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Merz against Germans and Europeans

By Ricardo Nuno Costa – New Eastern Outlook – April 1, 2025

The last session of the Bundestag under the Scholz government paved the way for the extraordinary injection of 500 billion euros into the German economy, with the votes of the CDU/CSU, the SPD and the Greens. Behind this special fund, which involved an amendment to the Basic Law, is an attempt to revive the country’s economy, which has been stagnating since it declared economic war on its biggest energy supplier, Russia, in 2022. More worryingly, the easing of the debt brake that has now been approved does not set any future limits, which could lead Berlin into a debt spiral. For now, a week later, there is already talk of additional spending of at least 350 billion euros on this package. The decades-long brand image of German ‘fiscal discipline’, of the transparency of its economy and of Germany as the continent’s safeguard of monetary stability is thus falling apart.

The new chancellor, Friedrich Merz, who has always sold the image of being a ‘frugal’ and ‘rigorous’ politician and has vehemently opposed any change to the debt ceiling, is the mastermind and the one who will effectively direct the implementation of this fund over the next 12 years, thus being able, as head of government, to take out loans for public investments or direct payments from the federal budget. Calculated, the amount comes to a staggering 42 billion extra euros a year, almost a tenth more than the last federal budget. The money will flow into the German economy and generate opportunities, but at what cost?

Merz was for years the head of BlackRock Deutschland, the German branch of the world’s largest ‘shadow bank’, the asset manager BlackRock. In 2020, in order to run for the head of CDU/CSU), he formally stepped down from his position at the New York giant. Now, the opposition (and even members of the current grand coalition with the SPD) believe that the Chancellor wants to continue lobbying for the interests of his bosses on the other side of the Atlantic and combine Germany’s rearmament projects with an infrastructure programme from which BlackRock and the German arms giant Rheinmetall will make juicy profits at the expense of the public purse. MP and former parliamentary leader of the Social Democrats, Rolf Mützenich, accuses Merz of wanting to do business with foreign and security policy by keeping Germany under the thumb of the US military industrial complex. It was the best way he could find to ‘appease Donald Trump’, the SPD MP recently told Spiegel. So it’s clear that there’s no cut with the US, despite all the murmuring and outrage that Trump’s election has caused among a frustrated European elite, who blindly bet everything on Kamala Harris.

From austerity to debt

The Federal Republic, despite its reputation for austerity, is a champion of ‘special funds’. From the Marshall Plan to the country’s opaque and hurried reunification process, Berlin has always found ways to bypass legality or even the rules of the common market in order to keep its public accounts apparently healthy. The current special fund is by far the largest of the 29 previously approved. The Financial Markets Stabilisation Fund (200 billion in 2008), Covid (150 billion in 2020), the Armed Forces (100 billion in 2022) and the ‘energy crisis’ (200 billion in 2022) were the biggest. Through these extra budgets, Berlin has been hiding the true scale of its public debt and budget deficit for the last 20 years. Now things are clearer and many questions arise.

Germany is Europe’s largest economy, but it has been contracting for three years. The Berlin government actually has more liquidity than ever because it is taxing its citizens more than ever, but it needs to use these tricks to approve potentially unnecessary and exaggerated plans. In the current conditions of de-industrialisation, does Germany have the capacity to generate the physical wealth to get the economy growing again, or will the operation result in a setback that could aggravate the inflation already persistent since the special fund against Covid? Experts warn that the initiative will not have the capacity to generate economic competitiveness. Issuing debt for government programmes will do nothing to address this major shortcoming in the German economy.

Consequences for Europe

The approval of this fund further corroborates the idea that Europe as a whole – and not just the South, once vilely labelled the ‘PIGS’ – has, in fact, never left the crisis of 2007-08 and that its political classes (with Germany at the forefront) have insistently done the opposite of what they should have done.

How will France, Italy, Spain and the other Eurozone partners react to a move that could be considered ‘dumping’ between partners? Could this injection cause a new financial derivatives’ crisis?

Merz’s move had the immediate effect of boosting the European public debt market, causing the value of bonds to fall and their rates to rise. This dragged down Italian, Spanish, French and even Japanese bonds as a result. With the German state competing aggressively for new clients to finance its debt, it is forcing its European partners to follow suit. Discord is served. In other words, what Merz is doing is using his position as the Eurozone’s strong link by using the whole of Europe to pay for his businesses.

Does the new government in Berlin intend to finance its economy around sovereign bonds and a Frankfurt stock exchange with little more than a central European reach, and try to compete with the heavyweights of the global markets in New York, London, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong? Is this realistic?

Merz’s plan coincides with the European Commission’s Readiness 2030 programme to issue another 650 billion euros in debt outside the Budget Pact and another 150 billion to be disbursed in European guarantees. The biggest debt issue since the ‘bazooka’ against Covid, which is still being paid for in the form of inflation. The project calls for states to allocate at least 1.5% of their budgets to defence, in order to launch a continent-wide arms industry and supposedly create jobs in the sector. No one has asked the states (let alone their people) if they want to live in a war economy. No one has said how these 650 billion will be paid back, or what guarantees the ‘European guarantees’ give a State.

The expansive policies of German governments since 2008 have been controversial, even within their own borders. The Federal Court of Audit harshly criticised the new fund: ‘The financial management of the federal government has thus been largely externalised,’ it accused. It warned that the financial package ‘could result in billions of euros in interest costs’. This will have catastrophic economic and social consequences for future generations.

Merz is betting on public spending, but in reality this is a kind of untimely neoliberal Keynesianism, as it will be financed by the US speculative banks, to which the new chancellor has always been closely linked. The whole process seems less than transparent, just to say the least.

