Instead of investing mainly in rearmament, the former chancellor called for infrastructure, education, and housing investments because, according to Schröder, German citizens are miserable.
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October 16, 2023
The German government needs to invest mainly in infrastructure, education, and housing instead of the military because the danger allegedly coming from Russia is unrealistic, said the country’s former chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, in an interview with the Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper. His statement comes as the popularity of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz continues to decline, along with the economy.
“Do you really believe that Russian medium-range missiles will be fired at Germany?” he said, commenting on the government’s increased spending on the German Army’s combat capabilities.
Schröder criticised Scholz for creating a special fund for the German Army despite other problems existing in Germany that require considerable investment.
“Scholz said: €100 billion – and nobody knows what for,” he highlighted.
Instead of investing mainly in rearmament, the former chancellor called for infrastructure, education, and housing investments because, according to Schröder, German citizens are miserable.
The Bundestag and the Bundesrat (both chambers of the German parliament), in turn, in June last year and by a majority vote, supported Scholz’s initiative to create a special fund for the Bundeswehr worth €100 billion. The current chancellor believes that the German military will have the largest regular army in Europe after modernisation.
Scholz formed a coalition of his SDP party, the Greens, and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) to gain power. However, at the halfway point of his term, the popularity of his party and coalition is looking grim, and news of wasting €100 billion on the military is not improving the situation.
A poll by DEUTSCHLANDTREND at the end of August found that if a federal election were to be held, the SPD would gather just 16% of the vote — nearly 10% lower than when it secured power — and, more importantly, behind the Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) party, which seeks reconciliation with Russia and end of support for Ukraine.
Meanwhile, a poll by German broadcaster ZDF, also conducted in the second half of August, found that 51% of Germans are dissatisfied with Scholz’s leadership for the first time since he took office in 2021. Only 43% of respondents said they were satisfied with Scholz’s work.
If these same polls were conducted now, Scholtz’s popularity would likely be even lower, considering the government announced on October 11 that the German economy is expected to shrink by 0.4% this year.
“We’ve had a difficult year economically, at a difficult time,” said Economy Minister Robert Habeck. “[The cause is] the energy price crisis, the need for the European Central Bank to fight inflation and the weakening of important global economic partners [, such as China].”
Berlin’s new forecast contrasts with the 0.4% growth initially predicted in late April. “We are emerging from the crisis more slowly than expected,” Habeck added, but “we have reached the low point and will be moving forward again.”
Only a day before Berlin’s economic revision, the International Monetary Fund forecasted that the German economy would shrink by 0.5%, while a group of leading German economic think tanks in September predicted a 0.6% contraction.
The Economy Ministry expects the economy to pick up in the winter and then accelerate because of recovering consumer demand. The Ministry also explained that the “necessary fighting of inflation” by the European Central Bank has been a factor in Germany’s economic difficulties, which resulted in higher borrowing costs.
Germany’s main issues include an ageing population, lagging use of digital technology in business and government, excessive red tape, a shortage of skilled labour, and, most importantly, crushing energy costs due to the self-depravation sanctions regime imposed on Russia. It is for this reason that Germany is slowly and quietly returning to Russian energy sources after it was revealed recently that Securing Energy for Europe GmbH — a former unit of Russian gas giant Gazprom PJSC — plans to load LNG produced by the Yamal plant in Siberia early next month.
Although the EU has imposed sanctions on Russia following the announcement of a special military operation against Ukraine, the bloc still allows the import of Russian LNG. This has not stopped European politicians from criticising Russian LNG shipments’ approval, which increased after Gazprom suspended Nord Stream pipeline deliveries, but it does show how Germany struggles to balance its economic interests with its false moralising of Russia.
For this reason, Schröder is absolutely correct in his assessment that decision-makers in Berlin should start prioritising domestic matters rather than trying to build Europe’s largest military force at the massive price of €100 billion despite no credible threat existing against the country and other issues needing priority.
by Ahmed Adel, Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher
Source: InfoBrics
As a Senior Editor at the now-defunct Fort Russ News, I wrote daily about military technology, global economy and geopolitics, with a special focus on the Middle East, Balkans, Russia, China, United States, Europe and great power rivalry. In 2020, Fort Russ News was hit by a major cyber-attack, so the website has been liquidated, but my articles (nearly 1,500 of them are still available on the Web Archives).
