The Prussian Award System

Prior to modern Germany.....there was Prussia.  In olden times....basically prior to the end of World War I and the big changes to government authority in Germany.....there was the Prussian way of doing things.  Status figured into just about everything.  And as part of status....there are awards handed out by the government authority (namely the Kaiser).

So, this is a list of the various awards that got into the mix of Prussian lifestyle.

Pour le Merite: Sometimes referred to as the 'Blue Max'.  This was an award dreamed up around 1740 by Frederick the Great, and was categorized as an award that could be given to both military personnel and civilians.  The general award itself lasted two years before it was decided that it was mostly for military personnel, and a separate category of the Blue Max was dreamed up for the science and art crowd.  It's purpose was to note individual achievement.  It was a used a good bit in World War I....for noting military heroic actions.  As for non-Germans getting it?  Yes, Charles Darwin is noted as a winner, as is John C. Fremont (the explorer).

The Order of the House of Hohenzollern:  It's a Prussian award for those of a 'lesser' position in life.  Basically, junior officers and regular citizens had an opporutnity to be awarded this prestigious 'order'.  This came up in 1841 and had eight separate categories (yeah, it was fairly complicated).  The Honor Cross First Class was the highest level, with the Silver Merit being the last level.  The bulk of awardees?  Military.

The Order of Saint John:  This was a Prussian medal that came up during the crusades and was awarded to knights in good standing from the region who had distinguished themselves.  The Thirty Years War (mid-1600s) basically took out what remaining knights existed, and the medal slide down a notch or two in the period after that.  Around 1842, it went through a come-back period, and it should be noted that the 'order' is still around to some degree today.

Order of the Black Eagle: Started in 1701, it's generally rated the highest Prussian award.  Generally, you had to be in the Monarch class, some crowned individual, or a member of the Prussian military.  Up until 1918, there were roughly 400 of these issued out, so you can figure the Kaiser would award around ten to twenty of these per year.

Order of the Red Eagle: Started in 1792, this was an award that filled the gap left by the Black Eagle.  Civilians, and junior military personnel could be awarded the medal.  Lifetime achieve was one of the angles used to nominate folks for this 'order'.  As you would imagine, this got divided up in regulations, and there were around six classes of the order, and each class got divided up even further.  At some point, they even noted the Red Eagle could be awarded to non-Christians and developed a category for those folks (yes, meaning this could be awarded to Jews....with Meno Burg as an example as a winner of the Red Eagle).

The logic behind these awards and another dozen smaller and lesser awards?  Prussians relied on status.  It mattered. Just saying you were a rich guy or some noted person....usually didn't amount to anything.  You were in a class when born, and it's doubtful you ever exceeded that class unless you got yourself into the military and worked up a couple of steps.

To some degree, it explains the nature of life in Prussian and early Germany...up until the end of World War I.  After the defeat in 'The Great War', there's a fair amount of blame for the defeat which gets handed out.....mostly to the monarch nature of society and leadership.

If you generally showed up some place in Prussia prior to 1918 with any of these awards on your chest....it generally meant you were someone special.  After the war, things went down a step or two, and the awards meant a lot less.

Casinos In Germany

Casinos are an odd topic in Germany to bring up.

Throughout the 1700s and 1800s....Germans were fairly successful at building up the casino business, and a number of resorts had established around the various city-states (Baden-Baden and Wiesbaden were at the top of the list).

An odd event occurred in the 1870s....as the German city-states are combining and falling under Prussia......there is a general dislike of the Prussian elite over gambling.  So the general rule is written up to end gambling.

As of 31 December 1872.....it was the last active day that any casino could run it's operations.  From that point on....they were limited to just resort and spa operations.

In some ways, it challenged the resort managers to find new entertainment and gimmicks to keep the rich and elite coming to their location.

A return to gambling?  In the midst of the Nazi era of the 1930s.....Baden-Baden was allowed to return to gambling status.  For Wiesbaden, it wasn't until after the war (1947) that things back to a norm.

Today?  There are casinos across all of Germany.  Each state tends to run their own operations, with various profit margins going to the local state.  The number of active casinos?  Around fifty in Germany.

The requirements to walk in?  You have to be eighteen and have an ID (if they ask).  Most casinos will mandate a dress requirement (tie and jacket for guys and evening wear for women).  Don't even think you can walk in with a pair of jeans and t-shirt on.

Anything beyond entertainment?  Well...most folks will say the majority of casinos are more of a gambling area and bar situation.  Some might offer a nightclub or restaurant as part of the gimmick. A situation similar to Vegas?  No. Don't expect strippers, cheap drinks, or drunks throwing the life savings onto the table for one afternoon.

The Wiesbaden casino?  There are two atmospheres.  There's the 'petty' area.....out in the small building.....where there's some tables and slot machines.  This is where the regular folks go, and have an hour or two of entertainment.  The casino operation in the big building?  More so for the elite and high-roller folks.

Our Little Darlings

Violence is one of those rare things you run into within Germany.....when it happens.....you usually ask questions and wonder about the entire story.

This week....in Berlin....in the S-Bahn station around the neighborhood of Schoneberg.....there was this confrontation to start out.

The best we can say is that this adult gal confronted at least two twelve-year old German girls.  No one in public (cops or otherwise) will say how this conversation or argument started up.  Might have been over disturbing language, a episode of litter, teens smoking, or consumption of alcohol.

Anyway....the forty-two year old gal....got whooped in the face twice....fairly strong punches apparently....which led to an ambulance being called and the older gal being carried away for a bloody noise and otherwise.

Witnesses?  Oh yeah.  The two young ladies....punks.....were trailed at this point by a teen who watched the event.  Cops got called, and confront the two punks. A discussion erupts in the same pattern as before....confrontation ensues.

