Russian President Vladimir Putin held a phone call with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and offered to end the war in Ukraine. The Russian leader offered a deal similar to one proposed by Moscow in June.
On Friday, Scholz spoke with Putin for the first time in nearly two years. According to the Kremlin, “The Russian president noted that the Russian side has never refused and remains open to the resumption of the negotiations that were interrupted by the Kiev regime.” Adding, “Russia’s proposals are well known and outlined, in particular, in a June speech at the Russian Foreign Ministry.”
In that speech, Putin said that if Ukrainian forces withdrew from all Russian annexed territory, adopted a position of neutrality between NATO and Russia, agreed to denazification and demilitarization of the country, and the lifting of all Western sanctions on Moscow, then Russia would bring the war to an end.
Scholz’s spokesman said that the German and Russian leaders agreed to remain in contact. The official added that Scholz “condemned the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and called on President Putin to end it and withdraw his troops.” He also told Putin, Berlin maintains “steadfast determination” to support Ukraine for “as long as is necessary.”
Throughout the Joe Biden administration, the West has refused to talk with Moscow about core national security issues. The refusal to negotiate throughout 2021, led Putin to invade Ukraine in the beginning of 2022. After the initial Russian invasion of Ukraine, a deal was nearly reached, but Kiev has been pushed away from negotiations by its Western backers.
After over two and a half years of war, Kiev is struggling to find the manpower to continue the fight while losing territory to the Russian military. Though NATO countries pledged to give Ukraine everything it needed to win the war, Washington has refused to provide Ukraine with advanced weapons and long-range missiles Kiev says it needs to achieve a victory.
Kyle Anzalone is the opinion editor of Antiwar.com, news editor of the Libertarian Institute, and co-host of Conflicts of Interest.
"Putin said that if Ukrainian forces withdrew from all Russian annexed territory, adopted a position of neutrality between NATO and Russia, agreed to denazification and demilitarization of the country, and the lifting of all Western sanctions on Moscow, then Russia would bring the war to an end."
Let's see what Ukraine gains in this :
1. Withdraws its forces from Russian & ethnic Russian territories containing a population Kiev despised anyways and what always voted opposite Western Ukraine. Win.
2. Doesn't join NATO and tithe 2% of a GDP it barely has. Win.
3. Denazifies. Moral & ethical win. F**k those neo-Nazi scumbags.
4. Demilitarizes. Military budget goes to social programs, rebuilding, education and medical care. Win.
5. Lifting Western sanctions on the RF. No impact on Ukraine.
TAKE THE DEAL, IDIOTS !
And in two or three years after Russia reloads a demilitarizes and non align Ukraine will be easy target for Russia to finish the job they started.
Why would they want people who hate them, are experienced in warfare, have tons of unaccounted-for weapons (because you know there will be), are very well financed and would be the darlings of the western press corpse? The vast majority of the natural resources, most of the strategic locations and all of the best farmland will be in Russia, and why would they want to have to assume the absurd amount of war debt Ukraine has acquired? There is nothing there they would want.
After 2014 their existed in the Ukraine a state of civil war. But Russia was never at war with the Ukraine. Such a war would have been over immediately as that initial tank column set out for Karkhov. Russia was and is at war with Washington/NATO who chose to lease Ukrainian manpower on Ukrainian soil for the purpose. Peace with the Ukraine, a wholly owned proxy of Washington, is a logical surd. What Putin was angling for with Scholz was most likely "a separate peace", … i.e., effectively, Europe.
Unlike U.S. that was slowly bleeding in Afghanistan for 22 years, Russians understand occupying Ukraine wont end well either.
Cree el ladrón que todos son de su condición. The thief believes all are like himself. Spanish saying.
Americans in general, and our "leaders" in particular, seem to have difficulty conceiving that theirs is not the only possible way of looking at things. Partly it's our cultural isolation, and partly the lifelong consumption of media insisting that we're somehow superior by the geography of our birth so obviously everyone wants to be like us.
They have to wait for the Biden clown show exit. https://x.com/kurtmetzger/status/1856733682242892197
Very, hum, interesting, I guess…just hope his FP objectives bear more fruits than his fancy foot moves.
;-}
He apparently has played piano with is penis for a skit, he's an all-around multitalented artist! (Not so much a military leader, though.)
He only plays one, silly!
The deal is very good for Ukrainian people but not good for Kiev neo-Nazi regime and it's neocon sponsors. Kiev regime doesn't care about slaughtered Ukrainians. Putin does but he has no choice. His job is to protect Russian people first. For Zelensky and his gang, the peace means the end of their power and the end of the access to American and EU money.
Hardly Trump or anyone in his place would agree to end the sanction war against Russia. The end of the sanction war unavoidably will be followed by restoration of economic ties between Russia and EU which American leadership tried so hard to destroy.
So, neither U.S. leadership, nor Kiev regime has any interest in this peace deal.
-His job is to protect Russian people first-
And Putin is doing a great job at that.
He has brought the number of Russians killed in Action to record figures.
Half his army is gone but yes, his job is to protect Russians.
Record numbers? More than the 23 million that they lost the last time they fought Nazis? That's a bit hard to believe, any documentation on that claim? Must be all the American wunderwaffen, right?
Ukrainians don't rule Ukraine, the USA does. That's why they can't take the deal before regime change happens.
