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In addition to the usual weekly activities such as driving the meseno bus or my lectures at the university, the latter of which was a very interesting conversation with Detlef Stern about computer languages, operating systems and the good old BIOS, it is currently the 71st district assembly of the EUROPA-UNION that needs to be prepared. It is always exciting to see whether we will achieve a quorum. That is why I like to check in advance that there are sufficient transfers of votes, but this also has to be organized.
Even if world events continue to cause excitement, the political situation in Europe could be much better and federal politics with the upcoming federal election is causing some European federalists, those who are currently throwing themselves into the election campaign with great enthusiasm, this district meeting this year is intended to give the members present a little sense of solidarity and perhaps even create a little pre-Christmas spirit. EUROPA-UNION Heilbronn had no shortage of events and activities this year, so that the more active members can "rest" a little before things get very exciting again next year.
So next Saturday we will review the year, honor members and take a little look at our plans for 2025.
city ranking
About the Wirtschaftswoche ranking I had already reported on this, for the first time when the city administration wrote itself into one of the top places. Since then, Heilbronn's places have been steadily declining. The Heilbronner Stimme (20.11.2024: 7) notes: "In the dynamic ranking as part of the overview, Heilbronn was the most dynamic city in the southwest in 2018, and a few years later it even ranked third nationwide behind Munich and Berlin. ... In the dynamic ranking, Heilbronn lands this time in 37th place. "
This square is probably met with incomprehension by some Heilbronn residents, as we will have the IPAI in a few years. But perhaps the authors were only looking at Turmstrasse, which has not been renovated even after more than forty years.
1 days
These 1 days have not left their mark on me either. At first I was very interested in what was happening in and around Ukraine, partly for professional reasons. I used to post my own comments on the subject, but these are now often taken over by professional chatterers who have no knowledge of anything, and you can't escape expert opinions anymore. So I'm just amazed at what I see in the news every day, and even more so at what is no longer worth reporting.
As we all know, people get used to everything and far too many of our fellow citizens have now returned to their normal everyday lives. Politicians, both government and opposition, have also sat out the whole thing again and are once again ready to sell the resulting negative consequences as God-given or as a complete surprise to everyone. In addition, many politicians are using the opportunity to convert political hasty decisions at the start of the war to their own personal advantage, similar to the mask deals. With the small but important difference that even the Bundeswehr's 100 billion euro special fund has now been dissolved.
For me, only one thing is surprising, namely that after Donald Trump, Viktor Orbán, the AfD and the BSW also the SPD in their Nibelung loyalty Vladimir Putin but there are also enough Putin whisperers in the CDU. If the Taurus cruise missiles could have achieved anything positive, then it would have been before the renewed "seizure of power" Donald Trumps and the imminent freezing of the war in Ukraine. As I have said several times, there will then be only one winner, namely the Russian Federation, which will once again be rewarded for genocide and war crimes.
Worse still, after 3 days at the latest it will be our turn. But our politicians will sit out that too, because their voters are now too old to be afraid, or too stupid to even understand it. The rest will make themselves comfortable in a dictatorship, at least until the trees grow out of the gutters again and bananas become luxury goods again. Then they will allow themselves to be saved again by the hated Democrats and their "pig capitalism" and celebrate themselves as resistance fighters.
Who said history would not repeat itself?
"The ultimate responsible question is not how I heroically extricate myself from this affair, but [how] a future generation should continue to live."
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (2022: 14)
Unfortunately, the Ukraine conflict and those involved cannot be easily divided into "good" and "bad". There is a lot of "global power politics" involved when the USA and Russia flex their muscles. US provocations against the Russians were unnecessary because they believed Russia was weak and incapable. Well, once again they misjudged the situation, just as Napoleon and Hitler did before them.
Peace was within reach in 2022, but demonstrably not wanted by the West. The Ukrainians and we Europeans are just powerless but willing henchmen of other, global interests. No German politician is currently capable of representing German interests.
And then there is this “reality”
If someone believes that our ailing military in Europe can hold out against Russia for even a week, then they are just incredibly naive. Our German defense capabilities have been systematically neglected by all "democratic" parties over the last 25 years. The result is now visible. The few Taurus we have won't help either. They would be used up within a month - but Russia is far from exhausting its reserves.
Moreover, even if we wanted to in Europe, we could no longer rearm! We are 80-100% dependent on imports from Russia and China for strategic metals such as magnesium, titanium, tungsten and chromium. Not to mention neodymium and the rare earths. The situation is similar in the USA, by the way.
We must acknowledge the reality: Russia cannot be defeated militarily, even if this war continues for years. It will only bring death, suffering and destruction. In the end, Ukraine will be depopulated, Europe will become impoverished because without the raw materials from Russia, Europe cannot survive internationally.
If Germany and Europe do not pursue realpolitik here, things will be very bad for us. That may be bitter, but the only alternative is an ever-widening war
This is almost 100% the narrative of AfD and BSW — paid for and controlled by Russians.
The fact is that Russia is very easy to defeat militarily. The only drawback is that democracies would then have to feed all the Russians, which no one can afford anymore.
But I agree with you that we have seriously neglected our defense capabilities since the fall of the Berlin Wall at the latest - and this is the case even across Europe. Far too many of our politicians have mistakenly believed that Russians are peaceful people and far too many have allowed themselves to be bought by Russian politics.
If the war in Ukraine is not ended by Trump in Putin's favor, it will show by the end of 2025 at the latest that the Russian Federation will not only have to leave Ukraine again, but will continue to disintegrate. And so we could "make a deal" with the Chinese now and promise them everything up to the Urals. We would just have to make sure in advance that no more Russians immigrate to Europe afterwards.
Well quoted. People remain true to themselves in all facets.