Problematic social situation

For big businesses, the arms industry, construction companies, the speculator class and the financial sector, the injection of such a huge amount of money will have the effect of energising the economy for a while and improving some ageing infrastructure. But for the small citizens (the overwhelming majority of the population), the consequences of the current announcement will be devastating. Merz has already announced a ‘radical reform’ of pensions and social welfare benefits.

A good example of the state of public accounts in Germany is yet to be seen. Recently, the scandal broke at the hands of hundreds of thousands of small business owners across the country, who saw their businesses almost bankrupted during the lockdown campaign of the Merkel 4 and Scholz governments. In an extremely deceitful manoeuvre, the banks mandated by the state administrations have now (four years later) demanded that they return up to thousands of euros in ‘aid’ per head, which the state authorities granted them in compensation for the forced paralysis of trade. This is a simple transfer of wealth from the country’s small productive sectors directly into the pockets of the financial-technocratic class (banks, lawyers and accountants), with the public administrations acting as bait.

Social discontent is also being felt in the numerous strikes in various sectors, particularly public transport and airports.

In a recent joint interview, the directors of two popular publications, one linked to the left and the other close to the AfD, agreed to create a united front and promised to join forces against the current state of affairs. There will be larger demonstrations than during Covid, ‘authorised or not’, with encampments in city centres, ‘for as long as it takes’. The images of popular revolt from 15 years ago in Madrid and Athens will be repeated, this time in Berlin.

Ricardo Nuno Costa ‒ geopolitical expert, writer, columnist, and editor-in-chief of geopol.pt

April 1, 2025 Posted by | Economics | , | Leave a comment

Germany to target ‘internal EU enemies’ – Politico

RT | April 1, 2025

The incoming German government plans to play a larger role in EU decision-making, including by punishing nations that dissent against the bloc’s foreign policy, Politico has reported. According to the outlet, a draft coalition agreement targets Hungary, which has defied EU decisions on issues such as the Ukraine conflict and sanctions against Russia.

Germany is set to have a new coalition government formed by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Christian Social Union (CSU), and the Social Democrats (SPD), likely led by Friedrich Merz of the CDU. The parties are currently finalizing agreements on key policy areas, including migration, climate, and EU relations. Merz is reportedly aiming to form the new government before Easter on April 20.

One of the documents reviewed by Politico outlines Berlin’s plans for a more assertive EU strategy. It proposes using the ‘Weimar Triangle’ – a trilateral alliance of Germany, France, and Poland, which currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency – to influence the bloc’s direction and strengthen Germany’s use of its voting rights.

The draft also states that Berlin plans to “defend” the EU against “internal and external enemies” by calling for punitive action against member states that allegedly violate principles such as the rule of law. Proposed penalties include withholding EU funds and suspending voting rights.

“We will take even more consistent action against violations,” the document states. “Existing protective instruments, from infringement proceedings and the withholding of EU funds to the suspension [of] membership rights such as voting rights in the Council of the EU, must be applied much more consistently than before.”

The coalition has also proposed the creation of a “comprehensive sanction instrument” to rein in perceived dissenters, including replacing the EU’s foreign policy unanimity requirement with majority voting to prevent countries from blocking decisions such as sanctions.

“The consensus principle in the European Council must not become a brake on decision-making,” the document states.

While Hungary is not mentioned by name, the draft agreement appears to be a clear reference to the country, which has long been at odds with EU policies, including over its approach to the Ukraine conflict and its sanctions policy towards Russia.

Budapest has argued that sanctions have been detrimental to the bloc’s economy, and has exercised its veto right on several motions to delay or dilute measures. Prime Minister Viktor Orban has repeatedly accused the EU of taking a “pro-war” stance and has pursued independent peace initiatives on the Ukraine conflict.

The EU has previously threatened to suspend Hungary’s voting rights. It withheld around €22 billion in funds earmarked for Budapest in 2022, citing rights and judicial concerns, but ultimately released about half of that amount last year.

April 1, 2025 Posted by | Militarism, Russophobia | , | Leave a comment

New German government wants to ban ‘lies’

Remix News | March 28, 2025

The new German government coalition, which is likely to be the Christian Democrats (CDU) and the Social Democrats (SPD) is looking to ban “lies,” according to a working paper that emerged from the group “culture and media” between the two parties.

Bild newspaper received a copy of the working paper, which outlines the goal of combating “fake” news on social media, including restrictions on it.

The paper from the CDU and SPD indicates that “disinformation and fake news” threaten democracy.

In fact, the paper argues that freedom of expression does not apply in such circumstances.

Bild contacted a number of constitutional lawyers, and they are highly skeptical of the law.

“Lies are only prohibited if they are punishable, for example in the case of sedition. Otherwise, you can lie,” said Volker Boehme-Neßler, a professor at the University of Oldenburg.

Even determining a lie is a legal complexity.

“It is not an easy question of what a factual claim and what an expression of opinion is. Most courts interpret freedom of expression very broadly,” he added.

He also took aim at a specific part of the working paper, which addresses “hate and agitation.”

He said, “‘hate and agitation’ — these are ‘no legal terms.” He added, “Basically, the spread of hatred in Germany is protected by freedom of expression. An assertion like ‘I hate all politicians,’ does not yet constitute a criminal offense.”

Another law professor from the University of Augsburg, Josef Franz Lindner, said that the “deliberate spreading of false facts is not punishable, not illegal.”

He said that if the new government moves forward with a law against “fake news,” it would represent a grave threat to freedom of speech.

He said he can only warn against a “fake news” offense being created, saying “Ultimately, it would expose any controversial statement to the risk of criminal prosecution.”