The desperate Kremlin propagandist at work here today.
Only idiots like you make ignorant statements like this.
You’re getting desperate by resorting to pithy insults, Almond Joy.
No one will agree to completely demilitarize. IF I'm Ukraine I'd counter with Putin agreeing to the deal of 2022 and go from there.
Costa Rica can make a good case for it.
But sure, negotiations start at the extremes and work to a middle. Why not ?
I think Russia would move on all the issues. I would guess the 2022 negotiations started out to the extremes also as most negotiations tend to do. According to an article here, I believe by Ted Snider, they were talking number of artillery rounds Ukraine would be allowed to have so that probably means Ukraine had agreed in principle to scale back their military if they were getting that technical. The biggest hurdle is for Russia to think the US, and that's all that really matters here, is agreement capable. I think Russia would move a lot further if they had an "iron clad and unwavering" commitment from the west to engage in real and meaningful diplomacy. So, we're toast.
Now I see a Treaty of Versailles situation where Ukrinazis in the coming European Union Welfare State of West Ukraine start to militarize after this current war ends – with the aim of taking back Alsace-Lorraine in their east, as it were.
I do not trust Kiev to adhere to the details of any treaty it signs with the Russian Federation to end this war. Like Minsk II, the current crowd holding power will use any treaty as a delay tactic.
Putin knows the US, even Trump, will never agree to those conditions. That's why he keeps leaving out the real Russian objectives. He knows a deal with the West is completely impossible.
The article on the front page about the Aegis Ashore installations in Poland coming on line are the real objectives of the SMO. The conditions Putin specified are merely the preconditions for achieving the real objective: a Russian Military District on the border with Poland and Romania to counter those missiles.
Those are the real Russian goals or even the minimalistic ones, as the Kremlin clearly eyes also Kharkov and Odessa. They are not "a Russian military district on the border" with NATO, as whatever Ukraine remains would be neutral and not Russian. What Russia cannot tolerate is NATO in Ukraine (Chernigov and Sumy particularly are way too close to Moscow).
It doesn't really matter what Trump may want, what matters is what he can get, and the more he delays, the more likely that the future "denazified" (de-NATO-ized, neutral) Ukraine, will be smaller even, because Russia is just advancing in all fronts almost unopposed vs a totally demoralized Ukrainian Army.
Russia may or may not allow Ukraine to retain a fig leaf of a state – and that "state" may be "neutral".
But it won't matter because Ukraine will be disarmed and Russia will place a Military District in western Ukraine to counter those missile systems.
Russia will take Kiev once the Ukrainian army has essentially dissolved. They will likely bypass Odessa, if not Kharkov. Once the Kiev regime has fallen, Odessa's military assets become irrelevant. Later, once the Military District is installed in western Ukraine, Russia will undoubtedly build a naval base in Odessa to further solidify control of the Black Sea.
Russia intends to build a new "Iron Curtain 2.0" from the Black Sea to the Arctic, to make sure the West never has an opportunity to invade again.
I don’t think the end game can be so extreme: Ukraine is a very large polity, one of the largest of Europe and Russia is being, in spite of clear victorious advance, quite slow in conquering. Even Donbass has yet to be liberated in full, reaching Kiev and Lvov, even if it may be necessary for Russia to enforce its demands (or maybe not, Ukraine may also concede long before that, as they’re devastated and nearly headless), is something that can only be accomplished after several more years of war.
The likely end game for 2025 will rather be (most likely) one of a reduced Ukraine (but still probably holding Kharkov and Odessa) that accepts partial demilitarization and strict perpetual neutrality, as well as territorial concesions to Russia based on the current frontline. This may happen after the Maidan regime implodes and probably not before.
Russia is fetishist about not damaging “the historical Russian city” of Kiev, anyway it’s not possible to conquer it without first taking Kharkov and Chernigov, unless it is via Belarus, what Russia already tried and then haphazardly gave up in a gesture of good will (allegedly).
Russia does not want any “iron curtain”, that’s absurd. What Russia would like is that NATO gets dissolved and they can thus resume normal relations with Europe without US/British interference. They can only win big deal in terms of business (not just gas but also trade via railroad between China and Iran-India and Europe. They want Europe as market and, if possible, as ally, something interfered by the Anglosaxons.
You mean the US government won't have to send hundreds of billions $$$ over there to kill hundreds of thousands of young White men in some stupid border dispute? Nah, that sounds like a bad deal.
If it were not whites getting killed you would be OK with that. Nice.
Exactly where did I say that Bozo?
Zelensky is delusional, and by all accounts, any sort of cure is beyond present day medical science.
He just needs to evict the Russian oligarchs from his Italian mansion: he's alread mega-rich, he'll survive… Ukraine on the other hand…
Cocaine! It's a hell of a drug!
Hum, what changed?
Maybe Trump threatening to end the Biden
"fund the war" forever policy.
Lord knows the Euros don't want to pay.
Without sugar daddy Uncle Sam picking up the tab,
the war machine is out of gas.
Europe’s sugar daddy…. if it wasn’t for the US we (in Europe) would never have the need for the US. Did you forget the “Fuck the EU” attitide of 2014!
Hum, what changed?
Maybe Trump threatening to end the Biden
"fund the war" forever policy.
Lord knows the Euros don't want to pay.
Without sugar daddy Uncle Sam picking up the tab,
the war machine is out of gas.