I’m also active on social networks (particularly Facebook and Telegram), where I’m an administrator of various pages and groups dealing with the aforementioned topics. One such page that was recently deleted (thanks Zuck!) had over 150,000 followers, but we’ve seen since moved to Telegram, so we’re slowly working toward rebuilding that following (Telegram).
Many other media have republished my work, the most prominent of which are (Global Research), Southfront,Anti-Empire , and respected Serbian publications such as Politika.
For the last two years, I’ve been a daily contributor to the BRICS Information Portal.
web.archive.org/web/20220127161858/fort-russ.com/author/drago-bosnic/
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U.S. Media Are Lying About Russian Atrocities in Mariupol, Says Embedded Reporter at Ground Zero
Global Research, April 25, 2022
CovertAction Magazine 23 April 2022
Region: Europe, Russia and FSU
Theme: US NATO War Agenda
In-depth Report: UKRAINE REPORT
The Azov Battalion is based in Mariupol.
The Population of Mariupol which is part of Donbass is predominantly Russian.
***
This article is written by an independent reporter embedded in Ukraine with the Russian army.
We believe that if people want to understand the war in Ukraine, they need to read widely about it, from different perspectives, including the Russian one, to try and discern the truth about what is going on for themselves. CAM Editors
Residents of Mariupol receiving humanitarian aid from the Russian army in collaboration with the DPR army. [Source: Photo courtesy of Sonja van den Ende]
Where shall I begin?
Can a man endure so much suffering? Can you write about so much suffering without getting emotional?
Probably not.
Mariupol has been wiped out, buildings have collapsed mostly due to rocket attacks and, of course, there have been bombings as well.
Devastation in Mariupol. [Source: rferl.org]
The Western media, of course, blame the Russians for these bombings, but Ukraine also has planes that drop bombs, so how on earth can you say a few thousand kilometers away that it is the Russians?
It is not like in the West where, when there was a terrorist attack, the perpetrators left their passports or IDs.
This is a war of destruction that I have seen before—in Syria, in Homs. Perhaps also like in Dresden, toward the end of WWII, although, of course, Dresden I cannot verify.
Homs, Syria. [Source: theatlantic.com]
The West has turned it into a propaganda war. All the while it sponsors the Ukrainian army and its neo-Nazi battalions and has completely lost sight of what this is really about.
For years the media ignored the Ukrainian army assaults on the people of Eastern Ukraine, who were forced to survive in underground bunkers.
They act as if the war started in February, when it actually started in 2014 as a war by the Ukrainian government against its own people.
Eight years of destroyed villages and towns—why? Because eastern Ukraine is inhabited by a predominantly Russian-speaking population, who grew up in the Soviet system.
After the 2014 Maidan coup backed by the U.S., they were supposed to become part of the EU and the pro-European “puppet” government in Kyiv. All their values, norms, culture and language had to be thrown overboard.
In order to achieve these ends, first President Petro Poroshenko and then Zelensky, have carried out “special operations” which they called “fighting terrorists.”
U.S. puppets Petro Poroshenko and Volodymyr Zelensky don their war gear. [Source: tellerreport.com]
The Ukrainians started bombing the Donetsk airport and then carried out attacks on the civilian population.
Ruins from Donetsk airport after Ukrainian bombing (Feb, 2015). [Source: channel4.com]
When this did not go as planned, they recruited and made the Azov Battalion and other right-wing groups part of the regular army.
These battalions are indeed neo-Nazis, from father to son they are indoctrinated with the Nazi ideology of the Stepan Bandera cult.
Azov Battalion at ceremony in Kyiv in October 2018. [Source: foreignpolicy.com]
You can compare them to jihadists of ISIS (DAESH), ideologically indoctrinated and fighting on speed or other drugs so, as many witnesses say, they kill civilians randomly.
This is exactly the same script that happened in Syria, where jihadists even cut out the hearts of the Syrian Army soldiers and hung their chopped heads on poles.
