Tag: Germany

Commentary: Nazis, Marxists, and the History of Ideas

American Greatness
Mussolini and Hitler

In light of recent events and discussions attempting to rehabilitate the historical reputation of Germany’s Nazis, it might be worthwhile to re-examine the foundations of the ideology that underpinned National Socialism and its close cousin fascism. Those who embrace the revisionism that excuses the Nazis’ crimes appear to believe that by doing so, they are defending themselves and their ideological brethren from unfair and ahistorical attacks by the broader left. They think—or at least seem to think—that because fascism is considered a “right-wing” ideology that was specifically pitted against both Communism and Western liberalism, it can hardly be as awful as has been assumed and that its association with unvarnished evil is mere propaganda.

They are wrong. Indeed, the very foundations of their sentiments are mistaken and result from the radical mischaracterization of history and the evolution of ideas in the two centuries after the Enlightenment.

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Commentary: Energy Innovation Is Key to Prosperity

Virginia Star Staff
Nuclear Power Plant

In a recent report, “Powering Human Advancement,” The Heritage Foundation laid bare the truth that the driving force behind wealth creation and raising human development standards is the innovative harnessing of energy.

As historian Vaclav Smil sees it, “Energy is the only universal currency.”

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Youngkin Meets with President of Finland During International Trade Mission

The Center Square
Glenn Youngkin Finland

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin met with Finland President Alexander Stubb, discussing opportunities the commonwealth and the northern European country can strengthen their business relationship.

The two leaders met in the nation’s capital, Helsinki as part of the governor’s economic tour of Europe. Youngkin used the visit to cement an established relationship between Virginia and Finland.

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Commentary: Free Traders Are Wrong – It’s Time to Try Trade a New Way

Virginia Star Staff

A recent Daily Mail poll showed 54 percent of voters support Trump’s proposal to put 10 percent tariffs on most imports, from China or not. This is sacrilege to American free traders.

The free-trade globalization crowd – who saw the 80s up to early 2000s as their heyday– believe in a world that does not exist the way they say it does on paper. Do you think Germany allows Ford Mustang’s into their country tariff free? EU charges Ford a 10 percent tariff, four times what we charge their automakers.

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‘Serious Problems’: Global Plague of Recessions Could Infect U.S., Experts Say

Virginia Star Staff
Office Meeting

The recessions currently plaguing several major countries around the world could be what drags the U.S. into an economic downturn of its own, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Germany announced on Monday that it fell into a technical recession in the fourth quarter of 2023, after reporting its second month in a row of negative growth, following several other top nations experiencing economic difficulties. While the U.S. has managed to avoid a recession due to its size and diverse industries, foreign economic malaise may drag the U.S. economy down through changes to trade and global inflation that would lead to a loss for American businesses, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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Commentary: Far-Left Drives 44 Percent Hate Crime Increase Against European Christians

Virginia Star Staff

Anti-Christian hate crimes in Europe have risen by 44 percent in just one year, with far-left groups behind a majority of the attacks, according to a shocking new report.

Published in October, the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe’s Annual Report detailed a wave of violent attacks, church arson, and rising extremism battering Europe’s historic Christian communities.

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Germany on Track to Miss Climate Goals Despite $500 Billion Plus Green Spending Spree

Virginia Star Staff

Germany is on track to fall short of its ambitious long-term climate change goals despite its plans to have spent more than $500 billion to reach them, according to Reuters.

The German government is primed to miss its targets of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 65% by 2030 and reaching net-zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050, according to Reuters. The German government will have spent by 2025 the equivalent of at least $580 billion toward achieving the goals that it is now forecasted to miss, according to Bloomberg.

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Youngkin Signs Executive Order Establishing Virginia Trade Office in Taiwan

The Center Square

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin took historic steps by signing an executive order establishing a foreign trade office while meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan in Taipei earlier today, kicking off his Asian tour. 

This will be the commonwealth’s fourth international office; others are in Japan, South Korea and Germany. Youngkin is scheduled to visit Japan and South Korea during his Asian trip.