Thomas Knapp: How is this Russian annexation of territory from another state by force different from Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights which most if not all NATO states have tacitly accepted even though it too violates the "sanctity of borders"?
Isn't the silence of the Biden administration on Golan but its current demands on Russia a textbook-example of hypocrisy?
Four of the six oblasts (Sebastopol, Crimea, Donetsk and Lugansk) democratically and massively voted for annexation to Russia beyond any doubt. The issue is less clear for the two other regions (Kherson and Zaporozhie), which only held referenda under Russian occupation, not in all their territories and with lesser support for the annexation even in the official Russian tally.
In any case, let's not make artificial borders sacred: the UN enshrines in its Charter the right of self-determination for all peoples. It's not states but peoples who are the actual subjects of sovereignty and democracy.
Joe Biden and Boris Johnson are Class A war criminals.Stephen F. Cohen is vindicated in detail.
As were Rump, Obama, Bush/Cheney, Clinton, Bush the Not-Stupid, and Reagan, unindicted war criminals all.
Cheney/and Cheney Dau – endorsers of Kamala. Iden and Bama were too?
Not only did they endorse her, but she welcomed their endorsement. Since the 1980s the Democratic Party “leadership” has moved the party further and further to the right, supposedly seeking the elusive “crossover voters”. They felt safe abandoning the Left, because who else are they going to vote for? Finally the ‘Lesser Evil’ has become too evil to hold our noses and vote for.
“If Dick Cheney spoke approvingly or even vaguely positively about anything that I was doing I’d have to stop doing it immediately.” – Caitlin Johnstone
There’s nothing more destructive, and thus less conservative, than war.
I remain puzzled with the continuing silence of the German government re Nordstream, now that it has become apparent that the most significant consequence of the threat publicly issued by the SOB's in the WH turned out to be the crippling of the German industrial economy. Scholz should have resigned – in embarrassment and disgrace – a long time ago.
It all comes to demonstrate how massively controlled by the USA Europe is, Germany first and foremost. It's very shameful and depressing for us Europeans (at least those with some critical mindset) but it has become obvious in the last two decades that we're just a colony of the USA and will be looted as much as needed or even more for the "needs" of the metropolis. I say "two decades" because it was painfully apparent already in 2008 how the costs of the sub-prime US crisis were largely paid by the EU (leading to political crises in Greece and Spain especially) but it was much more apparent since Trump began demanding NATO members for protection money and these all agreed to his demands, even if it is the USA who benefits from the power projection of NATO and related bases, not really Europe, and even more aggravating since the Ukraine War began, which is IMO designed not so much to weaken Russia (big failure in any case) but to loot Europe dry and destroy our industry and economy.
We're ruled by corrupt traitors and only an eco-socialist revolution will restore European dignity. Sadly the USA and its associated European bourgeois cliques control the media and thus largely the minds of the European proletariat, so it's not an immediate danger… even if the anger is clearly building up.
The Morgenthau plan after WWII was for the dismemberment and de-industrialization of Germany and making it an agricultural economy.
Rule Britannia!
That is what they are doing now again, two WW and now is the third time in a little more than a century, that is what the pipeline sabotage is about.
It is not a puzzle. They were complicit, their leader knew in advance, and did it by violence to his own country because he could not get political agreement.
I TOTALLY AGREE.
Scholz, the traitor of the German nation even acts like he believes he can get elected again. A despicable man.
He's typical of a large number of leaders in Europe. In point of fact, he's typical of virtually all of the members of the House and Senate in the US, with only a handful of exceptions.
Nothing to see here
Oye vey!….
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8fd26341e0bff8cf64214b7b401666a6c097a70abe0335974cfec2307bd654e8.jpg
That was the hole point of the sabotage. The current government is the product of American meddling and CIA rigging elections. To flip the green party 180 degrees tells a lot. The same powers that gave us Trump and Biden gave the Germans Olaf Scholz, and the same is true for Paris and London. Biden thought he could do a regime change in Moscow, a nuclear power with a popular president. It all adds up.
IMHO I believe that Scholz was told by Biden when he came to visit Biden on Feb. 8, 2022 only weeks before the Russian Ukraine conflict started, and they sabotaged the pipeline end of Sept. 2022. He never demanded an international investigation, and no explanation to the parliament and the people. Scholz committed treason and so did his coalition.
Scholz is not the entire German government last I looked. Otherwise, I agree on your characterization of the individual, whom I have so regarded from the getgo.
That said, I wouldn't be so hard on the man. He's typical of the ruling classes all throughout the western world, along with many places in the Arab world. These people are not leaders, nor are they screened for their leadership talents.
And since Putin is fluent in German, I doubt there was any misunderstanding.
The misunderstanding is thinking that Scholz matters at all.
Maybe there was no call at all, he is a fool, a fake phone call is nothing, he is a big time loser.
Touché!
That's just Zelensky's excuse for losing. You will repeat Ukrainian propaganda if it will make NATO look bad? The U.S. and Europe have given Ukraine enormous help. Including advanced weapons: Tanks, missiles, anti-air systems, fighter jets. HIMARS, howitzers, ATACMS.
Giving them more planes would be useless as they can't handle them.
As for those long-range missiles, everyone knows they'd have to be handled by NATO officers. The targeting would have to be done by U.S. satellites. Making the strikes a direct NATO attack on Russia. In which case Russia has promised to respond accordingly.
