All countries sometimes conduct policy based on stereotypes and a bit of wish-fulfillment. John Vinocur in the WSJ (paywalled, alas) discusses the role unreality plays in German attitudes towards Russia and the present-day implications thereof. This is pretty much exactly … Continue reading →
Confucius* is a bit of a gun-history nut. Skip this post if you suspect it won’t interest you. Apparently Confucius is not a big enough nut, as a hugely significant bit of trivia has thus far eluded his gaze. For … Continue reading →
Putin and others are hacking at the Pax Americana which sustains our historically peaceful, prosperous world. They need to be deterred, and we and our allies need to be serious about rebuilding the institutions, especially militaries, which have sustained it. As the Gormogons’ usual … Continue reading →
This week, at Camp David, well Reuters does it better: U.S. President Barack Obama will press European leaders to ease up on fiscal austerity and focus on economic growth at a summit on Saturday that will discuss ways to stem … Continue reading →
Herr Mann, mit Romney. The Czar of MuscovyБожію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all … Continue reading →
Your Mandarin happened upon this article from Reuters regarding former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s call for a “United States of Europe.” Now if your Mandarin recalls correctly, the last time a German Chancellor looked to unify Europe it ended with … Continue reading →
And not just the bad, Nazi Germans. But regular old, nuke-hating, Birkenstock wearing, razor-abhorring Germans! Oh, the humanity! But how? How can we be sure it’s Ms. Palin who is killing Germans? The logic, my friends, is simple. There is … Continue reading →
Hey, Czar. Nice bit on the metric system. I get why the metric guys go with zero for freezing, and 100 for boiling. But what’s up with Fahrenheit? If water freezes at 32, what happens at 0 degrees Fahrenheit? And … Continue reading →
…when the Weimar Republic tried to inflate its was out of its (brutal, to be sure) reparations, the Left keeps recommending it as an economic panacea. Look, judicious increases in the money supply are desirable and even necessary on occasion. … Continue reading →
Are you kidding me? A German company has built a .50 BMG “pistol.” It apparently weighs as much as a B.A.R. This is not a joke. 正 H. 名! Once again, the Gormogons’ operational security has been breached. The .50 … Continue reading →
Note to readers: As GorT knows, but didn’t mention, the German political spectrum is much narrower than the American. Even the “conservative” CDU/CSU has historically favored an expansive welfare state of the type embraced mostly by Democrats in the U.S. … Continue reading →
As mentioned below, Chancellor Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, the Free Democratic Party and the Christian Social Union (a Bavarian, conservative sister party to Merkel’s CDU) won the German national vote this past weekend. Of note, is that the CDU and … Continue reading →
Germany is usually touted as among the greenest of the green European countries. Yet, election victor Angela Merkel intends to keep Germany’s nuclear plants operating longer than their required phase-outs. Why? Nuclear plants provide low cost electricity with no environmental … Continue reading →
Those who inflict it are thieves, and they turn everyone else into paranoid victims. Glad Dr. D. mentioned this: It is no coincidence that the Western leader most worried about a new bout of inflation is German chancellor Angela Merkel. … Continue reading →
“What Hungarians did here was very brave,” she said at a commemoration event. “Two enslaved nations together broke down the walls of enslavement… and Hungarians gave wings to East Germans’ desire for freedom. “The opening of the borders became irreversible … Continue reading →
The Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), Germany’s foreign intelligence agency, has amassed evidence of a sophisticated Iranian nuclear weapons program that continued beyond 2003. This usually classified information comes courtesy of Germany’s highest state-security court. In a 30-page legal opinion on March 26 … Continue reading →
Good news: Germany gives prestigious award to Israeli Bad news: Israeli is professional Israel-hater Germany is usually pretty sensitive about this stuff at the official level. How did this happen? The decision to present the Order of Merit was made … Continue reading →
The царица was reading the newspaper at breakfast Saturday morning, and hesitated at a story about gay penguins raising an egg together. “How do they know the penguins are gay?” she asked. “Is the story from AP?” the Czar asked. … Continue reading →
If increased government spending with borrowed or newly created money is a “stimulus,” then the Weimar Republic should have been stimulated to unprecedented prosperity… —GorT’s imaginary grandfather, Thos. Sowell Confucius, Œc. Vol.Don’t ask impertinent questions like that jackass Adept Lu. … Continue reading →
Happy V.E. Day to everyone, and a special thanks to the brave men who liberated Europe. V.E. Day is truly a celebration the heirs of the Allies and the Germans can share, given the spectacular success of the Federal Republic … Continue reading →
…and lots of ’em: China Faces a Grad Glut After Boom at Colleges. This can’t end badly. I mean, disaffected intelligentsi have been an unalloyed blessing to, e.g., Russia, Italy, Germany, and the Arab world. Remember, there’s a reason that … Continue reading →
The Czar is not surprised by the discovery that German readers are flocking to our site in record numbers due to the phrase “sex milking.” Of course, this is a mistaken reference to an actual post on this site with … Continue reading →
We Gormogons had a noticeable uptick in traffic from Germany yesterday. Turns out, Germans are reaching our site when they search the term “sex milking.” Seriously, Germany. Get help. Right now. *N.B. The Gormogons are starting a new policy to … Continue reading →
Great piece by Confucius’s former colleague, Reuben Johnson, on some crazy, crazy goings-on on Aeroflot. What makes it brilliant is Reuben’s tying Aeroflot’s cavalier disregard for international regulations with the Russian government’s general conduct. In a larger sense this episode … Continue reading →
Merkel speaks the truth: Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, turned the tables on her international critics on Wednesday by accusing the US and other governments of making “cheap money” a central tool of their economic management, thus planting the seeds … Continue reading →
With the current economic crisis hitting all over the world and the sabre rattling from Russia, Germany has been placed into a keystone role with how NATO can operate. There is interest to allow Ukraine and Georgia membership into NATO … Continue reading →
So, what’s up with the медведь today? Breaking the Sarkozy agreement and keeping the Europeans out of South Ossetia, schmoozing the Germans, modernizing their nuclear forces (unlike us), spying on the Czechs, monkeying with their democratic window-dressing, and venerating Stalin. … Continue reading →
Putin: “Beginning immediately, my attorney will be explaining my Georgia policy, Frau Merkel.” (Title: Flawless Friendship—literally “friendship as clear as a loupe”) (That’s Gerhard Schröder, Putin’s Gazprom catamite, holding the phone.) Confucius, Œc. Vol.Don’t ask impertinent questions like that jackass … Continue reading →
