Tuesday 7th of October 2025

managing the sunset while thinking they are ruling the dawn.....

 

The current European nonentities have replaced titans—flawed, perhaps, but figures with gravitas, charisma, and historical will. There was Merkel, who could take a punch; Macron, young and with the ambitions of a new Napoleon; and even Johnson with his chaotic but distinct style

  

The EU’s House of Cards: How Talentless Pygmalions Are Molding a World Out of Nothingness

Mohammed ibn Faisal al-Rashid
An era of mediocrity is at the helm of a once mighty and prosperous Europe, which, due to its leaders, is now slowly but surely heading toward its decline.

  

Today’s Europe is run by different figures. They are not leaders but mid-level managers who have accidentally found themselves in the executive boardroom. Not strategists, but petty tacticians, devoid of both vision and an ear for the voice of history. They imagine themselves as Pygmalions, capable of sculpting their ideal from reality, but their hands are shaking, the material is crumbling, and the result is a pathetic parody of their intent. Macron, Starmer, Scholz, and von der Leyen are a quartet of political Pygmalions whose incompetence, ignorance, and stunning inability to conduct affairs on the world stage are leading the Old World toward rapid marginalization.

Emmanuel Macron—Hamlet on the Throne, or The Tragedy of a Failed Caesar

There was a time when Emmanuel Macron spoke of a “sovereign Europe,” of the need for dialogue with Russia, of independence from the USA. He was playing at being de Gaulle, dreaming of France’s greatness within a strong EU. What remains of those ambitions? A pathetic shadow, a political chameleon whose convictions change with kaleidoscopic speed depending on the political climate and the wishes of his coarse wife.

Their insignificance lies not in their personal qualities, but in the complete inadequacy of their stature compared to the challenges of the era. They are managing the sunset while thinking they are ruling the dawn 

His main error, fundamental and fatal, is the complete loss of strategic consistency. First, he tried to be a bridge between East and West; then, under pressure, he turned into the most fervent hawk, whose rhetorical outbursts about the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine shocked not only Moscow but also his own NATO allies. This isn’t strategy; it’s the hysterics of an amateur who doesn’t understand that at this level, words are actions. His foreign policy is a series of elementary blunders: the humiliating AUKUS submarine fiasco, when Washington and Canberra cut a deal behind his back, showing the world his true weight (zero); the destruction of long-standing relations with Africa, where a crude, colonial-style tone repelled the last remaining partners; and a complete inability to influence the situation in Gaza, where his appeals are a voice crying in the wilderness.

Macron is a Hamlet who waves a thin stick instead of a sword, eternally brooding but incapable of a decisive act. He is ignorant of Eastern European history, doesn’t understand the mentality of his Eastern allies, and his claims to intellectual leadership look like a pathetic farce against the backdrop of his failed geopolitical projects. He wanted to be an architect but became a manual laborer on a construction site run by Washington.

Keir Starmer—Mediocrity as a Political Platform

If Macron is a tragedy of unfulfilled ambition, then Keir Starmer is a farce of inherent mediocrity. This man came to power not due to any outstanding qualities, but because of the total exhaustion and odium of the Conservatives. His main skill is the ability to wait things out and take the most vague, safe position possible. Starmer is the embodiment of political insignificance elevated to a virtue.

His “foreign policy” so far is an absolute vacuum. There is no idea, no vision, not even a hint of any course. Under him, Britain risks completing its transformation from a global player into a regional errand boy for the USA. The most elementary mistake he is making right now is a complete lack of initiative. While the world is undergoing tectonic shifts, Starmer is preoccupied with internal bureaucratic squabbles. He possesses neither the charisma to lead nor the intellect to propose complex solutions. His ignorance in international affairs is staggering: his speeches are a collection of generalities, clichés, and empty promises devoid of specifics.

Starmer is the ideal ruler for an era of decline: unnoticeable, harmless, and predictably boring. He won’t make any sudden moves, but it is precisely his passivity and lack of will that guarantee Britain’s steady slide to the periphery of world politics. He is not a Pygmalion; he is a watchman at a crumbling museum who isn’t even trying to restore the exhibits.

