:2)
It should also be noted that one of the primary points of Mutti's modus operandi was to keep junior partners away from levers of geopolitical power, be they from her own party or any of the opposing ones. To be in her government was to be kept in a nice office, with little to no hope of ever having any real geopolitical responsibility. Things of import were handled through the Kanzlerin's office. Those who chafed under those limitations were simply removed and replaced with more pliant candidates.
Re: (Score:2)
It should also be noted that one of the primary points of Mutti's modus operandi was to keep junior partners away from levers of geopolitical power, be they from her own party or any of the opposing ones. To be in her government was to be kept in a nice office, with little to no hope of ever having any real geopolitical responsibility. Things of import were handled through the Kanzlerin's office. Those who chafed under those limitations were simply removed and replaced with more pliant candidates.
I would indeed hope that any government keeps the "levers of geopolitical power" under reasonable control, and does not allow individual members to play with them. Having lived through Kohl, Schröder, and Merkel, I would not hesitate to say that if anything, her style was more cooperative than the previous two chancellors.
Re:Lockdwns rejected (Score:5, Informative)
Helmut Kohl was in office for 16 years. Konrad Adenauer was in office for 14 years, all members of the CDU, and with no unconventional coalitions following them.
Arguably one of the worst administration Germany had in recent history was under Gerhard Schröder (Social Democrats SPD), which made the decision to phase out nuclear power and paved the path to make Germany's energy sector dependent on natural gas primarily supplied by Russia.
After leaving office, Schröder soon also became chairman of the Russian oil company Rosneft.
Not fishy at all. No siree!
At least that administration didn't lead us into the invasion of Iraq.
Re: (Score:2)
Arguably one of the worst administration Germany had in recent history was under Gerhard SchrÃder (Social Democrats SPD), which made the decision to phase out nuclear power and paved the path to make Germany's energy sector dependent on natural gas primarily supplied by Russia.
A) it was not Schroeders decision. It was the decision of the voters who voted for the Greens.
B) Nuclear exit and buying gas from Russia has nothing much to do with each other
C) Germany is not dependent on Russian gas, how stupid
Re: (Score:2)
Germany is not dependent on Russian gas, how stupid are you?
I don't know how stupid he is, but you've certainly got him beat!
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
You can google that your self.
I would start with: https://energy-charts.info/ [energy-charts.info] find the flag, switch to english.
Re: (Score:2)
Asking to be spoon fed bullshit doesn't really increase you ability to understand the subject. You'll just get irrelevant links (if you're lucky) or propaganda.
If you follow European news even once in awhile, you already would know about the pipeline, Russian price manipulation in response to political events, and the fact that Germany is cold in the winter and can't civilians can't heat their homes if Russia decides to punish them.
None of that is the sort of thing an intelligent person asks for citations f
Re: (Score:2)
But I've conversed with you before, so I'm fairly confident that either you don't want to, or that you simply don't.
First of all, my statement was that they paved the way to make the German energy sector dependent on natural gas. That is a statement that stands on its own.
Since Germany doesn't have a lot of natural resources that can be used for energy production, except for the shitty lignite, where the media tells me that the new co
Re: (Score:2)
First of all, my statement was that they paved the way to make the German energy sector dependent on natural gas.
No they did not. Germany is not dependent - and most certainly not electricity production - on Russian gas.
That is a statement that stands on its own.
Sure, but it is wrong.
where the media tells me that the new coalition wants to stop mining by 2030, hence Germany needs to trade with others for those resources.
Nope. The media tells you: the coal plants will be shut down. So no resources needed.
G
Re: (Score:2)
But your tiny tiny useful idiot mind reads "Russia" and can't think of anything else but US propaganda.
I'm well aware of how Trump argued that Germany is going to make itself dependent on Russia. And then the counter was more or less that the Americans just w
Re: (Score:2)
So you are brainwashed by Germans as you are not allowed to criticizes Germans?
Re: (Score:2)
Merkel's generation-long uninterrupted rule made a lot of people in German politics desperate for power at any cost. Frankly, that sort of long leadership is really bad for political parties, because it made a lot of competent people go into regional politics in Germany instead. Both within CDU and without. When top positions are not on offer, best people invest their talents elsewhere.
