Migration and Refugee Crisis:

The migration issue could become one of the most serious bones of contention between German Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU/CSU alliance and Martin Schulz's SPD.

The CSU, the Bavarian sister party of Angela Merkel's governing CDU party, has long been known for its tough stance on immigration: not only have its members repeatedly criticized Merkel for her open door migration policy, they were also the ones who pushed through an annual cap on the number of refugees entering the country.

European Integration:

Although both parties support the idea of deeper EU integration, they have different opinions on how far it should go.

The leader of the Social Democrats, Martin Schulz, seeks to transform the European Union into the so-called "United States of Europe" with a common constitution.

The ambitious integration project reflects the idea of a "Multi-speed Europe", which was proposed by French President Emmanuel Macron.

Health Care and Social Benefits:

Difficulties during the talks may arise when it comes to the differing health care visions of the SPD and the CSU.

The Social Democrats want to overhaul the German health insurance system, and create a so called "citizen's insurance," which will be common for all the country's residents.

Military Expenditure:

Another point of disagreement between the parties is the amount Germany spends on defense and the extent to which the country should focus on the military.

During summer of 2017, SPD leader Martin Schulz claimed that "the CDU does not see any problem in spending 20 to 30 billion euros per year on armaments and cutting social benefits instead." The SPD rejected the idea, demanding more attention to social aspects.

Political Crisis:

Commenting on the current political situation in the country, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said that "we are now facing a situation that has never happened before in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany, that is for almost 70 years."

If the parties want to form a new grand coalition, they will somehow have to find a consensus on all of these issues. Otherwise, the failure of the talks might lead to snap elections in the best case scenario, or to political turmoil within the country in the worst.

But with success far from guaranteed, there are a range of other possible scenarios. After her conservatives bled support to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the September 24 national election, Merkel saw her authority undermined two months later by the collapse of three-way coalition talks with the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and Greens.

GRAND COALITION OF CONSERVATIVES, SPD

The most likely outcome, given that the two camps have ruled together for eight of the 12 years Merkel has been chancellor and broadly agree on foreign and security policy. However, with both blocs struggling to stem a fall in support, it is by no means a done deal.

MINORITY GOVERNMENT UNDER MERKEL

This would be a post-war first for a country that craves political stability - a result of the fragmentation in the years that preceded the rise of Hitler’s Nazi party. Nevertheless, some Social Democrats prefer this option, which would allow them to oppose Merkel’s policies and force her to seek parliamentary majorities on individual laws. It would also be likely to hasten the end of her political career.

NEW ELECTIONS

Some conservatives, including Merkel, have said they would prefer new elections to a minority government. This scenario would also throw Merkel’s future into doubt. Germany’s President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who would have to get involved if no coalition deal was agreed, has made clear he wants to avoid new elections if possible.

But instead, many western nations have been eagerly importing large numbers of young males from hotbeds of Islamic terror.  As a result, levels of crime are absolutely exploding.  Just check out the latest crime numbers from the city of London… For example, gun crime in London is up 15 percent, homicides are up 25 percent, including an explosion in youth homicide of 70 percent, robbery is up by more than a third.

Among the most terrifying crimes in London are acid attacks, which have soared exponentially since 2014. There were 431 such attacks recorded in 2016 and police report they have become the tactic of first resort for some gangs. Acid attacks also seem to be correlated to the large Muslim population in some areas of the city.

Have we gone completely and utterly insane? We are trying to convince ourselves that radical terrorists that are committed to achieving world domination by violent means are actually solid citizens and will openly embrace us as friends if we will just treat them with kindness.

Meanwhile, the reality of the matter is that we are witnessing rape after rape and terror attack after terror attack.

According to The Guardian’s analysis, in almost 94 per cent of districts that went to the polls in Europe this year, the centre-left lost out to far-left, right-wing, and populist movements. “Atomised in France, all but wiped out in the Netherlands, humiliated in Germany, Europe’s mainstream centre-left is in full retreat.

“Even in its one-time stronghold of Scandinavia, social democracy is now struggling,” wrote Jon Henley in the UK’s most leftwing mainstream paper this Friday. The paper’s analysis reveals how populist, right-wing groups have largely benefited from the centre-left’s downfall. According to the Tony Blair Institute for Change, “Europe’s political landscape is undergoing the biggest transformation since the end of the Cold War.”