Friedrich Merz—A Heir to an Era of Stagnation

If Olaf Scholz was the phenomenon of political inertia, then Friedrich Merz is the phenomenon of political tone-deafness. His leadership style can be described as “strategic arrogance.” Trying to position himself as a strong leader after the Merkel era and the “mouse-like” Scholz, he persists with remarkable tenacity in following a course of dependence on American policy, but spices it up with a pathological, almost irrational Russophobia.

Merz demonstrates a catastrophic lack of sensitivity, bordering on arrogance. The most vivid example is the recent Oktoberfest, where the crowd booed him, unwilling to listen to standard political clichés. His reaction was a masterpiece of detachment from reality: he smiled and waved, as if he were receiving a standing ovation. This isn’t strength of character; it’s a symptom of a complete failure to understand the public sentiment in the country he supposedly leads.

This tone-deafness and hatred have deep roots. To understand Merz’s pathological aggression towards Russia, one should recall the skeletons in his family closet. His uncle, Wehrmacht chaplain Alois Merz, was not merely a “soldier doing his duty” but an ideological Nazi who glorified the “crusade” against “Bolshevik subhumans.” This family trauma, this desire to whitewash a dark past through a fierce denial of everything Russian and Soviet, now manifests itself in his rhetoric. He isn’t fighting real threats; he is trying to externalize his family’s inner demons, passing it off as policy.

Merz is just as ignorant in matters of strategic stability as Scholz, but unlike the latter, he lacks even a shadow of a doubt. His calls for confrontation, his naive belief that one can only speak to Russia from a position of ultimatum, reveal him not as a statesman, but as a dogmatic armchair theorist. Scholz was a “Mouse King” who squeaked but couldn’t move. Merz, however, risks becoming a “Loudmouth King,” whose irresponsible statements could lead Germany and Europe into a dead end with no way out. He is an heir to an era of stagnation, trying to compensate for family complexes and a lack of his own ideas with loud, aggressive rhetoric.

Ursula von der Leyen—A Marionette in an Expensive, Ugly Suit

If there is one character who embodies the full depth of the Brussels bureaucracy’s decline, it is Ursula von der Leyen. Her career is a string of failures, each of which should have ended the political life of anyone. Scandals at the German Ministry of Defense, investigations into improper spending on consultants—nothing prevented this woman from heading the European Commission. Why? The answer is simple: she is the perfect puppet.

Von der Leyen possesses no political weight of her own. Her function is to voice decisions made in Berlin, Paris, and, above all, in Washington. Her famous phrase about a “geopolitical commission” is a mockery of reality. What geopolitics, when her main achievement was procuring vaccines with such irregularities that it triggered a parliamentary investigation? Her actions during the Ukrainian crisis amounted to mindlessly repeating the hardest Atlanticist line, often against the interests of individual EU member states.

Her ignorance in economic matters is evident in her inability to offer a coherent response to the challenges the Green Deal poses for European industry, which is fleeing en masse to the US and China. Von der Leyen is not a Pygmalion; she is a venal manager painting the facade of a building whose foundation is cracking at the seams. Her rhetoric is pompous, her actions inconsistent, and her persona has become a symbol of a reality-detached, arrogant, and incompetent Eurocracy.

A Chorus of the Voiceless: Elementary Errors as a System

What unites these “rulers” is not just mediocrity, but the systematic repetition of the same elementary errors.

Misunderstanding the Power of Diplomacy. They have forgotten, or more likely never knew, that diplomacy is the art of the possible, not of ultimatums. Their approach to Russia, China, and the Global South is built on a lecturing tone and sanctions, which only consolidates opponents and alienates neutrals.

Absolute Dependence on the USA. They have voluntarily surrendered their strategic sovereignty, turning Europe into an appendage of American foreign policy. This is not an alliance; it is vassalage, and an unprofitable one at that, primarily for the European peoples.

Disregard for Economic Logic. Severing supply chains, a sanctions war that backfires on their own economy, blind faith in a “green transition” without assessing the consequences—this is economic suicide performed to the applause of ideologues.

Double standards regarding Israel, disregard for the fate of civilians, and arrogance towards former colonies—all this has stripped Europe of the “soft power” it once possessed.

