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[mainiac]

Merkel and Cameron buddying up to dock UK into moist Yurop, glorious bastion of freedom will destroy Cameron from the frontbench to the backbench

Following one of the links:

This is simply a disaster in the making that would see Gibraltar returned to Spain and the Falkland Islands left open to an unopposed invasion by Argentina.

Oh no!  Not the Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands!  How will Albion prepare itself for the next inevitable conflict without them?

[Aerval]

This is so ridiculous. The german austrian border is closed at a level that basically just the motorways get checked and every small road next to it can pass the border without any problem. (For the american here, mind that this is basically a border like between New Hampshire and Vermont and not like between the US and Canada) Until now about 30 refugees and 10 smugglers have been caught, all the others probably take side routes that do not pass via the controlled checkpoints. Those refugees that get caught ultimatly face no consequeces and get in the same asylum camps as everyone else (same goes for refugees that cross the border illegaly by train). The only people with consequeces are the daily commuters that now take up to three more hours to work. (sorry, no english source as I am basically citing from Spiegel)

I could say that this was unexpected but it totally was not and is just another example of Angela Merkels and Crazy Horsts (Seehofer) "actionism" that only makes things worse. Damn it Social Democrats, kick out the Conservatives and start a solid and (most of all) constitutional government.

[martinuzz]

Hungary has arrested it's first immigrants today. Any person trying to enter Hungary illegally from today onwards, will face 3 years imprisonment. If they damaged the fence while trying to cross the border, they can get an extra 2 years imprisonment, for a total of 5 years.

[Vilanat]

I wonder if they would be sent to a regular prison or just a detention center for refugees, because right now, a roof over your head and 3 meals a day is something a lot of syrian refugees will find rather attractive.

[Helgoland]

Damn it Social Democrats, kick out the Conservatives and start a solid and (most of all) constitutional government.

Not that I'm not in favor of the Social Democrats once more occupying the Kanzleramt, but the Merkel III government isn't exactly unconstitutional, is it?

(On that tangent: It's a damn shame they wasted Steinbrück in a hopeless campaign against Merkel, and kept giving him friendly fire. He would've been the perfect centrist candidate for the post-Merkel era.)

[Antsan]

The problem seems to be that there seems to be no leftist party left to the right of Die Linke. SPD has gone center and Die Grünen are… well, I'm not sure what they are, but they seem to be all about compromise these days. That is, if compromise means "grumblingly doing what somebody else thinks is right".

[Helgoland]

Green is the new Black, didn't you know?

I'd wager we'll see a moderate left-shift of the SPD once Merkel is gone, since the CDU will experience a heavy right-shift as a reaction. The truth is that voters want centrism, even though the party base usually doesn't: The best one can hope for is a centrism that knows where it came from. Schmidt would be a prime example.

[smjjames]

Hungary has arrested it's first immigrants today. Any person trying to enter Hungary illegally from today onwards, will face 3 years imprisonment. If they damaged the fence while trying to cross the border, they can get an extra 2 years imprisonment, for a total of 5 years.

I wonder if they would be sent to a regular prison or just a detention center for refugees, because right now, a roof over your head and 3 meals a day is something a lot of syrian refugees will find rather attractive.

Yeah, it certainly sounds like a recipie for backfiring. Not like they can deport back to Syria without taking a massive hit on the conscience.

Edit: Didn't realize the quote inserted wierdly earlier.

[Aerval]

Not that I'm not in favor of the Social Democrats once more occupying the Kanzleramt, but the Merkel III government isn't exactly unconstitutional, is it?

If a government makes (or at least proposes) so many laws that are considered and often ruled unconstitutional as this one ("Herdprämie", Street tolls for foreigners, reaction to gay marriage rights and telecommunication data retention), I honestly think they are (or at least what they do is) somewhat unconstitutional. I am no fan of what the last red-green coalition did but what happens under Merkels rule is well, ...

Some 35 years ago, Merkel was my mothers counselor in a holiday camp. I think she should have kept doing that

[Graknorke]

Feminists are mad because Corbyn chose his shadow cabinet based on ability rather than on trying to recreate the cast of a sitcom.
I kek heartily.

[Loud Whispers]

Feminists are mad because Corbyn chose his shadow cabinet based on ability rather than on trying to recreate the cast of a sitcom.
I kek heartily.

I love his lapdog's rationalization that it's ok that Corby broke his promise because all posts are of equal value, even if some posts are more equal than others. It's just a coincidence that the only positions of seniority (sorry, I meant posts of "equality") and career advancement happen to be held by his ideological buddies.
He used identity politics to attack and now he is attacked over identity politics, it's like poetry.

[smjjames]

Wasn't sure whether to post this here or in the American Politics thread......

Theres a Washington Post article saying that Merkel is a better leader than Trump. Not linking because it keeps skipping the article and going straight to the paywall.

While I'm sure she would make a better leader, I'd say no thanks because she wasn't chosen to be the leader of the government by the people. I know she was elected by her district or whatever, but she wasn't chosen nationally to be Chancellor.

[Ghazkull]

Yeah a bit of a problem and why we are stuck with Merkel for the last fucking decade. Anyway Chancellor is elected in a rather easy system:

The President (yes we have one) presents a candidate which is then presented to the Bundestag, which then votes on it. If that fails, the Bundestag has two weeks time to find their own candidates (who need to be supported by 25% of the Bundestag) each of which will be voted on. If none of them has the absolute Majority after two weeks the third stage happens in which they vote again on all candidates simultaneously. If none of them has the absolute Majority, the President can decide to dissolve the Bundestag and force new elections or go with a relative majority and force a candidate in.

[Helgoland]

It's a rather sensible system really, it's just that its basic premise is different from that of the American one.

[Frumple]

... method of election is fairly irrelevant to capability as a leader, in any case. A tyrant can be supremely capable, and a person chosen by direct democracy impeccably inept. How they get in office doesn't really matter much, barring the extent which that process reveals their skill.

Being unkind to both of them, the month or two old kitten living outside my house would also probably make a better leader than trump, so it's not really saying much. It has a substantially better personality and appearance than either of them, and would likely make at least as good a policy as trump. Plus its diplomatic skills would probably outstrip trump's while the kitten was asleep. Like, literally asleep, as kittens are totes adorbs when unconscious, and that's far more than the half-bald asshole with a hardon for burning bridges could manage while awake.