It is also worth noting that Friedrich Merz himself, who is likely to be Germany’s next chancellor, openly lied when he said that his party would [not] support an end to the debt brake. Almost immediately after the election, he said the debt brake would be lifted, and that Germany would take on historic amounts of debt.

Lawyer Joachim Steinhöfel, who has a broad range of clients related to internet censorship, says the CDU and SPD’s goal with the new paper is to “intimidate the unpopular social media” content producers. He said that such censorship already lacks a “constitutional basis.”

March 29, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance | , | Leave a comment

Germany: The AfD party should be banned before the next elections

Remix News | March 25, 2025

The leaders of the SPD and Green Party factions want a ban of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), the second-largest party in the country and the top opposition party, before the next election. The Greens in particular are now urging parliament to submit a motion to ban the party as soon as possible.

The Green party wants the Bundestag to submit a new motion to the Constitutional Court, which would have a final say on banning the party. The original ban motion was initiated by CDU MP Marco Wanderwitz, who retired from politics and is no longer in the new Bundestag, but who is still actively urging the party to be banned.

The Green Party’s managing director, Till Steffen, is putting the pressure on to continue the ban motion “as soon as possible.” The Greens have long pursued a ban against the AfD, as Remix News has previously reported.

The last motion was signed by 100 parliamentarians from all parties, with the exception of the AfD and Free Democrats (FDP). In the new parliament, the FDP is no longer represented.

However, there is one current hiccup, which is the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV). The politicians interested in a ban want the BfV to upgrade the designation of the AfD to a “confirmed right-wing extremist” party. So far, the party has only been labeled a “suspect case” by the powerful domestic intelligence agency, however, in certain states, It is already a “confirmed” case.

The problem is that the BfV currently does not have a president, as the previous one, Thomas Haldenwang of the CDU, already left his position to run as an MP. Haldenwang was blatantly partisan and routinely attacked the AfD in an effort to sink the party.

Due to the absence of a president, the expected report from the BfV to confirm the party as “right-wing extremist” has been delayed. The BfV is unlikely to get a new president before the new chancellor is sworn in. There are worries though from the left that time is running out to ban the party.

The SPD wants to wait for the report to move forward with a ban, but the SPD group manager Katja Mast says the “AfD poses a serious threat to democracy.”

Why is there such a rush when elections are likely four years away? The reason is that the Constitutional Court can take years to decide a case, which means there are fears from the left that the AfD party may be able to run in the next elections.

The CDU and CSU are biding their time and say they will not decide on a ban until the BfV releases their report, but it is perhaps a foregone conclusion they will support such a ban, with a few dissenters.

The Greens are furious that the report is not being submitted fast enough.

The Federal Office for Consumer Protection cited the election campaign as the reason for postponing it. And the election is over,” said Steffen, who says the report not being released yet is “incomprehensible.”

Not everyone believes a ban is possible at this point. In an interview with Remix News, Junge Freiheit editor-in-chief Dieter Stein said he did not believe a ban of the AfD is possible at this point.

The party just hit a new polling high of 23.5 percent in the latest Insa poll, making it difficult to imagine the government banning a party that has nearly a quarter of all voters backing it. However, the EU mainstream may have been encouraged by the results in Romania, which saw the top contender, Călin Georgescu, arrested and banned from running in the presidential election.

March 25, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties | , | Leave a comment

US announcement of sixth-gen F-47 fighter draws analyses from Chinese expert

Graphical rendering shows the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) Platform, the F-47. Photo: VCG
By Liu Xuanzun and Liang Rui | Global Times | March 23, 2025

The US’ recent announcement of the F-47 fighter jet has drawn intensive analyses from Chinese military affairs experts and observers, who acknowledged the aircraft being a real sixth-generation fighter jet for featuring typical characteristics such as a tailless design, but they also raised questions over its potentially limited stealth capability, relatively small size, and the US’ selection of Boeing to build the warplane.

The Pentagon has awarded the contract for the US Air Force’s Next Generation Air Dominance future fighter jet, known as NGAD, to Boeing, US President Donald Trump announced Friday, US news outlet Defense News reported on Saturday.

The sixth-generation fighter, which will replace the F-22 Raptor, will be designated the F-47, Trump said. It will have “state-of-the-art stealth technologies [making it] virtually unseeable,” and will fly alongside multiple autonomous drone wingmen, known as collaborative combat aircraft, Defense News reported.

After reviewing the artist renderings of the F-47 released by the US Air Force, Zhang Xuefeng, a Chinese military affairs expert, told the Global Times on Sunday that the F-47’s appearance conforms to the general development trend of the sixth-generation fighter jet concept. For example, it does not feature any vertical tails, which is an attempt to further improve its stealth capability in all directions. It has a flat nose and a lifting-body fuselage. These are all important characteristics of a sixth-generation fighter jet.

Zhang added that manned-unmanned teaming is a core sixth-generation feature, and one the F-47 includes.

However, a pair of canards can be observed in front of the F-47’s main wings, and this will more or less impact the aircraft’s stealth, Zhang noted. Reiterating that an important trend for sixth-generation fighter jets is to remove vertical tails and use a supersonic flying wing configuration to boost stealth, Zhang said that new mechanisms are needed to act in the place of vertical tails to control the aircraft, such as movable wingtip. But the F-47 opted to use canards, a relatively old technology often found on previous generations of aircraft. He suggested Boeing may lack the tech base to develop new control methods and relies on outdated design choices.

In December 2024, videos and photos emerged on social media allegedly showing two types aircraft with new designs have conducted test flights in China. Despite no official announcements, many called them China’s “sixth-generation fighter jets.” Both of them appear to have removed vertical tails and also do not have canards. One of them, resembling a ginkgo leaf in appearance, looked far larger than its J-20 escort.