Oddly enough....the two young punks then assault one of the police officer to such a degree....that he gets carried off to the hospital via an ambulance as well.

Enough cops arrive and then take down the two punks (twelve-years old, remember), and cart them off to the local police station.  The cops call the parents.  One of the parents arrive....get the whole story....and immediately files charges against the cop in the hospital.  Yeah, I know....he just didn't believe his darling would dare harm anyone.

All the cops will say presently is that they are investigating the entire event.

Three observations here.

First, the forty-two year original victim?  She's going to file charges at some point, and this father will end up in the family court room as the witness and the older gal describe the attack.  The judge will just sit there and let the idiot father defend his daughter as much as possible before he renders some harsh deal.

Second, just me personally.....but if I was the father and I began to grasp that my daughter was a threat to society, and perhaps to myself.....I probably would have that kid removed from the house and just forget about that kid entirely.  You can't sleep in a house where you worry about your punk kid attacking you or harming you.  Maybe this guy will wake up eventually and grasp this.

Third and final.....back in the 1978-1979 era....when I was stationed at Rhein Main Air Base (Frankfurt)....there were a hundred lessons that I gleaned well quick about local customs and society.  German cops in that era....could pull out a baton and whoop up on you....with no real cause.  If you insulted them or acted stupid.....they had complete freedom to knock sense into you.  It was widely accepted as normal, and the older Germans I worked around....noted that this taught everyone to respect the cops, period.  If you were stopped by the German cops....you cooperate and be respectful.  Otherwise, you were in serious jeopardy.

The German Gal Story

This was one of those oddball stories I watched last night on the local German news.  There was this Catholic priest.....older guy....probably in his mid-60s.  Somewhere along a decade or more ago....this guy bumped into some gal.

The journalists and the priest didn't really spell out the meeting or how things developed....but this gal (in her early 60's at the time)....developed a passion for the guy.  She says....she never knew he was a priest.  So this kinda puts you into the mindset of thinking he was standing at some pub or some cafe....a conversation was struck up....and she simply got the 'hots' for him.

In the real world....this obviously happens....especially when you introduce ministers or such.  Gals sometimes fall all over themselves once some minister they've been introduced to....is noted as single.  For the life of me....I can't grasp the magnetic charm that these religious guys have.  A guy like Moses or John the Baptist?  Man, they must have had dozens of women after them in the old days.

So, anyway....this German gal began this decade long slutty-gal routine.  She'd show up at his house....wearing slinky clothing, revealing stuff, and dancing in some way to attract his attention.  He asked her to kinda stop....but she just get the message.

After a couple of years of this....he even went to the local cops and got some stalking order, which she just smiled and overlooked.

So, this past week....she got dragged into court.  She's seventy-one years old now.  The camera guy basically got the image of this older gal on clutches.....barely able to climb a stairway....all dolled up and in red lipstick to the extreme.

A brief discussion developed between the judge and the defense attorney.  The defense guy wanted the judge to just agree that she was a nutcase, and she needed mental help....NOT prison time.  The video and pictures for evidence....was fairly deep in nature.  That didn't help.

So, at the end....the German judge stood there and said "prison"....sentencing the old German gal to fourteen months in prison.  A shocker for her....I imagine.

With good behavior and time off....I'd take a guess that she walks into a halfway situation within six months.  Germans hate wasting real prison life on cases like this.

So, this all brings me to the subject of German nuts.  As some of you know....I'm from Bama....and I'm an authority on nuts.  To be honest, we have more than our fair share of nuts in Bama.  After years of living in Germany.....I would probably say that right after Bama on the statistical highside of nuts....Germany is likely running number two.  It's not a slam against Germans or such....but you kinda note the various unusual types of people that you bump into on a daily basis....and they aren't exactly balanced or sane.

Crazy threatening nuts?  Oh no.  Germany doesn't have that issue.  It's just a high number of folks who do unusual things.....beyond the norm.....and remarkably see that behavior as normal.

As for this gal in a year?  I just don't see her getting enough treatment to change her attitude.  A seventy-three year old gal....showing up in a revealing evening gown in front of the house?  Well....yeah.  That's a problem, and you just hope that she figures out the issue, and resolves it.

The Unemployed Bishop

I've blogged some on the Limburg Catholic Bishop who got into a bunch of trouble last summer when they figured out how much money that he'd spent on renovation of the church and compound area there.  The church has spent months trying to figure out the entire mess, and this week came to a conclusion. Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst has now officially resigned from the church.  He's a regular guy again.

What he says generally in his resignation....over almost thirty-one million Euro spent (roughly $39 million dollars)....is that he just wasn't that great of a manager, and his number two guy....the local Vicar....should have helped in some way.

I looked over the list of expenditures...it's a pretty wild deal.

There's this six foot deep fish tank.....costing roughly 213,000 Euro ($250,000 roughly).  It's hard to say what the intent was, but when you simply talk about cleaning the thing on a yearly basis.....it'd be a massive undertaking and likely require two guys and an entire day.

He had the guys install walking stones in his garden area.....heated stones.  This led to 19,000 Euro ($25,000 roughly).  The reason?  I can only imagine that it does snow a fair bit, and the heated stones would have made it easier for some guy to walk in winter across the garden.

The whole compound area was fixed up with LED lights.  I know.....they save tons on electrical bills and it's the newest trend.  But the thing is....this purchase and installation game....cost in the range of 650,000 Euro (figure $800,000 roughly).  It's a tremendous amount of money....just for lights.

Door upgrades?  Well....this ran onto 490,000 Euro (roughly $650,000 dollars).  I could understand going grand for maybe one doorway.  But once you went over the 100,000 Euro range....I would have asked some questions about reusing some of the older doors already there and just having them redone.

