Among its manifesto commitments, the party advocates an end to all arms exports

Germany’s Left party (Die Linke) on Sunday adopted a national platform with a focus on social care that also calls for the NATO alliance to be scrapped.

Although the party has no realistic chance of forming a government, it could have a say in policy as part of a future coalition.

What is the Left party promising?

Foreign policy: An end to all foreign deployments of the Germany’s military, the Bundeswehr. The party wants to replace NATO with a collective security system involving Russia. In addition, the party advocates an end to all arms exports.

Climate change: An energy revamp with a focus on renewable energy. The party also wants to phase out coal by 2030 at the latest and to see Germany climate-neutral by 2035.

Transport: The manifesto would commit to a goal of local public transport free of charge, and for rail travel to also become cheaper. There would also be a ban on domestic flights of less than 500 kilometers (310 miles).

Christian Democratic Union (CDU)

The CDU has traditionally been the main center-right party across Germany, but it shifted toward the center under Chancellor Angela Merkel. The party remains more fiscally and socially conservative compared to parties on the left. It supports membership of the EU and NATO, budgetary discipline at home and abroad, and generally likes the status quo. It is the largest party in the Bundestag.

Christian Social Union (CSU)

The CSU is the sister party of the CDU in Bavaria and the two-act symbiotically at the national level (CDU/CSU). Despite their similarities, the CSU is generally more conservative than the CDU on social issues. The CSU leader and premier of Bavaria, Markus Söder, ordered crosses in every state building in 2018.

Social Democrats (SPD)

The SPD is Germany’s oldest political party and the main center-left rival of the CDU/CSU. It shares the CDU/CSU support for the EU and NATO, but it takes a more progressive stance on social issues and welfare policies. It is currently in a coalition government with the CDU/CSU and is trying to win back support under interim leaders Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel, Manuela Schwesig and Malu Dreyer.

Alternative for Germany (AfD)

The new kid on the block is the largest opposition party in the Bundestag. The far-right party was founded in 2013 and entered the Bundestag for the first time in 2017 under the stewardship of Alice Weidel and Alexander Gauland. It is largely united by opposition to Merkel’s immigration policy, Euroscepticism, and belief in the alleged dangers posed by Germany’s Muslim population.

Free Democrats (FDP)

The FDP has traditionally been the kingmaker of German politics. Although it has never received more than 15 percent of the vote, it has formed multiple coalition governments with both the CDU/CSU and SPD. The FDP, today led by Christian Lindner, supports less government spending and lower taxes but takes a progressive stance on social issues such as gay marriage or religion.

The Greens

The Greens, led today by Annalena Baerbock and Robert Habeck, emerged from the environmental movement in the 1980s. Unsurprisingly, it supports efforts to fight climate change and protect the environment. It is also progressive on social issues. But strong divisions have occasionally emerged on other topics. The party famously split in the late 1990s over whether to use military force in Kosovo.

The Left

The Left, led by Katja Kipping and Bernd Riexinger, is the most left-wing party in the Bundestag. It supports major redistribution of wealth at home and a pacifist stance abroad, including withdrawing Germany from NATO. It emerged from the successor party to the Socialist Unity Party (SED) that ruled communist East Germany until 1989. Today, it still enjoys most of its support in eastern Germany.

Author: Alexander Pearson

Immigration: The party advocates residence and work permits regardless of employment duration and for the qualifications of non-EU citizens to be recognized. It rejects the notion of deportation, especially where war and persecution are a reality.

Social care: The party wants 200,000 more nursing staff in hospitals and nursing homes, and an increase in basic pay for employees. It also wants a statutory staffing level, and for hospital and care groups to be transferred to public ownership.

Tax: The party advocates a wealth tax with a progressive rate and an exemption amount for private assets of €1 million ($1.2 million). It also wants a tax rate of 53% from €70,000. A wealth tax of 60% is to be levied on incomes of just under €261,000, and 75% on incomes of over €1 million.

Labor: A minimum wage of €13 (currently €9.50). Temporary employment and fixed-term contracts without a fixed term would be abolished. The party also proposes a four-day week of around 30 hours as a normal work model.

Health: A rent cap throughout Germany. The Left party also wants to promote social housing construction with €15 billion annually.

