Dr. Oliver Hartwich: "Merkel´s irresponsible decision has created an existential challenge to her own country"

Angela Merkel´s open doors refugee policy has seriously weakened Germany and the entire EU:

Nothing is fine in Europe these days. Since Angela Merkel singlehandedly opened Germany’s borders to refugees, asylum seekers, migrants and any other nomads, the continent has been plunged into chaos. First and foremost, Merkel’s irresponsible decision has created an existential challenge to her own country. But it also threatens to wreck the European Union -- or at least turn it into an entirely different organisation. --

Before too long, we can expect Turkey to use the leverage presented to it by the refugee crisis to extort more concessions from Merkel. And how ironic would that be: to see liberal Britain depart from the EU while authoritarian Turkey joins – and both of them essentially because of the same reason.
Merkel’s political stupidity has exposed her to blackmail from Turkey – and from Greece. Again, it is completely ironic how the balance of power has shifted in Europe. Only half a year ago, it was the Greek government that was humiliated in Europe and had to give in to Germany’s demands. The refugee crisis has changed that too. --

What this shows is how much Merkel’s policies have reduced Germany’s standing. Not so long ago, Germany was seen as strong and Merkel as one of the most powerful politicians in the world. Today, the British are preparing their departure from the EU, Turkey cannot believe its luck to be dictating its demands to Berlin, and even Greece may feel encouraged to stand up to Germany.

We are witnessing a fundamental shift of power within the EU. This shift of power has weakened Merkel’s Germany and it will eventually lead to an EU that is very different from the EU that we knew.

It is indeed the end of the EU as we knew it. Britain out, Turkey in and Greece debt free: who would have thought what seismic shifts the refugee crisis could trigger in the EU’s power play?

Read the entire article here

New poll: Americans refuse to be worried about global warming

Despite the continuing scaremongering by the warmist establishment, a clear majority of Americans refuse to be worried about global warming. The new AP poll must be a huge disappointment for the alarmists:

However, fewer than one in four Americans are extremely or very worried about it, according the poll of 1,058 people. About one out of three Americans are moderately worried and the highest percentage of those polled — 38 percent — were not too worried or not at all worried.
Despite high profile preaching by Pope Francis, only 36 percent of Americans see global warming as a moral issue and only a quarter of those asked see it as a fairness issue, according to the poll which has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.
"The big deal is that climate has not been a voting issue of the American population," said Dana Fisher, director of the Program for Society and the Environment at the University of Maryland. "If the American population were left to lead on the issue of climate, it's just not going to happen."

The problem with today´s politicians: " If no one is in charge, no one can be held accountable"

Markus Somm has written an excellent article in the German blog Die Achse des Guten.

Here is my quick translation of part of it:

Perhaps nothing has made more clear what´s wrong with the present day politicians, than the refugee crisis. Maybe it took this tragedy to open the eyes of the citizens of Europe. Too many politicians enjoy being generous, to help people and to save the world, mostly with money that is not theirs, mostly with decisions the consequences of which they must never wear because they lie far in the future. They often say 'yes, rarely say no.That as so many politicians in the refugee crisis almost instinctively call for international coordination, makes one suspicious. It is symptomatic. When something is "coordinated", as it is always said, it means that a great number of people take part in the decision making - or not - in any case so many that nobody longer understands who has decided what. In other words, who is responsible for what. The present generation of politicians have masterfully managed to blur responsibilities: therefore they are so happy to avoid the decision-making processes of the nation state, where they are clearly seen as rulers, and take refuge in the higher spheres of the supranational, where all and no one are responsible. Who decided? Who's to blame?Nobody knows. Is it the EU? The Commission, the Council of Ministers, the UN and the OECD, or the G-8? Or is it the parliament? If no one is in charge, no one can be held accountable. Borders determine a territory, but they also show where the responsibility lies. Therefore borders are less popular with some politicians. In the EU the view, to know no limits, under the heading Schengen, was made almost a raison d'etre. The more difficult it is now to defend these borders, even the Schengen external borders that had never been lifted on paper.

How true!

If you speak German, you can read the entire article here.