Task after task....just money flushed down the drain.  No fear of an audit.  No grasp of project management techniques.  No one asking stupid questions.  No logic or reason or plan that seems to dictate the end-result.

What happens to an out-of-work Bishop?  Well, that's the thing.  Who hires a guy like this?  He walks into the Arbeits (work) office here....likely in Limburg....and sits down with the lady.  I'm guessing she will ask forty questions, and then refer him to the supervisor.  Hopefully, she's a Catholic individual and she will have pity in some minor way.

Maybe the city park folks?  Maybe the school district?  Maybe the local paper might hire him to write a column on ethics or patience with difficult people.  Maybe the local tourist board might get him up to do some work.

Yeah, I probably wouldn't let him near any project management affairs, use of spending budgets, or handling renovation projects.  But what kind of job to you give an out-of-work Catholic Bishop?

A Peppy Pepsi?

Here in Europe, various distributors own rights to make various beers, drinks and sodas....country by country.

In the past month, there was this odd event to occur up in Sweden.  Carlsburg Sweden (the beer distribution folks) had the rights to make Pepsi in Sweden.  So they were busy making Pepsi Max....the diet soda.

On some afternoon, with management likely sleeping....someone pushed the wrong button, and out pumped roughly two thousand cans of Pepsi Max.....filled with a nifty alcoholic formula (4.5 percent alcohol).

All of these went to one single grocery chain (Lidl) in the southern part of Sweden.  Naturally, folks bought six-packs and went home.  What likely occurred is some old Swedish gal popped a top....sipped it for a while, and then remarked that this Pepsi....had "pep".  Maybe she went onto having a second soda....maybe a third soda....maybe a fourth soda, and then kinda thought....this is powerful stuff (well....Swedes might think that).

So, she complained and the grocery got all over this.  You don't want a bad reputation over something like this.  The Carlsburg guys have recalled all of the drinks and hoping that this is the end of the episode.

However, I'm guessing that some folks are pretty curious....mixing Pepsi and some stronger alcohol?  Maybe down the line....something like Pepsi-Jack (with Jack Daniels mixed in)?  It's hard to say.  

The G-7 "Game"

In the midst of this G-7 Summit in Brussels....there was a schedule, and I'm guessing that was simply identified this open hour or so.....as "open".  What suddenly got laid out in front of the group.....was a 'game' over nuclear warfare.  Role playing.....for these seven folks.

German Chancellor Merkel kinda sat there....shaking her head....and hinted in some way that this wasn't necessary.  President Obama jumped right in and suggested this was a great way to utilize the hour....as did Prime Minister Cameron of the UK.

A Summit spokesman said at the end of the affair....that this 'game' helped to make everyone more enthusiastic.  It was wasted words.....but looked good for the British and US press.

From the group attending....the only one with real appreciation for science.....is Chancellor Merkel....a physicist by trade.  

You can imagine a physicist or engineer standing there.....at the suggestion of some 'game' in the midst of company meeting or talks as part of some leadership-building exercise.  Basically, games are designed for one person to make one move, and an opposing figure to make a second move.  One will win, to some degree.  One will lose, to some degree.  

For an engineer or physicist.....they don't think in terms of winning or losing....they are intent upon designing or building something that has no screw-ups, mistakes or faults.  Thinking five steps ahead....is the natural tendency of this group of professionals.  

I would guess that Chancellor Merkel walked back to the hotel tonight....kind of lost on patience, and wondering why the heck she has to deal with in terms of people who want to role-play their way to the leadership position.

Payback?  I'm wondering if Chancellor Merkel will design a role-play game for the next G-7 meeting....where you have to show a backbone, make wise decisions, and determine economic policy based on reality.  Somewhere in the pubs tonight where German economic professors hang out.....there probably are two guys standing there grinning....designing a role play game where the President has to take his vision of economics, role-play, and lose miserably.  

TV Update

There's an odd thing which is going to develop over German TV between now and the end of 2015.  As of this morning....the German Supreme Court has issued a decree over the TV board that monitors and directs state-run TV in Germany....which has broad implications.

A couple of years ago (2009).....the editor-in-chief of ZDF (Channel two) came up on a renewal of his position.  Oddly enough....he wasn't renewed.  Things don't happen like that....unless there's some serious discontent by the board and possibly the public.

No one said much at the time over why Nikolaus Brender wasn't renewed.  But it probably burned some hostile feelings around the network, the news journalists, and some political folks. So, the head prosecutor of two German states (Hamburg and Rheinland) came out and took a case into court.

Their spin?  It just wasn't right with the way that the TV board is organized....too many political folks have a say in what managers stay or go, or the direction of public state-run TV in Germany.  Today, the court said they were right.....but didn't really want to insist how it had to be fixed.  The court merely said that by the end of 2015.....a new board formula has to be developed, there has to be less power swung by political figure....which translates into fewer politicians on the board.

The current board?  Well....seventy-seven members.  Yeah, it's an awful lot.  Nothing much is said over their pay or benefits.  I would assume that they get something, but it's probably a certain amount per day of meeting, and some travel allowance.

Who sits on the board?  Each German state gets one representative (that makes sixteen political folks).  Three members come from the current government itself (CDU, CSU and SPD are the partners currently (that makes 3 political folks), twelve members from the various parties (that makes twelve more political folks), two folks from the Catholic Church (non-political), two folks from the Protestant Church (non-political), and one Jew (yeah, it's hard to figure this deal).  The rest are chosen by the previous members described.

No one says much on the remaining members and how the legit members pick the rest to make up seventy-seven folks.

The two prosecutors in this episode, and some frustrated and angry journalists from ZDF....probably are sitting there now and wondering what exactly this will mean.  The court has opened up a hornet's nest, and could possibly allow non-university members, non-political folks and non-intellectuals to member-up and run the board.  That would be a shocker.