Kind of relevant to add when we're talking about a nuclear target, isn't it? Instead of "NATO BAD!"
Furthermore, even if Ukraine got missiles with longer range, that would make no difference. Russia is enormous and Ukraine's pinpricks would do nothing. They have already moved relevant units and supplies out of range. It would only work as an act of terrorism, as Ukraine likes to hit civilian targets like airports and government buildings.
Zelensky knows that. His demand for long-range missiles, now combined with the completely zero-evidence claim of "thousands of North Koreans fighting in Kursk," is only meant to draw NATO into direct war with Russia. As they could only be directed and handled by NATO personnel, a direct NATO attack on Russia. Which is why not even Biden will say yes to this scheme.
Meanwhile Russia is advancing on the battlefield. This week they have advanced rapidly on a wide front as Zelensky sent all the elite units and best-equipped reserves to the forested Kursk pocket, where they are hit from three directions. The Ukrainians have only one or two untrained soldiers where they used to have five. They have only rudimentary, unfinished trenches. The untrained new recruits only sit still, they aren't trained to attack, and the commanders say in interviews that they desert after the first time they are hit with artillery. The Ukrainians bet everything on holding Avdiivka and Vuhledar, and they lost both, with no real fortifications behind them. No "advanced weapons and long-range missiles" will change that.
The only chance Maidanistan had at winning would have been if they had air superiority or at least parity, which is not what the USA-NATO prepared them for (their air force was devastated early on by Russia).
Anyhow, if Maidanistanis were any good at whatever they're doing, they would have reached the excellent firepower of Yemen or Hizbollah on their own (Ukraine is/was a large country with plenty of resources, with much greater potential than Yemen or Lebanon in theory) and overcome the Russian superiority issue with ingenuity. They didn't, they couldn't because to begin with they always lacked moral superiority and were rather drowned in mega-corruption schemes, often handled from outside, as were many of their disastrous strategies such as the much talked "great Ukrainian offensive" fiasco (100% made in the Pentagon BTW).
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/uncategorized/who-profits-on-ukraine-war/
No, he said that then Russia would be willing to talk about the "security architecture" problem that caused the war.
He does not want a couple of bits of Ukraine. He wants NATO to roll back from Russia's border, and that includes Poland and Romania. I don't mean he will attack them, but I do mean he objects to those new American bases in them, and won't make a deal without addressing that.
The US so far has not even seen the scope of the problem here. Peace in Europe requires NATO to honor the promises it made for re-unification of Germany.
Versus Putin's deal we have Trump's at: stop the combat and establish a DMZ; delay Ukraine entry to NATO for 20 years; Ukraine's ceding all territory lost to Russia at this time; and US continuing to support Ukraine, including militarily. How's that for a Trump reality check?
As irrational as Trump, the man who said and demands it. The US is the loser and the guy can't admit it or maybe he does not believe it. He needs an end in order to concentrate on Iran and China. He is a warrior by nature.
I t's interesting to note that most Western media outlets simply didn't report this phone call…
While they did report a Putin/Rump call on Thursday, including claiming that Rump threatened Russia during it. The only problem is that the call never happened.
Maybe there was no call at all.
The demands are clear then: cesion of four oblasts (six if we include former Crimea and Sebastopol), deep regime change (denazification = de-NATO-ization), full demilitarization, perpetual neutrality and (important) end of all anti-Russian sanctions. Not at all what Trump's VP Vance offered, nor what Zelensky will accept (although he has little power and choice). Russia may be open for talks but is in no hurry for a peace deal while clearly winning the war every single day in every single front… unless the USA-NATO fully agrees to their demands and is ready to force the hand of Zelensky.
Mr. Lavrov just made a statement.
Not a promising one: Scholz apparently only knee-jerked on his unconditional support for Ukraine. It doesn’t matter much because Germany is set for elections soon, as the FDP (liberals) abandoned the coalition weeks ago. All three parties in the coalition are set to collapse and the CDU-CSU (conservatives) will take over, with the neo-nazi AfD becoming second force most likely. As the Virginians say: “sic semper tyrannis”.
To think what has become of the once great Socialist party, they had such an honorable and influential place in history and in the Bismarck Reich, and the honorable PMs like Schmid, Brand, and Schroder and the little worm Scholz and what is left of the party virtually destroyed the once proud party.
Putin will be forced to demand an unconditional surrender from Ukraine. All because viscous, evil Americans insist on it. The Americans don't have a skin in the game.
SIMPLICIUS Ѱ
@simpatico771
⚡️Bloomberg writes that Zelensky is in a hurry to sign a peace treaty with Russia before the loss of Pokrovsk, as the city's coal mines supply 99% of coking coal to metallurgical enterprises in the rest of Ukraine. Pokrovskvugillya is the only company in Ukraine that produces coking coal. One of the three mines is located just 7 km from the front line. And the complete loss of all wood chips will increase the cost of metal products in Ukraine by 50%, after which the entire metallurgical sector of the country will be bent.
Putin is a retard if he negotiates. Russia needs to impose harsh terms where the Ukrainian government and military surrender and a Russian government is installed or keep fighting until these are achieved.
Agreed. I still have confidence that Putin is merely declaring the preconditions for a ceasefire and NOT the final objectives of the SMO which are as I have stated.
