“War is like love, it always finds a way” - Brecht

Nie wieder Krieg

(1924, Never Again War)

by Käthe Kollwitz

As is with most anything I write, this started as an idea, and as I put pen to paper, it takes on a life of its own as it grows and takes its own turns in total disregard of my original idea. There's no telling where this may go. Bear with me as I struggle to retain a similarity to the original idea.



Kollwitz, Brecht, Liebknecht and Knecht. Certainly you've heard of the first three. The fourth, you've probably never heard of. It would be a lie for me to say I was one of Knecht's students. I admired the man and he left a lasting impression on me, that's all. But this is not about Rolf Knecht. It's about War and Germans and Germans against War as well as Germans at War today, as they try to hide it behind the words "conflict" and "Humanitarian Aide".

The good students of life we all are, we know the connection between Germans and War. Even if we sat near the windows during the first few classes as WWI was covered, we all listened as WWII and the Nazis were on the agenda. I'll be the first one to admit it, there was something about the German Army during WWII that caught my eye. As a teenager, I picked up a book on WWII in German, at a yard sale. I couldn't read it back then but the artwork was fabulous. The Stukas, the Nazi Propaganda Posters and even Hitler himself were proudly presented in black and white illustrations and photos which I found to be most fascinating, not because of the subjects in the pictures but because of the artwork, the artistical value, the level of art they reflected. Never before and never since then have I seen anything like it. Similar to the ones in the book, here are a few examples....











[caption id="attachment_7087" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Stalingrad, 1942"][/caption]

"Bimmel" Mertens and "Bubi" Hartmann

.....and the most famous of them all, from WWI, the Red Baron ;





How strange, how sick and how fitting....

(from Spiegel online)

"The future of Germany's Afghanistan mission will also hinge on the question of how Colonel Klein arrived at his decision to issue the "weapons release" command, and why he apparently neglected to warn the crowd of people gathered around the tankers on the ground.

The crews manning the F-15 fighters had asked the German colonel and his forward air controller in Kunduz whether they should first fly their jets at low altitude over the tankers. Such a "show of force" -- as the method is known in military jargon -- would have given the Taliban fighters and civilians the opportunity to flee. Klein apparently turned down the request, thereby "omitting" one of the escalation levels which, according to NATO procedures, need to precede an air strike, officials in Berlin said last week.

According to information SPIEGEL has obtained, the pilots asked whether the situation posed an "imminent threat." Klein, through his forward air controller, responded with a terse "confirmed." The air commander, a master sergeant, was code-named "Red Baron," a reference to Manfred von Richthofen, a German pilot credited with having shot down 80 airplanes in World War I."

And now, to the heart of the matter, the original "idea" I had as I started out writing this. Two things occupy my mind these past few days. The two have very little in common. In fact, they have zero in common, unless...

You be the judge.



The complete series, beginning with Part 1 of 6 ;



... and a most unfitting parallel ;



Obama calls on Germany to send an additional 2,500 troops. Das Ferkel replies with "uh, I'm not sure this will go down well with Das Volk". Obama says "say what?" Das Verkel says ..."well, okay, but not now". Obama says "SAY WHAT!!??" Das Ferkel says ..."okay, but we got this problem, ya know". Obama says... "fix it, bitch!"

What's it all about?



Say NO to War. No more troops for this illegal War. NATO OUT of Afghanistan.

Germans OUT NOW !

NIE WIEDER KRIEG !