Destroyed flat, shelled by the Ukrainian Army and the Azov Battalion. [Source: Photo courtesy of Sonja van den Ende]
A man looking for water, worth more than gold. [Source: Photo courtesy of Sonja van den Ende]
A destroyed shopping mall in the city center [Source: Photo courtesy of Sonja van den Ende]
People walking through the destroyed city, looking for food, water and their relatives who might be dead or lost. [Source: Photo courtesy of Sonja van den Ende]
People are waiting for food and water, delivered by the Russians. [Source: Photo courtesy of Sonja van den Ende]
Children and grandmother waiting. [Source: Photo courtesy of Sonja van den Ende]
The “bombed” city theater
On March 16, 2022, the Donetsk Regional Drama Theater in Mariupol, Ukraine, was allegedly bombed. It was reportedly used as an air raid shelter during the siege of Mariupol, allegedly holding 1,300 civilians in the days before March 16, and at least 300 victims might have been killed.
According to Western media, the theater was bombed by the Russian forces. According to the Russian spokesman and many eyewitness accounts, who lived near the theater, they did not hear any bombardment in their neighborhood and the theater.
Mariupol theater. [Source: businessinsider.com]
So, again, the Western media appear to be lying—blaming Russia for every atrocity in the war without proof, while failing to give any context for how the war started and who is responsible.
The goal is clearly to mobilize public opinion against Russia in support of regime change or even a full-scale war against them.
The partly destroyed theater in Mariupol, not bombed as you can see, but imploded inside from the basement. [Source: Photo courtesy of Sonja van den Ende]
I was given a completely different story about the Mariupol theater “bombing” from a Russian army spokesman whom I interviewed. He said the following:
“According to eyewitnesses, there were about 300 people in the theater, but this cannot be verified, the Ukrainian army and battalions did not keep records of the attendance, so it could be more or less people. The cellars were used as bomb shelters for rocket attacks and bombs. On the day of the destruction, March 16, 2022, according to eyewitnesses, there were no bombings, but heavy rocket attacks. Ammunition and explosives from the Ukrainian army and its battalions were stored in the cellars. The Ukrainian army and battalions heard that the Russians were coming and detonated the explosives in the shelters, where many people still took refuge from the ongoing fighting. This is not new for the Ukrainians to perform such deeds, especially the AZOV battalion, who, just like in Syria at the time of the war, the jihadists were high on drugs, Captagon and speed, which explains their brutality and violent reaction. Same as for these neo-Nazi fighters who are highly infiltrated in the Ukrainian army.”
Inside the theater are photos of previous performances. [Source: Photo courtesy of Sonja van den Ende]
Inside the theater. [Source: Photo courtesy of Sonja van den Ende]
The place where the explosion took place, in the middle of the theater. [Source: Photo courtesy of Sonja van den Ende]
The media in the West, in conjunction with politicians, sell stories to the public, at least half of which I dare to say are fabricated or used from other conflicts.
Mariupol is destroyed and most likely more than half of its inhabitants fled the city, either to the West, to Russia or surrounding villages and towns. Nobody knows at the moment. People are afraid and searching for their relatives, who might have been killed.
As I said earlier, food and water and other humanitarian help is distributed on a daily basis by the Russian army—every day in a different place because, when the Ukrainian army and its Nazi battalions know the place, they will try to shell it and kill the people.
It will take a while before the city can be rebuilt. Maybe, the Azov steel factory has to be taken, the last stronghold of the Azov Battalion, the Russian army is fighting a heavy battle there.
Mariupol steel factory. [Source: intellinews.com]
Everyone is anxiously waiting to see if the NATO command center, which is most likely under the factory, is being dismantled. Whether a biological (one of many) laboratory is really located under the AZOV steel factory, we will soon see. I will definitely report on it again.
Inside the city near the theater. [Source: Photo courtesy of Sonja van den Ende]
*
Sonja is a freelance journalist from the Netherlands who has written about Syria, the Middle East, and Russia among other topics. Sonja can be reached at: sonjavandenende@gmail.com.
The original source of this article is CovertAction Magazine
BIG BROTHER in the 21. Century 