Across Germany, there's some frustrations by the public over the state tax, the amount of garbage on state-run TV, and the cost of operations.  If you sit down with a dozen kids between sixteen and twenty years old....most will tell you that they almost never watch any state-run TV.....ever.  Radio?  Maybe.  Internet selections are catching on.

When digital TV came into being over the last couple of years in Germany....the state-run TV folks did some tricks, and basically created several new networks (ZDF Culture, ZDF Info, ZDF Neo, etc).  Between those and the regional stations....there's not an abundance of viewers.  ZDF Neo was supposed to be this magnet of TV material to interest younger viewers.....but it's never done much of a success.  The commercial networks in Germany attract the young viewers.

The new committee?  I will take a guess over what happens.

- A Muslim is added to the church group with the Jew, two Catholics, and two Protestants.
- The board is defined as fifty-four members maximum.
- Three members will come from the state university system (shockingly, a physicist, a chemist, and an engineer are selected instead of journalism professors)
- Sixteen random citizens (regular people) will come from each of the German states.  None can have any political career.
- Twelve members from political parties.
- One will be a visa-resident (non-German).
- Three-year revolving memberships from each of the various states but none can be political in nature or represent a party.

I doubt if any of my suggestions will be taken....but whatever frustration came out of the guy being let go in 2009.....I'd prepare myself for a board that might go in a mighty different direction, and start carving up empires.

Ethnic Discussion over Germany

Up until the 1950s era in Germany....there was basically one single 'other' ethnic group in Germany besides Germans....and this group was the German-Danes.  This kinda goes back to the 1870s period of Germany, when the entire German state of Schleswig-Holstein was Danish property.  After the brief one-year war...this state slide into Germany, and the locals now....one-hundred-and-forty years later....consider themselves Germans, with a Danish heritage.

The 1950s opened up this massive industrial complex in Germany, and the Germans simply didn't have the manpower to meet requirements.  So the door was opened and various European groups came on work-visas.  This open-door also included Turks.

Today....while the population is widely advertised at roughly eighty million residents....the truth is that around eighty percent (roughly 64 million)....are Germans.  The rest?  Ethnic groups.

It's believed that around three million Turks now reside in Germany....either in permanent citizen status or on a work-visa deal.  Centered around urban areas, it's rare to find Turks in rural regions of Germany.

Generally, counting the Turks, there are around fifty-odd ethnic groups in Germany at present.  A lot of them....are in small numbers.  An example of this are the Mexicans (yeah, a shocker).  The brief history to this is that when revolution came to Mexico shortly before WW I....a large number of people got caught up in the violence and elected to leave.  The Kaiser apparently gave some type of blessing over their stay (perhaps intended to be brief), and the rest is mostly history.  Germans will say around 12,000 Mexican-Germans reside in the country today.

During the Warsaw Pact era, Berlin (on the DDR side) attracted several deals where Vietnam sent guest-workers to support DDR, and some just stayed on.  After the wall came down, Germany will admit there are roughly 12,800 legally residing in the county.  Some estimates show another thirty to forty thousand illegally in Germany.

There are a minimum of seventy thousand Chinese-Germans within Germany.  The brief history of their introduction goes back to the late 1800's when they were brought in as guest-workers for manual labor jobs.  Other groups were brought in during the Warsaw Pact era as workers or students, and they simply stayed on.

There are roughly 100,000 Americans in Germany (a 2010 listing from the German gov't)....either as residents or on a work-visa.  The number doesn't include GI's, their dependents, American workers on bases, or DODDs school teachers.  Over the past year, some business journals suggest that another ten thousand American tech-workers have entered Germany on the work-visa program.  If you counted up all of them....to include GI numbers....Americans would likely come up around 300,000.

This brings up this odd cultural discussion since Crimea came up recently.  The birth rate in Germany is in decline....no one ever argues about that and some statistical wizards will say that the sixty-four-million German number will decline by half over the next hundred years (unless something changes).  This generally means.....more ethnic groups being introduced, and Germany being less Germany, and more.....something quiet different.

Russians in Germany? Yes....to the tune of roughly 3.5 million.  But there's a story here.

What Germany will say in public....is that there are three separate groups of Russian-Germans.  First, the Russian-German Jews.....somewhere in the 200,000 range.  They may speak Russian and German....but they are Jews.

The second group could be more described as old Germans-who immigrated to Russia in the 1700s-who immigrated back to Germany since the wall went down.   It's an odd story.  Decades ago....going back to the 1700s....Germany sent off people in search of farming land to areas deep in the heart of Russia.  For the most part, those Germans will say they are Russian.....but they kept the languages and some traditions.  When the wall came down.....they made decisions to immigrate back to Germany.  Numbers?  It's believed between 2 and 2.5 million of these Russian-Germans exist in Germany.

The third group?  Plain old Russians, period.  Between 550,000 and 650,000 reside in Germany.  Most came looking for better economic conditions, stability, and improved living conditions.

Over the past five years, with the economic slippage occurring throughout Europe....Germany was the only place where business operations was improving and high-tech skills and university graduates were in demand.  Italian, Spanish, Cypriot and Greek residents have moved in and found jobs.  Some HR folks think it's a trend....but they won't say "permanently here" or hint that the folks will still be here in ten years.

So, when you gaze over at Ukraine and it's ethnic problem....it's not a singular one.  Most European countries have the same issue brewing.  Each will tell you after a decade that it was good to move off to the 'new' land, but some things were better in the old land versus the new land.  Yet, they won't move back.  The Russians in Crimea?  I doubt if they'd dare raise their hand and move back into Russia.  The Russians in Germany?  They'd just laugh if you asked if they'd like to move back.