Wang Ya’nan, chief editor of Beijing-based Aerospace Knowledge magazine, told the Global Times on Sunday that comparing with the size of the canopy and the front landing gear, it can be analyzed that the overall size of the F-47 is not likely much larger than the F-22. It means that the F-47 is still a tactical aircraft, rather than a large, multipurpose aerial platform capable of conducting campaign-scale missions like the “ginkgo leaf” aircraft.

Defense News, citing Air Force Chief Gen. Allvin, claimed that experimental versions of the NGAD have been flying for the last five years.

But Wang noted that there is no proof of this. Even the pictures depicting the F-47 are artists renderings rather than photos.

Wang also noted that Boeing has not won a major fighter jet program for decades. Its F-15 and F/A-18 fighter jets are from McDonnell Douglas which was merged into Boeing, and Boeing’s own X-32 fighter jet lost to the F-35 from Lockheed Martin in bidding. Boeing’s other projects, such as the 737 MAX airliner and KC-46 tanker aircraft also encountered many issues recently. “Having a company like this to lead a sixth-generation program is actually very risky,” he said.

In addition to US’ NGAD program, other countries are also developing sixth-generation fighter jets. France, Germany and Spain are in the Future Combat Air System program to develop a sixth-generation fighter jet, while the UK, Italy and Japan have a sixth-generation Global Combat Air Programme fighter project, according to Defense News. Russia’s sixth-generation efforts have also surfaced in TASS reports.

Wang said the US is moving fastest with the F-47, while other nations lag. With China’s own jets already spotted in the sky, the outside world is now seeing China and the US in advanced stages of sixth-generation fighter jet development.

March 23, 2025 Posted by | Militarism | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Europe Will Spend Itself Into ‘Bankruptcy’ If It Tries to Meet NATO’s Draconian New Defense Demands

By Ilya Tsukanov – Sputnik – 23.03.2025

NATO is planning to ask its European and Canadian members to boost their weaponry and equipment stocks by about 30% over the next several years, informed sources have told Bloomberg. Sputnik asked a pair of leading German and French observers what this would mean for a region already suffering economic malaise and industrial decline.

Key alliance members like Germany and France would amass an unsustainable fiscal burden, be forced into debt and have to slash social programs if they accept NATO’s call for a 30% bump in new arms and equipment spending, AfD MP Dr. Rainer Rothfuss told Sputnik.

“We can take the example of Germany, where we had a kind of financial policy coup d’état this week” after the Bundestag voted to change the Basic Law to lift debt restrictions for defense spending, Rothfuss, who is also a veteran geopolitical analyst and consultant, said.

“The budget restraints that were even inscribed into our Constitution needed to be changed to get the financial flexibility to invest so much in defense. That shows us that it’s not a matter of priority spending, [but] a matter of, I would say, bankruptcy should this kind of policy be followed in the coming years, not only by Germany but by other countries as well,” the politician warned.

“France, for example,” has “an even more restrained budgetary situation,” Rothfuss said, “struggling economically to keep industry jobs,” and like Italy, should be investing in the competitiveness of its industries, not throwing money away on defense at a time when the security crisis in Europe is potentially closer to a peace deal than ever.

As for Germany, if its industrial decline worsens, it won’t be able to fund the EU to the tune of 25% of bloc spending, which would have serious knock-on effects for other members, the MP warned.

Jacques Sapir, director of studies at the Paris-based School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences, says a 30% bump may not seem like a lot, and even manageable by some countries, like France, given the large-scale decline in NATO stockpiles of 40-60% after the end of the Cold War.

But others, like Italy, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands may need between a 30%-50% increase in outlays, given the decline in defense production over the past three decades, he said, adding that this could take between three and five years to accomplish for countries like France, Germany and the UK, and probably more for Canada.

Last month, Bloomberg calculated that a European defense buildup and the continuation of the proxy war against Russia without US assistance could cost up to $3 trillion over ten years – a massive burden for a region suffering from perpetual economic stagnation and widespread deindustrialization.

March 23, 2025 Posted by | Economics, Militarism | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Berlin takes out emergency loan for migrants as costs spiral

Remix News | March 20, 2025

The city of Berlin has been a major magnet for migrants, but instead of the economic boom promised, they are costing the state billions of euros. Now, the city is throwing more debt at the problem, which will be facilitated by the massive debt package passed by the Christian Democrats (CDU), Christian Socialists (CSU), Social Democrats (SPD), and the Greens.

Economics Senator Franziska Giffey (SPD) announced that Berlin is taking an “emergency loan for refugee costs.”

“We are planning our state budget for 2026/27 under the assumption that we will be able to access further loans,” she said.

The Bundestag’s decision to amend the constitution will allow federal states to take out new debt, and the Berlin Senate is wasting no time doing the same, with most of the money flowing to foreigners.

The relaxation of the debt brake allows each federal state to take on debt that amounts to 0.35 percent of nominal GDP every year. For Berlin, this is a welcome reprieve, with the city’s migrant population straining the budget to the extreme. Now, Berlin can take out approximately €670 million every year in new debt, which will be €1.3 billion for the budget for 2026 and 2027.

Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner, of the CDU, is known for his welcoming stance towards immigrants; however, his government has struggled to house and care for this growing population. He said it is “absolutely right” that German states can take on more debt.

“Germany’s infrastructure has been criminally neglected and driven to wear and tear,” said Wegner, who was a major supporter of relaxing the debt brake.

As Remix News has reported in the past, Berlin has allocated €1.3 billion to housing refugees, while cutting public school budgets. The city has turned to tent cities and prefabricated structures to house migrants. Of course, the housing crisis is seen across Germany, with mass immigration pricing people out of the cities and leading to rising rents year after year. German security firms continue to rake in tens of millions of euros every year due to the violence, assaults and even sexual abuse seen in the various asylum centers in the city.

