Germany Can't Free Itself from US Control | Geopolitical Trends

All right, hello everybody and welcome to Geopolitical Trends, where truth matters. Excited to be with you on this February 24th. So I have an interesting, uh, well, not interesting, is a development as to what just took place in Germany. So I am going to be talking about the elections, but it's not, uh, uh, as far as the percentages who win and the parties and all that, that's all that, it's nothing but a window dressing. We're gonna get into the hearts of the matter from two angles. One is economic, the other one is political. And on the political side, there are two fronts. One is domestic and one is foreign. And the big question that evolved around all this is, will Germany now take stand, uh, on its own feet until the US— you know what, we don't want to be under the shackles of— under your shackles, per se, anymore. I have my doubts, but that's what I'm gonna be sharing with you in this analysis that I'm gonna be providing you today. Before I do this, I have some housekeeping stuff I need you to be aware of. Uh, join me and Carl Zarr on February 28th, the last day of the month, at 1900 hours for our monthly conversation. That's what we're gonna be, uh, talking me and Carl. Let me— I gotta silence this. Uh, we will be addressing a host of developments that's going on. Like always, you guys know, Carl and I, we do all this, but there is one particular aspect we're gonna be addressing, uh, and I'm gonna intend to detail that. Uh, second thing is, uh, my, uh, community conversation with you all on March 1st. I couldn't do it on Friday since usually I do it at the last day of the month or last weekend of the month, but it just falls on Saturday, which would be March 1st. So that's when I'm going to be doing the, uh, community conversations. Um, and the third thing is there's a possibility that I might have Professor Anna Malindog on March 2nd. Nothing certain yet. I'll get a confirmation within the next 48 hours and let you know, guys, and we go from there. So All right, let's see our wonderful community. Everybody's here. I'm gonna have to move on today, so I'm not gonna give some shoutouts to all of you. However, I do remember, uh, one of, uh, avid supporter of the channel, Amanda, put a comment on my account, uh, on X. So thank you very much, Amanda. Truly, truly appreciate you for that. So, so let's ask the key questions, and I'm gonna share them with you right here, guys. Regarding Germany. So, so is Germany now embarking on a new path? Because remember, these elections, yeah, this is now that, uh, uh, Frederick May is gonna, uh, uh, uh, be nominated chancellor, whatever. But that's all nice and good. It's will Germany now embark on a different path after what they experienced for the last 3 or 4 years? Second question is Will we see an independent Germany? You know, ask anybody who understands global affairs and understands international relations, he will tell you that Germany might not be as sovereign as you might think. Yes, sovereign on the papers, so what? When you have over 30,000 troops, foreign troops on your soil, that's usually not a good picture. No different than South Korea and Japan and even Iraq, Australia to a degree, Philippines. So, uh, third question is, will the EU member— in other words, will some countries in the European Union, depending on their upcoming elections, follow suit? In other words, they will have parties from either center-right or far right, whatever that might be. Different from what it is today? And the last question is, will the new chancellor be pro-US or anti-Russia? Those are legitimate questions that we ought to ask, as now, uh, many, uh, confirmed that Olaf Scholz is done for. As a matter of fact, the incompetent Olaf Scholz just conceded the election. So, so let me first share— I have some pictures I'll share with you. Uh, this picture, I give credit to Michael Kapler. That's his picture. This is the new, uh, this is Friedrich Merz. Uh, he's the one who won the elections. And I'm gonna share some brief, brief stats as I move forward into all this. So now, the German conservative opposition leader, that's Friedrich Merz, the one you, you guys saw right here. Soroff won the elections, won a lackluster victory now in the national elections that took place yesterday. So, uh, on the other hand, the alternative for Germany, the AfD, nearly doubled its support, which is a major, major event because when you consider that that party, the AfD, has not been on the political scene since World War II, all of a sudden now got the second place with about 20% of the vote. Which means when you look at a map— and I have a map here, I'm going to share it with you, I'll give credit to Al Jazeera for that— when you look at this blue, blue, blue sides here, guys, the eastern part of Germany, all of it that