Meh. Very unconvincing essay. East Germans seem to be concerned about the same things as people across the west – inflation, high energy costs and distrust of the current political leadership.

You do realize it’s possible to oppose Putin and still favour an end to the war.

wow, This writer is 100% approved agenda. Neo-Con warmonger sideing, and from what he dropped a Covid Response Orthodoxy agreeer, which makes me distrust his position on everything.

I agree with them about the War – and yes, there are many conspiracy arguments that could be made which do show Biden is out to trap the EU into dependence with these insane things he is doing in Ukraine. All I am sure of is this war is nothing to do with Freedom – it is 100% Political and economic, and quite what it is about we cannot be sure.

”They demand an end to sanctions and a diplomatic solution to the war.” good Peace, this is a wicked and evil war and needs to stop.

”no longer trust Western liberal narratives propagated by a uniform media that, in their view, dismisses concerns about immigration as racist or economic anxiety about Covid lockdowns as crazy. Perhaps that’s why conspiracy theories that go well beyond comprehensible dissatisfaction find fertile ground here”

And…? These are valid theories – many are fact. How about Dr Campbell today showing German scientists Just proved the Vaccine Kills! Watch this to see proof the vaccine is the Killer – not covid. Lockdowns the killer – the response is the economic destruction of the globe… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_DdSMn55cA

”Placards at these gatherings are straightforward. They read “No poverty for Biden’s war” or “Immediate Nato withdrawal from Ukraine” or, in English, “They got money for war but can’t feed the poor”. What’s striking is how the words “Putin” or “Russia” are nowhere to be seen — as if the war were entirely the doing of imperialist Uncle Sam. As if Ukraine had no right to defend itself.”

Come on – sure Ukraine has a right to defend its self. The $100 Billion handed over with real time intelligence and training and NO Accounting? – this is a Proxy War, not Ukraine defending its self. USA, UK, EU – none of them have ‘Vital Interest’ in this conflict. And it will kill millions of global poor by starving – and vast numbers will be pushed from poverty to ‘Abject Poverty’ by this fertilizer, petrol, cooking oil, wheat, and on and on inflation and scarcity. It has flattened Ukraine and caused Hundreads of thousands of deaths! More Maimed. This regional conflict has been made WWIII by sanctions, Stopping SWIFT, dividing the BRICS and all the Oil Producers, and Iran, and KSA and most of the non-West world are uniting to make a new Global Reserve Currency – it is breaking the world. Likely will get a Global Depression from this WWIII….

”the German economy is still growing. This is reflected in the Government’s new measures. In October, for instance, the minimum wage rose to €12 an hour, up from €9.82 at the beginning of 2022. Next year, jobless benefits rise by €50 per month,”

OK, 1.3% GDP growth – 10% inflation, negative 8.7%. And – that growth is from printing and passing out Money – it is not from productivity, it is fake. Then an 8% increase in minimum wage in 10% inflation is a 2% wage decrease.

So how are you going to pay your mortages? Groceries? Gas bill, electric bill, rent, car payment….. This is what the insane covid responce AND this War have brought down on these people – and I agree with them.

Many Germans are as frustrated in the West as they are in the East. The whole country had so- called “go for a walk” protests (demonstrating was prohibited at the time) with 100 thousands of people against Mandated Vaccinations/LockDowns/Masking mostly in the South West and also in the East of the country. Nearly the whole German MSM and politicians denounced them as “Querdenker” and fascists.
The small Green Party (14.8% at the last election) now have two of the most important government departments in the German Government: foreign affairs and economy/energy. The big surprise/irony is that the Greens, who started as peaceniks with their anti Americanism and their fierce anti-NATO activism, are now becoming the new best friends with the Biden administration. They are now urging their former adversary to supply the Ukraine with sophisticated American weaponry as Germany was rather slack in the last 30 years investing in their own military equipment.
The Green Energy Minister is also going through some kind of conversion as he is rapidly finding out, that windmills and solar panels don’t work without the cheap Russian gas supply. So far he agreed to continue the last nuclear plants to be “on stand by” and relies mostly on coal (oh the irony again) and hoping for a miracle….No wonder there is unease in the East, who were used to black-outs under communism, but also in the West people are truly frustrated with their huge energy bills. The author is delusional in saying that it is not so bad as the government pays a huge chunk of it from the magic money tree. Unless the German main parties, who seem to have now adopted the same kind of “green religion”, are becoming realistic and have plans, how to handle the huge energy crisis, the population will continue to drift to the fringe parties.

German exports to the United States are certainly more important than exports to Russia. On the other hand, one third of Germany’s energy consumption came from Russia, not from the US. Germany needs energy to manufacture all the machinery, vehicles and pharmaceutical products exported to the US and to other countries.
Two years after German reunification, industrial production in the east had plummeted by 73 percent from 1989 levels. That might turned Ossies very sensitive to Western promises.

It seems like all the political posturings, the meetings of the European Parliament in Brussels and Strasburg, economies changing to the Euro, Ursula’s regular vaccine briefings, French concern about their farmers, climate change scenarios, the Scotch (and Welsh) wanting to join Europe – everything.. Everything stops in the first cold week of winter.

People do not want change. They want to support the Ukraine as long as their own lives are not affected.

As an afterthought, last week I went shopping to the big city. The Christmas lights were great. All the shops were booming with doors wide open to attract customers. It was beautifully warm in the shops. There was no need for them to watch their energy usage – they just put the prices up.

Thuringians were certainly victims in my day, spending literally years looking at them through binoculars above Fulda. No paint on the houses, few household utilities and private automobiles, and farmers walking to their fields with hoes on their shoulders. Tell me again how good it was.

C