April 9, 2006

Germany

Who is my neighbour?

by Mrs Tilton

Who was the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany? Diagramme his family tree (paternal and maternal) back to the 14th century.
Germans have been shocked lately to discover that a lot of their schools suck.
The schools in question are typically Hauptschulen, the lowest in the tripartite German division of secondary schools (the others are [...]

March 13, 2006

Transition and accession

Enlargement Fatigue

by Doug Merrill

Heard the news from Salzburg?
If so, you must have been listening very carefully, for the informal meeting of EU foreign ministers held there this weekend was very quiet, and not just because of the extra dumping of snow the region received, in what has been a very snowy winter.

[...]

September 20, 2005

Governments and parties

Catastrophic success?

by Mrs Tilton

In one of his many excellent pieces in the run-up to the German election, Alex mentioned the phenomenon of ‘overhang mandates’. These are extra parliamentary seats that a party gains by winning more seats via one of German’s two electoral methods than by the other. This might seem odd enough. What’s even odder is that [...]

September 18, 2005

Governments and parties

Apparently 粗大塵 does not mean what I, judging by the context, had thought it means

by Mrs Tilton

I’ve been harshing on the Union and their little dog Toto the FDP pretty nastily throughout the campaign.1 Surely, though, I should spare a thought for Die Linke.
It’s easy to fail to pay the ‘Left Party’ the attention they deserve, mostly because nobody is likely to form a coalition with them. But still it [...]

September 16, 2005

Governments and parties

Unwanted

by Mrs Tilton

There’s nothing better for livening up all this dull, wonkish chatter about the German elections than a bit of CDU-bashing. So, how shall I bash them today? Oh, I know! How about this: they’re a shower of xenophobe racists.
Yes, yes; not exactly news, is it? What is news, though, is that the Union appears to [...]

September 13, 2005

Governments and parties

Red light or green?

by Mrs Tilton

You already know, because Alex has been doing such a good job of making sure you do, that the impending German elections will be as close-run as the related campaign has been shambolic. According to the polls, the Union and FDP will outpoll the currently governing SPD-Green coalition; but not by enough for a majority. [...]

June 13, 2005

The European Union

Back to the Roots.

by Tobias Schwarz

Today, the IHT reprinted post referendum reflections about Europe by former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt that were first published last Thursday in the German weekly Die Zeit.
I’m sure some will call it elitism in light of the recent constitutional referanda, but Schmidt still believes that real political leadership is now more important than ever in [...]

June 5, 2005

Transition and accession

People Get Ready

by Doug Merrill

Laura Rozen thinks that the broadcast of a graphic video from the massacre at Srebrenica may mark a tipping point in Serbian public opinion and pave the way for the arrest of Ratko Mladic and his extradition to The Hague.
She quotes an international justice listserv:
B92’s Danijel Bukomirovic, speaking in Dutch on NOS Journaal at 20:00 [...]

November 24, 2004

Germany

Leitkulturkampf

by Mrs Tilton

In comments to an earlier post on neonazi electoral gains in eastern Germany, I noted that Germany’s mainstream right wing Union parties normally respond to this sort of thing with a rightward lurch of their own. And indeed, they are right on schedule.

Read [...]

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