was under AfD, now it's moving west. So my understanding is give it just few cycles and you probably have the AfD one day, my, the representative might become the chancellor of Germany. Very, very interesting dynamic. So because as I said, AfD now doubled its support, was the, which is the strongest showing for far right party since World War II. Very, very interesting aspects of this. So, uh, before I move forward, guys, please, if this is your first time uh, landing on this channel here, I will greatly appreciate if you can subscribe to the channel. Because one thing I am very proud of is that the content you are hearing and the analysis you are hearing in on, on this platform here is unique to this channel. So if you are enjoying these free episodes, I will greatly appreciate if you could subscribe and share the channel with other people from around the world so they like you have the opportunity to hear the truth. So, and here is the link. I'm going to put the link in the chat box for you guys, to those who are new here, and welcome to our community. So, all right, let's get in into our analysis now. Uh, now let me, uh, give you a brief, uh, bio about who Frederick Mays is. So Of course, you have to go— I'm not going to detail much. I'll provide you the link and all that, but you have to go back to 2004. That's when he became a senior counsel with the Meyer Brown. Now you need to understand one thing about Frederick Meyers. He is a, he is a lawyer by training, the same way the incompetent— and yes, I use the term even though he is educated, uh, but he is incompetent. Olaf Scholz is a lawyer also by training. So both of them, Frederick Meyers and Olaf Scholz, are lawyers by training. So, and of course, uh, for Frederick Meyers, that's the one we're talking about, his focus, he was doing a corporate law. That's where the one that focuses on mergers, acquisitions, banking and finance and so forth. Uh, so he had his hand involved in many aspects, specifically one And that one is when he sits on the board of BlackRock Germany. So, hey, we're gonna get into this. So, uh, Frederick Mays is also a licensed pilot. So just, just to give you a heads up, but I, I have a link for you that, uh, very interesting one I came across by Thomas Bazzi. So I'm gonna put it in a chat box for you. Really, he wrote an interesting piece about Frederick Mays, and, and I put it for you guys in the chat box there so you'll see it. So, so here is what Thomas wrote, and I quote: Let's not forget has long represented the interest— uh, MERS, I'm sorry, MERS, let's not forget, has long represented the interests of some of the world's most powerful corporate and financial elites, most notably as a key representative of BlackRock in Germany between 2016 and 2020. Indeed, if Merz is elected, Germany will become the first country to be ruled by a former BlackRock official. But his ties to the elite institutions go back much further. For over two decades, even before joining BlackRock. They embodied the— he embodied the revolving doors between politics, business, and finance. Spot on, spot on. Because we need to put this in mind, guys, for us to understand now what lies ahead. And this is where my analysis is going to come in. If I am to be asked to give him an advice for one day, this is what I'm going to be telling him, and I'm going to be sharing it with you. So, so now let me take you back to one word that JD Vance, the US vice president, mentioned during the Munich conference, uh, security conference. And that word was— you know what it is? Firewall. A very, very interesting keyword because you need to understand its meaning there. So, so now basically, uh, the firewall is still holding to a degree because now you have this union of the German Christian Democrat and the Christian Social Union, the CDU and CSU. So because now it's the— where it's as clear as it can get as far as putting Friedrich Merz in line to be the next chancellor. That's done for. The surprise to all this was that the hard fall of Olaf Scholz's party. But again, look what they have done to Germans. Ask any German citizen and he will tell you, he or she will tell you so. The other surprise to this was the hard right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, which by the way posted the second place with 20% of the votes. But here is the shocking thing about all this, about all this, is that Merz already, already disclosed that he is not gonna be working or including AfD in the government. What does that tell you? So unless of course there are some major concessions that will be made, and if I am to guess as a geopolitical analyst, if I am to think about this dynamics, is one thing that MERS is gonna ask AfD if they want to be part of a government is for them to drop the lines of let's get out of NATO, let's not pursue the US foreign policy here in