Because the media repeatedly slanders them as extremist far-right nazis. They are just a normal right wing party. All their policy positions are bog standard right wing politics. Their leaders are milquetoast and the electoral system in Germany means they would need to compromise in coaliton anyway.
>and saluting-
He didn't do a Nazi salute but I am glad he waved his arm like that because it is a great diagnostic factor for MDS. If you look at that gesture in the proper context, with the sound on, and remember that these people go and talk in public every day, and remember he is literally a massive autist and we ALL know that aspies can be a bit prone to awkwardness in their movement, and you combine all of that data and conclude it was a Nazi salute, you have MDS. You are letting your hatred of the guy cloud your judgment.
>I am very angry about his incredible behavior and statements about Ukraine.
Ukraine is complicated though. It isn't black and white. Those regions in the east really are different from the rest of Ukraine. Do they have the right to self-determination? They weren't getting it from Ukraine.
On the other hand, Russia likely had some hand in formenting the rebelliousness of the region.
It goes without saying that invading countries is bad. But, no progress on the ground in Ukraine since what, November 2022? They aren't going to kick Russia out entirely, and Russia isn't going to take Ukraine.
It seems obvious to me that there will need to be a negotiated settlement, it will need to involve Donetsk and Luhansk being part of Russia. But that would have also been a solution years ago, or before the war even started (in 2022) given that the war actually started in 2014.
So obviously there is a tension between condemning Russia for its invasion and also recognising that Ukraine will probably come out of the war in the same position territorially it would have been in 10+ years ago if the Donbas regions had been allowed to break away.
With that context, the idea that Zelensky is somewhat responsible for the billions of wasted money and many wasted lives is a bit more palatable.
That all said, fuck Russia and fuck Putin.
>I'm from Rhodesia - not far from where Musk was - and my dad was called up to fight the communist guerillas there that you Americans helped to get into power.
What happened in Rhodesia during the decolonial period was one of the worst things the international community has done. A functioning and prosperous country that is now a dysfunctional racist hellhole.
> What happened in Rhodesia during the decolonial period was one of the worst things the international community has done. A functioning and prosperous country that is now a dysfunctional racist hellhole.
Well, you should listen to me then because I know the smell of the people who made it like that and they are the same smells coming from your pal and his handler. That's what you don't get.
The AFD might appear "bog standard" to your American eye, but it is absolutely far right in Germany, where the CDU occupies the role of the right wing. But anyway, why shouldn't Germans be angry at Musk, a foreign oligarch, using his wealth and influence to help the right-most party?
He has no place in European democracies, if Americans want to surrender their government to power drunk robber barons, they're free to do so. But stay the f away from our continent, we still care about "woke stuff" like human rights and basic empathy.
As for his nazi salute, at the very least that "akward gesture" was a dog whistle to actual neonazis. That's how they interpreted it anyway [1]. Musk didn't go out of his to deny it was. It's also not the first time he engaged with neonazis [2]. "If it looks like a nazi salute, serves the same purpose as a nazi salute, etc.".
Secondly, being right of the centrist party doesn't make them far right. The CDU have arguably moved from centre to centre-right but that just makes the AfD plain old normal right. Not hard or extreme or far. Not centre or soft or light. Just right-wing. Not a nasty, dirty, wet right, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy right with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat.
>But anyway, why shouldn't Germans be angry at Musk, a foreign oligarch, using his wealth and influence to help the right-most party?
I don't remember Americans kicking up a fuss over European leaders criticising Trump during his election campaigns. And if they did, they were wrong to do so. We are allowed to have an express opinions about what goes on in other countries including in their elections. It appears to have made almost no difference anyway. How many German people are really going to change their vote because of what an American thinks?
>if Americans want to surrender their government to power drunk robber barons, they're free to do so. But stay the f away from our continent, we still care about "woke stuff" like human rights and basic empathy.
