Elections Day In Germany

Germany Votes As Angela Merkel Seeks New Term -- BBC

Voting is under way in Germany's elections, with Chancellor Angela Merkel vying for a third term in charge of Europe's most powerful economy.

Polls suggested Mrs Merkel's Christian Democrats may take the largest number of seats in parliament, or Bundestag.

But Mrs Merkel's coalition partner, the Free Democrats, may not gain the 5% vote share required to win any seats.

If so, Mrs Merkel may have to consider a coalition with her main rival Peer Steinbrueck's Social Democrats.

A coalition of Centre-Left, Left and Green parties is also a possibility.

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WNU Editor: We will be updating this story late tonight.

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German Chancellor Visits Dachau Concentration Camp

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (R) lays a wreath at the former concentration camp in Dachau near Munich August 20, 2013. REUTERS-Michael Dalder

German Chancellor Angela Merkel Visits Dachau Camp -- BBC

Angela Merkel has laid a wreath at the former Nazi concentration camp of Dachau, in the first such visit to the site by a German chancellor.

She made a short, emotional speech saying the camp "fills me with deep sadness and shame" and said it was a warning of the dangers of indifference.

The visit is part of Mrs Merkel's election campaign and was followed by a rally in a beer tent nearby.

Political opponents called the combination "tasteless".

Some 30,000 people died in Dachau before it was liberated by US soldiers on 29 April 1945.

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More News On German Chancellor Angela Merkel Visiting Dachau Camp

Merkel pauses election campaign to visit Dachau concentration camp -- Reuters
Merkel expresses her 'deep sorrow and shame’ during historic Dachau visit -- The Telegraph
Angela Merkel in 'historic' Nazi camp visit -- The Telegraph
Angela Merkel’s visit to Dachau (and beer tent) smelt off, say critics -- The Independent
Merkel criticized for concentration camp visit during election year -- UPI

My Comment: Better late than never.

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The Governments of Europe and North America support Israel’s Mass Murder campaign in Gaza

 

By: Stewart Brennan

World United News

http://worldunitednews.blogspot.com/

Western leaders have come out publicly in support of Israeli military attacks on the people of Gaza by either stating so for the record or by staying silent. Both positions show total support for Israel’s crimes of mass murder and should be addressed immediately be the people of each nation.  

Mass Murder Approved by Your Government:

Video Source: Wesam Alwesam

شاهد ياعالم جرائم ومجازر الصهاينه ضد اطفال فلسطين - غزه
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y3jLKdJSF4

When your government gives their blessing for another country to commit mass murder of men, women and children, it means that they would have no problems doing so on the population within their own country, or sections of it. Let us not forget that these Western Nations are the very same countries that spoke of humanitarian aid to the people of Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and Syria but instead approved a coordinated bombing campaign or provided the weapons and funding to hired terrorists from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and other autocratic states to do the job for them. Such is the case in Syria and to a large extent, also in Libya back in 2011. However, in the case of Libya, western countries took an active role in bombing the Libyan people into the Stone Age, where once a thriving population lived in peace and prosperity. Today Libya lays in ruins with our freedom and liberty banks imposing massive debt for the destruction they caused. Nothing will be repaired and no one will receive justice as is the case in Iraq, and Afghanistan.

In Syria, the same western nations are training, funding and giving weapons to their hired thugs to completely destroy the country as they have launched a full scale bombing campaign on the Syrian population. Now the same western countries are in full support of wiping out the entire nation of Palestine especially Gaza where 1.5 million people are imprisoned and suffer occupation and blockade by the murderous regime of Israel.

History Repeats from Warsaw to Gaza:

Gaza’s resistance can be compared to that of the Jewish people in the “Warsaw Ghetto” Poland in World War II, where Jewish resistance challenged the maniacal occupiers and oppressors of their day. Today in Palestine, the same situation is faced by the people of Gaza where resistance by an imprisoned population is met by the brute force of a maniacal Zionist oppressor and a madman bent on starting wars all over the Middle East…and your government supports this Israeli Madman Netanyahu and his regime that pushes “Ethnic Cleansing.” 

Video Source: World United News

Crimes Against Humanity, Yesterday and Today
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0XymauBqgE

Would you trust your government to make moral and ethical decisions on your behalf?