I love the idea that "best people" might invest their talents in politics.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Green and Liberal party enter into a coalition as they are almost polar opposites on a lot of issues
Actually they are not.
Plenty of stuff, like "lean state", "privacy rights", etc. they have in common.
They might differ in the ideas how to approach things, but they share many ideas.
Re: (Score:2)
(a) Merkel herself, only few months ago, specifically ruled out further lock-downs for vaccinated people, as long as vaccines work [1] [n-tv.de]
(b) Merkel now requested to implement a lock-down for everyone, including the vaccinated [2] [n-tv.de].
So either (a) was yet another of the many lies in this pandemic, or (a)+(b) together mean she no longer is convinced that vaccines work. In either case, it is very good she no longer has a say in this.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
You seem to be an idiot.
At that time "vaccine mandate" actually was fake news!
But times have changed. So you have to adapt. Or die. Or die politically. What ever you prefer.
Re: (Score:2)
Why would (a) be a lie, when are in a situation that requires (b)?
And you are somehow implying that (b) is either for ever or long term, which it is not, it is limited till 8th of December.
And finally: you are the lier. Merkel requested nothing she _suggested_.
Big difference, or is it just your bad German that you mix up requesting with suggesting?
Lucky that you are not ruling. You would be completely incompetent to admit that your (a) was a mistake, and (b) is badly needed now!
Not news for nerds (Score:4, Insightful)
At least post TECHY space filler.
The five or ten Slashdotters interested in politics go to serious political news sites and no one else gives a fuck.
Re: (Score:1)
At least post TECHY space filler.
I'd a thousand times prefer this story about real Germany to one about a pretend election by virtual voters in crypto germany, a fake country with a gdp of 50 gazillion silly coins - that's seems to be what passes for a "techy" story but real Germany has much more influence on technology.
Re: (Score:2)
At least post TECHY space filler.
The five or ten Slashdotters interested in politics go to serious political news sites and no one else gives a fuck.
Germany is a tech powerhouse. What happens in that country will have an influence in tech.
People who do not get that aren't techies (but posers.)
Re: (Score:2)
There was another very interesting announcement: Germany will aim for 80% renewables by 2030 for generation. Nuclear ends next year, coal by 2030.
Re: (Score:2)
Nuclear ends next year, coal by 2030.
That's the stupid way round. Far more French have died from German coal-based pollution crossing than they have from nuclear accidents. Coal is hands down the most dangerous, most polluting electricity generation method there is.
Re: (Score:2)
Far more French have died from German coal-based pollution crossing than they have from nuclear accidents.
Actually no.
Double no, you idiot.
Look on a map.
France is west of Germany - dumbass.
Secondly: since the late 1970s, all coal plants have scrubbers. Everyone knows that, just not you dumbass.
Re: (Score:2)
Well its not fucking working.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/... [sciencedirect.com]
Re: (Score:2)
In Germany it works.
No idea why you bring up links about China etc.
Re: (Score:2)
It was mostly because they would have had to extend nuclear licences to keep them running, and after Fukushima it was becoming clear that those elderly, already extended plants were just not safe. The assumptions they were built on didn't hold up, and when Japan started re-examining their existing plants they found a long list of defects and deficiencies, many applicable in Germany too.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Far more French have died from German coal-based pollution crossing than they have from nuclear accidents.
Yeah, that's true everywhere... In part because aging nuclear plants with severe faults have been shut down before they failed.
Re: (Score:2)
Alliance idea (Score:1)
Why not form a party uniting the two most evil and worst political philosophies â" nationalism and socialism? What is the worst that could happen?
Re: (Score:1)
If the story is to be believed, they de facto did. After all, they're promising to make certain people legally classified as untermensch based on vaccination status, and they's insisting on "Sovereign Europe in partnership with France" if that claim is true.
Both aren't post war policies, but "during war" ones. Most people tend to forget that 3rd Reich ruled sovereign over most of Europe in a coalition with Vichy France.
I'm only slightly joking, as SPD got elected on "continuing CDU policies from Merkel's er
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, why not [zcache.com]?
WTF? Who governs Timbuktu? (Score:2)
How's the British monarchy doing? Has Adele commented on the situation yet?