Except you also demand they defend you, police the world's trade routes, buy your products, sell things to you, invest in your markets, act as the world's reserve currency so you can trade, etc. How many countries want to sell goods internationally for Euros? Not many. Most want US dollars.
The European idea of human rights has become so divorced from the original definition that it is a joke. It is a new and different concept masquerading as "human rights" because those words have some cultural cachet, although that is fading as it becomes clearer and clearer that is is just used as a cudgel to mean whatever policies the Greens and socialists want to pass.
Can't convince people that your energy policy is sensible? Don't worry, it is "environmental human rights". Climate rights and cultural rights and social rights and everything under the sun is now a human right. Privacy is the worst. It now means everything. Privacy is the right to control everything about how you are observed, perceived, remembered, and recorded. You have the right to control how information about you is sent and received. No longer can you do something as simple as ask the question "When he worked for you, how did he do?" No no no. That is collecting personal information about him without his consent! You can't google him, that is using the information for a purpose other than the purpose for which it was created! Human rights have become a way to control what you may think about other people and to justify any policy. If you have a human right to everything the term loses all its meaning. If you have a right to everything, you have a right to nothing.
>As for his nazi salute, at the very least that "akward gesture" was a dog whistle to actual neonazis.
No it wasn't. It didn't look anything at all like a Nazi salute. It is 100% confirmation bias because of people being primed by headlines.
You wouldn't see a truck if it hit you in the face. Musk already did nazi shit prior to that, like discussing the "jewish question" on X, and his salute was very well received by online neonazis, while still giving plausible deniability. That's a dog whistle. You probably didn't even open the links I gave you, so I won't waste more time trying to convince you, you seem like a lost cause.
I did open your links. I just disagree with you. I don't give a shit how neo-Nazis interpreted it. Their opinions are retarded, which is why they are neo-Nazis. Why would you give any weight to their interpretation of anything?
A dog whistle requires intent. A dog hearing a high pitched noise does not mean someone blew a dog whistle.
Because the media repeatedly slanders them as extremist far-right nazis. They are just a normal right wing party. All their policy positions are bog standard right wing politics. Their leaders are milquetoast and the electoral system in Germany means they would need to compromise in coaliton anyway.
>and saluting-
He didn't do a Nazi salute but I am glad he waved his arm like that because it is a great diagnostic factor for MDS. If you look at that gesture in the proper context, with the sound on, and remember that these people go and talk in public every day, and remember he is literally a massive autist and we ALL know that aspies can be a bit prone to awkwardness in their movement, and you combine all of that data and conclude it was a Nazi salute, you have MDS. You are letting your hatred of the guy cloud your judgment.
>I am very angry about his incredible behavior and statements about Ukraine.
Ukraine is complicated though. It isn't black and white. Those regions in the east really are different from the rest of Ukraine. Do they have the right to self-determination? They weren't getting it from Ukraine.
On the other hand, Russia likely had some hand in formenting the rebelliousness of the region.
It goes without saying that invading countries is bad. But, no progress on the ground in Ukraine since what, November 2022? They aren't going to kick Russia out entirely, and Russia isn't going to take Ukraine.
It seems obvious to me that there will need to be a negotiated settlement, it will need to involve Donetsk and Luhansk being part of Russia. But that would have also been a solution years ago, or before the war even started (in 2022) given that the war actually started in 2014.
So obviously there is a tension between condemning Russia for its invasion and also recognising that Ukraine will probably come out of the war in the same position territorially it would have been in 10+ years ago if the Donbas regions had been allowed to break away.
With that context, the idea that Zelensky is somewhat responsible for the billions of wasted money and many wasted lives is a bit more palatable.
That all said, fuck Russia and fuck Putin.
>I'm from Rhodesia - not far from where Musk was - and my dad was called up to fight the communist guerillas there that you Americans helped to get into power.
What happened in Rhodesia during the decolonial period was one of the worst things the international community has done. A functioning and prosperous country that is now a dysfunctional racist hellhole.