Western Governments are morally bankrupt and cannot be trusted to do anything honest or ethical because they approve of the most horrendous of crimes against humanity, “War” and “Ethnic Cleansing”.

Put yourself in the position of the Palestinian people, imagine if your community or country is occupied by a foreign nation where you are surrounded by an aggressive military blockade by land, sea, and air and where survival depends on tunnels to maintain the lives of your children or the few trucks of food allowed in for minimal subsistence living…you have no means to take care of anyone and when your children get sick there is no medicine to take care of them. If you go to the border and complain you risk being shot and killed by a ruthless Israeli military that is of the opinion that you are nothing but animals and deserve what you get. When anyone resists the occupation the whole community is subject to massive destruction by military attack campaigns. If your citizens manage to fire a few bullets back at them, you’re labelled terrorists by the leaders of the international community where the permission to attack is given to the occupier.

Being Irish decent and coming from 700 years of oppression, I understand the mental anguish that the people of Gaza are experiencing and like my ancestors before me, the Palestinian people have a moral right to fight for their freedom even if the odds are decidedly against them by one of the World’s largest military killing machines. What is terrorism but a label used by an occupation force on those that resist occupation?

Your leaders are backing the mass murder and ethnic cleansing of Palestine. How do you feel about that?

What will you do?

The next time I bump into anyone that sides with the Zionist agenda, I will ask them to look into their children’s eyes and tell them that they support the slaughter of innocent women and children…I will also question their ethics or logic and ask them if it is because their Television tells them to back Israeli ethnic cleansing of Palestine, is it because they support their political leaders no matter what they do, or because they just side with mass murder?

My advice to anyone that will listen…get up and oppose Israel and anyone that stands with them with every fibre of your being. Use common sense, moral and ethical positions, human rights, and empathy for your fellow mankind because if you do not, the events that happen in Palestine will come back in ways you never imagined. As goes Palestine, so goes the rest of the World.

Tell your political leaders to "fuck off" and just “Stop the Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine by Israel!” You have to get really mad!!

Free Palestine!!

-----------------------

Video Links:

Crimes Against Humanity – Yesterday and Today

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0XymauBqgE
Ocupation 101
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_jvXnPG9Xc
Coalition of Demons Attacking Libya (June 15, 2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNLqQ2cN-PA
Current News in Libya – World United News
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHzQBYl1J9o
Libya News Archive (2011 – 2012) – World United News
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ba3ZXRJDGY8&feature=share&list=PL4A3B9AE5B4261A3B
Palestine News Archive – World United News
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cG9OR2ofBg
Syria News Current – World United News
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3896i8coaZE
Syria News Archive (2011 – 2012) – World United News
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sn1so6EusP8

 

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Greece will have to wait for next round of cash - German minister

 

Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble. (AFP Photo / Johannes Eisele)

Source: Russia Today

http://rt.com/news/greece-bailout-german-minister-294/

Germany, the pillar of European economic stability, is skeptical that Athens will receive the next tranche of aid “in the coming weeks,” despite painful new austerity measures adopted this week in Greek Parliament.

­German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, one of the main architects of the Greek response team, warned Thursday that it is unlikely that Greece will reach a quick deal with its international creditors on the next credit line.

“At the moment I do not see the decisions being made” that are required for a definitive agreement between the Troika of international auditors examining Greece's finances and the Greek government, he told a conference in Hamburg.

Despite the poor assessment, the minister welcomed Athens' new measures, which were approved on Wednesday, by saying that Greece has “a pro-European majority and it held last night despite demonstrations and a general strike. All is not lost – all is not won either, but we have no use for cynicism… the Greeks want to remain in the euro.”

This is a conclusion with which many Greeks seem to disagree, as massive demonstrations ahead of Wednesday's vote erupted in the capital. At least 100 people were detained as police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse a crowd that voiced anger against a rise in the retirement age to 67, cuts to minimum wage and benefit reductions.

While the rallies pushed forth with their demands, Greek Parliament agreed by a narrow margin to €18.5 billion in budget cuts demanded by creditors.

Now Greece awaits the €31.5-billion tranche of aid from the Troika – the European Central Bank, European Union and the International Monetary Fund, its fourth emergency loan package in three years.

Economics analyst Antonis Vradis says the massive new loan will simply create more debt for the country.

