European Politics
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@rembrandt said in European Politics:
especially if they used to have the opposite view.
That's what makes her an effective modern politician.
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What on earth is going on with the Swedish youth today?
It's interesting that a version of the following appears at the bottom of each article. Worth reading between the lines?
Sweden is firmly in election season ahead of September's polls, and immigration remains a key issue.
Mr Lofven's government party, the Social Democrats, is facing the worst poll numbers in its history, to the benefit of anti-immigration party the Sweden Democrats.
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@rembrandt said in European Politics:
This election really is pivitol in Sweden.
I remember the last election when one of the major newspapers had a black frontpage after the SD did well. I can only imagine how they'd poll if they weren't so maligned in the media and by the elite. Once again, like Trump and elsewhere, instead of screaming about racism and bigotry, maybe someone should actually consider how this situation has come to pass. The arrogance and ignorance of the media and the so-called elites is quite simply astonishing. Not to mention the disconnect between those in charge and the people they are supposed to serve.
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Anyone been to Paris lately? I did have a chat with a French journalist on my travels who confirmed much of this if you stray slightly from the approved tourist spots and sometimes even if you don't.
I do remember when Fox put out that report about the French 'No-go zones' and they were roundly ridiculed as 'Fake news' does anyone disagree with that now?
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I was there last month and didn't see any of this.
I was mainly around the 5th arrondissement, but went all 1-7, plus Pigalle (9) and Montmarte (17-18) and south in Antony. I wouldn't be surprised to see much of this though, because certain areas of Paris have always been pretty shitty. I stayed down past the Bastille last time (11, 20) and there was plenty of opportunities to get accosted on the street.
On the bright side, if anyone wants a great, affordable, restaurant recommend in Paris, let me know. I found a cracker.
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@gt12 I was last there in 2013. Took my Mrs to what I thought would be a romantic evening visit to the Eiffel tower. It was horrendous, swarmed by folk trying to sell us worthless trinkets or scam us. Romance destroyed, just wanted to get the hell outta there. Did however find a nice restaurant afterwards though.
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So riots in Chemnitz Germany after a woman was apparently sexually assaulted by a migrant, men came to her aid and one of the rescuers stabbed to death. Cue government and media claiming there is no issue with migrant crime and anyone who thinks otherwise is a far right extremist..cue actual far-right extremists.
From speaking with an ex-German journalist in person I have been told that German media are actively advised not to report on migrant crime as that is racist to do so.
As great as German media and government intentions are, they are simply going to create exactly what they most want to avoid.
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@gt12 said in European Politics:
Police apparently say that the rape story is incorrect:
Oh well if the police say so....
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@gt12 said in European Politics:
Police apparently say that the rape story is incorrect:
Sadly we won't know for sure.
Remember the police also denied one of the largest mass sexual assaults in history.
Trust is evaporating in the police, government and certainly the media.
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@rembrandt said in European Politics:
@gt12 said in European Politics:
Police apparently say that the rape story is incorrect:
Sadly we won't know for sure.
Remember the police also denied one of the largest mass sexual assaults in history.
Trust is evaporating in the police, government and certainly the media.
My cousin lives in Cologne and he says there is an enormous police presence that simply wasnt there before. Now why would that be?
But ffs, let's take the ethnic and cultural angle out of it. If you have hundreds of thousands of young men living together in a foreign country where they don't understand the language or customs, have no job, few prospects and live cheek to jowl in some converted shipping container, of course they're going to cause strife. This was always going to happen, but who cares about the consequences suffered by others when you can virtue signal and feel great about yourself. It's not like Merkel and co will actually have to do any of the heavy lifting or live anywhere near these people.
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@rancid-schnitzel said in European Politics:
@rembrandt said in European Politics:
@gt12 said in European Politics:
Police apparently say that the rape story is incorrect:
Sadly we won't know for sure.
Remember the police also denied one of the largest mass sexual assaults in history.
Trust is evaporating in the police, government and certainly the media.
