I suppose another thread on German politics is in order, but I really hope Lafontaine retracts his resignation statement after the Green decision to go to Jamaica.
BBC: German hard left set to gain ground
Sun, 2009-10-11 14:24
#102
Sun, 2009-10-11 14:41
#103
What an odd guy. I wouldn't think he will retract. Seems more like he did it before the Greens decision, so that he'd have a reason for his exit.
Could be that he still sees a future of politics in the Saar and feels the need to be there to make it happen. And it must be very trying the day to day of making a strange and internally strained animal like the federal Linke work.
Sun, 2009-10-11 14:54
#104
That's what I like about Oskar Lafontaine. Although he's a mere Keynesian romantic, he's a better alternative to "assholes" (the "shut your mouth, you asshole" comment by a Lafontaine supporter towards a Gysi supporter in one of the recent Spiegel articles) like Lothar Bisky, Gregor Gysi, Petra Pau, and even the Green-loving Katja Kipping.
Sun, 2009-10-11 16:53
#105
Sort of makes you think of Brecht's "Song Of The Moldau".
Sun, 2009-10-11 22:14
#106
I really hope Lafontaine retracts his resignation statement after the Green decision to go to Jamaica.
I think it's all part of a consensus among the labour movement, the left-wing of the SPD, and Lafontaine's followers, to move beyond the frictions that stopped red-red co-operation. Too many in the SPD see him as a divisive figure, a disloyal splitter, untrustworthy. He had become a personal obstable to left unity, and he knew it.
This is the moment for people to fall on their swords. Left Party ex-PDS people are declining provincial posts in the interests of Left-SPD co-operation. Left-wingers and centrists in the SPD are co-operating in order to rehabilitate the SPD after the disaster of the grand coalition with Merkel. Almost overnight, SPD people who have lived with grand coalitions are seeing the need to end them. Events are moving quickly.
Mon, 2009-10-12 10:57
#107
Brandenburg should go red-red with the coalition talks.
Mon, 2009-10-12 10:57
#108
Brandenburg should go red-red with the coalition talks.
Tue, 2009-10-13 00:07
#109
In the election on September 27, the Social Democrats took 33 percent of the vote, the Left 27.2 percent and the Christian Democrats 19.8 percent. Social Democrat Premier Matthias Platzeck announced the decision Monday.The Social Democrats had held exploratory talks with both of the other parties but the way forward with the Left was cleared on the weekend when the party’s Brandenburg parliamentary leader, Kerstin Kaiser, ruled herself out of a ministry post because of concerns over her past links with the feared East German secret police, the Stasi.
On Monday, Kaiser said she was optimistic that the coalition would be able to offer “sound policies” over the next five years. At the top of the agenda would be putting social issues front and centre of dealing with the economic crisis.
The Left’s general secretary, Dietmar Bartsch, said the planned red-red coalition would be a great challenge for his party. He said the coalition would be the first true “grand coalition” in Brandenburg, as the Social Democrats and the Left were the two strongest parties in the state.
Tue, 2009-10-13 00:22
#110
The SPD was just desperate to avoid a CDU-FDP majority in the Bundesrat. Too bad the Thuringia neoliberals don't have the guts.
Tue, 2009-10-13 05:35
#111
Meh.
I think also that the SPDs awareness of their dissaray tells them that they should at least see what happens with a red-red. what happens both substantively, and how it registers nationally for the party, especially in the east. They can always pull the plug at any time if they don't like the results.
Tue, 2009-10-13 08:10
#112
Maysie
Closing for length.
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