GERMAN CARS AND THE US - WHAT TRUMP TOTALLY IGNORES - OR PROBABLY DOES NOT KNOW :-(

“The Germans are bad, very bad. Look at the millions of cars that they sell in the U.S.
Terrible. We’re going to stop that.” – President Donald Trump

This is Trump at his worst.  A statement repeated several times during the last week. But totally ignoring the following hard core facts:

Through the first four months of 2017, Germany-based automakers and their respective subsidiary brands have sold 413.000 new vehicles in the United States.

Of these 413.000 altogether 114.000 ( 28 % ) were produced in the US on plants in Alabama, Tennessee and South Carolina.

In addition the US based German owned car factories during the same four months produced 167.000 cars for export from the US.

As a matter of fact the value of these US produced German cars is higher than the export value of American cars.

Imagine how many Americans are employed in producing these 281.000 German cars.

Will president Trump ever get his facts right?!

And by the way, why do so many Americans want to buy German cars?  Probably because they are so good!  Again, reason for some reflection in the American car industry.

Source: The US website:  thetruthaboutcars.com  

DEFENSE COSTS ARE MANY THINGS

President Trump is also showing his one-track-minded perception of many things in his campaign around defense spending.  His amazing speech at the NATO summit was no exception.  He seems to think that the more money you spend on defense hardware, the better it is.  More missiles, more jet fighters, more frigates, more tanks - the more peaceful the world will be.    And those NATO countries, which pay less than 2 % of the GNP for defense, are to be blamed.

This is one point of view.  I believe that we Europeans have - as in many other cases - a more sophisticated and realistic view on how things are.

First of all, the US has decided to be pro-actively present in most parts of the world with their defense forces.  I am not saying that this is wrong. I am saying that this costs money. Therefore, it is not reasonable to compare US costs with those of most other countries.

Secondly, there is much more to an efficient defense than military hardware. Solid trade agreements with other countries are part of defense. Development aid can be seen also as part of it. Humanitarian assistance too. Education of people in and from potentially dangerous countries is also a defense investment.  And last , but not least all the efforts all our countries are doing these days to fight external (such as Russian) electronic interference into our societies are definitely also an increasing part of our smart defense efforts and costs.

So, Mr. Trump - also in this area I believe you have more important home work to do!

PRESIDENT MACRON: EUROPE IS AT THE CENTRE

France's new president Emmanuel Macron has put Europe at the centre of his policy. He has a very clear and forward-looking European policy, which he wants to pursue.

As a clear sign of his priorities he has given the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs a new name:
MINISTRY FOR EUROPE AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS.

Why?  Because Europe is not foreign affairs.   It would be great, if other member states of the EU made the same change in order to get in line with realities.

DEMOCRACY A PROTECTION AGAINST STRONGMEN

Last night we saw two very interesting programmes on French TV. They dealt with the immediate aftermath for citizens in 1945-48 of the second world war. And with the nazi leaders and their many followers -  and their incredible crimes towards humanity. This story cannot be told often enough.  And this time with shocking films from that time.

We often think: this could never happen today. That is wrong.  Do not be mistaken.  There are at all times and in all our countries many people, who are willing to do similar crimes, if they get the chance.  Therefore, it is of immense importance that we have solid democratic systems, also at European level, which make this de facto impossible. These systems so to speak protects man against himself!  

We should constantly have this fact in mind, also when we see nationalistic and populist forces with their lies and alternative facts trying to dominate the political scene.

EUROPE DAY CELEBRATION

Today it is May 9.  EUROPE DAY.  This is the best day to celebrate that populism in Europe is strongly on retreat. First in Austria, then in the Netherlands, then in the local elections in the UK last week, where UKIP was wiped out, and now in France.  So far so good !

But at the same time we have to ask ourselves: why did these populist forces with their lies, alternative facts, right-wing nationalism, etc. have success for some time. Why?  What can and should we all do to prevent it from happening again?

GREAT NEWS FROM FRANCE !

Great news from France! A new European spring has begun. So much to do. So much will now be possible! En Marche!

FIGHT THE RUSSIAN HACKERS MORE ACTIVELY !

Now again, huge hacking in the French elections. Why are the extremist parties never hacked? The answer is simple: It is because these hackers are controlled by Kremlin. And Kremlin is a great friend of most extremists in our democracies.  We know from Russian hacker specialists, who escaped Russia because they did not want to take part in this activity, how it is all organised.  They were most certainly also supporting the Leave people in Brexit. Serious examinations are under way. And hopefully democracies with coming elections are giving the fight against these hackers and their controllers TOP priority !