This 9th of November will be the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. But after all these years, the support for democracy has in most of the countries of the region, this is according to a wide-ranging new study.
The majority of the people still support democracy over communism. The support for capitalism as an economic system has fallen in every country.
But why?
The answer is simple, they are frustrated. As "Richard Wike said 'They are frustrated with the way democracy is working in their countries,' ... 'We don't see people saying they don't want free speech, free press or competitive elections; we see people saying they want those things(By Richard Allen Greene, CNN)
In former West Germany, the satisfied people fell slightly, but went from over half to just under it. Young people and more educated people are the ones that are happier with the change from communism to capitalism in every ex-communist country.
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/11/02/20.years.after.wall/index.html
Monday, November 2, 2009
After 20 Years There's Less Support for Democracy
Saturday, October 24, 2009
We need this taxes
Monday, September 28, 2009
Merkel's new coalition?
As you all may know, Angela Merkel won the German elections, and is yet again "a Chancellor for all Germans", as pledged by Merkel herself. But what differences are to come with her new government? According to CNN, Merkel is eyeing a new coalition to replace her party's (Christian Democratic Union) previous coalition with the Social Democratic Party. She is expected to form a new coalition with the Free Democratic Party, a more economically liberal party, which would have big implications to Germany. But what would this implicate?
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Angela Merkel Wins German Election
Here's another video, with Merker's victory speech:
YouTube - Victorious Merkel vows to lead Germany out of slump
And finally, a link to a short article from the BBC, just in case you want to read some more:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8277912.stm
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Germany After the WWII
Post-war Germany
After the end of World War II in Europe, what remained of Nazi Germany west of the Oder-Neisse line was divided into four occupation zones (per the Potsdam Agreement), each one controlled by one of the four occupying Allied powers: the Americans, British, French and the Soviet Union. The capital, Berlin, as the seat of the Allied Control Council, was similarly subdivided into four sectors despite the city lying deep inside the Soviet zone. Within two years, divisions occurred between the Soviets and the other occupying powers, including the Soviets' refusal to agree to reconstruction plans making post-war Germany self-sufficient and a detailed accounting of the industrial plants, goods and infrastructure already removed by the Soviets. Britain, France, the United States and the Benelux countries later met to combine the non-Soviet zones of the country into one zone for reconstruction and approve the extension of the Marshall Plan for European reconstruction to Germany.
The Berlin Wall (German: Berliner Mauer) was built by the German Democratic Republic (GDR) (East Germany) it separated East Germany from West Germany, including East Berlin. The longer inner German border demarcated the border between East and West Germany. Both borders came to symbolize the Iron Curtain between Western Europe and the Eastern Bloc.
Prior to the Wall's erection, 3.5 million East Germans had avoided Eastern Bloc emigration restrictions to escape into West Germany, many over the border between East and West Berlin. During its existence from 1961 to 1989, the Wall stopped most such emigration and separated East Germany from West Germany for more than a quarter of a century. The Wall included guard towers lining large concrete walls circumscribing a wide area (later known as the "death strip") containing anti-vehicle trenches, "fakir beds" and other defenses. After its erection, around 5,000 people attempted to escape circumventing the wall, with figures of the resulting death toll varying between 98 and 200.
During a revolutionary wave sweeping across the Eastern Bloc, the East German government announced on November 9, 1989, after several weeks of civil unrest, that all GDR citizens could visit West Germany and West Berlin. Crowds of East Germans climbed onto and crossed the wall, joined by West Germans on the other side in a celebratory atmosphere. Over the next few weeks, parts of the wall were chipped away by a euphoric public and by souvenir hunters; industrial equipment was later used to remove almost the rest of it. The fall of the Berlin Wall paved the way for German reunification, which was formally concluded on October 3, 1990.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Wall
