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Is Merkel Trying to Destroy the EU?

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Germany approved the scandalous Nord Stream pipeline, hugely strengthening Putin and locking the EU in another unbreakable cycle of dependence on Russia.

I have absolutely no other explanation for what Merkel has been doing than that she hates the EU, hates Europe and wants to wreak some sort of vengeance on it. The way Germany behaved throughout the global economic crisis, ensuring that as many countries as possible soured on the EU, the way Merkel trampled on the sovereignty of her neighbors in what concerns the refugees, and now the pipeline decision that will make many European countries very angry – Southern, Central, and now Northern Europe are being angered one after another with a truly German meticulousness.

I’m not a Merkel hater. I always wanted to give Merkel the benefit of the doubt. But after all this, I can’t think of any reason for all these actions that doesn’t include dumb, possibly unconscious malice.

I don’t know what can happen to let the EU survive right now. And that’s something that will enormously strengthen Putin (or the successor his criminal organization will appoint.) Plus, this will produce more unhinged far-right parties in power and an even more rapidly fraying social safety net.

19 responses to “Is Merkel Trying to Destroy the EU?”

  1. cliff arroyo Avatar
    cliff arroyo

    It is certainly hard to think of a single figure that has done more to damage the EU project.

    I was kind of neutral about her for years, but her behavior in 2015 leaves only two explanations (that I can think of) and neither is comforting if you’re living next door to Germany (physically I’m closer to Berlin than Warsaw….)

    She doesn’t realize how destructive she’s being.

    She does realize and is doing it on purpose.

    (I’m leaving off the weirder theories like there’s something physically wrong with her that’s clouding her judgement or she’s being blackmailed by Russia or the US).

    If the EU does fail in the next couple of years, her name will figure prominently.

    I’m not a super fan of everything the EU does and I detest the “more European intergration” that bigwigs throw out reflexively as a response to any stimulus whatseover, but I think it’s better off existing than not (though a moratorium on integration is needed, people at ground level are getting fed up with that).

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      I want the EU to succeed but it is becoming less likely with every passing day. People are getting very antagonized by Germany’s condescending, didactic, dictatorial behavior. Everybody says that Merkel’s behavior is motivated by her desire to erase the legacy of the Holocaust. But she’s got to be seeing that these dictatorial actions have to be bringing up unpleasant memories of what Germany used to be 80 years ago. A little bit of humility and a small effort to listen to others would be more helpful here.

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      1. el Avatar
        el

        \ Everybody says that Merkel’s behavior is motivated by her desire to erase the legacy of the Holocaust.

        What does erasing the legacy mean exactly? At first, I thought about past guilt towards Jews making some Germans more welcoming to Syrians and other 3rd worlders. With the ironic result being parts of EU becoming Jew-free when the number of antisemitic Muslims increases. This process has already begun, btw.

        But then I thought I was making us Jews more important than we are. That German behavior has nothing to do with Jews ourselves but is a German attempt to be viewed by other Europeans in a specific way, while expecting massive immigration to solve some problems in German & other EU societies. According to this interpretation, the above-mentioned “ironic result” may not be ironic but an expected, (partly/fully) positive development. Merkel can not really believe “immigrants will have to stop being antisemitic” nonsense. I hope.

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        1. Clarissa Avatar
          Clarissa

          “At first, I thought about past guilt towards Jews making some Germans more welcoming to Syrians and other 3rd worlders.”

          That’s the argument, yes. (It’s not my argument obviously because how stupid do I look? But this is the argument triumphantly advanced by Merkel’s defenders and, it seems, many regular Germans.)

          “That German behavior has nothing to do with Jews ourselves but is a German attempt to be viewed by other Europeans in a specific way”

          I don’t see any evidence that Merkel cares about how Germany is perceived in Europe. If she did, she would have acted differently towards Greece, for instance. I think this is about how Germans look to themselves. It’s not that they feel actual guilt over the Holocaust, in my opinion, but that they do have an irksome feeling that they could be looking better and having a better self-image.

          “Merkel can not really believe “immigrants will have to stop being antisemitic” nonsense.”

          I don’t even know any more. Maybe she does.

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          1. el Avatar
            el

            \ It’s not that they feel actual guilt over the Holocaust, in my opinion, but that they do have an irksome feeling that they could be looking better and having a better self-image.

            Sounds right. However, how does bringing numerous third worlders into Germany come into it? I thought most regular Germans are against (massive) immigration.

            Do you think Jews figure in German calculations at all? Even as “let’s bring Muslims and, as a plus, those unpleasant Jews will leave us at last” OR the supposed “lets treat Muslims especially well because of our history with Jews”? Or is everybody just throwing the word “Jews” to hide their own motivations, whether the latter are anti-immigration (and often antisemitic) people stressing immigrants’ anti-semitism or pro-immigration (and often antis… , sorry, anti-Israel) Germans stressing XYZ?

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            1. Clarissa Avatar
              Clarissa

              “However, how does bringing numerous third worlders into Germany come into it?”

              There is nothing more pleasing than being a kindly benefactor to a stray dog. People are literally going crazy with delight over their perceived benevolence towards the refugees.