Putin told them the Russian conditions long before the war, what does it take for them to get the message. Scholz is a corrupt idiot, he sold his nation like Zelensky did Ukraine, but he would be an even bigger idiot if he had said to Putin what they claim he said.
Putin is a competent world leader. The phone call may never have happened and in no way would Scholz dare tell Putin what to do. Scholz will lose the vote of no confidence even if he would call Putin every day and Putin the diplomate would say hello and how is the weather in Berlin?
Only after all land in Eastern Ukraine including Odessa are part of Russia!!!!!!
Gee what happened in last few weeks that suddenly peace is possible?
The ample coalition is being flushed down the toilet, finally, it should have happened a long time ago.
Scholz is cooked and so are all the idiots in the coalition.
That government was created to serve American interests not the German people. They failed, they destroyed their own national interests.
Biden and his neocons destroyed the German economy and with it the EU with the sabotage of the pipeline, and with it NATO since many NATO members are EU members also.
Europe is about to face lots of turmoil, that happens when criminal idiots are in power. They, we, are lucky if it does not turn into WW III, the criminals do have control over nuclear weapons and are crazy enough to do anything. Trump can't be trusted at all.
Scholz is facing a no confidence vote and an early election in Feb./Mar.
No telling what is true about the call, Scholz called Putin and Putin answered the call. And other than that we know nothing.
“”Curiosity killed the cat!… Satisfaction brought it back!”
;-}
The opposition is not calling for a vote of no confidence in the German parliament under Article 67 (1) sentence 1 of the Basic Law, but Scholz himself is asking the question of confidence under Article 68 (1) sentence 1 of the Basic Law, a significant difference.
https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_gg/englisch_gg.html#p0293 Basic Law VI. The Federal Government Article 67, 68 GG
https://www.bundesregierung.de/breg-en/news
https://www.bundeskanzler.de/bk-en/news/government-statement-november-2024-2320162
https://www.deutschland.de/en/topic/politics/vote-of-confidence-handling-federal-chancellor-parliament
https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/article/explainer/confidence-motions-and-parliament
https://academic.oup.com/pa/article/69/1/3/2472683 The Fixed-term Parliaments Act and Votes of Confidence
https://www.ourcommons.ca/procedure/procedure-and-practice-3/ch_02_2-e.html Chapter 2 Parliaments and Ministries The Confidence Convention
https://www.dw.com/en/what-is-a-confidence-vote/a-326973
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-46890481 What is a vote of no confidence?
https://www.parlament.gv.at/en/explore/exercising-control/political-control/vote-of-no-confidence
https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/House_of_Representatives/Powers_practice_and_procedure/Practice6/Practice6HTML?file=Chapter9§ion=07 Motions of no confidence and censure
https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Prime-ministers%2C-the-vote-of-confidence-and-the-of-Schleiter-Evans/547d9fe93de274083b35c0bcfb1ad2a32fd74d86
Do you actually believe that most commenters are going to read all your references?
I offer the internet references as an offer of knowledge without obligation, i.e. every reader is free to decide whether to select the internet addresses.
In addition, my research on the Internet provides me with interesting sources of information, which I like to access again as bookmarks.
Aren't you one of those here always asking for sources?
Now suddenly sources aren't needed because no one is going to read them?
Most likely you didn't like the response.
For a specific statement, yes, but don't need a glossary of websites to source a particular point. Not a bunch of websites that aren't verifying a statement by the commenter. Now you know the difference?
You answer subjectively, biased, wrong, belittling and not factual, because which internet link does not apply to my statements? You obviously don't like the fact that many democratic states install a vote of confidence as opposed to autocratic states, including the USA.
And what could he possibly gain by asking a vote of no confidence? Could he depend on support of his party, the Socialists in the coalition?
Sorry, I'm correcting my answer.
no problem
The German Chancellor cannot submit a vote of no confidence to parliament himself; this is the responsibility of the opposition by electing another Chancellor.
The consequences are therefore different: either Parliament elects another Federal Chancellor, Article 67 of the Basic Law, or the Federal President dissolves Parliament at the request of the Federal Chancellor after Parliament refuses to place its confidence in the Federal Chancellor, Article 68 of the Basic Law, which leads to a new election, unless Parliament elects another Federal Chancellor.
The Federal Chancellor's party usually supports the Federal Chancellor. In the current case, the chancellor's party does not have a majority in parliament to elect another chancellor from its party. However, there is the alternative that the chancellor's party offers the opposition CDU party a coalition and then elects a chancellor from the ranks of the CDU.
All parties in the German parliament refuse to co-operate with the AfD party.
Bernhard Binzen Lysistrata 29 minutes ago
Lysistrata: "And what could he possibly gain …"
Boo.
I amend, add to my previous answer to@renatelittlejohn:disqus
It appears to be an intricate power struggle.
The AfD is on the way to become the biggest party but not enough for a majority. They are being demonized as were the Socialists. In Germany any right of center party gets killed by calling them Nazis. The Greens ruled the coalition and to think who their leaders are is a nightmare, talking about extremists, it is not just mediocre people, they are traitors and should hang from the tallest trees with heads down.
The AfD represents a nationalist, populist, xenophobic orientation with elements of fascism and deceives the public with its populist propaganda similarly to Trump.
