Germany and internet connection, I can't comprehend how one of the richest countries in the world, in such a small land mass can have such bad connectivity.
It's really baffling going here from Sweden where I'm starting to get 5G signal outside of core city areas, get 4G almost across the whole country with speeds of 50-100+Mbps, into the city centre of Berlin and there I fallback to 3G networks every 3rd/4th block walking.
Friends living there having terrible experiences with Telekom, almost no fiber available, etc.
> Germany and internet connection, I can't comprehend how one of the richest countries in the world, in such a small land mass can have such bad connectivity.
A combination of toxic financial mindset (back in the early '00s, finance minister Hans Eichel wanted a "balanced" budget and auctioned off the frequency licenses for dozens of billions of euros, saddling the carriers with the debt instead of the government), thoroughly incompetent politicians (Merkel's "Das Internet ist für uns alle Neuland" is just the tip of the iceberg), NIMBYs (sadly, projects for tower construction routinely end up in death threats, and since 5G conspiracies also in actual terrorist attacks), and a populace that to a large degree just doesn't give enough of a fuck.
Merkel is probably the worst German politician since...you know that guy.
Japan has a nuclear accident, caused by a tsunami and partly due to known issues in the power plant. Merkel: "Oh no, let's close down all our nuclear power plants right away."
Merkel: "Oh, we need more energy now when we closed all our nuclear power plants. No problem, my buddy Putin has agreed to build a gas pipeline and provide us will all energy we need."
Putin has been rattling his weapons on the border or Ukraine since 2014. Merkel: "No problem, I called my buddy Putin and he said he will not attack. And by the way, no need for us to invest in our defense. We can continue to have Europe's weakest army per capita as Putin said he would not attack."
Migrant crisis in 2015. Merkel: "Everyone is welcome! Smugglers, just send them here, we will show our solidarity. Oh, we do not have enough schools, daycare, hospitals to take care of them all? Oh, many are lost teenagers and children without parents who took the chance now when we said everyone was welcome? Well, I guess they can earn their living selling drugs and sex."
I agree Merkel was bad, but not that bad - Kohl was inarguably worse.
> Japan has a nuclear accident, caused by a tsunami and partly due to known issues in the power plant. Merkel: "Oh no, let's close down all our nuclear power plants right away."
The entire country was calling for the dismantling of the NPPs, and no one sans the FDP and the Nazis cares much about them any more, not even their operators.. As for the gas pipeline, thank former Chancellor Schröder for that one.
> Putin has been rattling his weapons on the border or Ukraine since 2014. Merkel: "No problem, I called my buddy Putin and he said he will not attack. And by the way, no need for us to invest in our defense. We can continue to have Europe's weakest army per capita as Putin said he would not attack."
A valid point, but one shared across the political spectrum except the Greens - everyone else from left to right and the entire leadership of the German industry was blinded by the prospect of cheap energy. It is unfair IMO to single out Merkel there.
> Migrant crisis in 2015. Merkel: "Everyone is welcome! Smugglers, just send them here, we will show our solidarity. Oh, we do not have enough schools, daycare, hospitals to take care of them all? Oh, many are lost teenagers and children without parents who took the chance now when we said everyone was welcome? Well, I guess they can earn their living selling drugs and sex."
The first part is a blank reproduction of common Nazi conspiracy myths - the "pull factor" has been thoroughly disproven by now, even with the EU being a deadly fortress at its borders, still thousands of people attempt to cross the Mediterranean each year. The latter is one of the worst interpretations you can give - I'd put that one rather on bland disinterest and fear of the far-right, not an intention to push people off to selling drugs.
It's really baffling going here from Sweden where I'm starting to get 5G signal outside of core city areas, get 4G almost across the whole country with speeds of 50-100+Mbps, into the city centre of Berlin and there I fallback to 3G networks every 3rd/4th block walking.
Friends living there having terrible experiences with Telekom, almost no fiber available, etc.
Germany should enact something like this policy from here: https://pts.se/sv/bransch/internet/bredbandsstrategin/