Everyone was looking for something better, and found it.

Ukraine and Germany

Last night (Sunday).....came the weekly political chat show that draws a fair number of Germans.  The Gunther Jauch Show.  You can usually gauge the direction of the hottest topic....by watching the show.  The topic last night?  Putin, Russia, and the Ukraine.

The guests?  Three journalists who have a deep understanding of Russian politics, Putin, and Moscow.  Then they added Richard Kornblum.....the American who has been to the show several times in the past year.  Kornblum paints in the lines and puts the viewer in the midst of the decision process.  Kornblum is smart and direct on world events.  The final guest?  The German defense minister....Ursula von der Leyen, from the CDU.

Leyen is there to be the mouthpiece of the government, and present the path of options.  Some folks consider her to be the future chancellor of Germany....once Merkel retires.

What a German likely took away from the hour?

Putin isn't an amateur at this game and when he speaks....he's speaking from a position of authority....from both his prospective and that of the Russian government.  Putin isn't stupid or likely to make a mistake.  Putin doesn't negotiate.....he settles things his way.  Whatever dream that German intellectuals had over the past thirty years that the cold war was over, and a new friendship era was in full bloom.....is gone.

Since the Reagan era....there's been this long path of political figures talking up a great new Europe and no need to worry about threats or war.  A strong social path, friendships, and new understandings will take care of the old threats.

Well....I suspect that Germans have woke up in the past month and realized that this vision doesn't fit or work.  The problem now?  If this whole thing ended at the Crimea....then you could just chalk it up and everyone would go home and feel things could be revolve back to the normal relations.

Currently....at least six different Eastern Europe countries are worried.  They each have a Russian element of population, and they might be attacked in some manner....having sections of their country annexed away to Russia.  For the EU.....it's a problem.

NATO?  Well....five years ago, there was this belief that NATO was passing away, and that the US would likely leave the big mission of NATO by 2020.  Call it a defense dividend or whatever.....the end was supposed to be coming.  Now?  The US is considered fairly weak by Russian standards, and growing weaker by German standards.

Sadly, President Obama's vision and track record isn't something to be happy over.  If you measured his foreign policy strength presently.....it's probably rated even less than Jimmy Carter.  

What would Reagan do right now....if he were in office?  He'd bring in the ballastic missile defense umbrella, and make it active within ninety days.  He'd bring in a couple of US Navy vessels to the Black Sea.  He'd send the cyber guys to go and grab some Russian billionaire money sitting in bogus banks in Cyprus.  And he'd put air defense and two hundred US fighter jets into Poland and Czech.  I doubt if Reagan would even call Russia to inform them of the plan.  Like poker, Reagan would just keep playing poker and adding onto the pot.  Eventually, Putin would measure what the outcome could be and how any win for him....is really a marginal win with no bragging rights.

I suspect most Germans are in a confused state of mind.  Their natural gas supply is helped by the Russians (thirty percent comes from there).  They've been told that alternate possibilities exist but nothing is being pursued at present.  Fracking?  Oh, don't even bring up that topic.  Because of current laws, the US can't even sell it's natural gas production to Europe.

How they got to this point?  Well....the Ukrainians have been in this shadow economy for years.  They have raw materials, a rich education system, and industrial capability.  The former President of the Ukraine....though a supporter of Moscow....knew that something had to shift.  Last summer, talks came up with the EU, and maybe he thought that some economic door could be opened and more economic boost could occur.

Somewhere in December/January....Putin calls up this guy (I suspect), and told him to shut up and forget Europe and the treaty.  He did what he was supposed to do.....try to stall the treaty.  By this time....it's too late.  The people want economic prosperity.

This Crimea game?  First, it was pushed off into the Ukraine back in the 1950s....so it's not a historic part of the country.  A fair number of Russians in the Crimea?  Yeah....but the same can be said for other regions of the Ukraine too....as well as regions of Romania, Bulgaria, etc.

Will Crimea get all kinds of economic support by Russia....to survive?  I'm guessing there is one single check at the beginning of this....maybe half a billion.....and then they are on their own.  Within six years.....they will be standing there....a bad economy, and wondering if they can join the European economic community.

If ever that Germany needed a strong US and a bold US president....this is it.  Not since the 1980s.....have they needed such a partner.  And frankly, they will be waiting a fair amount of time for such a partner to arrive.  And it won't be with this administration.

The New Cog in the Wheel

It is one of those shocking German-American stories....that got reported yesterday.

The US Army in Europe....runs a headquarters here in the Wiesbaden area.  Under the three-star....there is a chief-of-staff.  Generally, this is the guy who coordinates the efficient running of the headquarters, notes problems and morale issues, keeps the three-star informed on daily and weekly events, and is the cog that makes a smooth or screwed-up operation.  For any major Army unit....the chief-of-staff is the guy who makes wheel turn.

Well.....the US Army made the decision to ask the German Ministry of Defense to appoint a one-star German one-star general to be the USAREUR chief of staff.

What is generally said....via Stars and Stripes....details are yet to be worked out and it might take a few weeks to figure the general plan on this.  I would imagine this would end up being a two-year assignment, and is mostly an experiment in the making.

Pay-back for the bad NSA episode?  Maybe.

Some folks would admit that the Army in Europe (particularly the Wiesbaden area)....is under a spotlight and really needs to cleanse itself of 'problems'.  Maybe a German view of things.....with schedules, standard operating procedures, and logical long-term thought decisions....might bring something new to the table.

Does this open the door for some German Air Force general to be next in line for Ramstein?  I'd suggest that by summer of 2015....we might see such an act.

Rarely has the US ever allowed NATO officers or generals to be on the internal management side of their operation.  Historically speaking....this goes all the way back to World War I, and it probably took an awful lot of talk in the Pentagon to convince the Army to accept this idea.