Europe. This is, I think, the concession or the condition that MERS is gonna put on AfD. AFD, on the other hand, will be caught between a, a rock and a hard place whether to compromise on its principles or not. Because here is one thing that I've learned in life, and this has nothing to do with politics, you know. Once you start compromising on your principle, you will end up with nothing. In other words, you will stand for nothing. That is where I gotta raise this desk a little bit here. There we go. That is where the issue is, guys, and it will be interesting to see what the dynamics is going to be, where— whether AFD will give those concessions or not. So now you need to understand why the outcome of these elections— and I'm gonna move quickly in this into my own analysis— is that this election shows the results which come again against the backdrop of two main things. One is the stagnant economy, okay, in Germany. And two is the security concerns as to how the German society is like, you know, there are some individuals who say that those are German well-known celebrities. When I say celebrities, meaning well-known individuals, this is not in the movie stuff, whatever. Stating that Germany has become a violent society. You also want to happen in Munich the week during the Munich Security Conferences. And this is where it's going to be the challenge for Germany, for the new chancellor, because the far right, the AfD, as I said, doubled its vote share and surged into second place. Even Scholz himself was shocked to realize, to find that out. He is, he's upset. Well, who gives a damn about what Olaf Scholz feels or thinks? Who cares about that after sinking Germany into a deep hole? So another interesting aspect had to do— as a matter of fact, I'm gonna play a clip for you guys just to put things in perspective, because I always like to do this one for do. All right, take a listen with me here, and please give me a thumbs up if you, you can hear clearly. Olaf Scholz has conceded defeat after the opposition leader Friedrich Merz declared victory in the national election. The outgoing chancellor has also criticized a historic result for the far right. The Alternative for Germany is on track for the strongest showing for a far-right party on a national level since the Second World War. Well, Merz's conservatives, CDU, is expected to win about 28.5% of the vote. The far-right AfD likely to get around 19.5%. Chancellor Olaf Scholz's center-left Social Democrats, uh, is expected to take third place. That is its worst post-war results. Let's go to Dominik Cain, who's live for us outside the Bundestag in Berlin, but first to Step Vassen, who's also in Berlin at the CDU headquarters of Friedrich Merz. And so, Step, early results, tell us more about those and also the mood in the celebratory Merz camp.

Well, Friedrich Merz didn't wait very long to declare victory. At the stage here behind me just a few minutes ago. And he immediately also took up his role as the new chancellor, the successor very likely of Olaf Scholz, who conceded defeat. And Merz immediately also had a message to Europe, to Germany, but also to the world. He said that it's now time that Germany will have a solid government again. We have to show that we are present in Europe and also the world will not wait for us. We need to hurry up, build a coalition quickly and make sure that Germany is back on track. All these very tough words from the man that actually has no experience in government. He is a lawyer. He's been in politics for many years, but also has been in business. And now he's been selected, basically elected as the new chancellor. He was a— from competitor for Angela Merkel for many years and basically has been sidelined by the former chancellor. That's when he went out of politics. Merz is known to be much more conservative than the previous— than the former chancellor Angela Merkel was. He has also a very tough stance against immigration. And he has basically been working together recently with the far-right Alternative for Germany party to make sure that very strict anti-migration policies were adopted by poor in parliament, but they failed. But he was heavily criticized for working together with the far right. And now it's going to be interesting to see because the far right leader from the Alternative for Germany party immediately responded also for their big win. They have doubled the vote. And Alice Weidel spoke to the public, but also spoke directly to Friedrich Merz saying, we want to work together. And there is, of course, this a firewall, we call it here in Germany. All the parties have said they don't want to govern with the AfD, but the AfD made a very clear gesture saying the country won't change, the policies won't change without the AfD. So this is now the political landscape after this, this election here in Germany.

