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| Europe |
| German Poll Shows Germans Stunningly Anti-American, 85% negative, over half prefer China and Russia |
| 2019-02-20 |
| [TranslateTheWeb] More than four-fifths of the respondents (84.6 percent) rate the German-American relationship as negative or very negative. Only 10.4 percent find it very positive or rather positive. A clear majority (57.6 percent) argues for a greater distance between Germany and the United States. Only 13.1 percent want a closer approach; 26 percent want to keep the current arrangement. ... Almost half of respondents (42.3 percent) consider China a better partner for Germany than the US. Conversely, only 23.1 percent believe that the US is a more reliable partner than China. ... [Concerning Germany’s current foreign policies,] only 18.6 percent see a positive impact, 34 percent a negative. ... Asked about the currently most dangerous global trouble spots, only 1.9 percent of the respondents named the expansion of the Russian zone of influence. The growing influence of China is seen by 2.2 percent as the biggest threat. ... This poll shows that today’s German Government does not represent the German public ‐ at least not on these central issues of German foreign and national-security policies. One may say the same thing about the US: that its Government does not represent its public (on practically everything, actually). Someone tell me why we're allied with them again? They're a bunch of ungrateful jerks who gleefully take advantage of the free security we provide while shitting all over the fact that we provide it. USA out of NATO, USA out of Europe. If we have to pay to have allies who hate us, then fuck them. |
| Posted by: Herb McCoy |
| #18 I was married to a German (from Hamburg) and only one of her German relatives was anti-American (at least openly in front of the Yank). That was her Grandfather (too young for the war). The one East German I know is more pro-American than most Americans. The guy still visits the US every other year or so.. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2019-02-20 22:41 |
| #17 EC: Be careful with knee jerk reactions. Indeed. When Germany hosts a Chinese or Russian base on its soil, I'll believe that these poll reactions reflect deeply-held beliefs. Heck, when Chinese- or Russian-speakers become more common in Germany than English-speakers, I'll start paying attention. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2019-02-20 19:23 |
| #16 When German spying on others was reported, that also annoyed others. People do like to indulge their feelings. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2019-02-20 15:53 |
| #15 "More than four-fifths of the respondents (84.6 percent) rate the German-American relationship as negative or very negative." This shows you how irrelevant this poll is. I probably would have rated it "negative", too, because it currently is. How can you rate a relationship positive when the U.S. just decided that German cars are a threat to national security? This is more about Trump and his hostile stance. Btw when U.S. spying on Merkel became known, ratings were down, too. Be careful with knee jerk reactions. |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2019-02-20 14:01 |
| #14 To be fair, the current relationship between President Trump and Chancellor Merkel is fairly adversarial, so I would chaaracterize it as negative, too. And if being a reliable partner is defined as saying the things we want to hear, China probably is more reliable. This is entirely orthogonal to whether it is better for Germany to have a partner who demands she live up to her commitments instead of accepting promises she has no intention of keeping. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2019-02-20 11:45 |
| #13 they must have forgotten what Russia did too them in WW2. Most of the wars they've been involved in through their entire history were wars they've started. So, it's natural enough for them to assume that there will be no war if they don't start it. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2019-02-20 11:44 |
| #12 ..when the wall came down. Do note however, that the West German government and military were rife with East German spies already. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2019-02-20 11:38 |
| #11 The EUSSR infiltrators probably infiltrated germany first. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2019-02-20 11:27 |
| #10 Move all our troops and bases to Poland. And kick them out of NATO. |
| Posted by: Silentbrick 2019-02-20 08:55 |
| #9 @#2: they must have forgotten what Russia did too them in WW2. |
| Posted by: chris 2019-02-20 08:10 |
| #8 That's OK. We don't like them either. |
| Posted by: ed in texas 2019-02-20 07:38 |
| #7 Merging with East Germany was probably more influential than we thought. |
| Posted by: jvalentour 2019-02-20 07:06 |
| #6 Stuff like engine computers in VW designed to cheat emission tests while they call us polluters? |
| Posted by: 3dc 2019-02-20 07:02 |
| #5 The hammer is about to drop. Trump Receives Report on U.S. Security Threat of Car Imports Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has submitted his recommendations to Trump, the department said in a statement on Sunday in Washington, without offering any insights into the findings. Trump has 90 days to decide whether to act on the findings. Commerce started the investigation in May under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, the same provision the administration used last year to slap tariffs on steel and aluminum. The car probe covers imports of vehicles including SUVs, vans and light trucks, as well as auto parts. American and foreign-based auto manufacturers have been lobbying against it. Ross had until Sunday to deliver his findings to the president, who has the final say on whether to impose tariffs. Trump has threatened levies of as much as 25 percent on foreign-made vehicles. Companies and governments from Europe to Asia have warned Trump that tariffs on car imports would hurt the U.S. economy and disrupt the global auto industry. |
| Posted by: Shoth Schwarzeneggar3463 2019-02-20 04:34 |
| #4 ...As the old joke goes, they've never forgiven us for World War II. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2019-02-20 04:33 |
| #3 Germany’s soldiers of misfortune |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2019-02-20 03:44 |
| #2 They're like California or Turkey. The real estate is valuable, the people occupying it, well... |
| Posted by: charger 2019-02-20 00:53 |
| #1 And isn't Trump German-American? |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2019-02-20 00:52 |