A difference in thinking and planning?  Most Army generals are on a twelve-hour work-day.....seven days out of the week.  They'd admit.....they get up around 5AM....read through their e-mail....do PT....run through seven different meetings prior to lunch....and probably meet at least forty different people per day.  They'd also admit that they spend a lot of time on bad behavior episodes and trying to get the straight story on why Private Jones whooped up on several local nationals and how Private Jones can be adequately punished.  For a general....it's not a pleasant job to manage day-to-day affairs....they'd all prefer to manage wartime scenarios and execute real mission activity.

What will this German one-star find?  It might be five-star material for a fantastic book on military management and how one extreme style....met another extreme style....and transformed into something fairly different.  Army social protocols might shift.  Army welfare and recreation might suddenly go a step or two up.  Army PT might suddenly be enjoyable (well, you could hope that).  Maybe they'd even start a once-a-year march to Graf and back.

All of this....in the Wiesbaden area?  Yeah......things might never be the same.  

The Commission Deal

It's been decided here in Germany....that a commission of eight folks....appointed by the Bundestag....will survey and research the entire NSA affair.  Top to bottom.

To be fair about this....the SPD and Greens are the ones who want the commission.  They'd like to have several CDU characters (including Merkel) to testify in front of the committee (who-knew-what gimmick).  They want this Snowden guy as well....but the CDU has said that it won't grant him immunity and that hinders the idea bringing him into Berlin.  The best that folks think is that Snowden will get a list of twenty-odd questions, and he will answer to some degree.  The full-up answer?  Well.....I doubt it.  Snowden has years of material and won't dare waste telling everything to the German Bundestag commission.  Yeah, that kinda makes the whole thing a joke because of these artificial limits.

The head of this commission?  Well....it's the CDU's guy on the intelligence committee.....Clemens Binninger.  He's not exactly a household name and I doubt if more than three-percent of the German population would recognize the guy or know his reputation.  The general gut feeling?  He's awful direct....even to his own fellow CDU members, and he's as about level-headed as they come....when you talk about German political figures.

The best scenario for this whole game is simple.  Binninger leads the commission onto a six-month period of information collection.  They sit for sixty days and try to analyze what everything means.  A month or two will be wasted on writing some four volume series with 2,000-odd pages.

What it will say in the end is that there weren't many laws in effect that would have stopped this.  There weren't many German techno geeks standing there to prevent this.  There really wasn't that much five-star data of extreme value that the NSA guys got.  The amount of freedom that the NSA enjoyed in Berlin and the American embassy was the fault of Germany itself.  Snowden apparently won't lay out the vast nature of what he has.  And the NSA probably knows more about German culture, German food recipes, German hotel ratings, German Bundestag gossip, and German soccer.....than they know about Islamic radicals in Germany or Europe itself.

All of this is important....because the SPD really hopes the kid sex picture episode would just dissolve away.  Yeah, it helps to focus reporters on other stuff, and keep drifting back on why serious charges just won't be drawn against their guy.

So, circle your calendar....probably for some release date around January of 2015, and prepare for big hype over the terrible NSA folks.

Oh, and I should add....those terrible NSA guys work for the same government that you might need to push Putin into a corner about this Ukraine stuff.  If the NSA guys could just focus on bad guys.....like those KGB guys or the Islamic dimwits....we'd all be happy and thrilled at their hard work.  But things just don't work that way.

The "Green Hell"

About an hours drive west of Frankfurt, in the midst of forest and woods....lies the Nurburgring.  It's a quiet area except for races (when held).

Historically speaking, Nurburgring was nothing, until roughly 1927.  Motor sports in Germany was developing and Germans felt they needed a through test area for motorcycle and car enthusiasts.  It needed to have mountains and curves.....lots of curves.  So it was built.  The original track was 34 miles long....yeah....it was huge by today's standards.  Built next to an ages old castle, and far from any urban center....it was both a nightmare and a fantasy.

The design was so technical.....that they had it divided into four different regions.  The longer of the four was roughly fourteen miles.  The shortest?  Four miles.

Over the years....between weather and speed....it was tested over and over....with various accidents always part of the rich formula of success.

For the region, it was a money-maker.  The problem was....there weren't that many four-star races held on a yearly basis.

Somewhere around 1980....racers began to leave.  The motorcycle Grand Prix was last held here....in 1980.  Car racers began to leave shortly after that.  The race course had to be redesigned in various ways....in order to survive.  This meant capital investment and risk.

Today's race course is a fifteen mile test....with the remaining paved track used for vehicle testing.

The owners of the track?  Well.....they convinced the German government (the state, not the Fed)....to put a fair amount of money into fixing issues over the past decade or so.  No one much wants to discuss the amount, but it was reported by several news sources at around three hundred million Euro ($375 million dollars).  As much as was poured in.....it could not pump up the ring to its former glory, and so bankruptcy started up around two years ago, and a forced sale occurred in the last week.

What the government could get out of the sale?  One hundred million Euro ($125 million dollars).  It's a fairly big loss for the former owners, and the local state government.  Naturally, some CDU guys would point out....it was the SPD leadership in the state government....that pushed investment money into a losing enterprise.  It's best not to bring up this issue when in a public forum.

The new owners?  Well....it's the Capricorn Group.  What turned the tide in this negotiation....was that Capricorn was willing to put twenty-five million Euro ($30 million dollars)....into expanding or renovating the track area.  I should point out....the deal involves not only the track (ring) but also a local amusement park (of a three-star variety).

Capricorn's background?  It's a curious thing.  They are known for making better crankshafts, cylinders, pistons, and 'toys' of the racing community.  Their ambition for the most part....using the track as a technology center and a race track.