How Coincidental (Score:4, Informative)
I was just thinking yesterday of the perfect party to form in the U.S.: "The Center Party". I thought about what it would take to get a new party off the ground (something Bernie should have done after his 2016 loss to Hillary. He would have had 3+ years to get things off the ground). Basically the idea behind the center party would be to attract everyone who gravitates toward the center. Candidates would pick and choose things from the fringes, because not all republicans are alike and not all democrats are alike. Some a candidate would be pro-choice, pro upping the minimum wage, etc (stuff from the left), yet anti open immigration, anti tax increase (but pro increase for the wealthy), and so on.
I think the party would have a good following.
Re:How Coincidental (Score:5, Insightful)
So basically the typical democrat in Congress?
Re: (Score:2)
So if you're equating centrism to the Democratic party, what does that make left and right?
Re:How Coincidental (Score:4, Insightful)
left (the squad), center (democrats and very, very, very few republicans), and right (pretty much all republi... trumpsters)
Re:How Coincidental (Score:5, Insightful)
The DNC is the conservative party, the GOP is the fascist party, the progressives are just looking for the part of the swimming pool with the least urine in it
Re: (Score:2)
The DNC is not the conservative party in terms of US politics. It doesn't matter how often you and others keep stating they are.
Just because they are right of Europe doesn't make them conservative in the US.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
And liberals are further right then elsewhere but are still in the US liberals.
Re: (Score:2)
Let's see.
The criteria of the post I replied to:
pro-choice, pro upping the minimum wage, etc (stuff from the left), yet anti open immigration, anti tax increase (but pro increase for the wealthy)
Seems like a typical congressional democrat to me.
Re: (Score:2)
Stick "self" in front of that and it will be the "party of the individual".
Re: (Score:2)
Senator Sellout would never go for it.
He's making a comfortable living from the Party, and all he has to do is give people the impression that "Team Blue" has some center-left policies.
The real pity is that people are still falling for this.
Re: (Score:2)
I was just thinking yesterday of the perfect party to form in the U.S.: "The Center Party". I thought about what it would take to get a new party off the ground (something Bernie should have done after his 2016 loss to Hillary. He would have had 3+ years to get things off the ground). Basically the idea behind the center party would be to attract everyone who gravitates toward the center. Candidates would pick and choose things from the fringes, because not all republicans are alike and not all democrats are alike.
I'm going to assume you're not American by what you wrote there. Just so you know, Bernie Sanders is considered extremely hard left in American politics. So much so that I think it's fair to say he appeals to what we call "wing nuts" or "the lunatic fringe" if you will. He is anything but a centralist in American politics. And his most rabid supporters have adopted a tactic from the Republicans that I wish had never gained traction, namely they would truly rather have nothing if they can't get everyth
Re: (Score:2)
I don't think Bernie is as far left as you purport him to be (and I am an American, naturalized 25 years ago and have been here for almost 40 years). For instance, if he was a wing nut, he would support abolishing the border and letting everyone in. He is for providing a path for the undocumented immigrants to become permanent residents and citizens, but Reagan did that as well. He wouldn't have let Israel get away with what it does. He would have resurrected JCOPA and contained Iran the way Obama start
Re: (Score:2)
The voting system used in the USA does not permit a third party. The centrist party would appeal to the best of one of the two existing parties more than the other. Whichever one it appeals to more it would cause that one to lose. Since it can't get as strong as the other two in a single shot the result is just making the party most opposed retain power.
If you want more parties in the USA (which is a really good idea and would help with polarization) you need to changing the voting system. Ranked choice or
Re: (Score:2)
more parties really does help get things done and leads to less friction overall.
More parties could lead to cooperation and true debate. Or it could lead to the type of policy hostage taking that occurs in places like Israel, where a small extreme minority wields tremendous power as the tipping point in a coalition.
My opinion is that cooperative people cooperate regardless of the political system, and uncooperative people fight regardless of the political system.
Re: (Score:2)
European countries have extremist groups that won't negotiate. But those groups also have their own political parties which are tiny and mostly just ignored. They don't make up enough of the population to really impact any of the votes. You just don't negotiate with those groups and most things take a simple majority.
Re: (Score:2)
Voters in Romania choose at every election who will vote together with the ethnic group of Hungarian minorities.
As for a multi party system, you should be prepared for the population and Parliament not agreeing on something, and having the longest interim government (in Belgium it took 541 days).
