Quote Originally Posted by eisenherz View Post
Hi, i do not think it is fair of me to debate this here as it would sidetrack from the Ukraine-topic of the thread; however think of the many German firms (BMW, VW, Bosch, ZF etc) that at least provide for some employment with relatively decent salary in many countries around the world (from Slovakia to South Africa, Brazil and Mexico and many countries inbetween, that would be the poorer if it was not for them.
Yes, it's the sunnier side of globalisation, and there are many very good sides to Germany and Germans. But the whole debate of who are the good guys/bad guys in the EU and who's ripping off, cheating or exploiting whom is a separate topic. It's not about the Germans per se. If I was you btw, I'd worry more about why there are still foreign army bases in my country....

Another side of this debate is; exactly what's "poor" or "rich?" Is it job security, work-life balance, health, roof over your head and food on the table...
Or is it having a BMW, designer clothes, credit card debts, TV games and a huge mortgage but no job security, and ruining your health from stress and poor habits.
People in Germany come out the most miserable in Europe, in a lot of studies, followed by the UK.

But all this is another topic, and point taken, that you don't appreciate your country (?) being slandered.

I understand there is A LOT of resentment against Germany in Southern Europe and Eastern Europe.
Spent an hour waiting on a train in Romania, listening to a guy who spoke really good English explain how the EU had done absolutely nothing to Romania, was treating them like second class citizens and idiots according to him, and how he'd even started to re-think his previous rejection of socialism in his country. Had never expected to hear anything like that - and this person is probably not alone in is views. Every other interview from Greece or Spain contains a snidy or angry comment about Germany.

It's very visible in Eastern Europe, it's full of Lidl, T Mobile, Big EU banks, McDonalds and lots of well known Western European or American brands for everything under the sun. I am not seeing THEIR brands, like you do in other parts of the world. In order to find a country that's not littered with ads for EU/US brands and trying to use their own products and services, you have to go to Belarus.