As the Berlin police chief Barbara Slowik noted last year, crime has soared due to mass migration in the city, which is further straining the security budget.

In an interview with RBB, she voiced concerns over the impact of immigration on the city and the broader nation, suggesting that the current levels of immigration are unsustainable, both financially and socially.

“I believe that a limit has been reached as to what is affordable,” she told the broadcaster.

She emphasized the need for a comprehensive societal response to address the growing number of violent incidents involving immigrants.

Now, with the new debt package passed in the parliament, federal states have significant leeway to spend the money how they want. A lot of that money is going to sustaining Germany’s new foreign population, which costs the federal government approximately €50 billion per year. That is approximately the same amount the country spends on the armed forces every year.

March 20, 2025 Posted by | Economics | | Leave a comment

‘Death blow for the euro’ – AfD’s Weidel slams Germany’s massive new debt package

Remix News | March 19, 2025

The German Bundestag passed a historic debt package for defense and infrastructure yesterday, effectively changing the constitution to allow a suspension of the debt brake. However, a number of top German opposition politicians are making dire predictions about what this nearly €1 trillion in new debt will mean for Germany and Europe.

The largest opposition party to emerge from national elections, the Alternative for Germany (AfD), was perhaps the most vehemently opposed to the package. However, the BSW, the Left Party and the Free Democrats (FDP) all filed lawsuits against the deal and fought tooth and nail to stop it, but all of those lawsuits failed.

The co-leader of the AfD, Alice Weidel, is calling the debt a “death blow for the euro.” She said the debt will have a negative impact on future generations, consumers and taxpayers. Furthermore, she believes there will be massive disruptions in the credit markets in the future, rising interest rates, and a “spillover effect on the other eurozone countries.” Already, interest rates on European debt have risen sharply, and the fear is that periphery countries could see their borrowing costs skyrocket. In such a scenario, the euro could be significantly weakened.

She said Merz broke his election promises in dramatic fashion. In fact, the promise to keep the debt brake was even contained within the party election program of the CDU. There is already a sharp backlash amongst the party’s members to the betrayal, with some Germans already canceling their membership to the party.

“This is nothing less than the worst voter deception I have ever seen in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany,” said Weidel.

There was no significant dissent within the parties that passed the new debt package, with only Jan Dieren (SPD), Mario Czaja (CDU), and Canan Bayram (Greens) voting “no” to the package. In the end, the new debt package passed with a comfortable margin above the two-thirds majority required to change the constitution, with 513 for the deal and 206 against.

Of course, the opposition parties are outraged. The law passed under the old Bundestag, the one that had just been voted out of power. It was championed by Friedrich Merz, who promised his CDU would keep the debt brake in place. It represents a historic spending spree, but one with many handouts to the Green Party, including a commitment to “climate neutrality by 2045” enshrined in the constitution.

Among the speakers featured in the debate in the Bundestag was AfD MP Alexander Gauland, who was also a co-founder of the party.

“A lot of right and wrong things have been said in the course of this debate, both last Thursday and today. I would therefore like to make a few personal comments. Mr. Merz and I were in the same party for many years. I left because I could no longer tolerate Angela Merkel’s destruction of the CDU as a conservative-liberal bourgeois alternative to the left-green mainstream. Mr. Merz became a victim of her will to power,” he said.

Gauland also said he had high hopes for Merz at first, with a potential turnaround on immigration and a return to center-right policy, but instead, Merz has allied with the left and blocked a deal with the AfD.

“You sacrificed everything that was still conservative or middle-class in the CDU in order to become chancellor,” said Gauland. “Mr. Merz, you will probably become Federal Chancellor with the kind of policies we have seen in recent years. This policy will fail in the same way as the previous traffic light system. Not even their transatlantic ally in Washington supports their desperate endeavors to solve today’s problems with yesterday’s answers.

“Even if I have had doubts about my own party from time to time in recent years. Today, I am proud and happy to have launched it together with others in 2013. Because as of this week, the Merz CDU is the continuation of the Merkel CDU. Keep it up, Mr. Merz, and you will have to take responsibility for Germany’s decline in the future.”

Meanwhile, the CDU, CSU and Social Democrats (SPD) were triumphant.

Merz said that the financial package opens up “a perspective for our country that is urgently needed in the times we live in today.”

“Today’s decision is an unmistakable signal of Germany’s assumption of responsibility for a secure Europe and an economically stable Germany,” said CSU state group leader Alexander Dobrindt.

SPD leader Lars Klingbeil described the financial package as a “historic compromise” between the SPD, CDU/CSU, and the Greens. He said the debt would help rebuild Germany and beef up the military.

“The world is currently being re-measured; no one is waiting for Germany and no one is waiting for Europe,” said Klingbeil.

FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr slammed Merz, saying he will lead “the first debt-ridden coalition in the Federal Republic of Germany.” He accused Merz of wanting to lead a government “that is prepared to sacrifice tomorrow’s prosperity for short-term election gifts.”

March 19, 2025 Posted by | Corruption, Deception, Economics, Malthusian Ideology, Phony Scarcity, Militarism | | Leave a comment

Merkel criticizes Germany’s anti-Russian hostility

By Lucas Leiroz | March 18, 2025

Apparently, the anti-Russian hostility of German officials is causing controversy among the country’s politicians themselves. In a recent speech, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel criticized the use of pejorative terms to refer to people who advocate a diplomatic approach with Moscow, stating that such attitudes harm political dialogue in Europe.

Recently, the term “Putinversteher” (Putin’s understander) has become popular among German officials and media. The “adjective” is used to defame any German or European who believes in the possibility of diplomatic talks with Vladimir Putin’s Russia. In other words, the German official media has deliberately adopted a rude and offensive term and is using it against German citizens themselves, justifying such attitude with anti-Russian arguments.