“These packages are moving in the entirely wrong direction. There is a definition of insanity, and according to it, insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. This is what is happening right now. You have a package after which the country's national debt is going to go up from 175% to 190%. The only way to stop this policy of austerity is if people actually stop them,” Vradis, a member of the Occupy London movement, told RT.

 

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Germany orders a check on its gold reserves

Source: Russia Today

http://rt.com/business/news/germany-gold-reserves-check-472/

German federal auditors have requested the Bundesbank checks Germany’s gold reserves, a major part of which has been stored at banks abroad since the Cold War.

­Germany’s gold bars, stored in the United States, Britain and France "have never been physically checked by the Bundesbank itself, or other independent auditors, regarding their authenticity or weight," reveals a report prepared by the Federal Auditors' Office. Instead, the Bundesbank relies on a "written confirmation by the storage sites."

Germany has placed as much as some 3,400 tons of gold worth an estimated $190 billion at current values in the vaults of the US Federal Reserve, the Bank of France and the Bank of England since the late 1940s. The reason was to secure the country’s gold reserves in a case of a possible war with the Soviet bloc. Currently only about 30% of Germany’s gold reserves are kept in Germany, at the facilities of Frankfurt-based Bundesbank.

Since then, the Bundesbank has seen no reason to check its gold reserves. "There is no doubt about the integrity of the foreign storage sites in this regard," it said in a statement.

Concerns about Germany’s gold reserves arose this year after a group of German federal lawmakers wanted to check gold bars stored at the Banque de France in Paris. But they were turned away by local officials who said there were no facilities to visit the vaults, Deutsche Welle reported.

German worries about the situation with its gold reserves reflect the worries of the German politicians that the country has enough gold reserves to resist the spreading eurozone crisis.

The Bundesbank has reportedly decided to ship 150 tons of gold from the New York Federal Reserve to Germany, according to German daily Bild. After returning to Germany the gold will be melted down to test the overall purity of each consignment before being re-cast into standard gold bars.

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Troika proposes 150 new reforms for devastated Greece - report

 

Demonstrators shout slogans during a demonstration against the government’s austerity measures in central Athens. (AFP Photo / Aris Messinis)

Source: Russia Today

http://rt.com/news/troika-greece-new-reforms-435/

While Greece claims the deal on its new rescue package is nearly final, the troika will reportedly require the country to implement 150 new reforms within two years.

­The reform proposals by the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund – which comprise the so-called “troika” – include loosening of hiring-and-firing laws, changing minimum wage rules and abolishing professional privileges, Germany’s Spiegel reports.

To control the implementation of the reforms, the troika proposes keeping bailout tranches in a special frozen account, releasing them only after the reforms are introduced.

The report also suggested that the troika proposed a debt restructuring, meaning that creditors would write off some of their Greek debt holdings, along with a two-year delay for budgetary consolidation.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble sharply criticized the idea, saying "that is a discussion which has little to do with the reality in the member states of the eurozone.”

He suggested, however, that Greece buy back some of its debt at discounted prices, Spiegel reported.

Private investors agreed to write off almost all of their Greek debt as part of a second bailout package, put together earlier this year.

Meanwhile, so-called "official sector" bondholders, including other eurozone countries, are still clinging to their share of Greek bonds.

The European Central Bank made it clear it would not write off its share of Greek debt, as this would mean financing Greece – which is forbidden, the report says.

Athens is looking forward to a €31.2 billion tranche from its current bailout package. Otherwise, the country may go bust as early as the end of November, according to Prime Minister Antonis Samaras.

Last week Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras asserted that almost all the conditions of the new deal had been agreed upon, saying the parties were still to discuss labor reforms and measures to reform products and services markets.

Earlier he had agreed to cut €6.5 billion in wages, pensions and benefits and to save €1.5 billion from reforms to the public sector. Some reports also said the pension age would be raised by two years, bringing it to 67, a move that would save Greece another $1 billion.

 

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One year after IMF bailout, Greece still big on military spending

(AFP Photo / Louisa Gouliamaki)

Exactly one year ago, the EU agreed to several extreme measures to combat the ongoing economic crisis, to mixed results. But despite its unique economic distress, Greece shows no sign of cutting back its considerable military budget.