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang responded Wednesday to a Chinese-language question on the report with two words – in English. “Fake news,” Geng was quoted as saying in the official transcript of Wednesday’s regular press breifing. Next question, please.

The “top secret” document published in the report was purported to be from “a person who once had ties to the Chinese intelligence and security communities,” whatever that means, but the author also said he could not independently verify the document.

The question we posed yesterday is whether conservative media’s reporting of the document as newsworthy will pique Trump’s interest, regardless of its veracity. If the report was true, it makes Trump look like he was played like a fiddle, so he might be careful not to draw attention.

We might also see if the US president buys the “fake news” line — which he uses exclusively to lambast hostile liberal media — when it is used against conservative media supportive of his administration.

“Nowhere is the urgency of peace, security, and freedom being more tested than in Iran,” Haley declared: “By the thousands, Iranian citizens are taking to the streets to protest the oppression of their own government,” she said, adding: “The government of Iran is actively attempting to stop social media and other forms of communication that allow their citizens’ voices to be heard,” Haley said.

“So we want to help amplify the voices of the Iranian people,” she went on: “And in reference to the Supreme Leader, quote: ‘Feel some shame. Let go of the country,’” she added. “Those are not my words,” Haley stressed. “Those are not the words of the United States. Those are the words of the brave people of Iran.”

President Trump has long boasted about bringing his business acumen to his role in leading the United States of America, but even he cannot stop an impending economic meltdown, former Congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul told RT.

“The way I see it is in economic terms,” Paul said. “My understanding is that it wasn’t our military build-up in the United States that brought the Soviet system down. What happened was the Soviets were working with a system that we – people in free markets – saw as totally unviable.”

Talking about his beliefs in Austrian economics, Paul said communism, along with fascism, socialism and even Keynesianism (a form of economics popular after WWII) were not viable systems and will eventually fail, and the same could happen to the United States and its militarism.

“We’re gonna have a sudden, cataclysmic end which is sort of what happened to the Soviet system. It’s not going to be identical, there was a succession movement and some of those countries left the Soviet system. Our states probably aren’t going to break up, but I do sincerely believe that we will no longer be able to afford our empire around the world.”

Pope Francis talks a good game about humility in discourse and openness, but that’s a bit like when Venezuela speaks about people’s democracy. It seems to be an empty slogan for a very angry, not exceptionally bright or subtle South American politician who happens to have found himself in a position with a huge bully pulpit which allows him to express an anti-American, anti-free market, really anti-Western worldview that seems to make a fetish out of poverty and loves the idea of global government overruling the wishes of voters.

Pope Francis’ “open borders” advocacy for the admission of economic migrants and ostensible refugees, said Zmirak, is solely targeted at America and Europe. The pope’s use of biblical anecdotes towards this end, he added, amounts to the use of “hysterical leftist agitprop”:

He seems to want open borders for Western countries. He never talks about Mexico needing to let in everybody for El Salvador. No, it’s the United States that doesn’t have a right to have borders. Europe doesn’t have a right to have borders. The most shocking thing, back in 2013, he went to the city of Lampedusa in Sicily, a little town, a little place, it is so overwhelmed with economic migrants from North Africa that the migrants now outnumber the residents of the city.

He gave a talk in 2013 where he compared Europeans who didn’t want to accept Muslim migrants, he compared them to Cain who killed his brother in the Garden of Eden and Herod who slaughtered the children of Bethlehem. This is not rational discourse. This is not theology. This is hysterical leftist agitprop of the kind that you read in Venezuelan government newspapers.

The Japanese central bank is now one of the largest owners of Japanese equities. Central banks, which are supposed to provide economic stability, have created a massive fraud. Throughout the Western world politics has degenerated into fraud. No government serves the public’s interest.

Except for some former Soviet satellites in Eastern Europe, European governments have defied the will of the people by admitting vast numbers of refugees from Washington’s wars and others pretending to be refugees. The European governments further imperil their citizens with their support for Washington’s rising aggression toward Russia. The universal failure of democratic politics is leading directly to war.

From the perspective of today, it is unlikely that the New Year will be a happy one. Nowhere in the West is there a sign of leadership toward peace and the well-being of humanity.