I don't know enough about the AfD, but I do know any time Germans show a spark of nationalism like people in other nations, out comes the NAZI club. They would not dare say Germany first, they are liked as long as they are the paymaster. In my opinion they have extremists like any other nation has. No politician would dare say what RW politicians can say in the USA. In the USA Socialist were demonized and wiped out, there is no valid political left balance, unions too were demonized and almost totally wiped out and what is left is powerless.
The Germans have two good women, Alice Weidel and Sarah Wagenknecht. They also have an unqualified, incompetent trampoline artist Baerbock as FM and Scholz.
Nationalism is all arrogance and hubris and is bad anywhere including in the USA. Patriotism is different.
You are splitting hairs with an incorrect analysis (George Orwell’s 1945 essay ‘Notes on Nationalism’), because the older patriotism (has existed for around 2200 years) is related to the younger nationalism (has existed for around 200 years), the homeland, and usually represents a national-conservative position, as generally represented by the German parties CDU/CSU and FDP. The AfD is to the right of the CDU/CSU.
Sahra Wagenknecht betrays her original political position and organises a populism, a personality cult of vote-catching for personal gain in a political niche.
https://theconversation.com/what-is-the-difference-between-nationalism-and-patriotism-208170
https://www.britannica.com/topic/patriotism-sociology
https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwell/essays-and-other-works/notes-on-nationalism/
https://www.abc.net.au/religion/the-patriotic-prejudice-of-george-orwell/13929230
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/patriotism/
The CDU/ CSU and the SPD are as corrupt as the Greens are and the FDP stands for money, neoliberalism and nothing else, that party is the little balance for a coalition. Now look at the Greens, little Trampoline girl Baerbock, the FM, never grew up, never matured it is a total failure and embarrassment, so is Habeck, he can write children’s books, maybe, I don’t know, but the Greens and Scholz and the SPD drove the economy and German reputation over the cliff. They are incompetent people and they would not be where they are without foreign meddling and money, they are corrupt and incompetent to put it mildly.
Germany always had real leaders, states men decency, knowledge and competence. Bismarck with the big SPD governed a formidable nation that was too much for the Anglo-Saxons, Germany’s economical power had to be destroyed, what they did in Versailles and the consequences are history. Face it, Germany is being destroyed for the third time again. Experts believe it will take Germany a century to be at the same level it was on in 2004.
Patriotism is nationalism without the arrogance and hubris as I see it. Until the French Revolution and Napoleon there were no nation states. It took Germany 2 centuries to make up for the 30 year war after the Westphalian Peace in 1648.
I like Sarah Wagenknecht and Alice Weigel of course they have different opinions too, they are educated and mature women, not like the immature incompetent Baerbock.
She told her party the Greens how great the escalation of the Ukraine conflict is, she acted as if she had won the lottery and showed no sense of possible consequences and responsibility for the continent most of all her Country Germany, but as she said regardless of what the voters say Germany will protect US interests, most likely her paymasters.
Although the government's economic policy influences the economy with taxes (customs duties), subsidies, investments, public sector income, etc., the company managers largely control the success of the economy, industry, production, and gross domestic product.
ENERGY POLICY IS DEFENETLY A GOVERNMENT ISSUE, SO IS PRIVATIZING PUBLIC SERVICES LIKE HEALTH AND EDUCATION.
Scholz, the spineless little worm, did not insist on a real investigation of the pipeline sabotage, in fact, I BELIEVE, he was told and he knew what Biden would do when he met Biden in Feb. 22 and he stood next to Biden for all the world to see when Biden said their would be no Russian gas if Putin would take military steps, the deceptive Biden knew it would happen because he had turned down any diplomatic offer from Putin and so did Scholz, the TRAITOR of his nation.
And he is a member of the SPD, that is why the party is dying.
No, in the energy industry too, the managers of the energy and chemical companies decide on energy trading or investments in energy resources, e.g. the German BASF chemical group with its group company Wintershall DEA GmbH, and not the government.
https://wintershalldea.com/en/investor-relations/ir-23-01 Wintershall Dea will exit Russia
They are government issues, without the government they could no have build nuclear power plants, the government has to be involved that is why corporations have lobbyists, so is transportation and education. There is a reason to have government, and they are obligated to protect the interests of the working people. They working middleclass are the backbone of a functioning national economy and Democracy. That is why we need unions and socialistic leaning parties in government, to keep the balance between workers and employers. German corporation had labor union members sitting on the boards of big corporations. Neoliberal economics is destroying that social balance, democracy needs social balance.
You know Germany under Bismarck together with Social Democrats had the first national health insurance for wage earners in the world. Social accomplishments were outstanding, something the Germans could be proud of including public education.
In a functioning Democracy capital and labor work together.
The nuclear industry is just as dangerous as nuclear deterrence.
https://www.ausgestrahlt.de/at-a-glance/objection/ Objection (“Einwendung”) to the expansion of the Lingen fuel element factory
https://greenamerica.org/fight-dirty-energy/amazon-build-cleaner-cloud/10-reasons-oppose-nuclear-energy
https://www.oneearth.org/the-7-reasons-why-nuclear-energy-is-not-the-answer-to-solve-climate-change/
https://www.energy.gov/ne/articles/us-sets-targets-triple-nuclear-energy-capacity-2050
https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/nuclear/nuclear-power-and-the-environment.php
To think how they destroy the BASF a century old chemical giant gets cut to pieces, to be eaten up by American corporate power, made possible by politics by slimy politicians.