              “I thought most regular Germans are against (massive) immigration.”

              For now, there are way too many who are peeing themselves with delight over this. Now that the refugee fashion has reached Canada, I’m seeing up close and personal how crazy it makes people. And I mean, CRAZY. I had no idea that these intelligent, normal people I know had such a capacity for smugness and extreme hubris.It’s very scary.

              “Do you think Jews figure in German calculations at all?”

              Only in the sense of a charged history that needs to be counteracted by showing how different Germans are today.

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              1. el Avatar
                el

                \ For now, there are way too many who are peeing themselves with delight over this. Now that the refugee fashion

                Fashions have a tendency to end, and delight – to get old.

                As for a stray dog analogy (no disrespect to people in question intended), many bring a dog to their house, but quickly tire of taking care of it, once the novelty wears off.

                My question is when a breaking point will happen in Europe. If millions begin arriving to Canada, it’ll happen there too, of course.

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              2. Clarissa Avatar
                Clarissa

                I can’t say about Germany, but in what concerns Canada, this will take quite a long time, I’m afraid. Especially since this feeds into Canadians’ obsessive need to prove they are better than Americans. If Americans just quietly accepted their 10,000 refugees, there wouldn’t be anything like the enthusiasm for the refugees in Canada we are seeing now.

                “As for a stray dog analogy (no disrespect to people in question intended), many bring a dog to their house, but quickly tire of taking care of it, once the novelty wears off.”

                That’s why I keep saying, these are people, human beings. They need to be treated as such.

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          2. cliff arroyo Avatar
            cliff arroyo

            “It’s not that they feel actual guilt over the Holocaust, in my opinion, but that they do have an irksome feeling that they could be looking better and having a better self-image”

            Well no one born after 1945 should feel any guilt over the holocaust, sorrow yes, guilt no.

            One of the things that doesn’t get mentioned enough is that generations of Germans have been created who don’t want a national German identity as much as a “European” one (hello, post nation state). This is one of the main drivers of EU dysfunction, Germans born after WWII who want the world to get off their backs already. Of course they don’t want the loss of living standards that the post nation state will bring to many millions of them but they haven’t quite figured that out yet (since when do they learn in a hurry?)

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            1. Clarissa Avatar
              Clarissa

              Yes, it’s much more precise to say that “they want the world to get off their backs.” Guilt is not the right word here. That’s what they want: for everybody to get over it already. But the way they go about it just aggravates everybody more. Ten, fifteen years ago, I did not have the feeling that Germans were very resented in Europe. But today they are. I talk to Europeans, and everybody is fed up with this high-handedness and hubris.

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      2. cliff arroyo Avatar
        cliff arroyo

        “A little bit of humility and a small effort to listen to others would be more helpful here”

        From Germans you expect this?

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        1. Clarissa Avatar
          Clarissa

          It’s Christmas time, I’m feeling kind and optimistic. But no, I don’t really expect this. Love Germans, but no, not really.

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          1. cliff arroyo Avatar
            cliff arroyo

            “Love Germans”

            I wouldn’t go that far, like everybody else in the world I have very mixed feelings about German(s/y). It’s the majority of my genetic identity but I don’t think I could live there. I do love a lot of the language and my voice sounds better in German than in any other language, which is weird.

            weird fact: If you’re not German and try to use the German word for hedgehog (Igel) Germans think you’re trying to say ‘eagle’ even if you’re pointing at a hedgehog figure/picture. It’s happened to me like three times, I don’t get it….

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            1. Clarissa Avatar
              Clarissa

              Why do you keep discussing hedgehogs with Germans, though? :-)))

              Americans from Southern states keep hearing my name as “Monica.” There is nothing in the name that sounds like Monica but it keeps happening. So weird.

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              1. cliff arroyo Avatar
                cliff arroyo

                “Why do you keep discussing hedgehogs with Germans, though?”

                Gift shopping for a hedgehog fan….. After the first time I tried it again (and the same scenario keeps happening). So now every time I go I’ll try to provoke the same reaction.

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  2. TomW Avatar
    TomW

    I think Merkel is in over her head, doesn’t have a real plan for anything, and has been reacting to public opinion and current events in an erratic and unpredictable fashion for years now. Sometimes she follows public opinion, sometimes she listens to people in her party, sometimes she seems to have some sort of principle, sometimes she just seems to follow her emotions. But no one ever seems to notice how erratic she is because she has a way of making everything she says sound perfectly rational and reasonable.

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      “I think Merkel is in over her head, doesn’t have a real plan for anything, and has been reacting to public opinion and current events in an erratic and unpredictable fashion for years now. ”

      • That seems exactly right.

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  3. el Avatar
    el

    Read this interesting article now:

    Extremists, refugees, and Austrian Jews caught in the middle
    The Austrian-Jewish community is caught between fear of Islamist extremists targeting them and the rise of the far right in the country, with its historic anti-Semitic connections.
    …
    Far right has started supporting Israel
    The main concern: Islamic anti-Semitism
    http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4742868,00.html

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      Of course, these freaks support Israel. They are thinking, “Let these Jews and Arabs all go away and kill each other far away from here.”

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A conservative literary critic and college professor

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