Merkel told journalists in a recent interview with Berliner Zeitung that using this word is wrong because it obstructs diplomatic initiatives. Merkel says that it is necessary to engage in talks to understand the real reasons for the conflict and possibly find a solution through a mutually beneficial agreement. For this reason, excluding people who support diplomacy from the public debate is a wrong move.

Merkel emphasized that “Putinversteher” is a “strange” word and that it should be avoided in order to ensure dialogue in Europe. More than that, she made it clear that it is necessary for the Europeans to understand Putin and “put themselves in his position”, thus showing a willingness for real diplomatic dialogue. According to Merkel, understanding the Russian side in the conflict does not mean supporting Moscow, and there is therefore no problem in doing so.

It is important to emphasize that Merkel at no time expressed any sympathy for Putin or Russia. She continues to adopt a completely pro-Ukrainian and pro-Western rhetoric, condemning what she calls Russia’s “unjustified invasion.” However, Merkel supports discussions that take into account the strategic interests of the Russian Federation – certainly because she understands that this is the only possible way to end the war.

“[This term is] Not good, because there has to be a discussion about it. You have to plan ahead for diplomatic initiatives so that they are available at the right moment (…) I find the accusation of being a Putinversteher inappropriate. It is used as a conversation-stopper, a way to shut down debate (…) No one has ever called me that – it’s a strange word. Understanding what Putin does and putting oneself in his position is not wrong. It is a fundamental task of diplomacy and something entirely different from supporting him (…) There is no justification for him [Putin] invading another country, but the discussion about Russia’s interests must be allowed,” she said.

In fact, Merkel governed Germany for many years and at that time her relations with Russia were marked by a certain ambiguity. While she was always committed to the Western hegemonic order on all major ideological and strategic issues, Merkel also had a reasonably pragmatic approach to Russia on some points. Having been educated in East Germany and having a good knowledge of the Russian language, she knew the Russian culture and history more deeply than her European allies and used this expertise to engage in fruitful dialogues – which was particularly possible with Putin, since the Russian president is also a deep connoisseur of German culture and language.

Despite being against Russia on several international issues, Merkel did not give up on the strategic partnership in energy and other relevant issues, which allowed for a period of reasonable stability in bilateral relations. After the end of the Merkel era, relations between Germany and Russia went into absolute decline as the political elites that came to power in Berlin were much more hostile to Moscow – as well as much more ignorant of Russian culture and interests.

So, it is understandable that there is a clash of opinions in Germany about how to deal with Russia. Merkel is herself hostile to Moscow, but she has a softer, more cultured and pragmatic approach. However, the current coalition is completely irrational and advocates for policies that, if implemented without restrictions, could easily lead Europe to an all-out war scenario in the near future.

It is possible to say that the extreme level of anti-Russian hostility in Germany is terrifying even the most experienced German politicians. Berlin has adopted actual madness as state policy and is ready to destroy the entire European security architecture just to defend interests that do not reflect the opinion of the German people.

Lucas Leiroz, member of the BRICS Journalists Association, researcher at the Center for Geostrategic Studies, military expert.

You can follow Lucas on X (formerly Twitter) and Telegram.

March 18, 2025 Posted by | Russophobia | | Leave a comment

Germany recruiting Afghan migrants as mercenaries for Ukraine – source

RT | March 17, 2025

The German government has been coercing Afghan refugees into fighting for Ukraine, an anonymous source has claimed to RT. The scheme allegedly targets refugees who have been detained for various crimes, with the threat of deportation if they refuse to comply.

According to the individual, whose identity cannot be disclosed for security reasons, the “German authorities are forcing Afghan migrants to join the International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine in order to urgently replenish the personnel of the Kiev regime’s armed forces, which is experiencing an acute shortage of people.”

The scheme supposedly involves approximately 2,300 refugees detained by German police for various crimes in cities such as Berlin, Bonn, Cologne, Hamburg, Munich, Frankfurt am Main, and Stuttgart.

“In the event of refusal to sign the relevant contract and go to Ukraine, the migrants are threatened with guaranteed extradition to Afghanistan,” the source claimed.

The source went on to allege that a number of German security experts have sounded the alarm over the potential ramifications for Germany’s own national security, especially with respect to the threat posed by radical Islamists.

“Some of the refugees are likely to return to Germany after the expiration of their imposed contracts, possessing skills in handling weapons and explosives, as well as experience in combat,” the experts have warned, according to the source.

Last month, Bild reported that at least one recruitment center belonging to Ukraine’s neo-Nazi Azov brigade was operating near Berlin. A recruiter told the media outlet that they were seeking “supporters for our new international battalion.”

Russian authorities have consistently prosecuted foreign nationals caught fighting for Kiev, whom they describe as mercenaries. In January, a Russian court sentenced retired US Army Ranger Patrick Creed to 13 years in prison for serving with the Ukrainian military from 2022 to 2023. In March, British citizen James Scott Rhys Anderson was handed a 19-year sentence for participating in Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region.

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin noted that foreign mercenaries fighting for Kiev are not entitled to the same legal protections under international law as those granted to regular Ukrainian POWs.

March 17, 2025 Posted by | Aletho News | , | Leave a comment

Russia’s Kursk Region Becomes Final Resting Place for NATO’s Top Tech

By Ilya Tsukanov – Sputnik – March 15, 2025

The near-total collapse of Ukraine’s operations in Kursk region has highlighted the folly of Zelensky’s obsession with throwing his best troops and materiel into a hopeless campaign. Here’s a selection of NATO equipment that has “found its peace in Kursk’s ground” over the past month, complete with photo and video evidence.

