I was thinking that as I typed: <Should the wastrel Greeks see fit to renege, then perhaps the industrious germans would be righteous to .. > But decided they wouldn't.
Decades ago, it interested me during summer to see vast fleets of large, powerful German vehicles moving into southern Europe including Greece. Germans certainly can remember the way south and they keep their training good. They were BMWs and Mercedes heading south for summer, in lines of cars, hundreds of kilometres long.
Also, I recall watching a group of young German males standing around drinking beer, wearing their leather jackets, and thinking that they looked a very tough lot, killing time while they waited for the word to kill something else. I think that was in Frankfurt in the mid 1980s.
My ancestors and relatives had significant experience of Germans, not necessarily desirable experiences. I live here because of them. It was fortunate that one lot of ancestors moved here as impoverished refugees [escaping Germans after the Franco Prussian war of the 1870s] because then they were not exterminated by Germans in the 1940s, or mowed down in 1915.
Norbert Buchner, a German colleague in BP reminded me of Germans too. He was a caricature of the stereotype. Jurgen Cuno was also German but a very urbane, suave and civilized variety. Hopefully the Jurgen type wins the debate "What shall we do about Greece, Spain, Portugal ... and hey, what about the French and English. Even Russia is not very powerful these days and in a short time we could figure out how to make atomic bombs, which France has already and they'd surrender them to us ."
This time around, the Jews are less likely to be in the firing line than Moslems. I would not be Moslem in Germany. The Dutch let them knife Van Gogh in the chest and terrify the Danish. Germans won't let them take over.
With Greece in trouble, Turkey might even decide it's time to finally sort out Cyprus and a lot more besides.
The 21st century is just getting going and there is potential for a LOT of fun. Surely there will be some history to write before 2100 and likely it won't be about CO2 and ethanol as an alternative fuel. Osama will be a footnote though he made a good showing in the early days.
Mqurice |