The odd thing about the track?  It's one of the few in the world....totally open for any guy to come out and run his car or motorcycle (Sundays).  You pay some cash....and get a few minutes on the track to race your car at the extreme.  Yeah, there's a waiver document somewhere in this mess and the track isn't responsible for any stupidity on your part.

The projected success?  Well.....it's hard to say.  Some racing historians would like to see the track recover and began a magnet for the big racing style of the 1930s.  Some would like to just see one big race a year with 200,000 people showing up.  The locals would like to see dozens and perhaps...hundreds....of jobs created by anything they do.

So, when you hear about the "Green Hell".....you can imagine this tranquil forest area, with hills and valleys.....with a race track built into the curves of the landscape.  Death is always an inch away, and failed brakes mean utter disaster within seconds.  For a German, this is a better fantasy than lusty women dressed in leopard tights, wearing five-inch heels, and holding a chilled Bavarian beer.....sadly.

Our Local Lost Gal

About a month ago....I blogged up a local missing gal story from the Wiesbaden area....from Wambach.  From the story of the traveling businessman husband, it appeared originally and got strong attention in the local area....as folks searched for her.  Cops said in some cryptic way....that they felt she had health issues....but they left out what kind of issues.

Well....in the last day or so....new updates have occurred with this missing-gal story.

The gal in question....Britta Beauvais.....has not shown up.  The husband?  Well....he changed his original story slightly.  Cops hate that....because it tends to mean that neither the first story or second story are likely true.

Cops now admit....they've held the husband since 1 March (three weeks)....in jail.  No bail....no release planned.

What the husband has hinted is that the wife did herself in....by some drowning related episode....at least the Wiesbaden Kurier writers report this.

The problem is....there's a likely crime of a capital nature....but no body (kinda like the missing guy from the village next to mine who the cops have the likely suspect....but again, same deal.....holding the guy without a body as evidence).

The normal details you'd have in a case like this?  Well...the locals and neighbors all say that both the husband and wife lived in seclusion and no one knows much of anything, period.

Generally.....there is no time limit on how long the cops can hold you on suspicion.  If they wanted to stretch this out to five years.....they could probably do it....with a judge's permission.  The guy from the suspected murder in the village next to mine?  He's been held since October of last year.

So the whole thing about some gal wandering off into a forest, and maybe falling off the Earth in some fashion?  Well....it was a pretty good story by the husband.  Sadly, he just didn't stick with the story.

My Ten Observations on Public Transportation in Germany

A guy who grew up in Bama....has zero understanding and appreciation of public transportation.  I came out of a county area, that was considered 'consolidated' with three surrounding towns, and we were the largest urban area in America (more than 100,000 in population) with no mass transit system.  Nothing much has changed in the four decades since I left.

When I got to DC back in 2010....I made a vow that I'd survive without a car for twelve months.  By the end....I'd done almost forty-two months....without a car.  Yeah, there was a time or two....that I rented a car for day or a weekend....but for the most part....I made it without a car.

Since my semi-retirement in Germany in the summer of last year.....I've come to appreciate the local public transportation system.  It's a four-star system, and fairly different from the DC "Metro" system.  So this is my cynical blog essay over the comparison of the two.

First, If you stopped any DC Metro subway or bus driver and gave them a hundred-question aptitude test on just plain common knowledge....the first thing they'd do is ask a buddy if they could buy the test, then ask for a waiver, and then finally agree to take the test and fail it miserably (twenty-five percent would likely pass it).  My local ESWE German guys?  First, they'd complain to the union that it wasn't in their contract....then ninety percent of them would score eighty or above on the test, and the rest would score between sixty and eighty.  These guys aren't Einsteins....but they weren't hired to be idiots.

Second, there is an abundant staff of planners sitting behind ESWE....who are thinking five to ten years ahead of the DC Metro staff.  Most bus stops in the local area have a TV screen now up, and even at a quiet stop in the middle of nowhere....they will tell you the next bus is X number of minutes away.  DC Metro?  If you have the App on your smart-phone....it'll give you the info....but twenty-percent of the time....it's wrong, and no one really knows why.

Third, almost every single day on the DC Metro system....there's an accident.  There are stupid accidents....accidents caused by lack of attention....and accidents due to just poor driving skills.  The local DSWE German guys?  About once a month, I'll hear about some local bus accident.  Subway or trolley accidents?  Almost never.

Fourth, taking subway or rapid-rail lines down between midnight and 5AM?  In DC....Metro was famous for these episodes.  You'd have one entire section of line down every weekend in DC....from Friday night to Monday morning....for maintenance requirements.  The Frankfurt-Mainz-Wiesbaden rapid-rail?  They rarely take them down, and if they do....there's an alternate tracking system for them to use.

Fifth, about every six months.....one DC Metro maintenance guy dies on the tracks because someone didn't pay attention or the guy was walking on the wrong track for inspection.  The local ESWE guys?  You just don't EVER hear about some poor track maintenance guy dying on the tracks because of some stupid mistake.  Maybe it's the amount of attention that Germans put into the details or the standards of a no-drug or alcohol usage usage during work-hours.....but they don't screw up.

Sixth, when the local ESWE guys say this is the schedule....they mean....THIS is the expectation.  So if the bus is supposed to be there at 4:12PM....it will be there.  The DC Metro bus and subway system?  Well....there is a schedule, but I'd be humble and admit that they try hard to keep it on schedule for seventy-percent of the time.

Seventh, train doors on the DC Metro subway opening accidentally?  No one figuring out why or fixing it?  In the local ESWE system....if this happened one time....the car would be removed from the inventory and five engineers would be put to task to figure out why.  People would be fired from ESWE if this was occurring once or twice a month.  Giving some bogus statement of 'investigative analysis'....wouldn't work in Wiesbaden.  

