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Culture War Roundup for the week of December 2, 2024

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The escape from that fate is to get bailed out by a friendly country, which in this case would have to be Germany, but Germany too is broke right now.

It's even less that Germany is broke and more that it is constitutionally forbidden from assuming debt that it could afford to take on. This is/was the reason for the breakdown of the German coalition, as Scholz was trying to change the debt break in order to take on more debt.

The issue for France is that it is too big for Germany to simply bail out... without substantial, major, concessions that make it extremely clear (to the German public) that it is a purchase, not a loan to never be paid back.

Imagine after all the losses they took in regaining them, France sells Alsace-Lorraine back to Germany to keep their economy afloat.

Not a likely scenario by any means, but could you imagine?

I don't even want to imagine the political consequences of selling France to the Germans in the way Greece was. "The diktat of Munich" would take a whole new meaning.