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May 22, 2010
History Faw Down Go Boom
it becomes increasingly clearer each year why the European Union won't work. Germans work and create wealth. Yet under the present system, they do not receive commensurate psychological rewards -- and increasingly insufficient material compensation as well.
And history shows us that an unhappy Germany is a very dangerous thing indeed....
If it should choose, Germany could go nuclear in six months, its arsenal reflective of a country that makes Mercedes and BMWs. That is not so wild an idea in an age when unstable nations like Iran and North Korea boast of their arsenals and their aggression, while others such as Turkey and Brazil flaunt U.S. faculty-lounge sermons on non-proliferation. -- Works and Days ｻ The New Old German Problem
Posted by Vanderleun at May 22, 2010 1:12 PM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.
Your Say
German military technology has caused us some problems before. Just ask any Sherman tank crewman who had to face a Tiger or Panther tank, an infantryman who had to advance against an MG-42 position, or a fighter pilot whose job was to keep Me-262s off his escorted bomber formation. I've often thought the post-WW2 Germans should do more for their own defense, and still do, but there are some benefits to having a Germany that plays well with others. Having the Germans get pissed off, say "zum Teufel, EU!", and go their own way is not necessarily in the best interests of the US.
Posted by: waltj at May 23, 2010 12:15 AM
Germans marching to a different drummer would really upset the idle socialists in the EU and particularly the Muzzies.
I wonder how the MSM would handle this turn of events? I mean, after they clean their shorts.
Posted by: Vermont Woodchuck at May 24, 2010 5:46 AM
The irony is, the Germans are the most naturally socialist people in Europe and likely the only ones who would not make a complete hash of it.
Von Hayek knew a thing or two about German culture--
"Few will deny that the Germans on the whole are industrious and disciplined, thorough and energetic to the degree of ruthlessness, conscientious and single-minded in any tasks they undertake; that they possess a strong sense of order, duty, and strict obedience to authority, that they often show great readiness to make personal sacrifices, and show great courage in physical danger. All these make the German an efficient instrument in carrying out an assigned task, and that has accordingly been carefully nurtured in the old Prussian state and the new Prussian-dominated Reich. What the “typical German” is often thought lacking are the individualist virtues of tolerance and respect for other individuals and their opinions, of independence of mind and that uprightness of character and readiness to defend one’s own convictions against a superior, of which the German themselves are conscious they lack; of consideration for the weak and infirm, and of that healthy contempt and dislike of power which only an old tradition of personal liberty creates. Deficient they seem also in most of those little yet so important qualities which facilitate the intercourse between men in a free society: kindness and a sense of humor, personal modesty, and respect for the privacy and belief in the good intentions of one’s neighbor. These individualist virtues are that which flourish wherever the individualist or commercial type of society has prevailed and which are correspondingly missing as the collectivist or military type of society predominates."
Posted by: james wilson at May 24, 2010 7:34 AM
Well, perhaps Joe Buff novels may turn out to be prophetic after all...
Posted by: Edgewise at May 24, 2010 8:21 PM