Gerhard Schröder - by far the worst German political leader after World War II

The "flawless" democrat together with his German friend and promoter.

It is now quite obvious that Gerhard Schröder, former chancellor, has been - and, regrettably to a degree still is - the by far worst leader Germany has had since the end of World War II. 

Schröder´s role as a promoter - and beneficiary - of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is wellknown. Schröder also deceived the US government about his pledge to support the toppling of Saddam´s regime in Iraq. The former chancellor has also gone to great lengths to make Iran´s president Ahmadinejad politically respectable. 

Now Der Spiegel has unearthed documents which show that Schröder was the the man who made the present euro crisis possible by his activities in the early 2000s: 

In the early 2000s, Germany was struggling to adhere to euro-zone criteria aimed at ensuring common currency stability. Instead of introducing austerity, however, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder simply launched an effort to change the rules. New documents show just how key his role was in weakening the Stability Pact.
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Seven years later, that which triggered the celebratory mood at the time is now seen as a lapse that made possible the current crisis faced by the European common currency. It permanently undermined confidence in a set of regulations that was intended to force countries to pursue responsible fiscal policy. Afterwards, several countries felt sufficiently emboldened to abandon their efforts to limit spending.
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It is widely accepted that this corset was loosened at the insistence of Germany and France. In truth, however, the weakening of the Stability and Growth Pact was primarily the work of one man: Gerhard Schröder. He received support from his chief of staff, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and from Reinhard Silberberg, head of the European division in the Foreign Ministry. Documents from the Chancellery, released in response to a SPIEGEL request, show that Schröder and his government were the driving force behind the effort. They also show that attempts by Eichel and his ministry to resist were ultimately in vain as he was forced to give in to pressure from Schröder. What's more, Schröder picked Eichel to convince the remaining holdouts among Germany's euro-zone allies.


Read the entire article here

Copenhagen - not quite so wonderful for bikers

This is one  of several vehicles, that pick up approximately 13,000 abandoned bicycles on public streets in Copenhagen each year.(wikipedia)

Copenhagen´s socialist mayor Frank Jensen has been on a high carbon foot print trip to Peking in order to promote biking. Jensen had this message to his communist colleagues in the Chinese capital:  

Half of all Copenhagen residents bike to work every day and the city is now expanding its cycle network by 30 percent, in a move to reduce emissions by 7,000 tonnes per year. This will also cut the city’s healthcare expenditure bill by 300 million kroner annually, owing to improved health of commuters.

Jensen himself bikes to his office at City Hall every morning, and told Xinhua it was “the most efficient way to commute in Copenhagen”, ranking above the city’s bus and underground rail network.

He added that biking is less stressful than driving, builds a sense of community in a big city, and is a great social leveller.

“In Copenhagen, all kinds of people go by bike: cabinet members, deputy mayors, businessmen. It is not only for poor people. It is also for people in prestigious positions,” Jensen said.

Jensen´s talk about biking as a "great social leveller" should of course be taken with a pinch of salt. Danish cabinet members and other politicians bike to work mainly because it is the politically correct thing to do - every politician in Denmark wants to look "green". A pinch of salt is also needed in order to believe the 300 million saving Jensen is boasting about. 

And anybody who has lived in Copenhagen knows that Jensen´s PR speak differs somewhat from the reality: 

According to the Danish Cyclists' Federation and Wonderful Copenhagen, the official tourism organisation for Denmark, the sheer success of the drive to get more locals and tourists on bikes is creating a dangerous, intimidating and unpleasant climate for cyclists in the city.

"In Copenhagen, we have quite extraordinary problems around cycling congestion," said Aneh Hajdu, of Wonderful Copenhagen. "I don't take my children on their bikes into Copenhagen at rush hour any more. It's too dangerous and scary. I just wouldn't risk it."

It is not just the locals who are, according to Hajdu, finding the sheer crush of cyclists in Copenhagen an ordeal. "I went on a cycling trip around Copenhagen with a friend visiting from London recently, and she was terrified by the mass of cyclists and the aggressive way they behaved," said Hadju. "She found them so overwhelming that she burst into tears. She was too scared to get back on her bike. We had to put it in a taxi and drive back home."