Yeah, very interesting. Let me stop this one here. Yeah, very interesting wording of what they are saying, both parties, the, the, the CDU, the one that just won, and the AfD. And nothing will change, like what the head of the, uh, what's her name, is, uh, Alice Weidel. I have a picture of her here, and this is Alice Weidel, uh, and, and I give credit to Getty Images. That's the picture here, uh. She already said that nothing will change if they are not including that her party. And why is this important? It's because her party are called is calling for the fundamental changes within the structure of German policy domestically and globally. And this is where it's going to be dynamic. What I found very interesting about all this one also is this incompetent, uh, the foreign policy representative of the EU. This is, uh, uh, uh, Kaja. Uh, it's, it's in— it's beyond incompetent. Usually I don't degrade anybody because that's not right, but when she's saying about we need to carve out Russia, that's when you realize how ill-informed and to the border of stupidity, if I may say this. Well, here is what she said, Kaya Kallas, what she said. She said, and I quote, you know, the German people have made a choice and now they need to put together the government. I hope that they do it as soon as possible. Because we really need to move on with the decisions also on the European level that require German participation, end of quote. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. You know what she's aiming at. First of all, the formation of a coalition, just to give you guys a heads up, this is going to take weeks. This is not going to be resolved tomorrow. There is negotiations back and forth and so forth. And if— it's not if— that now, uh, uh, Friedrich Merz already mentioned that he's not gonna include the AfD in the government. Well, how can you ignore them with 20% vote? So which means, politically speaking, Germany will always be unstable. Why is this important for us, the Americans? Is because if there is fragmentation, we will be, you know, the idea of divide and conquer. If we can maintain that division within the German government, we will be able to influence policies. This is why Kaja was saying, oh, they need to hurry up and form the government. No, because AfD, one of the requirement was we need to stop funding Ukraine, that's one. And second one, do we need to be in NATO to begin with? Because here's the thing, Germany now is going to have to increase its defense budget to about $90 billion. You know, you move from 40 or 50 to $90 billion because that's what Trump told them to. So, and this is again where you fall back to the question, is it really Germany a sovereign state? I mean, you know, you'll be the judge of that. So you, you, you, you'll be the judge of that. So now, of course, as I mentioned, Olaf Scholz accepted the defeat. He announced whatever. But all this comes out of discontented nation. Germany is pissed, the German citizens, because that's the unpopularity of Olaf Scholz that dragged the country, Germany in that case, into really an economic deep hole after following American foreign policy, because it was the US that dictates the terms to Germany. Now, the question to you guys, will this new guy be any different? You know, I don't have my high hopes. But that's me, given his background. And I know enough where to dig and where I dig to know about the guy ties to BlackRock. And if you know what BlackRock does, then you get the idea. Even for our government, do you think is our government that makes policies? No, no, it's those very, very influential entities, the likes of BlackRock, that indicate. So what makes us believe that the guy, uh, Frederick, who is not a politician, first of all— yeah, I wish, I wish him well, I wish he does well for the German citizens, but will he be changing the fundamental issues? And that is where I have my doubts, because I, I just don't see, I just don't see. But again, Let's give him a benefit of that. He just won the elections. We will see how he moves forward because he is arguing— meaning Mursi— he is arguing and acknowledging the difficult tasks ahead for him. So no, because forming that government ain't gonna be easy. And if he thinks he's gonna just— what? No, no, it's gonna be a long and hard fought battle to form that government, if ever. And that is why the, the doubt will always be now sort of on German political aspects of it. So now the question becomes, if I— not the question, but rather if I am asked, and this is just a hypothetical, as a matter of fact, I do provide advice to entities outside, even governments, if, if the opportunity presents itself as an outsider, because I don't work for US government, I don't represent Washington, and I will— I'm done with that. So, but if I am to be asked to advise the counselor for one day, and that's all I need, because they will give me an idea whether he's willing to listen or not. I do the same thing, guys, for my presentations. And when an entity asked me to do a presentation for them And I put it up front before moving in. I said, do not expect me to tell you what you want to hear. Is this what you want? Because if it is, then I am not your guy. You know, straightforward in a business manner. Because just because you are paying me for my presentation, that doesn't mean I have to compromise on my principles. The same arguments I will make with this guy. But again, this is just hypothetical. I am not going to be advising this guy anyway. So now I will advise him on two things. One is on the economic front and the other on the political. Let's start with the economic front. Why is this important? It's because you all know where the German economy is, how battered it has been. And the one— the main two things within the economic front I will advise him is You need to reach out to China. You need to make a trip to Beijing, sit down with the, with the Chinese government, and negotiate a deal that will work for you, for your economy, for your population, for the prosperity, for the infrastructure, for the capital ventures, and so forth.

