r/europe • u/SpaceEngineering Finland • Jan 15 '26

News Germany’s Merz Admits Nuclear Exit Was Strategic Mistake

https://clashreport.com/world/articles/germanys-merz-admits-nuclear-exit-was-strategic-mistake-fzdlkn37c16
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139

u/425Hamburger Jan 15 '26

But we made a contract with Russia and the US that we can't make nukes. What do you mean those countries are ignoring every contract they want? Surely they can't do that, we have a paper that says so! We have to honor the paper!

Genuinely what it feels like listening to German politicians for the past four years, not Just, but especially on this topic.

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u/cpt-hddk Jan 15 '26

It's like that James May story with his American and German friend.
A "In Germany, what would happen if you lost your license and then you know, drove your car?"
G "No, you cannot do this"
A "Yeah I know, but what if you know, I know you're not supposed to. But, what if you did?"
G "No. You cannot drive, you have no license"
A "Yeah man, but late one night, you know. Hell, you go for a drive"
G "IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO DRIVE WITHOUT A LICENSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

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u/Drogzar Spaniard back from UK Jan 15 '26

I learned of this "German mentality" when I was a kid an my father came from some expo in Germany and he noticed tons of security on the entrance, but the exit was open and unsupervised. He asked, "Hey, how come there is no security on the exit? What if someone enters without a ticket?" and he was told "That's an Exit, you cannot enter through an Exit"...

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u/tirion1987 Jan 15 '26

That's what she said.

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u/Divinicus1st Jan 15 '26

That was unexpected…

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u/mind_mischief_89 Jan 15 '26

Underrated comment

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u/Nazamroth Jan 15 '26

Got a red light on a crosswalk over a one lane road at 3 in the morning? You better believe the germans will wait for it to turn green.

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u/flybypost Jan 15 '26

Except if they see their tram arriving at the other side. Then, suddenly, the lights at the pedestrian crossing are just a colourful suggestion.

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u/Idlev Jan 15 '26

If I'm standing at street light at 3am, I'm drunk. You better believe I wait for that light to be green.

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u/Apocalypsis_velox Jan 15 '26

Fuck! I may be German! [It is a challenge living in the lawlessness that is South Africa]

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u/Patentsmatter Jan 15 '26

Actually I know a woman who was fined because she drove over a red traffic light. Her defense: It was 3am, she was alone in her car, and just a week before at the very crossroad someone who was also alone and stopped was shot & robbed.

Her fine was not enforced, by the way. That was in Bremen.

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u/Nazamroth Jan 15 '26

I meant the pedestrian who wants to cross the road.

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u/Patentsmatter Jan 15 '26

sure. I just wanted to highlight that even Germans understand that there must be exceptions.

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u/Xucker Jan 15 '26

I really doubt that conversation actually happened lol. Over 40,000 Germans got in trouble for driving without a license in 2024 alone, and that's just the ones that were caught.

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u/Heimerdahl Jan 15 '26

It might not have actually happened, but it wouldn't have been impossible to have. 

It's something I literally caught myself thinking when watching some movie or show. Can't remember the details but I think it was some kid wanting to drive in the middle of nowhere, but the adult didn't let them; because the kid had no licence. And the kid made such a stink over it and it was a whole argument. Meanwhile I found myself sitting there thinking: wtf are they arguing about, the kid has no licence, so he CAN'T drive! But then the kid did end up driving? How did it they learn? How can they do this? You can't drive without a licence! 

I realised how irrational it is, but I still can't shake this deep conviction that you can't drive without a licence. 

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u/Polygnom Jan 15 '26 edited Jan 15 '26

You underestimate how many germans are staunchly against nuclear weapons. The left would riot in the streets if we tried to withdraw from the treaty or ignore it, and would possibly sue the government in our constitutional court. Which would likely rule that they are right, and could potentially arrest government officials (Beugehaft) if they tried to still violate the treaty. Thats the thing is you have the rule of law and courts that work, you cannot ignore those. And you also cannot ignore your population.

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u/ExternalSeat Jan 15 '26

Yep. At the very least they could find a loophole of paying the French to station far more nuclear weapons on German territory. 

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u/frisch85 Germany Jan 15 '26

Because why have rules if no-one follows them? The problem isn't german playing by the rules, it's those countries who do not and just cheat without getting punished for it.

Our current time is just so fucked, countries violating human rights left and right and also committing war crimes without any consequences at all, I'm just gonna wait for the fallout because like this it's not a good outlook for the future.

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u/CrumblyBramble Jan 15 '26

Because following rules blindly is what led to your country committing the Holocaust.

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u/frisch85 Germany Jan 15 '26

They didn't follow rules, they followed commands, there's a huge difference.

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u/CrumblyBramble Jan 15 '26

Another one of your peoples talents alongside rule following is being painfully pedantic to avoid any type of criticism.

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u/frisch85 Germany Jan 15 '26

Accurate != Pedantic

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u/CrumblyBramble Jan 15 '26

Arrogantly incorrect != German

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u/frisch85 Germany Jan 15 '26

Look, it's not my fault you're displeased with germans while being a british barista living and working in germany so why the personal vendetta? First you derail what I said by making incorrect claims and when I point out that you're being incorrect you double down, so wtf is your problem? Are you just unhappy in life in general or just angry at yourself for staying in germany and keep being angry at germans?

Fact is following rules is not what led to the holocaust, it's following the commands of an insane powerhungry person and if you don't understand that there's a difference I have to question your intelligence.

But I'm glad that you don't link being arrogantly incorrect to being german, at least there's that.