As numbers increase in the cycle lanes, says Hadju, so behaviour deteriorates, with jostling and cutting-up becoming more frequent. "The locals rush past the foreigners, who are often uncertain on their bikes and going slowly," she said. "The locals get impatient and therefore become more threatening."

Frits Bredal, of the Danish Cyclists' Federation adds: 

"In rush hour, there are enormous numbers of cyclists fighting for space on Copenhagen's bike paths, which become cramped and packed.

"As numbers grow and they fight for space, cyclists are becoming more aggressive and reckless in traffic. I increasingly see people bringing themselves and others into dangerous situations," he adds. "They break the laws and use their bikes in completely reckless ways."

And finally a word of warning: 

If you planning to rent a car while visiting Copenhagen, be aware of the fact there is nothing more arrogant and aggressive, from a driver´s point of view, than a Danish biker!

BBC`s Moscow correspondent on Putin´s support for Assad

The BBC´s Moscow correspondent is right about one thing: "There is little sign that the Kremlin is ready to do what he (Annan) says: 

Mr Annan is expected to ask Mr Lavrov to put pressure on the Syrian authorities to begin a political transition.

The BBC's Steve Rosenberg in Moscow says Mr Annan knows Russia's role is crucial for the success of his peace initiative, but there is little sign that the Kremlin is ready to do what he says.

Part of the reason for this is that the Russians fear even greater chaos and bloodshed post-Assad, he says.

But Moscow is also deeply suspicious of the West and reluctant to endorse regime change, our correspondent adds, although this could change if it decides its own economic and geopolitical interests are better served by Mr Assad going.

However, everything else what Steve Rosenberg says is nonsense. The Russians could not care less about chaos in Syria, and neither do their "economic and geopolitical interests" play any crucial role there. The only real reason why Putin props up his fellow dictator, is the fear that he himself might share the same fate as Assad - being dethroned by his own people. 

But Putin´s delay tactics will not succeed. Assad will soon be gone - and Putin will join him somewhat later. 

Madness: UK subsidies for wind power over £1billion this year

"No developer will build windfarms without subsidies. Electricity companies are compelled to buy this expensive electricity. Both are funded by an extra charge on every electricity bill. This is not a government subsidy, which would be open for scrutiny. We are now paying £1 billion a year." nowind.org.uk 

The Daily Telegraph reports that wind farm subsidies (paid for by UK taxpayers) are expected to top a billion pounds this year for the first time.


The UK government is soon expected to announce a cut of the subsidies, but the the decision could be postponed because of Whitehall internal wrangling. (Liberal Climate Change Secretary, warmist Edward Davey would like to keep the reduction as small as possible, whereas Conservative MPs have been fighting for cuts of about 25%).

According to an analysis of official figures by the think-tank Renewable Energy Foundation (REF), the total annual subsidy for onshore and offshore wind farms has, for the first time, topped £1billion. REF estimates that on current renewable energy targets – and with only modest cuts – the energy companies will have received £100 billion in subsidies by 2030.

REF said it expects 10 companies, between them, to pocket £800million through subsidies over the next 12 months.

The biggest winner is Dong Energy, a Danish energy company, which is on course to earn more than £156 million in subsidies through its British wind farms.

The next highest earner is Vattenfall, a state-owned Swedish energy conglomerate, which will earn £128 million from its wind farms. Out of the top 10, only two of the companies are British-owned – Centrica, which will receive £58 million in subsidy and SSE, which is due £53 million.

Read the entire article here

And this comes at a time when UK taxpayers are facing this future:


Tax rises and spending cuts worth up to £68billion are needed on top of the £123billion already planned to stop the public finances spiralling out of control, said the Office for Budget Responsibility.

If David Cameron wants to get re-elected, he should stop this madness, and remove the subsidies entirely! 

"Ball cutter" fish in Illinois lake - Is This What Global Warming Looks Like?

"Ball Cutter" fish in Illinois. Is this What Global Warming Looks Like ?

There are reports about a new fish species found in an Illinois lake: 

The pacu fish might not be as large as jaws, but for men it can be just as frightening.

The pacu is lovingly referred to as the "ball cutter" after killing two men in Papua New Guinea by biting off the testicles of at least two local men.