The corporate lobbyists control the government, serving the corporate interests, not the people's needs.
Who is responsible for international trade agreements if not the government, what about sanctions, who imposes them?
What about roads and water ways and military protection?
For international commerce rules and regulations are essential. We need quality government to do business.
The government is in control of the main stream propaganda press and does use it,
I am old enough to know when government is demonizing any opposition. With a free and uncontrolled press this Scholz government could not have survived. Look at the trash of people like Baerbock, Habeck, Scholz, Hofmeister, Zimmermann, and so many more. They have destroyed German credibility which had been build up with hard work by people like Adenauer, Schmidt, Kohl, Brand, Schroeder, people like Erhard and Genscher and many others and now look at the trash the Greens turned into.
Without corruption in a big style this would not be possible. The government is third world quality, taking orders from Washington, they are TREASONOUS PEOPLE.
The ‘economic miracle’ of West Germany in the 1950s was not created by Minister Erhard, but by the American Marshall Plan, the ‘European Recovery Programme’ (ERP) to this day.
https://www.kfw.de/About-KfW/Newsroom/Latest-News/Pressemitteilungen-Details_421824.html 70th anniversary of the Marshall Plan – Start-up capital for KfW
https://www.kfw.de/About-KfW/F%C3%B6rderauftrag-und-Geschichte/Geschichte-der-KfW/KfW-Themen/Marshallplan-und-ERP/ The Marshall Plan and the ERP
https://www.kfw.de/stories/kfw/stories/society/social-cohesion/marshallplan/
My point was the recovery of the trust and respect of the German nation.
The Scholz coalition has destroyed all that. Germany and Russia respected each other and what did the idiots in Berlin do? They banned world renown Russian artist from performing and fulfilling their contracts, Russia had done nothing to Germany, the people traveled and respected each other and I say that the majority on both sides still does. Russia and Putin are being demonized because US corporations want control of Russian resources and Berlin takes orders from the demented man in Washington and an intellectually and morally American ruling elite. Take a good look at the potential appointments Trump picked.
Wie der Herr, so's Gescherr.
Just to tell you, the Marschall plan was mostly credit, Erhard and Adenauer and social Democrates insisted on the sociale Marktwirtschaft, the German people rebuild Germany, to be clear about it.
The Anglo-Saxons needed the German buffer against Russia badly so they had to play nice. They could not get Germany fast enough into the NATO, that is why. The Capitalists feared and hated Communists and Socialists like the devil the holy water.
You know a lot about Germany: I often hear your statement of the formula: ‘Wie der Herr, so's Gescherr.’ from my maternal grandparent.
You misjudge Russia and Putin, because imperialist Russia has not only been operating in Ukraine through a war of aggression since 2014, but has also been intervening in the Caucasus to secede the regions of Abkhazia from Georgia since 1992/93 and South Ossetia since 1991/92.
https://tass.com/politics/1874437 Putin approves Russia’s revised nuclear doctrine
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00963402.2024.2314437 Russian nuclear weapons, 2024
http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/75588 Telephone conversation with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz
https://www.c-r.org/programme/caucasus/georgian-abkhaz-conflict-focus
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crr91px4nlqo Abkhazia: Leader of Georgia breakaway region resigns
https://oc-media.org/russia-calls-for-demarcation-of-georgia-abkhazia-and-georgia-south-ossetia-borders/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abkhazia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Ossetia
Bernhard with all due respect I don’t question your judgement, your opinion, I expect the same from you. I lived in Germany and have a German education in my judgement, you misjudge the Russian people and their leader President Putin. Russia has a long and great history, it has a great culture, Putin is well educated and has his own life experience. President Putin is still a man of the people, Russian people know what war on their soil is like, that is something the American people never experienced and shaped their need for secure borders, that is all the Russian people wanted.
To demonize the man and the nation with nothing but propaganda tells a lot about the so-called NATO nations. Honest diplomacy is needed but our psychopathic ruling elite is not capable of that, they prefer more wars, and all that is about resources and power.
I appreciate Russian literature: Pushkin, Gogol, Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Turgenev, Chekhov, etc.
https://www.cmadras.com/274/274d1.pdf EUGENE ONEGIN by Alexander Pushkin
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/leo-tolstoy-an-appeal-to-russians
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/leo-tolstoy-appeal-to-social-reformers
https://www.defence.lk/upload/ebooks/War%20And%20Peace.pdf War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Russian people are friendly and nice people, a great country with a long history, demonizing the Russian people is offensive to me, I am not so stupid to buy the propaganda and hate them because uneducated sick American minds tell me to hate people.
Let us be clear, when you build a house you need credit, the same was true in Germany, Germany's Marshall aid was mostly credit.
And don't forget, the USA had to be made to look good, after all it was and still is an occupying power.
NATO WAS TO KEEP GERMANY DOWN, THE RUSSIANS OUT AND THE US IN.
And that has not changed to this day. Remember the victor writes the history.
The USA always acts in self-interests, like any other nation. Without any national debate Scholz allows new missiles in German territory in 2026. They would not close down Ramstein AB, the Germans still fund a big part of the occupational costs, like millions for the military hospital near Ramstein AB as do all the other nations where there are military posts, you can add Poland to it now, they build a new base there. The public is never told the whole truth.
