Cyprus Stands Up to German Bullies – And Germans Need to Have a Short History Lesson

Because Apparently the Germans Have Forgotten a Few Things

Unlike the bank bailouts for other parts of Europe, Germany has insisted that in order to bail out the banks of Cyprus the depositors, none of whom are responsible for problems, must lose part of their deposits.  The reasons for imposing this on Cyprus are (1) German politicians are trying to suck up to an electorate in advance of the fall elections and (2) Cyprus is sufficiently small and insignificant that it can be bullied by the Germans.

But the people of Cyprus have stood up and said no.  This was not an easy thing to do.  A failure of the banking system in Cyprus could doom the island nation to an economic disaster for years.  But the German policy is so unfair, and so blatantly wrong that the Cypriot people needed to make a statement to Germans regardless of the consequences.  And they did.

As for Germany, the Germans need to revisit the history of the 20^th century and the atrocities that nation imposed on the world.  And no, the people in charge and the electorate today are not the ones who did those horrific things, but still, it was their country and they bear some responsibility.  Even more relevant, the current prosperity of the German nation is in large part a result of massive allied aid following World War II, along with the military protection provided by the United States, Britain, France and others that kept the Soviet Union from turning West Germany into the economic and political basket case that was East Germany.

So yes Germany, you still owe the rest of the world, you owe it a lot.  And in case  you have forgotten why we recommend just one book, William Shirer’s history of Nazi Germany will do fine.  Read it and weep.