My cousin lives in Cologne and he says there is an enormous police presence that simply wasnt there before. Now why would that be?
What are your cousins thoughts on all of this? Are they aware of any of this or is it overblown?
I've met a couple Germans who know what is going on but petrified about talking in public about it. Their mother was very nearly raped a couples years back by a migrant and they were told to keep it quiet. The worst thing in German society is to be branded a Nazi and it isn't something you can shake, ruining reputations and businesses. That WW2 guilt runs super deep.
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@rembrandt said in European Politics:
@rancid-schnitzel said in European Politics:
@rembrandt said in European Politics:
@gt12 said in European Politics:
Police apparently say that the rape story is incorrect:
Sadly we won't know for sure.
Remember the police also denied one of the largest mass sexual assaults in history.
Trust is evaporating in the police, government and certainly the media.
My cousin lives in Cologne and he says there is an enormous police presence that simply wasnt there before. Now why would that be?
What are your cousins thoughts on all of this? Are they aware of any of this or is it overblown?
I've met a couple Germans who know what is going on but petrified about talking in public about it. Their mother was very nearly raped a couples years back by a migrant and they were told to keep it quiet. The worst thing in German society is to be branded a Nazi and it isn't something you can shake, ruining reputations and businesses. That WW2 guilt runs super deep.
He was one of those who offered assistance and clothing when it all kicked off but flipped completely when he saw the consequences. But he's now very very careful about what he says. The social media crackdown has had a massive effect. Had a cousin and his wife visit last week and they didn't even want to talk about it. Mum and Dad are over there now and it will be interesting to hear their take on it and the stories of locals.
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My wife was born and grew up in Chemnitz. Her parents still live there. They tell a very different story. They are uncomfortable with the number of incomers for sure but they are used to a city in which foreigners were rare.
My father in law says that in the last few days there have been hundreds of hard right young men flooding into town and they are very scared. The Leipzig/ Dresden/ Chemnitz triangle has had a problem with neo-Nazis since the wall came down (my wife’s 1st cousin was married to one for years) and even before that intimidation of the Vietnamese and Cuban “Gastarbeiter” was commonplace. He’s pretty clear that most of the people in these rallies are not locals, and rather they are from all over Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg who have been spoiling for this fight for decades.
BTW, anybody who thinks Merkel, for all her faults, doesn’t care about this area of Germany knows nothing about modern German history. (Edit: those were my FiL’s words, not mine)
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@JC I don't know a great deal about Germany, but it seems to me that they've always had a problem with neo-Nazis bubbling under the surface. Now they've added a problem with Islamic extremists through their recent open border policy on refugees, and the decent folk of Germany will probably end up caught in the middle.
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@no-quarter I agree it could go badly. I’ve been travelling to that particular area for the last 20 years or so, and there is no shortage of people, mostly men, who have a real axe to grind with the rest of the world. They HATE the “Wessis”, who they blame for taking away their jobs and their dignity, for paying them salaries below the equivalent in the West, for imposing Wessi bosses on them, for thinking they are better than the Ossis. It’s a regional inferiority complex that really didn’t need much to kick off, and the feeling of the locals is that the immigrant problems are a pretext at best.
My wife is embarrassed by this. It’s almost like if the sequential shames of Fascism then Communism weren’t enough they now have to watch the cycle repeat itself. Outsiders like us can point to any causal factor we like, blaming it on Muslims, Wessi political correctness or anything else, but for them it’s just a humiliation from inside. Just like, as said in other threads, there is a generation in the UK who think Communism is cool, in Saxony it’s Fascism that the cool kids rally round, because hey, how anti-establishment is that! Morons.
I’m not saying that the huge wave of immigration hasn’t caused problems, because it demonstrably has. But not so much in Saxony; it’s problems lie elsewhere. Germany is a very diverse country: people in Bavaria can’t even understand the Saxon dialect. You can’t just generalise and say that the issues seen in Cologne are in any way similar to those in Leipzig.