Re: (Score:2)
If you want more parties in the USA (which is a really good idea and would help with polarization) you need to changing the United States Constitution, like the framers intended.
FTFY
There is one word in The Constitution that makes it so a 3-party system will almost certainly not work at the national level. The word, "majority," in the following portion:
mak
Re: (Score:2)
The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President, if such Number be a Majority of the whole Number of Electors appointed;
Voting for the president has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the voting system or the numbers of parties.
And if you only want to change the voting for the president, then look how France is doing it.
Re: (Score:2)
As long as the voting system is that fucked up, a third party only has a chance when one of the other two commit suicide.
Re: (Score:2)
Rather than another party, what you really want is to do away with the two party system and move to coalitions. Germany, like many European countries, is now governed by a coalition of three parties, representing a fairly broad spectrum of political views.
Not only does it mean that many more people are represented, and that every vote really counts, but it produces those centrist, compromise outcomes that create stability and forward momentum. None of this back-and-forth lurching every time the government s
Re: (Score:2)
I was just thinking yesterday of the perfect party to form in the U.S.: "The Center Party".
As long as you have a "first past the post" system, this will not happen.
Re: (Score:1)
Most countries have first-past-the-post. Most countries do not have a two party duopoly. And the US had said post when the Republicans rose from nothing and replaced the Whigs, because two pro-slavery parties were two too many.
Now we have two corrupt corporatist parties that love war and stocks and hate workers. Which is two parties too many. The stars could not have been more aligned last year for a third party run by Sanders, running against two senile corrupt racist warmongers, but he chose to stay a she
What's with all the European politics now? (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
The /. tag line is "News for nerds, stuff that matters". Being a nerd is not always about tech and I'd argue this subject does matter in nerd culture, since it will likely have impacts on technology along the way.
History (Score:1)
involuntary medical experiments on human subjects.... in Germany? hard to believe...
where to hide from politics? (Score:1)
hey editors,
please could you keep politics out of Slashdot?
Thanks a lot!
Oh, and they plan trans recognition (Score:2, Interesting)
which is just another way of saying reality is to be disowned for hardship reasons.
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe it's a way of saying "my genitals are none of your business". Germany is quite big on privacy.
Re: (Score:2)
My judgement is none of your business.
Re: (Score:2)
It is if you insist on dehumanizing and degrading treatment of others.
We have been over this before, religious belief is no excuse so why would any other belief be?
Re: (Score:2)
It was once regarded as dehumanizing to lie and force others to lie. You're no better than inquisition age church.
Re: (Score:2)
Says the guy who wants to inquire about the nature of other people's bodies.
Re: (Score:2)
I don't have to inquire. Most trans people I know are plainly obvious.
Re: (Score:2)
How would you know? If you can't tell you might have assumed they were cis. And are you 100% sure that the people you think are trans are really trans?
Your belief has been downgraded to guesswork.
Re: (Score:2)
The usual cases are
1) They call themselves trans
2) They look like men in a dress (complete with cheap wig, stubbles, bulky body, enlarged adams apple etc.)
Sure, there are transpeople who are cosmetically perfect and manage to hide their state. But that's not what I'm concerned with. I care about those who admit it and still want people to act against their knowledge.
Re: (Score:2)
So if I decide you look like a woman to me, and treat you as one, you are not going to get upset and punch me in the face, right? My belief overrides your delusion, you can't force me to lie, stay out of the men's bathroom etc.
Re: (Score:2)
Stop. I think there are two discussion threads that are getting increasingly mixed up here.
My original post was about how people are supposed to act against their knowledge when both the biological sex and the subjectively perceived sex of the transgender are known and undisputed but the transgender thinks their subjectively perceived sex should take priority in other peoples speech and actions.
Then you accused me of wanting to inquire people for transgenderism follow by a claim that one could not determine
Re: (Score:2)
"Undisputed"
Good luck with that.
Re: (Score:1)
Fucking idiot bigots also used to afraid of gay marriage. Easy solution? Don't marry a person as the same gender as yourself! If you don't wanna be trans have you...you know...considered...not altering your own genitals? You can do this while leaving other people the hell alone and MYOFB.
And then they realize Merkel was pretty smart... (Score:2)