Why?

It's because now China has deep pockets. China is in a position to do that. That would be the first thing I would advise him for. It's because if you want to elevate now the German economy, at least bring it back to prior to 2022, or even before that during the era of Angela Merkel, then that is one of the options you have. There is no other way around. Now you can go to the Americans, but you know what comes with it. The strings attached. With the Chinese, they're going to be talking to you business straightforward. Here is what we can do, here is what we need in return, and that's how we're going to move forward should you decide on that aspect. That's on the economic front. And why am I saying this is because if this new chancellor, uh, uh, Friedrich Merz, if he is smart enough, he will see already what China is investing in Europe, you know, and even China's buying some of the failed German companies like Volkswagen. Or he needs to look at— I will tell him, take a look at the profits that dropped for the last 2 or 3 years for your top manufacturer like Mercedes, like BMW, and especially in the Chinese market. So second thing, within the economic aspect, I will say if you are a sovereign, then you're gonna have to hop on a plane and make a request, schedule an appointment with the Russians, and meet and figure out how to renegotiate all this deal, these sanctions, and all this nonsense stuff. It's because if you want to improve your economy, you're gonna have to have access to energy. The question with that is, does Germany have independence to be able to do this without the approval of the United States? Sadly, the answer is no. I mean, you look at just the policies of, uh, the recent one of them has to do with, uh, this guy here that's now sort of killed Nord Stream 2. And you all know what happened with Nord Stream 2. That is one of the— because energy is going to be the key to Germany. So that's from the economic aspects. From the political aspect, you're going to have to approach it from two aspects also. One is domestic and the other one is foreign. Let's start with the domestic one, uh, uh, briefly here. On the domestic front, you're going to have to work together with the opposition parties. This is what the firewall that JD Vance was mentioning during the Munich Security Conference, and even, even the head of the, uh, the AFD party, Alice Weidel, mentioned about the firewall. That's going to have to be, uh, to, to be, uh, uh, taken down if they are to work together, because domestically the policies AFD is also pushing for anti-immigration, you know, and I'm not saying immigration is bad. All I'm saying is for Germany, they need to know who they are allowing in their country. Unlike my country here, I mean, with the millions and millions of illegal immigrants— illegal immigrants, that's the keyword— you look at, you turn cities like, like New York, like San Francisco now becoming, you know, just like a, a hotel for this illegal immigrants. Well, who's footing the bill for all this? Where those individuals are sleeping? They're sleeping at hotels because they are— they, government, local governments, are asking hotels to host those by giving them money from the USAID. Even that doesn't even go. It gets pocketed somewhere else. That's exactly what happened with Haiti. If you guys remember back in 2004, if I'm not mistaken, when a pledge was made to put in billions and billions of dollars for helping Haiti. That money never made it there. I think it was like only like some fraction, fraction of that. Where's the rest of the money? So I would say the same arguments about Germany. They're gonna have to figure out this immigration thing because their society is also aging and they're gonna have to think into this. This is the domestic one. On the foreign policy aspect, they have two tracks that they need to deal with. One is the EU and second is the United States. So let's address the EU first. What— this is again, you go back to what, uh, Carlos said that the Germans needs to hurry because of the decisions the EU needs to make. Why? Because Germany is a key player in the EU. And let's face it, guys, You know this truth. When you talk about the EU, who do you talk about? Which countries do you talk about? They're very, very minor. Germany, France, Italy to a degree. It used to be UK. UK is gone. But even the UK itself is, is now— UK is, is done for. The, the, the— it's, it's, it's so bad. And I'm not going to be talking about UK because it If I am to do this, I'll do it on, uh, uh, on, on a separate, uh, live stream. And then we will address the, the, uh, the UK at some point. But the idea that, uh, Germany will have now to decide for its