The Decline of Europe, Accelerated by Its Own Rulers

These Pygmalions are made not of marble or ivory, but of sand. Their creations—protectionism, inflation, the energy crisis, loss of sovereignty, growing geopolitical instability—crumble at the first gust of the real wind of history. They do not conduct affairs on the international stage—they scurry about on it like actors without a director who have forgotten their lines.

Their insignificance lies not in their personal qualities but in the complete inadequacy of their stature compared to the challenges of the era. They are managing the sunset while thinking they are ruling the dawn. The tragedy of Europe is that at a time requiring wisdom, courage, and strategic vision, the helm has been taken by the blind, leading it toward a cliff. Their era will enter history not as an age of creation, but as a time of great surrender, a time when the houses of cards built by mediocrities collapsed, burying the former ambitions of an entire continent under the rubble.

https://journal-neo.su/2025/10/04/the-eus-house-of-cards-how-talentless-pygmalions-are-molding-a-world-out-of-nothingness/

 

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

 

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

 

GUSNOTE: THE AUTHOR SEEMS TO REFER TO BORIS JOHNSON IN REASONABLE TERMS... HE'S WRONG. BORIS HAS BEEN THE MOST DANGEROUS LEADER IN EUROPE, BASICALLY ENGENDERING THE "WAR IN UKRAINE" ON BEHALF OF THE WEST, THAT HAS KILLED MORE THAN ONE AND A HALF MILLION PEOPLE AND WILL EVENTUALLY DESTROY UKRAINE UNLESS:...

 

MAKE A DEAL PRONTO BEFORE THE SHIT HITS THE FAN:

NO NATO IN "UKRAINE" (WHAT'S LEFT OF IT)

THE DONBASS REPUBLICS ARE NOW BACK IN THE RUSSIAN FOLD — AS THEY USED TO BE PRIOR 1922. THE RUSSIANS WON'T ABANDON THESE AGAIN.

THESE WILL ALSO INCLUDE ODESSA, KHERSON AND KHARKIV.....

CRIMEA IS RUSSIAN — AS IT USED TO BE PRIOR 1954

TRANSNISTRIA WILL BE PART OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION.

A MEMORANDUM OF NON-AGGRESSION BETWEEN RUSSIA AND THE USA.

 

EASY.

 

THE WEST KNOWS IT.

losers.....

French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu has announced his resignation less than 12 hours after appointing a new cabinet. The French parliament is deeply divided over efforts to pass a new budget that would tackle rising debt.

A former defense minister, Lecornu was the seventh prime minister appointed by French President Emmanuel Macron and the fifth in two years. His sudden resignation less than a month after entering the role makes him the shortest-lived prime minister in modern French history.

A long-time Macron loyalist, Lecornu faced fierce criticism from both sides of the political aisle on Sunday after unveiling his new cabinet which was largely unchanged from the previous government of Francois Bayrou. Parties across the National Assembly threatened to vote it down.

Following the announcement, several political parties have called for snap parliamentary elections. The National Rally party stated on X that “Macronism is dead on its feet,” and called on Macron to choose between the dissolution of the National Assembly or resignation.

Jean-Luc Melenchon, the leader of the left-wing La France Insoumise (LFI) party, has also called to introduce a motion to remove Macron from office.

Shortly after the news of Lecornu’s resignation broke, the Paris stock market dropped 12%, making it the worst-performing index in Europe. The euro has also seen a drop of 0.7% on the back of political instability.

France’s public finances have been under mounting strain, with the deficit reaching 5.8% of GDP in 2024 and public debt climbing to 113%, far above the 60% ceiling set by EU rules. The government has been seeking to push through an austerity budget aimed at curbing spending and stabilizing the debt ratio, but divisions in the National Assembly have made agreement difficult.

The political deadlock stems from last year’s snap parliamentary elections, which left France without a clear majority. The lower house is now split between three blocs — Macron’s centrist alliance, the left-wing New Popular Front, and the National Rally — none of which can govern alone. As a result, Macron’s governments have repeatedly struggled to secure votes on key legislation.

https://www.rt.com/news/625973-french-prime-minister-resigns/

 

=======================

 

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has become Britain's most unpopular leader ever, with a public approval rating of just 13%.