The fish that sports human-like teeth and can weigh up to 55 pounds, has been spotted in Lake Lou Yaeger in Illinois, KSDK reported.

The lake's superintendent Jim Caldwell brought the fish to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources after initially responding to a report that a piranha had been caught. The lab quickly identified it as a pacu, according to the Huffington Post. There are conflicting reports that a second pacu fish had been spotted shortly after. 

How did a fish native to the Amazon basin end up in a small lake in the middle of Illinois? Caldwell believes they were dumped there and were most likely someone's aquarium pet. 

Or could this be something far more sinister: There are rumors about  AP´s Seth Borenstein being sighted on the lake. Could this be What Global Warming Looks Like? 

A federal EUSSR by order?

Serge Halimi, the editorial director of Le Monde diplomatique, issues a warning about introducing a leap to a federal Europe with the euro crisis as the pretext, without giving the voters a chance to have a say: "Europe cannot afford to deny democracy yet again": 

The true believer’s faith is strengthened by disaster. So the true believers in a federal Europe have no intention of abandoning the monetary, budgetary and commercial integration policies that have exacerbated and prolonged the economic crisis. On the contrary, they want to increase the authority of those responsible for these policies. If European summits, stability pacts and disciplinary measures haven’t solved the problem, then that, our true believers assure us, is because they did not go far enough: we owe all our successes to Europe, all our failures to its absence. On the strength of this blind faith, they sleep soundly and dream happy dreams.

They also have nightmares, because federalists do not dislike storms: warnings of storms ahead give them the pretext of an emergency with which to subdue resistance to their grand design. Caught in mid-stream and under fire, you cannot go back. You must reach the other bank or die in the attempt, make the great “federal leap” or fail. As the former German foreign minister, Joschka Fischer, said last year: “Unless the current confederation evolves into a political federation with a central government, the eurozone — and the Union as a whole — will disintegrate” (1). In France, the three major radio networks and two of the main newspapers say the same thing every day.

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Will the current drama be the pretext for imposing a new federal leap forward without allowing universal suffrage a last bow? Europe is already in trouble; it cannot afford to deny democracy yet again.

Read the entire article here

Weak Obama administration propping up Putin

Russia has sent 11 old warships to Syria in a fake show of force

Lee Smith, Senior editor of the Weekly Standard is right when pointing out that a weak Obama administration has allowed a powerless Russia to "get away with just about anything" - particularly with regard to Syria. In reality, "the Russians are all show", and "it is the Obama administration that has provided the stage": 


On Tuesday, Russia announced it was sending 11 warships to the Mediterranean—some of which would dock in Syria, where Moscow keeps a base in Tartus. If some onlookers believed that the “unusually large size of the force” was meant to send a message to Washington, the fact is, the Obama administration has been signaling to the Russians that they can get away with just about anything, especially when it comes to Syria.
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Some 16 months into the Syrian uprising and after, according to some estimates, more than 17,000 have been killed, there is little end in sight. U.N. special envoy to Syria Kofi Annan has finally conceded that his six-point peace plan, has failed. “We have made significant efforts to resolve this situation by peaceful political methods,” Annan said earlier this week. “Obviously, we have not succeeded. And there is no guarantee that we will succeed.”
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But Russia, says Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, is not really “holding on to Assad.” Rather,according to this report, it is “defending basic international principles that prevented powerful nations from deciding the internal conflicts of smaller states.” Anti-imperialist rhetoric, it seems, has entered its baroque phase. Were this sentence not spoken by a Putin apparatchik, it would be hard to hear it as anything but a parodic evocation of golden age Soviet oratory, when smaller states existed for no other reason than for Moscow to tilt their internal conflicts on behalf of Soviet interests.

The point is, the fact Russian diplomats are trotting out this line now, long after it lost the military might to back it up, masks a profound weakness. Maoscow is no longer able to project power the way it could during the Cold War. Regardless of its port in Tartus, or dispatching ships to the eastern Mediterranean, Russia cannot save Assad—not even from a disorganized rebel army that the Obama administration has disdained to support. It is only in diplomatic forums that the Russians are capable of managing any sort of protection for the Syrian president. The Russians are all show. And it is the Obama White House that has provided the stage.

PS

The real reason for Putin´s support of Assad can be found here.