own, not what the EU wants, because where the decisions of the EU are made, does anybody know? Guys, I'm gonna ask you this question. Just type in the city if you know where are the decisions of the EU are made? Which city? Let me, let me just see in, uh, in the chat box here. Uh, Washington DC. Well, in Europe, let's, uh, uh, Violet, let's start with that. Taiwan still, you got it, in Brussels. But again, Hang NG, you got it, in Brussels. But, uh, uh, what is, uh, where was it? Where was it? But Violet, Violet, you're right. Washington comes behind the scenes because Washington influences Brussels and dictates the terms. This is why you have two main institutions are in Brussels. One is NATO, the other one is the EU Parliament. So we have access to both. This is why we want this division to remain in Germany so we can influence the, the decisions of them. So Germany needs to figure this out with the EU first. Regarding the EU, European continent, that is the policies, immigration, uh, whatever, whatever else. You all know what the, uh, what's her name, the liar Ursula von der Leyen did when during the, uh, COVID, uh, the, you know, the deals that she got with the pharmaceutical and, and, and those never delivered to the country. She pocketed the money, you know. And when the investigation asked for her emails, oh, sorry, we couldn't find them. So that just tells you the story right there. So Germany will have to deal with the EU by, by saying immigration policy is Germany's decision, not the EU. So This is why the EU is lashing out at Hungary, because Hungary decided to take stand and said to the EU, you are not going to force immigration on us. It's their country, they can decide whatever they want. That's on one end. On second hand has to do with the United States now, which is the big elephant in a room. If you are to see A country that is hosting more than 30,000 troops, what are the optics of it? You know, doesn't take a genius to figure this out. I understand if there is some small entity presence, let's say, to protect the embassy, let's say, to help the military, the local military training, whatever. But over 30,000. So that tells me personally that you are sovereign on a paper, but not officially per se, because we're still going to dictate the terms. So till Germany free itself from the shackles of the US dominance— and when I say Germany, I'm referring to Europe writ large— nothing is going to change. This leads me back to my original point. Are we gonna see anything different with this new guy? I have my doubts. I have my doubts. It's because he will, he will bow to pressure given his background dealing with the acquisitions, the finance, the, the, the, the likes of sitting on board or serving on BlackRock. If you understand how influential those entities are, it will make more sense to you because he will be given an ultimatum. But again, that's the price of becoming, uh, entering politics. What do you expect? This is, uh, the one thing for sure is that, uh, the way I will gauge, uh, not only his sincerity but his ability to lead Germany to what it was before if he does two things. And like I mentioned, if I am to advise him for the day, one is to, uh, uh, pivot east and go to China and sign a deal, economic ones, and get the economy moving and work out a deal with Russia regarding access to energy. And second is to request from the United States to reduce its military presence on German soil. I mean, you look at it just, I give you a quick example on the Middle East, in Iraq or West Asia, that is, you know. Do you know we still have our troops there even though the Iraqi government asked the Americans to leave? We didn't. Well, that tells me there is something wrong with the government there. So I would say the same about Germany, and that to me will be the hint that Germany now is going to be embarking on a different policy altogether after what they experienced shutting down their economy and having people struggling. You know, I always refer to Boone because he's— I saw you, Boone, here. Oh, by the way, Boone, thank you so much for your super sticker, man. Appreciate you for that. Need to celebrate no more 360-degree foreign minister. Thank you very much, Boone. Appreciate you. Uh, and again, it will make more sense if, uh, uh, uh, Frederick, uh, May embark on this, uh, policies as far as, uh, you know, telling the Americans, you know what, we've been grateful for the Marshall Plan, we've been grateful after World War II, but it is time now for you to leave. But I have my doubts. I have my doubts because of how deep, uh, the, uh, involved this guy is with the elite entities that influence government decisions. So I want to be— I