­A year ago to the day, EU leaders met to tackle debt troubles that German Chancellor Angela Merkel described as Europe’s worst economic crisis since the end of WWII. The EU spent a month negotiating the deal, which was proclaimed to have saved Greece by writing off half the country’s debt, which at the time amounted to 160 percent of its GDP.

The second aim of the package was to protect other European countries from financial instability. The EU decided to more than double the eurozone bailout fund, also known as the European Financial Stability Facility.

A handful of nations expressed skepticism of the deal at the outset. Now, a year later, consensus has emerged that the eurozone crisis shows no sign of abating, and the financial and business climate across Europe has significantly worsened.

But as the crisis worsens, some nations, like Greece, have chosen to spend more money on the military while simultaneously slashing social programs.

A man holds a placard in front of riot police forces during a protest march marking a 24-hour general strike on October 18, 2012 near the parliament in Athens. (AFP Photo / Louisa Gouliamaki)

The Greek arms anomaly

­Greece continues to be one of the world’s biggest arms importers, despite having little chance of meeting the deficit reduction targets pegged to its International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout loan, according to a preliminary report by the organization’s debt inspectors.

The IMF report will likely recommend more austerity in Greece, in addition to 89 other stalled reforms Athens has failed to enact.

Despite the push for cuts in other spheres, the Greek government continues to spend a considerable portion of its budget on arms, amounting to 7 billion euros in 2011. From 2002 through 2006, Greece was the world's fourth-largest importer of weapons. Despite the country’s ongoing debt crisis, it remains the tenth-largest military importer.

As a proportion of its GDP, Greek defense spending is nearly double that of any other EU member. The country also has a less-than-transparent procurement process and a reputation for budgetary corruption, RT's Peter Oliver reports.

Long-running tensions between Greece and Turkey are believed to be the main reason behind Athens’ high levels of military spending. Following Turkey’s 1974 invasion of Cyprus, Greece has spent an estimated 216 billion euros on arms.

“Greece still considers that it is facing a threat from Turkey. And that we need to maintain credible military forces to deter that threat,” Thanos Dokos, the Director-General of the Hellenic Foundation for European & Foreign Policy told RT.

Germany, one of Greece’s main creditors in the IMF bailout and a leading voice for eurozone austerity, is also one of Athens’ biggest arms suppliers. Greek military imports account for some 15 percent of Berlin's arms exports.

Vladimir Kremlev for RT

“In my point of view there's no justification that Greece continues to spend so heavily on military equipment. But of course it is export earnings for Germany, there are NATO interests there, so it's just being done and it's not being talked about too much,” political and economic analyst Maz Otte explained to RT.

“Once in a while it pops up, but German politicians aren't really questioning it,” he added.

With Greece plunging further into dire economic conditions, some have leveled charges of hypocrisy at Germany’s dual role as arms supplier and austerity advocate for Athens.

“For [Berlin], social spending cutting is the first thing that comes to their minds. Whereas to me as a Green, the first priority would be making cuts to the defense sector,”Franziska Brantner, German MEP from the Green Party said.

“I think there is elite in Greece both with in the political sphere, as well as the arms lobby that does keep specific percentages from every sale of arms,” journalist Loukas Germanos told RT. “These are the people who are sending that money abroad to Swiss bank accounts.”

With former Greek defense minister Apostolos Tsochatzopoulos in custody for charges of fraud and embezzlement, the country’s high military budget will likely remain a contentious issue. Economists estimate that if Greece had cut defense spending over the past decade to levels comparable to other EU nations, it would have saved some 150 billion euros – more than its last IMF bailout.

 

Health employees protest outside the Health Ministry in Athens against pay and budget cuts planned in the latest round of austerity measures. (AFP Photo / Aris Messinis)

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EU bans import of Iranian gas to European countries – German FM

 

Nouri Petrochemical facilities of the South Pars gas field in the southern Iranian port of Assaluyeh (AFP Photo / Atta Kenare)

Source: Press TV

http://rt.com/news/eu-ban-iran-gas-479/

EU governments have agreed to one of the toughest sets of sanctions against Iran's nuclear program. German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle has announced the EU is banning the import of Iranian natural gas into European Union countries.

The set of sanctions also includes a ban on financial transactions between European and Iranian banks, with some exceptions for those involving humanitarian aid, food, and medicine purchases.

"The [EU] Council has agreed additional restrictive measures in the financial, trade, energy and transport sectors, as well as additional designations, notably of entities active in the oil and gas industry," a written statement issued by the European Union council said.