The US IS THE HEGEMON.
The Pentagon has announced the amount of military aid allocated to Ukraine from 2022.
In total, almost $183 billion was spent, according to a report by the military's inspector general.
Most of the money was spent on security and Operation Atlantic Resolve, at $131.36 billion.
Almost $44 billion went to developing public administration programs and paying Ukrainian officials' salaries. Only $4 billion of the total was spent on humanitarian aid.
Fiscal Conservative Wants Funds Recouped However it can be Accomplished!
This does not include $200 billion Since 2010 on other Project Ukraine non-military items; i.e. pensions, hourly wages, medical care for civilians, et al.
Don't forget the cost of coups d'état!
I'm sure the Germans had a good laugh.
Sure Putin, peace is very possible. Just don't invade countries. Lol
Vietnam, Iraq, Serbia, Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, Grenada, Panama, Libya?
and that is not even all, and every time the Americans are provoke and are the aggressors.
Obviously you were against our bombings and/or invasions of those nations listed below.
A democratic Ukraine would require a new government and president. Few anticipate that occurring until 2026; however if Washington and Brussels disable the financial lifeline, it may be realized in 2025.
Questions arise regarding how Ukrainians will survive this winter before circumstances force many to emigrate to southern Europe.
Russia has notably demilitarized Ukraine, though Kyiv's drone war has significantly escalated along with VSU casualties. Few would conjecture when the denazification operation will end. Military Analyst Andrei Martyanov opines most were never front-line cannon fodder participants. I accept this rationale, particularly if one understands Zionists Nuland, Blinken, and anti-Russian US bureaucrats who prefer Russia's political and economic destruction and that of Ukraine's ethnic Russians.
In other words, ethnic internecine warfare.
To wit, Washington and NATO Ukrainian Russians against mainland Russia to exact genocide. The war's length and outcome aren't critical. The money is irrelevant because the Fed and Treasury can print toilet paper with an ink face acceptable by salivating, immoral types.
Few Western observers can determine Russia's goals in western Ukraine–if any. From a financial perspective, Russia is beginning to hoard precious and rare earth metals. While weighing the pluses and minuses, will Russia finance those operations with highly anticipated precious metal gains or is it simpler to allow the West and Zelensky to bury themselves at lower economic costs to Russia and fewer Russian military lives expended?
Scholz has nothing to offer, he is a spineless little worm, he has nothing to say, no more than Zelensky. As if he could tell Putin what to do? That alone makes the call more than questionable.
President Putin has a clear cut goal, no NATO membership and no return of Russian annexed territory.
What is Biden's goal other than regime change in Moscow and weakening of the RF, that is all he mentioned, he never told the nation what the goal of NATO is.
The war in Ukraine was started in 2014 by Obama/Biden if we want to be honest about it.
It's doubtful President Trump will be able to negotiate an armistice with Ukraine, Russia, and Europe.
or with Asia.
As long as he thinks he can dictate to Russia to give and no return on his side, he will get nothing.
Putin is the winner, he has made his terms public, he has made that clear.
Putin's positions are absolutely reasonable. The clown in Kiev and Biden broke any reasonable negotiation point. Leave it to IDIOTS and replace the old IDIOTS with new IDIOTS.
Trump is delusional if he thinks he can force his conditions on Russia.
There are valid reports that Russia has rebuild much of Mariupol already including 4 lane roads.
Unconditional Surrender would be an interesting solution for the US to swallow, it is an American invention.
Scholz is currently campaigning in Germany.
Consequence: Putin, Russia reinforces its Pandora's box of missile and drone attacks on Ukraine's energy supply.
https://www-kommersant-ru.translate.goog/doc/7310300?_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de Scholz: Putin's position on Ukraine has not changed
https://tass.com/defense/1873621 Russia inflicts damage on gas production facilities used for Ukraine’s defense industry
https://www.dw.com/en/ukraine-updates-russia-launches-massive-missile-attack/live-70803782
https://www.dw.com/en/german-politics/t-63813230
https://www.npr.org/2024/11/17/g-s1-34586/russia-launches-massive-attack-ukraines-energy-infrastructure
https://www.euronews.com/2024/11/17/trump-picks-climate-change-sceptic-to-be-his-new-energy-secretary
https://www.g20.org/en/
Just read that NumbNuts has approved deep strikes into Russian territory using our missiles.
What a stupid, dangerous person.
Russia can promote Ukrainian and US hyperinflation and financial market disruptions by ensuring the Biden administration continues sending hundreds of billions to Ukraine until his term ends.
The Kremlin may narrow its economic targets by focusing on confirmed Nazi cities such as Lviv by destroying water, power, and sewage facilities. One intent would be to force a winter en masse exodus into friendly nations such as Germany. The other has been described regarding Washington's financial largesse.
Regarding Biden's permission to fire ATACMS, Scalp, and Storm Shadow missiles against Russia, there's something wicked about sinking NATO submarines that engenders silence among Western politicians, journalists, and MSM news outlets that prevents further military escalation.
I'm reminded of the Joe Biden press conference, during which he mentioned that the Nord Stream pipeline would be destroyed while German Chancellor Olaf Scholz stood five feet to Biden's left.
A demented president and a clown, not even the legal head of state, are left with nuclear weapons to start WWIII. So much for the dying hegemon.