I really hate that man
Trump being corrupt af himself didn't have trouble spotting the Schroder/German Gas/Gazprom corruption.
He's kinda right though, Germany's green energy program failed and they're much more dependent on Russian gas than before.
Which makes their political position against Russia quite weak.
Germany's armed forces are also in a state of disrepair and there's not a whole lot of material they have ready for use compared to say France or the UK.
It's kinda funny to watch the Germans get a taste of their own medicine.
This sort of extortion is what they used to apply on Greece. Which is forced to buy submarines and other expensive military equipment in order to comply with the rules for their never ending loans.
1) I think Trump is a scumbag, who is making this argument primarily as deflection, but also think he is halfway right.
I definitely remember when Germany was trying to weaken the additional Russian sanctions that were overwhelmingly passed by Congress last year because they wanted to suckle at Putin’s gas teat.
But you know who else was against those sanctions? Fucking trump himself.
2) I also agree that Greece got triple fucked throughout the recession. This was also primarily done by Germany. I think the Eurozone is good in a way, but the currency is a goddamned mess that primarily benefits richer nations at the expense of poorer ones, and Germany de facto gets to be a larger exporter on account of its undervalued currency while Greece de facto has to try to buy its way out of an overvalued one.
I am actually kind of surprised that the EU survived the financial crisis pretty much intact because Greece especially would have almost certainly be better off today if it went back to the drachma in 2011
It did not actually. Brexit, Salvini and Putin's invasion of half of Ukraine are all direct consequences of them bungling the 2008 crisis. In fact they've just kicked the can down the road setting us up for the next recession. Greece isn't fixed and Italy was never fixed.
It's a downward trajectory for both those countries no matter what they do. Varoufakis was right, it's economic warfare and there's nothing a country like Greece can do but take it.
My government just this week revoked the right to organize a referendum. Because the outcome of the Ukraine referendum was not what Brussels and our mainstream politicians wanted.
The EU itself bets on the fact that it will be a 'federal' United States of Europe before the game is up but while the states and politicians in the front seats are trying to complete the creation of such a super state the countries in the back are setting the bus on fire.
Because like the Brexiteers the Salvini's have no actual solutions because there are none. Most countries have messed up too much to fix their issues. Which for the 5th largest economy (Italy) means:
- Skyrocketing youth unemployment
- Braindrain of highly educated workers moving abroad
- Business bankruptcies
- Social tensions (because of migration)
- Increase in poverty
- Decrease in life expectancy
- Not competitive in the global market
- Immigration issues
- Skyrocketing debts
Germany's and Northern Europe's 'success' have sucked southern and central Europe dry. Meanwhile real estate prices in Amsterdam have risen 25% since the start of this year alone as the Netherlands is booming in the international market.
Scooping up all the corporations currently fleeing the Brexit state. The only solution the ECB(European Central Bank) has is to buy up Italian bonds for instance to keep the markets stable but that does nothing for the actual Italian economy.
The only real solution is for Germany and other countries running a surplus to transfer wealth to their less fortunate European neighbors in solidarity but that is politically unfeasible until Europe is a single state.
Meanwhile in the REAL world of Politics
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1017164990099415041FBI
SLUT LAYER