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Commentary: ‘Net Zero’ Is Not a Rational U.S. Energy Policy

RealClearWire

Despite Germany’s last-ditch attempt at realism, the European Union recently approved a 2035 ban on gas-powered cars, moving ahead with its “net zero” emissions agenda. In the U.S., the cost of achieving net-zero carbon emissions would be staggering – $50 trillion if the goal is reached by 2050 – as would the demand for raw materials, which in most cases would exceed current annual worldwide production. 

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Germany Gives China Nearly One-Quarter Stake in Port After Vowing to Reduce Its Dependence on the Country

Virginia Star Staff

In a compromise, Germany’s cabinet agreed to allow China Ocean Shipping Company a nearly 25 percent stake in the country’s largest port Wednesday, according to Reuters.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Social Democrat ministry leaders pushed the deal through in spite of opposition within the cabinet, landing on a 24.9 percent stake in one of three terminals in Germany’s Hamburg port, Reuters reported. Although officials say they will not allow Cosco any say over port operations or management, it drew sharp criticism from members of the foreign ministry who have grown wary of foreign investment.

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German Authorities Fear Nord Stream Pipelines May Be Permanently Unusable Following Sabotage

Virginia Star Staff

German security officials believe that both Nord Stream 1 and 2 could be damaged beyond repair as large amounts of corrosive saltwater flowed into pipelines following multiple leaks that were discovered on Tuesday, The Telegraph reported on Wednesday.

European countries found significant gas leaks at three separate locations in the Baltic Sea which caused the pipelines’ pressure to drop, forcing the pipelines to go offline. German authorities are concerned that the saltwater’s damage to the pipelines could make them permanently inoperable which would further cut fuel supplies to an energy-starved Germany, according to The Telegraph, which cited the German outlet Tagesspiegel.

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Germany’s Ministry of Health: 1 in 5,000 Germans Have Suffered ‘Serious Side Effects’ from COVID Injections

Virginia Star Staff

After aggressively pushing the COVID vaccines on the people, Germany’s Ministry of Health admitted on Wednesday that one in five thousand Germans have suffered “serious side effects” after being injected with the genetic products.

The Germans tried to implement a mandatory COVID vaccination policy for the entire population earlier this year, and locked down the unvaccinated over the winter months, barring  unvaccinated Germans from entering “restaurants, pubs, cinemas, gyms, cultural events, and non-essential shops.” The German federal parliament rejected the compulsory vaccine proposal in April, but not before over 76 percent of the German people were fully vaccinated.

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Biden Announces ‘Devastating’ Sanctions and Deployment of 7,000 Additional Troops to Europe

Virginia Star Staff

Joe Biden announced on Thursday that an additional 7,000 U.S. troops will be deployed to Germany, bringing the total of U.S. troops sent to Europe this month to 12,000. On February 2, 1,700 troops were ordered to Poland, and 300 to Germany. Another 3,000 troops were added to Poland on Feb. 11, as the crisis loomed.

The U.S. forces are being deployed to bolster NATO’s defenses as Russia continues its military incursion into Ukraine.

Speaking from the East Room of the White House, Biden stressed that U.S. soldiers will not be going to Ukraine and will not be fighting Russian troops.

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Russia Cuts Off Key Gas Pipeline to Europe Amid Rising Tensions

Virginia Star Staff

The flow of natural gas through a key Russian-controlled pipeline suddenly stopped Wednesday as tensions continue to increase between Russia and the West.

The Yamal-Europe pipeline’s liquified natural gas (LNG) flows, which are operated by Russian state-run firm Gazprom and have usually been pumped westward from Russia to Germany through Poland, were halted early Wednesday, European data showed, according to Reuters. The sudden stoppage reportedly represented a setback after leaders expected the pipeline to return to its normal flow pattern.

In December 2021, Gazprom slowed the pipeline’s gas flows, which represent 10% of the region’s supply, and the company reversed the flow direction from westward to eastward. The sudden reversal sent natural gas prices, which had already spiked amid a European energy crisis, even higher.