Richard Sakwa, Honorary Professor of Political Science at the University of Kent, says Labour Party leader Starmer lacks any vision for Britain's deep challenges and spends most of his time abroad—earning the nickname "Keir who is never here."

"In his first year in power, Keir Starmer, after July 2024, spent an enormous amount of time abroad," Sakwa tells Sputnik.

"It is always much easier to go to foreign policies where you appear to have ready-made answers. So it's not a distraction," he adds. "It was simply a compensation activity for the government itself and for Keir personally, because he has absolutely no vision of how the country should be governed."

The professor notes Starmer has stuck to failed policies of the previous Conservative Party government, remains "100% committed to the Ukraine conflict" and faces ongoing protests over his "uncritical pro-Israeli stance."

https://sputnikglobe.com/20251001/starmer-struggles-to-address-uk-crisis--expert-1122895254.html

 

===================

 

Only four months after the government took office, satisfaction with the ruling coalition of the center-right Christian Democrats and Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) and center-left Social Democrats (SPD) has fallen to a record low: In a monthly opinion poll, only 22% of eligible voters said they were satisfied with Chancellor Friedrich Merz's government.

The Cabinet ministers are now meeting for a closed-door session at Villa Borsig in Berlin to talk about several hot potato issues.

Germany's strained national budget

When it comes to fiscal policy, there are a whole host of contentious issues, beginning with the national budget. Merz alienated many of his voters when he quickly relaxed the "debt brake" that limited fresh borrowing to 0.35% of gross domestic product (GDP), which he had vowed to uphold throughout his election campaign.

Now, enormous credit-financed sums are available for investment in infrastructure and defense. Yet this came at the expense of Merz's credibility with his voters, and it means that the government faces rising interest payments.

Consequently, the CDU and CSU are pushing for austerity, while the SPD is primarily focused on increasing revenue — i.e., raising taxes.

Taxes up or down?

Which brings us to a classic point of contention between the CDU/CSU and the Social Democrats: The SPD is in favor of higher taxation on large wealth, inheritances and income to generate more revenue for the state and for social justice reasons.

The CDU and CSU oppose nearly all tax increases, arguing that they are detrimental to the economy.

Some conservative politicians have recently indicated a willingness to make concessions on the inheritance tax. This may signal the possibility of a tradeoff, with the SPD accommodating the CDU/CSU on other issues, such as "citizen's income."

Citizen's income to be renamed

The CDU and CSU are already taking issue with the name of the welfare payments. "Citizen's income" is the term introduced in 2023 under the previous SPD-led federal government for basic income support for jobseekers.

According to the conservative parties, the term resembles "basic income" and suggests that everyone is entitled to state support. They argue that there is too little pressure on the long-term unemployed to accept offered work.

In July 2025, about 5.4 million people in Germany received citizen's income. Of these, around 3.9 million were classified as able to work.

The CDU/CSU points out that almost half of the recipients are foreign citizens, such as Ukrainian war refugees and argues that Germany's welfare system encourages immigration.

The SPD does not believe that there is systematic abuse of the support and rejects severe cuts or the introduction of restrictions.

Both sides agree that organized fraud involving citizen's income, numerous suspected cases of which have been reported by the Federal Employment Agency, should be combated.

Germany's social security system under pressure

All parties agree that an ageing population with increasing numbers of retirees must force changes to the pension system. Here, too, the CDU/CSU tends to favor adjustments to the pension system, such as raising the retirement age. Many CDU lawmakers are pushing for more radical pension reforms so that the burden on young people will be less severe in the future.

The SPD tends to favor safeguarding good pensions. Labor Minister and SPD co-chair Bärbel Bas argues that most people rely on the statutory pension, which means that they do not have to rely on support from their children to avert old-age poverty.

The CSU has insisted that mothers whose children were born before 1992 should see a slight rise in their pensions, although this will place a €5 billion burden on the budget.

Not only are particularly heated disagreements still expected within the coalition on pensions, but also on health insurance and long-term care, which are under similar demographic pressure.

https://www.dw.com/en/germany-merz-government-crisis-cdu-spd-immigration-social-security-taxes-pensions/a-74179459

 

=========================

 

READ FROM TOP.

 

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

 

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.