I think the dems should rather focus on actually making good policy that mobilizes people to go out and vote rather than try to kick political opponents off the ballot (which is fairly undemocratic)

I find it hilarious how democrats would rather go on a pathetic smear campaign against Jill Stein instead of actually making real concessions and bringing people back to vote for Kamala. I, as a European, hope your democracy works exactly as designed. Maybe you'll wake up that way.

Thanks for pointing out the “Persilscheine”. Despite the tremendous amount of “Nazis evil”-content in school, especially in history classes, this wasn’t a topic. An educational gap I’m eager to fill soon.

Persilscheine are barely scratching the surface. They're honestly the "paradebeispiel" of failed German denazification. Germany had full on SA NSDAP members in government in its first government after WW2. I invite you to read more on Theodor Oberländer. Actually, I invite you to read more on everyone involved in German politics up until the 80s, especially German diplomats. Most of them have some very, very disturbing skeletons in their closets, the people we praise as the founders of German democracy nowadays.

You’ll probably notice as well that this was a rather minor phrasing. No, I don't. I do watch most of the conferences, "generaldebatten", and speeches given by members of our parliament, and especially members of our government. I also religiously watch all of our Regierungspressekonferenzen. For someone like me, that has had family members die in german concentration camps, that's the last kind of rhetoric and wording I want to hear from a German. I couldn't care less what her intentions are. Her right to go with that kind of wording has been lost 80 years ago.

Most progress was achieved in domestic affairs. I have issued way too many "freedom of information act" requests through Frag den Staat at this point and I'm still waiting for this government to enshrine LGBT protections in our constitution (https://fragdenstaat.de/koalitionstracker/ampelkoalition-2021/vorhaben/gleichbehandlungsartikel-im-grundgesetz-reformieren/). But our state is somehow more concerned with helping neonazis march under police protection behind pride parades to intimidate the queer community, the same community that has been historically ravaged and exterminated by the Nazis not even a few generations ago.

I have voted for the greens. I will never vote for them ever again. I'm tired of the bullshit they've been spewing, especially lately. I voted for a progressive agenda, not for our foreign minister to lie about Palestinian deaths, and her goons downplaying it. I'm tired of her virtue signalling and her """feminist""" foreign policy on which she very, very selectively delivers. I'm tired of our minister of education and research trying to cut funding to scientists criticizing police violence on campuses, actively trying to suppress them. I'm tired of our chancellor talking about mass deportations. These are things a German should absolutely never do, let alone so called progressive ones. I haven't voted for AfD light, and I surely haven't voted for them to normalize far-right ideas.

Bit by bit, Taiwan will be slowly sold off to China once they no longer hold the last thing that made them worthy of Western protection. Of course, there will be some harsh words of condemnation, but that's it. That's my theory. Sad but true.

Then I guess y'all should starting reworking how your system works, because it doesn't sound like a democracy at all if you can't vote for what you actually believe in.

The fire has started in 1948.

Oh no, they'll probably just plant detonation devices™️ in areas where IDF servicemen usually are and hope that no collateral civilian casualties™️ happen. After all it's a very genuine war tactic and definitely not a terrorist attack

And obviously it becomes a war only when we (the collective West) label it as such, otherwise it's still just terrorists. They become soldiers only when it's convenient for us.

Call it for what it is, a terrorist attack.

Then I guess Hezbollah attacking IDF servicemen wherever they might be, including civilian areas in Tel Aviv, is completely okay. Even if it comes to some civilian casualties.

Maybe they should stop their genocide in Palestine. Hesbollah has said on multiple occasions that they'll stop any hostilities if a permanent ceasefire is implemented.

This doesn't constitute an armed conflict under international law. Israel has absolutely no right to target civilian areas in Beirut using explosive detonation devices with complete disregard to civilian casualties. But I see you're German, so the psychosis doesn't surprise me. Israel could probably start raping people (oh nvm that did happen) and you'd probably find an excuse for it.

Capitalism. They just bought the cheapest reliable enough option they could find and didn't give two craps about infosec, because that's too expensive to actually properly do. Minimize the financial losses of an upfront purchase. (I worked more than enough jobs in hardware design to know what management cares about and what it doesn't)

Also, big yikes for the Israel flag in your username.

So which armed conflict in the middle of Beirut are you talking about now?

If iPhones had explosives planted in them straight out of the factory and would've went off in New York all at the same time, injuring thousands and endangering people around them, the 24/7 news cycle would've already called for total annihilation and what not.

Look, if people feel very strongly about something, let them voice their opinion on it through a vote, as intended. That's what democracy is for. If your democracy doesn't work and always makes you vote strategically, making you disregard your own positions as a voter, then maybe your democracy isn't really a democracy and you should start working on that. A strategically cast vote won't magically repair your broken system. Anyway, compromises are for political parties and politicians, not for the average voter that just wants to voice their opinion.

Because y'all claim to live in a democracy, so let people voice their opinions as votes.

EDIT: Lmao, look at the downvoted. HOW DARE PEOPLE VOTE FOR ANYTHING OTHER THAN WHAT I WANT

Having them be appointed by politicians isn't making much sense either. It's not a secret that many judges have their own political affiliations since they often get appointed with support from different political factions (see the supreme court in the US). In theory, you're right. In practice, it doesn't always work that way.

Germany got fucked "in the ass" because of capitalist greed, not because of "people like me". If it was up to me our industries would've never left the country in the first place, and most of the privatizations wouldn't have gone through. Corporate greed would've been stopped, and foreign companies that don't have the interest of the people would've been nationalized a long time ago. But that's not the reality. Besides that, there's plenty of nazi like rhetoric going around nowadays. Green politicians talking about "the poison of Islam" [1], which reminds me a lot of the antisemitic rhetoric from WW2 (see "Der Giftpilz" [2], talking about jewish people as "the poisonous mushroom"). Besides that, Germany didn't denazify properly after WW2 anyway ("Persilscheine", proper card carrying nazis in the first democratically elected government, and so on). The chancellor talking about "deportations in big style". The CDU trying to ban refugees from going to any public events. And these are not even the nazis in the AfD. It might be 2024, but mentalities haven't changed much, we're just picking other out groups to stomp on, mostly because we're not tackling the real issues at heart.

But again, to get back on China, Germany is very well conducting major business with a ton of authoritarian countries, stomping on workers' rights all across the world just to enrich German companies, and thus I won't take their virtue signalling for anything more than just virtue signalling. They can talk about "feminist foreign policy" as much as they like while increasing business with Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, and now even working with the Taliban. They can talk about green policy as much as they like, while funding lithium extraction mines against the will of the people in Serbia. They can talk as much as they like about democracy, while empowering cops to break limbs and beat the shit out of protesters at peaceful pro Palestinian demonstrations. They can talk about humanity as much as they like, while funding a genocide in Gaza and an illegal occupation in the West Bank. And I haven't even voiced an opinion on these policies, I'm here just pointing out the hypocrisy. If they care so much about Taiwan, they should at least make it clear that it is due to geostrategic interests, not because they suddenly found their love for democracy and what not other nonsense.

[1] https://jungefreiheit.de/politik/deutschland/2024/gruenen-politikerin-warnt-vor-dem-gift-des-islams/

[2] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_Giftpilz

Bootlickers for what? I'm talking about Germany funding Israel to commit its genocides in the Middle East. You're the one licking boots if you still have the zionist boot down your throat. Also, it's quite telling that you see nazi germany getting "fucked in the ass" by Russia as something bad.