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U.S. to Send 3,000 Additional Troops to Europe Amid Tension at Ukraine Border

The Center Square

President Joe Biden plans to send another 3,000 troops to Europe amid continued tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

Biden is sending about 2,000 troops from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to Poland and Germany this week. The president is also moving about 1,000 soldiers based in Germany to Romania, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing administration officials.

“They are trained and equipped for a variety of missions during this period of elevated risk,” a senior defense official told the Wall Street Journal.

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Data From Around the World – Including Antarctica – Show Omicron Favoring the Fully Vaccinated

Admin

The coronavirus has reached remote Antarctica, striking most of the 25 Belgian staffers at a research station, despite all of them being fully vaccinated, passing multiple PCR tests, and quarantining before arrival.

Two thirds of the researchers working in Belgium’s Princess Elisabeth Polar Station have caught Covid, the Daily Telegraph reported, “proving there is no escape from the global pandemic.”

None of the cases are severe, according to the Telegraph. There are two emergency doctors at the station monitoring the situation.

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German Officials Investigating ‘Havana Syndrome’ Cases Among U.S. Diplomats in Berlin

Virginia Star Staff

German officials on Friday announced their investigation into the mysterious “Havana Syndrome” among U.S. diplomats in Berlin.

Following a report from Der Spiegel, German officials said they are attempting to find the cause of the syndrome by investigating an “alleged sonic weapon attack” that is believed to have occurred in August near the U.S. Embassy.

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Commentary: The Left Can Finally Admit What It Wants

Admin

I remember a staggering conversation with my high school lunch table in the early 2000s. Everyone agreed with one kid’s statement that there was nothing special about living in America: Life in Canada, or anywhere else, would be identical except for maybe the weather.

At the time, I wondered what was going to happen to America when all these kids grew up. What happens when America’s young adults, far from having any intellectual commitment to freedom, don’t even understand what life would be like without it?

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In Close German Election, Angela Merkel’s Bloc Sees Worst Election Results Since 1949

Virginia Star Staff
Angela Merkel

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right bloc is in a tight race with the Social Democrats, as projections showed her party endured its worst result in parliamentary elections since 1949.

ARD public television projected that according to early counting and exit polls, Social Democrats, whose candidate is outgoing Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz, had 25.5% of voter support, The Associated Press reported. Merkel’s Union bloc was at 24.5% with her would-be successor Armin Laschet, governor of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state in Germany.

Projections from ZDF public television put Social Democrats at 25.7% to the Union bloc’s 24.6%. Both sets of projections had the environmentalist Greens at third place with about 14%.

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Commentary: Biden Has Given Putin a Huge Win on the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline

Virginia Star Staff

For years, Democrats and their cable news echo chamber conjured up and broadly disseminated the most lurid and patently ludicrous rumors about former President Donald Trump being a corrupted and (literally) compromised agent of Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin. Democratic talking heads ultimately tried in vain to distance themselves from this sordid oeuvre‘s most far-fetched talking points, such as the infamous “pee video kompromat” from the discredited Steele dossier. But for four years, Democrats’ unquenchable obsession with the “Russiagate” hoax pervaded, distorted and sullied our politics.

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As European Schools Stay Open Amid Rising Cases, Many U.S. Schools Remain Shuttered

Virginia Star Staff

Leaders in Western Europe remain committed to continuing in-person instruction for young students — in some cases relaxing restrictions like face mask requirements and social distancing rules — even as caseloads throughout the region continue to explode. 

It’s a sharp contrast from many school districts in the United States, including some of the largest and most populous, where governmental authorities and teachers’ unions continue to insist that children be barred from face-to-face instruction, that any in-person learning be accompanied by strict distancing and face covering rules, and that even modest upticks in coronavirus cases should necessitate a complete shutdown of face-to-face learning.

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Trump’s Broadside Against Germany at NATO Finds Some Republican Support

Admin
NATO allies

Reuters   They might not have agreed with the U.S. president calling Germany a “captive” of Russia, but some Republican lawmakers on Wednesday said they believe Donald Trump is right to shame one of America’s most important allies into spending more on defense. The Republican president, in Brussels for the…

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