Further export restrictions were imposed on graphite, metals, and software for industrial processes. Restrictive measures were also made relating to Iran's ship building industry.

The move is aimed at putting pressure on Iran to cooperate in talks regarding its nuclear program.

Prior to Monday’s meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said new sanctions would be"a sign of our resolve in the European Union that we will step up the pressure."

The US and its allies have long accused Iran of using its nuclear program to develop atomic weapons, although Tehran says the program is solely for peaceful purposes.

 

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Siemens placed explosives in equipment to sabotage nuclear facility - Iran

 

Source: Russia Today

http://rt.com/news/iran-siemens-nuclear-accusations-755/

Iran has accused German industrial giant Siemens of placing small explosives in equipment that forms the backbone of the country’s nuclear program.

"The equipment was supposed to explode after being put to work, in order to dismantle all our systems," declared Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of the security committee in Iran’s parliament. "But the wisdom of our experts thwarted the enemy conspiracy."

He said the measures were intended to slow down the country’s burgeoning nuclear program.

Siemens issued a flat denial.

"We have no business dealings related to the Iranian nuclear program," said company spokesman Alexander Machowetz, noting that the company has not worked with Iran since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

Sales of nuclear equipment to Iran are currently banned under an international embargo, as the country is widely suspected of using it to advance a nuclear weapons development program. But while Siemens does not supply Iran directly, its equipment is assumed to be imported through third parties in other countries.

Most uranium enrichment centrifuges at Iran’s nuclear sites are presumed to be made by the company. Obtaining high-grade uranium is a prerequisite for producing nuclear weapons.

If the information on explosives is correct, this would not be the first time Siemens equipment has been used as a target.

Vulnerabilities in Siemens operating software were exploited by Stuxnet, a virus that helped to disable up to 1,000 centrifuges two years ago, though the company was not implicated in developing it.

Iran frequently accuses Western governments and companies of sabotage. Only last month, it claimed that foreign spies cut power lines to its underground nuclear facility at Fordo.

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Israel not entitled to 'veto' Berlin’s decisions: German defence minister

 

German Defence Minister Thomas de Maiziere addresses a press conference in Berlin on October 26, 2011.

Source: Press TV

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/09/16/261841/israel-cannot-veto-germanys-decisions/

German government has dismissed Israeli pressure to obstruct the probable sale of two attack submarines to Egypt, saying no country is entitled to ‘veto’ Berlin’s decisions.

"No country in the world has the right of veto to decisions taken by the German government," Defence Minister Thomas de Maiziere told the German daily Frankfurter Rundschau on Saturday when asked to comment on Israel’s pressure on Berlin to cancel the deal.

He said the transaction to sell the two Type 209 attack submarines to Egypt could not be affected by ‘instability’ in the North African country that is experiencing the first months of its fledgling democracy with Mohamed Morsi at the helm.

The remarks come two weeks after commander in chief of the Egyptian Navy Osama al-Gindi first revealed the agreement to buy two conventional diesel-electric submarines from Germany, sparking outrage in Tel Aviv.

Israeli media quoted government officials as saying that there had been "a marked deterioration in relations between Israel and Germany" over the deal, a claim rejected by the German government that has refused to comment on the probable sale.

Germany also faced Israel’s scathing criticism last July over the sale of 200 Leopard combat tanks to Saudi Arabia.

Opposition to the recent deal comes as Germany has already provided Tel Aviv with three atomic-capable submarines which the Israeli regime, according to SPIEGEL, has equipped with nuclear-tipped cruise missiles.

The three Dolphin-class submarines have been subsidized by the German government, which has signed contracts to supply the Israeli regime with three more by 2017.

The left-leaning German daily Die Tageszeitung says "It's a serious matter when Germany, as the world's third-largest arms exporter, apparently pays little consideration to the consequences of its policy (of exporting submarines to Israel).”

“After all, military equipment is not supposed to be exported to crisis regions (under German government guidelines). This applies to the export of German tanks to Saudi Arabia as well as to the supply of nuclear-capable submarines to Israel, whose government is currently openly threatening to attack Iran's nuclear facilities,” the paper adds.

However, German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s stated position is that the security of Israel is part of Germany's raison d'état, or national interest, according to German media.

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