Russia’s Defense Ministry estimates that Ukraine has lost nearly 400 tanks, almost 2,800 armored vehicles and over 1,000 guns and mortars in fighting in Kursk region to date, and says over 85% of territories once occupied by Ukrainian forces have been freed.

Liberated areas contain scores of wrecked, burned out, damaged or abandoned vehicles, including some of NATO’s most advanced equipment:

M2A2 Bradley: Over 300 of these do-it-all American infantry fighting vehicles have been sent to Ukraine, with nearly half confirmed lost by Oryx. They’ve been spotted among other wrecked NATO equipment in Kursk region.

M1 Abrams: 31 of these custom-made monkey model American main battle tanks have been delivered to Ukraine. 20 lost to date. One recently spotted being towed away intact in Kursk region. Australia plans to send 49 more.

Leopard 1 AVLB Biber: Armored vehicle-launched bridge built on a German Leopard-1 tank chassis. 30+ sent to Ukraine. One recently found abandoned, in mint shape, in a Kursk village.

M777: A third of the 180 US-made 155mm howitzers sent to Ukraine have been lost, damaged, or abandoned to date, with several recently captured almost intact in Kursk region.

Stryker: Over 400 of these Canadian-built armored fighting vehicles have been transferred to Ukraine. At least 55 destroyed, some caught on Russian MoD FPV drone videos moments before meeting their fate.

BMC Kirpi II: 200 of these Turkish MRAPs have been sent to serve in Ukraine’s elite units. Scores destroyed, damaged or captured by Russian forces, including in Kursk.

HMMWV: 5,000 of these ubiquitous US vehicles, better known as Humvees, have been delivered to Ukraine. Scores captured on Russian FPV drone cam footage in Kursk region.

Roshel Senator: Over 1,700 of the Canadian-built armored cars have been delivered to Ukraine. Also spotted in Russian FPV drone videos.

MAXXPRO: About 440 these Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles (MRAPs) have been sent to Ukraine by the US, with at least 197 lost to date, including in fighting for Kursk.

M113: 1,000+ of these ancient tracked APCs have been sent to Ukraine by the US and allies, with nearly 300 destroyed to date, including in Kursk region.

BATT UMG: Ukraine has received 116 of these US-made vehicles. Rarely seen, some are known to have met their fate on the battlefields of Kursk.

Bushmaster PMV: About 120 of these Australian-made Protected Mobility Vehicles have gone to Ukraine, some ending up in Kursk region, and at least 25 lost to date.

M240: Besides heavy equipment, an array of NATO small arms has also been destroyed or captured in Kursk as well, among them the FN M240 7.62mm machinegun, delivered to Ukraine by the US and France. In February, a Russian trooper in Kursk captured an M240 after storming a Ukrainian position and bringing the gun back to friendly lines.

March 15, 2025 Posted by | Militarism | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

New findings on the Nord Stream attacks — a deep dive

By Maike Gosch | Nach Denk Seiten | March 7, 2025

The Nord Stream pipelines are currently back in the headlines. After rumours of a US takeover of the pipelines recently caused a stir, the Bild newspaper reported on March 4th that Germany is currently intensively examining what levers it has at its disposal to prevent a comeback of Nord Stream 2. Just when you think the absurdity can’t get any worse, someone turns the screw a little further. But I guess these are the times we live in.

However, there is also other news, namely the publication of very interesting research findings on the attack on the pipelines, which may shed new light on the modus operandi and the possible perpetrators. As expected, these do not come from the official investigative bodies, but from an independent journalist from France.

Every crime fiction reader knows that one of the most important steps in solving a case is to ask the right questions. One question that has been bothering me for some time in relation to the Nord Stream attacks is why some of the deepest places in the Baltic Sea, which is shallow in many places, were chosen for the attacks.

Why was the so-called Bornholm Basin chosen as the crime scene, which is around 80 to 100 metres deep, and not other areas that have a water depth of only around 20 to 30 metres and would have had the additional advantage that the two twin pipes of Nord Stream 1 and those of Nord Stream 2 run very close to each other, so that it presumably would have been easier to blow up both pipelines or all four strings?

This question and a possible answer to it are the focus of new research findings by French investigative journalist Freddie Ponton, which appeared last week in the online newspaper 21st Century Wire.

He explores a possible, very simple answer to this question, which can be summarised in one word: submarines.

After rumours of a Russian submarine in the vicinity of the crime scene made the rounds in the very first hours after the attack, a possible commission of the crime with the help of submarines has strangely played a very subordinate to non-existent role in the theories and speculations since then. Seymour Hersh does not mention this possibility either — even though highly experienced German defence expert Thorsten Pörschmann, for example, stated in an interview on October 10, 2022, shortly after the attacks, that he considered the use of submarines equipped for laying ground mines to be the most likely scenario. Here are his comments on this in full (from about minute 14:37):

There are explosive charges that are specially designed for these depths and that can be laid with submarines. That’s the exciting thing. And in terms of weight, they also match the explosive force that was measured. The whole thing is called a bottom mine. They are cylindrical and can be carried in the torpedo tubes of submarines. […] A torpedo tube on a submarine is not only there to fire torpedoes. It can also transport combat swimmers in it and let them out, but these torpedo tubes can also be used as a mine-laying device by sneaking somewhere and laying bottom mines there. Every mine is only supposed to explode when you drive over it or when it’s triggered, but every mine is also an effective explosive, which means you can also use it as an explosive. This is often done with anti-tank mines, that is, if I have nothing else, I use an anti-tank mine as an explosive. That would also work with a bottom mine.

