Ach, Du Liebe Zeit! The German Firewall Has Fallen

This post was originally published on this site

Ach, Du Liebe Zeit! The German Firewall Has Fallen 1

Put your pith helmets, body armor, and sandals with toe covers on. 

The unthinkable happened in Germany yesterday, and it has drawn the Gorgon from her lair, breathing fire.

Advertisement

I mean – holy smokes. 

I cannot get over even this picture alone, less mind the seismic goings-on.

Alice Weidel, Alternative for Germany (AfD) leader, as she clasps the hand of Christian Democrat Union (CDU) head with a YUGE grin on her face.

Freidrich Merz, leader of the Christian Democrats, had alluded to what he had in mind after the horrific attacks just a few days ago.

…Christian Democrat (CDU) leader Merz is rattled enough to know which way the populist wind is blowing and, in the face of these continuing horrific crimes and public opinion turning very dark, has broached the once unthinkable – working with Weidel and AfD.

…Get ready to hear talk of the Barbados coalition – black (CDU/CSU), yellow (FDP), and blue (AfD).

 That’s because Merz says he will tolerate AfD votes in favor of his motions, something he and other CDU/CSU leaders had previously ruled out. It doesn’t matter that he still rules out creating a coalition with the conservative populist party – once informal, mutual support arrangements are considered acceptable, there are many paths open to creating a post-election, de facto coalition.

And, by Georg – he went through with it.

German CDU party breaks “firewall” by cooperation with AfDs

The leader of Germany’s Christian Democratic party (CDU), Friedrich Merz, received criticism yesterday after his party set forth a proposal to limit migration into the country with the support of the hard right Alternative of Deutschland (AfD) party. 

Merz’s party introduced several motions and a draft bill to parliament to modify the country’s immigration and asylum laws in the run up to the forthcoming elections to be held on the 23rd of Feb next. 

The two non-binding motions call for heightened security measures and the closure of German land borders to irregular migration in the wake of a series of fatal stabbings across the country where the suspects are migrants.  

…The proposal passed receiving 348 to 345 in favour of the proposal where 75 votes from AfD party members were accepted by the CDU in order to win the motion in a move that has ended a long standing accord of non-cooperation with hardline parties. 

The CDU had long held a policy of non-cooperation with the AfD which has been the subject of the political ‘firewall’ of non-cooperation with political entities which have been deemed far-right.

Advertisement

There is no side-stepping the ‘immigrant’ issue, nor the deadly attacks and the preponderance of ‘immigrants’ being the perpetrators. Merz saw the writing on the wall in the unprecedented populist rise of the anti-immigrant AfD party, even as more and more horrific and brazen slaughters of native Germans happened in the streets.

…As Gript previously reported, Berlin police chief Barbara Slowik said that individuals with migrant backgrounds are “overrepresented” in violent crime statistics including knife crime. 

Speaking to NTV News, Slowik said that,“In recent years we have definitely seen an increase in Berlin, especially among children, young people and adolescents. So the knife criminals are getting younger.”

During the interview in which she was asked about security measures put in place surrounding the European football championships Slowik explained how German crime statistics distinguish between German and non-German crime suspects. 

 “The police crime statistics make a distinction between German and non-German suspects. And in recent years we have seen an increase in violent crime overall, as well as in non-German criminals in the capital. Non-Germans are overrepresented. To put it bluntly: According to our figures, the violence in Berlin is young, male and has a non-German background. This also applies to knife violence.” she said. 

The AfD is expected to win significant gains in the upcoming elections as public attitudes towards the effects of Germany’s migration policies harden.

Advertisement

Merz said, ‘You might not like it, but that’s tough. Ima do what I have to do.’

…Addressing a raucous parliament on Wednesday, Merz, who has ruled out forming a coalition with the AfD, said he had no choice. “The pictures that we may see of cheering AfD members will be unbearable,” he said to jeers and shouts from other MPs. “But faced with the choice of watching, powerless, as people in our country are threatened, injured and murdered, or doing right now what is indisputably necessary — I have made up my mind.”

Cue the hankies and smelling salts.

Desperate MPs are once again trotting out the dormant ‘Ban the AfD’ motion for consideration in hopes that it takes care of the populist party even as it surges into second place behind CDU in national polls.

But even actively anti-AfD European press outlets are dismissing the efforts as undemocratic, pathetic, pre-snap-election campaign interference.

…If a majority agrees, the Bundestag will ask the country’s highest court to investigate and potentially ban the party. The AfD is already under investigation by the domestic intelligence service and is considered a right-wing extremist party in a couple of German states.

If successful, the party, currently polling at 22% and second only to conservative CDU, would be outlawed, its local chapters dissolved, and their funds confiscated.

That’s unlikely. Though the motion is, in principle, a noble effort to defend democracy, the timing taints the cause.

The 113 Bundestag members had two choices: delay the motion and risk that Germany’s next, likely more right-wing parliament would kill the initiative, or expedite efforts and pray it would pass before 23 February. 

They chose the latter, which is fuelling a narrative that the move is a campaign manoeuvre.

…Instead of a decisive step against far-right radicalism, the motion now looks more like a Hail Mary – one that does much more harm than good.

Advertisement

The other two parties of former chancellor Olaf Scholz’s – his own Social Democrat (SDU) and Habeck’s Greens – are in positive apoplexy over Merz’s maneuvers with Weidel’s aid yesterday. 

Predictably, they’re also worried about upsetting their European Union overlords. These ‘national solo effort‘ kefluffles in Germany, whinged one minister, are irritating the neighbors.

How dreadful.

Irritated neighbors must always be the first consideration in any discussion of national priorities in a sovereign (?) European country.

…The outgoing government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD) and the Green party have argued that they have already toughened controls on immigration. The coalition, which also included the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), implemented temporary controls on Germany’s borders and tightened laws on deportations.

For his part, Scholz described Merz’s proposals as incompatible with both German and EU asylum law.

He said his government had already “pushed the boundaries” of what is possible during its tenure, and that Merz’s motion puts the country’s reputation as a law-abiding European ally at risk.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said that the motion approved on Wednesday jeopardised “joint European action through dangerous national solo efforts.”

“I want to make it clear because the debates in Germany are causing irritation among our European neighbours these days,” Faeser added.

What had to goad Merz the worst was the rousing of the Mutti Merkel from her den. 

Advertisement

Angela Merkel, the former chancellor and person most responsible for the rise of the right to begin with, lumbered back onto the national stage to publicly chide her successor for betraying his previous promise and sullying the CDU’s good name.

I’m sure she thought her image was still revered enough that her reappearance right before the election matters…

…but I wouldn’t be so sure about that.

Memories are long, and right now, they are none too fond.

Speaking of which, as enthusiastic Malthusians as cultists like Merkel tend to be, I came across another little tidbit that is kind of illuminating about the past 30 years of Germany’s indifference to the suffering of its citizens.

Should the elections go as foreseen, Merz will be the next chancellor.

‘Yeah, and?’ you say.

Well. 

Ponder this in light of where the Germans are at the moment.

Advertisement

…Merz is married and has three children. If he became chancellor, he would be the first chancellor since Helmut Kohl – who stepped down in 1998 – with biological children.

Previous chancellors Gerhard Schröder, Merkel and current Chancellor Olaf Scholz do not have any offspring of their own, which one commentator has quipped might be the reason for some family-unfriendly politics of the past.

Literally, childless Katzendamen – cat ladies – have been running that country for thirty years.

I’ll be damned.

That explains everything.

Posted in Republican News