Comments by "MarcosElMalo2" (@MarcosElMalo2) on "Germany: Domestic and Foreign Policy" video.

It’s good to have the values and principles of Western Democracies. Those are good ideals we should cling to. Diplomatic engagement is a tool to help promote and maintain our values and principles. It’s not an ideal in itself and perhaps that is the problem; it’s a mischaracterized as an ideal. Perhaps Germany has become very comfortable and successful using it as a tool, but it is not the only tool available to a nation state, and that is another problem. It’s sort of like the hammer problem that is used to criticize the hawks. Not every diplomatic issue is resolvable through friendly diplomatic engagement. Europe has a rabid dog in the neighborhood, attacking one of the neighbors. You don’t diplomatically engage with the dog, you help your neighbor get free of the dog.
3
@atikameg73 like the phrase “perfect storm”, “Ideal Situation” is a figure of speech. Let me put forth a formula of sorts, and see what you think. We base our decisions on our ideals and principles, to meet the situation we face. The situation includes both our position and an appraisal of the person or party whom we face. If our appraisal of our position or of the other side is inaccurate, that is going to lead to criticisms of misplaced ideals (or in some cases of abandoned ideals, if one’s misestimation is in the opposite direction). I agree one must have clear eyed pragmatism, but what does that mean? Clear eyed is having the realistic estimation of ourselves and the other party. It means knowing where the lines are or where to draw the line. I don’t think it is idealism that obscures the truth or clouds one judgement. I think it is wishful thinking that does that. Also, I’m not sure we can just blame Scholz and his idealism for Germany’s predicament. A good deal can be laid on Schroeder and Merkel, and I wouldn’t say they were acting idealistically. They were acting expediently. At the time they might have thought they were acting pragmatically.
2
@babelhuber3449 Immigration would solve a lot of U.S. problems, but it’s become a political issue rather than an economic one. It’s a perfectly good tool that is completely off the table.
2
@chrisf8584 German domestic and foreign policy is outside the scope of U.S. K-12 education. The press does cover it, but generally you have to make an effort to learn about it. Perhaps you mean that U.S. domestic and foreign policy and the workings of government isn’t covered by U.S. media. That is, of course, a completely ludicrous claim. You just haven’t bothered to learn in school or to find the serious sources fit for a thinking person. If you didn’t realize there were serious sources because no one told you, now you know.
2
I think Pete underestimates Russia’s security fears. Russia won’t feel safe until they’ve taken Spain and Portugal.
1