Russia_2837 – Tsar Cannon (Photo credit: archer10 (Dennis))
It’s almost scary to see what’s going on the media in Germany about the Ukrainian crisis. While the news coverage is good as it gets usually you may see some of the most important men of the country taking as many distance is possible from a direct involvement of the Germany in the crisis – they take side with Putin to Hell and beyond.
More than a month ago I’ve announced a brand new project for a pulp-oriented novel (check here for the related post) and I’m still working in the documentation phase, a real threat for a history fan like me. The period of Weimar Republik was amazing, almost everything was at stake on daily basis. Germany in the ‘20s was a frail nation, torn by the consequences of WWI and divided as never before.
In a civilized country it could happen that a new government has to be formed by two rival parties. Take a look at Germany, they got to use this formula (Big Coalition, Grosse Koalition in German) in order to support a massive reforms program in the ’00. In such a situation the National government work under an agreement, a high form of compromise between political rivals. After the end of this agreement everybody is free to compete against each other, democracy is still in its place and the National interest has been preserved.
In the last two weeks I’ve spent a good time toying with a number of different ideas, all about a brand new novel to start as soon as possible. You see, to me it’s a matter of different images, sounds and suggestions like jigsaw pieces until “BANG” a lot of elements connect to give me the foundations of a new work.
The whole mechanism of austerity, enforced in Europe in the last two years, shows now its many cracks. Last Friday (March, 1st) the Bundesrat in Germany blocks the application of the Fiscal Compact due to its economic weight, demanding 3.5 Euro billions in compensation from the federal state. The Bundesrat, that’s under control of SPD-Grunen, opposes PM Merkel and finance minister Schauble decision to put national economy under constriction to reach budget targets for 2013.
This year will be held general elections in Germany and the fiscal issues are one of the major battlefields for the campaign to come. CDU-CSU, Merkel’s party, loses most part of the local elections in 2012 and the leaders of the party are expecting the worst in the months to come. Economics will be the leading argument almost everywhere this year and new formations like “Alternative for Germany” are already speaking aloud about to set a stop to any form of debt financing from Germany and to reset the borders of Eurozone.
In the meantime there are very important demonstrations thru Europe. That’s from Slovenia, a country that’s on the brink of a major political crisis.
This one is from Bulgaria, where demonstrations topped national government a few days ago.
Finally we got Greece, a country that’s on the edge of a full-out revolution any time soon.
Got the pictures? Add to the list Serbia, Spain and Italy. Keep an eye on Hungary, another country that’s ready to blow under its right-wing government. Think about Romania and Moldova too, their financial problems are getting worse day by day.
Austerity is not an answer, not even a little one, in the face of a crisis like this one. Time to set back the clock and rethink the whole situation, before it’s too late.
Angelo Benuzzi 