wouldn't even be surprised that he might even be sitting on a board for the World Economic Forum. Why would I be surprised there? So I won't. And the question becomes— this is the German Parliament, by the way, uh, that this is where now they're gonna have to take the negotiations regarding the formation of a government. Hey, it's not gonna be an easy task. And by the way, this happened before, back in, uh, in German, uh, politics. So because here's the thing, if you think about now what's going to be lying ahead moving forward for Germany. So one of the things that I can see is in the defense budget, like I mentioned earlier. So, so since Germany falls under the US authority— yeah, I'll say it out loud— uh, that they're gonna—

they—

Germany, or Germans, they're gonna have now to jump, uh, their budget from roughly €50 billion to about €90 almost doubling that. All this is to meet NATO specification or goal of spending at least 2% of their GDP. Well, how can you do that when your economy is, is, is, is, is tanking? Your energy bills is quadrupling. So yeah, that means for Germany now is going to have to spend about 3.5% of his GDP on defense. Which means what? $150 billion defense budget. That is what it's going to be. So now we're gonna have to look at— I need to look at one thing here for you guys because I need you to see, uh, the whole process of how it works in, uh, as to what lies ahead for, for, for Germany. It's, it's, it's going to be a tougher road because remember, the collapse of the German government started with the firing of the former minister, uh, what's his name, Christian uh, Linder, if I recall, if my memory serves me well. And when he fired him— because remember, it was a coalition government— when he fired him, 3 other members in the government from the same party left too. That's where the collapse started, and that's how it works. And I think, uh, uh, to me it's very, very concerning that now the Frederick is saying, uh, Well, we are not gonna let AfD be part of the government. Uh, well, that's what the Germans want to vote for. Yeah, they got the second place, they didn't get the first one, but that doesn't mean, uh, it's just gonna be a rough one. That, that's the only thing I can say moving forward. But to me personally, looking from outside in, as an outsider, as an observer, Germany will have two things to do: economy first, and heading out to the east to China and cut a deal with the Chinese. And second, to kind of start to gain some independence from the EU or from especially American foreign policy. That's the only way I see it. Other than that, they're gonna be in a stagnant— they're gonna be stagnant and the government will not be want. That, that's the only way I see it. So I wish them good luck in, in, in, into achieving this. But you know, I am usually, uh, I'm, I'm a, I'm an optimistic guy, but I'm also realist when I see reality how it is. Uh, if, if the, the, the signs that I see, it's not a Uh, this is similar to, by the way, this is similar to the collapse that took place. This is Gerhard Schröder back then in 2004, if I'm not mistaken, or 2005, one of those, when he had to work for the formation of a coalition. And, and it wasn't an easy sale, so it took a while. But, uh, that's why those negotiations, it's going to take time. It's not going to happen over overnight. So the bottom line is how— and I'm going to keep this short, guys, because I just want to give you an update on this one here, uh, where do we see Germany moving forward? Well, be on the lookout for, uh, negotiations for a few weeks, if ever. And, and with that comes the casting doubts about German political stability. Because if there is one thing— and I'm sure you guys know, you've been around long enough to know, uh— if there's one thing, the economy does not tolerate is uncertainty. So if there is political uncertainty, that's going to be a problem. This is why I'm saying, if I were to advise, go to China, because China's reputation regarding economy is solid. Is solid. This is why I'm gonna be having the, uh, conversation with Kaza about the idea of is now the image of China. Xi Jinping is changing. Why? It's because the world is seeing now the difference between the United States and China. So I ask you, who are you going to give credibility to, China or the United States? So I know I'm not, I'm not insulting your intelligence, guys, but again, I'm just asking questions that matter. Because you're going to have to think in these terms, uh, and, and that's how the world sees it. So if Germany, if Germany wants to move in the right direction, that would be one of the key things it needs to do. This way the citizens will see that the government, the