But back to Freddie Ponton’s new findings for 21st CenturyWire: he first points out an important point, namely that these deep places in the Bornholm Basin would be ideal for the use of submarines, both in terms of their manoeuvrability and the possibility of acting undetected.

Another point Ponton highlights is the fact that some of the areas where the attacks took place are even specially designated NATO submarine exercise areas, which are marked as such on nautical charts (as shown in documents from the Danish Energy Agency, which issued the licence for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline in October 2019, which he shows in his article). Another important piece of information is that submarine operations in the Baltic Sea are managed and coordinated by the German Navy’s Submarine Operating Authority, or SubOpAuth, in cooperation with NATO and the Baltic states.

So, we have sites that are partly in the middle of areas designated for submarine manoeuvres and whose submarine activities are coordinated by a subdivision of the German Navy. Ponton next sets out to investigate more about NATO’s submarine activities in the period around the attack at the end of September 2022.

In his February 2023 report, the American journalist Seymour Hersh claimed that US Navy divers were involved in the sabotage of Nord Stream and used the NATO naval exercise BALTOPS 22 — one of NATO’s largest maritime manoeuvres, which took place in the Baltic Sea between June 5 and 22, 2022 — to place explosives at various locations along the pipeline. Unlike Freddy Ponton, however, Seymour Hersh did not assume that submarines had been used to commit the offence, but that deep-sea divers had planted the explosives on the pipelines.

Ponton also deals with BALTOPS 22, but focusses on the submarine activities. As he reports, it is naturally difficult to obtain more precise information about the planning, content and command structures of the military exercise. But a stroke of luck helped him: Danish journalists from the TV2 channel were filming a report on the activities of the Danish navy, and the picture showed a screen on which the organisational structure of the BALTOPS 22 exercise was visible. It showed that BALTOPS 22 was led by an American, but that a German military officer was in charge of the submarine exercises which were part of the manoeuvre.

However, around the time of the attacks, there were other exercises in the Baltic Sea in addition to BALTOPS 22, which many are familiar with from Seymour Hersh’s article. Of particular interest for our investigation is the German-led naval exercise Northern Coasts 2022, which began on August 29, 2022 and ended on Wednesday September 28, 2022, two days after the Nord Stream explosions, and which was planned and conducted with the help of NATO’s Allied Naval Command (MARCOM) and other NATO partners. As Freddie Ponton points out in his long and detailed article:

The fact that the Nord Stream explosions occurred under the watch of the German Navy and MARCOM during German-led Northern Coasts 2022 is of great concern. Not only it is unthinkable that Germany wasn’t aware of the air, surface and subsurface activities taking place in the Baltic Sea around that time but, it is even harder to believe, if not inconceivable, that MARCOM was left in the dark.

Ponton’s article thus argues that it is unlikely that anyone outside NATO could have carried out attacks on such a large scale in the “NATO Lake”, as the Baltic Sea is also called, unnoticed during this period, while manoeuvres were taking place in parallel. It also shows the extent to which the naval activities of NATO member states are already coordinated with each other.

Of course, without being an expert in this field, this is difficult to judge. Do these latest investigations and research already provide clear evidence of responsibility by a particular state or actor? No, unfortunately not, but they do provide interesting and relevant context that can help to assess the situation and clarify the probabilities of who the possible perpetrators are most likely to be. These investigations can also provide an answer to the question of who most likely had the means to carry out the attack.

Unfortunately, we are still waiting for final results from the German investigators, so citizen journalism will have to fill this gap. The arrest warrant for a Ukrainian national named Volodymyr Z., who allegedly planted the explosives on the pipelines with other suspects while diving from the sailing yacht “Andromeda”, seems more and more like a red herring, just as the whole yacht story is rather unlikely from the point of view of many experts.

Freddie Ponton’s article is only the first in a series. According to the author, the second part is expected to be published around June 2025. We can look forward to seeing what else will come out of it. In an interview with Patrick Henningsen on X about his findings, the author already mentioned that he will explain, among other things, why there was a 17-hour gap between the various explosions, which is one of the many still unsolved mysteries that this attack — the largest terrorist attack (luckily without human victims) in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany — presents us with.

In his article he furthermore announces:

The idea that a covert operation utilizing an ExMCM Unit [Note by MG: ExMCM stands for Expeditionary Mine Countermeasures. This term is used in military and maritime contexts for special units that specialise in detecting, defusing or removing mines under water] was carried out with the support of an Amphibious Ready Group and a submarine(s) (or mini-subs) during NATO naval exercises may appear unlikely at first glance. However, our investigation into the Nord Stream sabotage now provides compelling evidence for the existence of Seabed Mine Warfare and Underwater Demolition Operations. These activities were conducted during maritime exercises led by NATO member states, thereby aligning squarely with the principles of Maritime Irregular Warfare.

It is a well-established fact that the United States Navy engages in covert, unacknowledged, and unscheduled operations during NATO Mine Countermeasures (MCM) and Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) maritime exercises in Europe. This assertion is supported by publicly available information, and also further corroborated by off-the-record conversations by our investigative team with both former and active duty NATO officers, and EOD commanders.

It is worth reading Freddie Ponton’s extremely detailed and comprehensive article in full — it contains a great deal of information about developments in the military sector that are unfortunately rarely critically scrutinised by the media, such as the extremely close integration of the German military with NATO structures. There is also very interesting information about the means and methods of the extensive clean-up operation on the bottom of the sea that took place stealthily after the attacks.

However, it is very difficult for me to imagine that German marines were involved in the Nord Stream blast or were even in on it, but let’s wait and see how things develop. In any case, there is still a lot to be discovered beneath the surface.

Translated from German for Thomas Fazi on March 10, 2025.

March 13, 2025 Posted by | False Flag Terrorism | , | Leave a comment

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