Pensions: The Left party wants to introduce a minimum pension of €1,200. Instead of retirement at 67, employees should again be able to retire at 65 at the latest without deductions.

Janine Wissler and Dietmar Bartsch, who are the co-leader of the party and the co-leader of its parliamentary faction respectively, are to be the party’s flagbearers in the lead up to the September 26 election.

rc/nm (AFP, dpa)

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-left-party-plans-to-scrap-nato-end-troop-deployments/a-57973017

The post Germany’s Left party plans to scrap NATO, end troop deployments first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

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A watch tower is pictured at the former East German border in the village of Moedlareuth, about 300 kilometres (186 miles) south of Berlin, Germany August 31, 2017. The Wall in the village of Moedlareuth, separating East from West Germany, was built in 1966. It was 700 meters long and 3.40 meters hi. (photo credit: REUTERS/MICHAEL DALDER)

The Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation – a think tank for German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union party – compared on Monday the now-defunct East German communist state’s Berlin Wall with Israel’s separation wall along the West Bank, sparking outrage in Israel and Germany.

The Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation “fails to distinguish between justified and non-justified walls,” Dr. Efraim Zuroff, head of the Jerusalem office of Jewish human rights organization Simon Wiesenthal Center, told The Jerusalem Post. He added that Israel’s wall was “built to save lives and stop terrorism,” and it “has saved many lives.”

The Adenauer wrote on Facebook, “57 years ago began work on the Berlin Wall. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall 1989, some 50 new walls and barricades were developed.” The Facebook post shows photographs of a selection of walls and barricades, including Israel and the Palestinian territories. The US and Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, Morocco and Spain, India and Bangladesh, Morocco and Western Sahara, are some of the other photographs shown.

After outrage on Twitter and on Facebook, the Adenauer Foundation wrote, “We have decided to remove the [collage] originally shown here to prevent further misunderstandings.

And, once again, we would like to stress that our daily work shows that we are consistently against of and that the injustice of the [SED] dictatorship is always clear.”

SED is an abbreviation for the Socialist Unity Party of the former East German state.

A tweet from the Adenauer Foundation said, “too many walls and barricades worldwide! Berlin Wall #57 building of wall #1961.” A picture of Israel’s security barrier appears alongside the tweet.
The German journalist Alexander Nabert tweeted, “The Konrad Adenauer Foundation associates the alleged anti-fascist protection wall of the GDR [German Democratic Republic] with the real-existing anti-fascist protection wall of Israel. The difference, @KASonline, is: Israel defends itself against the annihilation wishes of thousands of antisemites.”

Journalist Robin Alexander for The Welt tweeted it is ”crass” the Adenauer Foundation compared Israel’s separation wall with the Berlin Wall, and said the parallel is completely wrong.

Alexander Brakel, the head of the Adenauer Foundation in Jerusalem, wrote the Post by email. He said the Facebook post was not generated by the Adenauer office in Israel and said there “was no intention to compare Israel’s security fence with the Berlin Wall.” He apologized for the false impression the comparison made.

A Post email media query to the Adenauer Foundation in Berlin was not immediately returned.

According to the website of the Foreign Ministry, the number of Palestinian terror attacks in Israel dropped significantly after the separation barrier was completed.

“Statistical data indicates a 30% drop in the number of terrorist attacks that took place in 2003 compared to 2002. Similarly, there has been a 50% decrease in the number of victims murdered by terrorists in 2003 compared to the previous year,” wrote the ministry.

The ministry noted, “There were 17 suicide bomber attacks inside Israel that emanated from the northern part (Samaria) of the West Bank during the months April-December 2002. In contrast, since construction began on the anti-terrorist fence, throughout all of 2003 only 5 suicide bomber attacks emanated from the same area.”

Zuroff said Adenauer’s comparison reminds him of why many Germans have learned the wrong the lessons from the Holocaust. “Instead of saying ,‘no more unjust wars,’ they say, ‘no more wars.’”

He said it was the same message regarding walls. They can’t differentiate from “walls that are legitimate and that save lives, and other walls that may be problematic,” said Zuroff. The Israeli separation wall is not infringing on human rights, he said.

Source: https://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Merkel-partys-think-tank-compares-Israels-separation-wall-to-Berlin-Wall-564767

The post Merkel Party’s think tank compares Israel’s security wall to Berlin wall first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.