Eighth, suicide by rapid-rail?  Well....yeah....DC Metro has this issue and they generally average ten foolish people a year who just have to jump out in front of a train.  Here in the Hessen-region?  You just don't hear about this kind of jump.  Maybe some idiot would walk over to the Mainz bridge and jump off into the river, or someone would run a hose from their exhaust....but we just don't have Germans running around to jump in front of subway trains.

Ninth, homeless guys riding to system to keep warm in the winter?  In DC's Metro system.....especially in January and February....I'd guess that three hundred homeless guys at any time....are riding the bus system or subway system.  Here in the local German network?  Inspectors tend to ride and ask for your ticket or card, and they make it a hard case for anybody without a valid ticket.  This means you get the cops attention next, and that means they ask questions and just might mandate you get a mental exam....which means you fail, and get kept permanently in some nice friendly institute, and never ride the local system again.

Tenth, after about a year in the DC Metro system....I came to expect "less".  Less safety....less security...less accountability....less performance.....less intelligence....less competence....less professionalism....less integrity....less determination....and less standards.  After the second year....I came to expect less....to the second degree.  And by the end of my forty-two months.....nothing much surprised me.  Even the fact that DC Metro admitted that they had an art director on the staff making over $100,000 a year advising them how to look better at their subway stations.....it didn't surprise me.

I'm approaching ten months now with the local ESWE system, and frankly.....I can't think of a single occasion where I ever sat for a moment and thought about "less" of something.  If anything....they've shocked me by thinking, planning, and calculating ahead.  I suspect that they go home at night....thinking about their job and how they might do better.

So, it's all pretty good.  Well.....yeah....with the exception of the bathrooms at the Frankfurt and Wiesbaden train stations (they do kinda rate with the DC Trailways bus station but at least there's not crack ladies or transexual pretender guy-gals around).

The Berlin Airport

Back in 2010 in Berlin....there were high expectations that the new Berlin-Brandenburg Airport....would open, after years of construction.

Well....it didn't.  Thousands of issues remained from screwed-up planning and construction requirements.

We are now four years into the phase two of the project....fixing the screw-ups.  This week....they proudly announced that they now have four percent of the airport up and ready to run.  I'm not sure why they had to make this announcement, and the political gain from such a comical statement. Then, I kinda remembered....these are Germans, and they measure practically everything.  So, maybe it's a positive....having four-percent of the airport up and running.  Then you kinda think on it.....this might only mean that the stairways and escalators work, and maybe all of the women's toilets are functional.

What the news media typically says....is that it'll all be up and running by the end of 2016.  Political folks now avoid the topic.  You'd never hear the Berlin mayor talk on the subject.....it tends to make them all look foolish.

I used to work for an officer who had a vast set of metrics for just about everything.  On any given day.....he'd want a status on such-and-such project, and you'd have to respond with a percentage.  I kinda felt silly....saying we are at eighty-eight percent capacity today....and two days later the same question would be asked and I'd have to note that we went down to eight-two percent.  This would drive the boss mad....asking how we did this and how we were going to recover this lost six-percent.  I'd generally say I'd need a day or two.....and by then....we were back up to eighty-eight....that would make him happy, but demanding we push for one-hundred percent next month.

Is there a listing for the items of four-percent ready?  I've looked over German papers and have yet to find any list.  I suspect....it's just one certain thing....like the ramp areas totally functional or the runway itself.  When you consider an airport....there's likely 250,000 running pieces and parts.....so it's not a simple tasking.

How many Germans follow the Berlin-Brandenburg Airport saga?  I'd say roughly twenty percent know there's massive issues.  The rest?  At least half the German public probably aren't even aware of some new massive airport being built in Berlin.  As bad as some Americans are over grasping their national situations.....it's just as bad in Germany.

So, this brings me to this concluding topic....who is the guy who keeps the listing?  Who monitors things and concludes you are at the four-percent or six-percent point?  Does he stay up at night....worrying about a slide down on the scale?  Is there a eight volume binder series to cover the four-percent achievement?  Will this guy retire once he gets to one-hundred percent?

When you hear about the BER airport saga.....at least you will grasp some of the issues over the status.  It's a work in progress....as Germans would say.

ESWE

I've been gone for three weeks, and oddly enough....came back yesterday....precisely on the day that the ESWE folks (our local organization that runs the buses, trolley cars, subway cars, etc).....decided to go on strike for a day.

Here in Germany....for the past fifty-odd years....there's been this major push in urban areas to get cars off the streets.  Folks have built up a routine.  You get up at a certain time.....the bus comes by at the right time.....you cross over to a S-Bahn train (your local subway or rapid-rail), and in less than an hour.....you arrive at your destination.

Here in the Frankfurt, Mainz, and Wiesbaden area.....I'd take a humble guess that 200,000 cars are parked and these people avoid the grid....by using public transportation.  This helps the cities by avoiding parking costs and huge tie-ups with traffic in the early morning or late afternoon.

Well.....this all works fine....as long as ESWE runs.  If on a strike...it's massive chaos.  Even retirees get into this game.....by getting rid of their cars and just using public transportation alone.

I imagine that several thousand folks called into the office yesterday.....basically noting that they had no way to get to work.  Thousands more got into a mess trying to find parking for cars that they normally never drive to work.

Success from the strike?  Well....I'm not sure.  It probably drove home a point....maybe negotiations turn fruitful and some agreement occurs....which leads to another strike in three years with the same results.

An American would look at the infrastructure in place for public transportation in Germany.....and be amazed at the degree of connectivity.  On a day like yesterday.....the same American would be shocked just how handcuffed the public has become.....with this marvelous public transportation system.  You kinda have to take the good with the bad....so to speak.