new government that they voted for, is really working towards the welfare of the citizens, the German citizens, not the EU, not the whatever, the German citizens, because at the end of the day, it's the German citizens that end up paying the bills, and it's their right to afford whatever they need to pay for. So, and in my opinion, going to China, cutting a deal with the Chinese will give you more credibility in moving forward, and you restart from scratch. But again, how can you do that if you are not independent politically? You guys see where I'm coming from? That is to me the challenge. And, and that other than that, they can be circling around and, and nothing's going to change because the EU is controlled from behind the scenes by Washington. No different than NATO. This is why, once again, I'm going to repeat this— I usually don't like to repeat myself— this is why AFD was pushing for the two main things: stop funding Ukraine and maybe get out of NATO. I don't see that happening. But again, even for our president here, uh, Donald Trump, well, if he really does not want a war, whatever, why are we still funding NATO? Why don't you sign an executive order and withdraw the US from NATO altogether and let the Europeans fend for themselves? They can build their own security structure, you know. And mark my word, if that happens, most of the Eastern European countries will not sign up to that because they have no issue with the Russians, you know. And if they do sign up it's going to be under the control of the UK, which the UK is a servant of the US. So in whatever case, till that happens, I don't see anything else changing. Anyway, guys, I just wanted to share some updates with you regarding, uh, the elections in Germany, how this is going to now influence the trajectory of where Germany is going forward. So It's because we all know Germany has been— to those who say, well, Germany is considered a key ally of the US. Yeah, but I'm going to also add the vassal state. You know, it's not an ally. Yeah, it's an ally on papers, but it's subservient to the US. So, but now you're going to have to think whether this relationship between the two, Germany and the US, is on an equal chlorine. Doesn't seem to be, in my opinion. So, because let's just say it's straightforward, Germany is under the control of the US. There is no ifs and buts, and there is no other way of saying it. I'll say the same thing about Philippines. I say the same thing about South Korea, Australia, Japan, and also some other states in Europe like Italy, like UK. Those— and now I add Sweden and Finland to the mix, yeah, because Germany has, has been for a long time under the influence of the US foreign policy, because its decision makings are not made in Berlin, but it's made in, in, in Washington. The same arguments I make about Canberra in Australia. Decisions are not made there, they're made in Washington. Same in Seoul, same in Tokyo, same in Manila. It's a reality, and I'm like kind of just being straightforward about this one. No, if Germany wants to save itself, it is now or never. But now the Germans have spoken, and if this new guy, Frederick Mays, is going to honor the will of the Germans, you know, he shouldn't be starting his tenure with, oh, I am not gonna let AfD be part of a government. No, no, no, no, you know, what happened to that democratic process, so-called democratic process? So yeah, this is where it becomes just, uh, idea of just talks, no more, no less. So I hope, I hope he will reconsider his, his statements here and, and work for the welfare of the German people. You know, that's, that's all I, I can share. Anyway, guys, I hope you find this interesting, at least some updates to give you some pointers. Remember to join me on, uh, like I said, on February 28th. Of course I'm gonna do a live stream before that, but just to remind those who might have not joined us at the beginning, uh, January— uh, February 28th rather, at 1900 hours, uh, for my conversation with Carl. So, uh, anyway guys, if you want to support the channel, this is to support my upcoming Asia trip. I will be heading out there, uh, uh, should we, uh, reach the goal of the funding, which I will disclose to you by the end of the month, uh, and, and, and just go from there. There are, I think, uh, so far, uh, I am having 4 locations in mind that I'm gonna have to visit. Uh, yeah, 3 or 4, someone like that. Haven't decided definitely yet, so, so we'll see. So if you want to support the channel— that is, for the trip rather, Asia trip— that's the link, and I would greatly appreciate it. So as always, guys, remember, geopolitics impact your daily life in more ways than one. Till next time, bye-bye.