German elections on Sunday...
 

Okay - here is my election forecast:

CDU: 36%
SPD: 18%
AFD: 15%
FDP: 11%
Die Grünen: 10%
Die Linken: 10%

All numbers plus/minus 1.

And the winner is: Surprise! Surprise! - Angela Merkel!!!

So far, so bad. Business as usual. But 15% for the new Nazionalsozialisten is horrible. Absolutely horrible. Many countries shifted extremely to the right in the last years (USA) so just 15% in Germany should be considered as tolerable. But it is not. 72 years after the end of the Nazi regime there will be Nazis again in the German Reichstag which is such a shame. An incredible shame.

Definately identify with the 'terrible shame' feeling. Even General Kelly does.

https://i2.wp.com/cdn.bipartisanrepo...size=640%2C328

The Russian preference would be?

The Russian preference -- Merkel.

She is a powerful, sober counter to erratic Trump.

She tried hard to prevent an escalation in Ukraine but was often opposed by the "Nulands" in the Obama admin.

She has an understanding of the concerns of Russia and is not hysterical like the whining Baltics. Notice their over the top reaction to Zapad 2017 -- a red line statement from Russia.

She is the leader with the clout to steer and complete the northern gas line to Germany from Russia. This line has been attacked and opposed from many fronts.

You know, I just glanced at the famous facepalm pic again, and it strikes me that even Meliana, who tries not to emote, is registering what might be dismay at that second.

I can't understand how she puts up with the constant public embarrassment especially since it seems she is a somewhat private person.

Trump money??:D:)

All I can say in this context is that Michelle was a sort of goddess. An intelligent, humorous, educated and very beautiful American First Lady Icon. Miss her.

I suppose money is the obvious answer, but even considering the money... I still can't wrap my head around it.

There would be no amount of money that would be enough for me to allow myself to be treated the way he treats her. And, that treatment is just what we see in public. Probably worse in private.

I really miss Michelle, too.

So was the turnout heavy at your polling place?

Is it normal to schedule an election during Oktoberfest?

Barney

I was pretty close, pretty close!

CDU: 33%
SPD: 20%
AFD: 13,5%
FDP: 10,5%
Die Grünen: 9,5%

CDU (conservative) to form a coalition with FDP (left conservative) and Die Grünen (left). I hope that in the next years most of the AFD voters will have no reason anymore to protest against the parties above and return to one of these democratic parties. By the way - I voted for the sinking ship. Goodbye, SPD...

The coalition negotiations failed yesterday, almost eight weeks endless blabla for nothing. Some call the situation already a "Staatskrise". However, the weird situation has weakened the Dax and the Euro today.

This situation has been triggered by Merkel in 2015. "Refugees Welcome" without limit was a serious fault.

These are the options now:

- minority government
- coalition with the very weak SPD
- new election

The most reasonable thing, politically and economically, would be to carry on with the CDU/SPD coalition.

What the German public has awaken to is the nature of the influx of refugees/immigrant...it is largely male.

Russia must be very happy with it's results in political discourse engineering.


Barney

I doubt that. Russia would like a strong Merkel who would ensure that its gas is supplied to Europe by passing Ukrainian and Polish entanglement.

She voiced loudly that she was against sanctions of European companies involved with Russian gas and oil.

Plus Merkel unlike powerful elements in Britain and the US has always tried to de-escalate the Ukrainian/Russian situation. She was a key figure in the Minsk talk.

Russia has nothing to do with the German situation. What has taken place is the result of Merkel trying to do good, trying to make up for Germany's Nazi past without thinking through enough the implication of her action. 1 million refugees/immigrants in a short span of time, and largely Muslim males coming from conflict zones will destabilize any community especially a "Christian" one.

And a lot of these males want now their entire families to follow them to immigrate to Germany, which is called "Familiennachzug".

The left Greens support this vehemently, and vehemently the far right CSU refuse it. This is the main reason why the negotiations failed.

Meanwhile Merkel said that in case of new elections she will candidate anew for chancellorship.

Unreasonable like Mugabe...:eek:

Merkel Prefers Fresh Election.

http://www.dw.com/en/coalition-talks...ent/a-41454523

Christian Lindner, chairman of the Free Democrats (FDP) - The man who torpedoed the Jamaica coalition.

It is argued that he could pay a penalty in any fresh election.

http://www.dw.com/en/the-fdps-christ...ler/a-38629508

2009 - 2013 we had a CDU/FDP coalition. In this legislative period the CDU smashed the FDP to pieces so they did not get the necessary 5% in the following election. So from 2013 -2017 the FDP was not part of the Bundestag.

Now the little bigmouth Lindner enjoys his role as bad guy and spoilsport. The voters are not amused about this. Maybe in a probable fresh election next spring the FDP could get less than 5% again which means that rascal Lindner peed his own feet with his campaign of revenge.

Thank you for the information on German elections.
Always good to learn about other countries.

Most likely there will be a CDU/SPD coalition again. The negotiations will last a very long time.