Two-thirds of citizens in Germany believe that developments in the US have a greater influence on Germany today than they did before President Donald Trump's second term.

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[โ€“] 13 points 2 days ago (1 child)

That is a strangely ambigiously worded survey question, that no doubt most people interpreted as "negative influence".

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  • [โ€“] 7 points 2 days ago (2 children)

    Given that social media is owned by the US techno-nazis... I wouldn't be to sure. Every couple of days I see a headline ,,Why is right wing populism on the rise world wide even though it fucks up the US currently?" -> Simple: Because the people fucking up the US own the main sources of information for a majority around the world.

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  • [โ€“] 2 points 1 day ago*

    This, plus the blackmailability (is that a word?) that comes from being dependent on US cloud services and US payment providers. There are many instittions and companies in Europe who would be absolutely f*cked if they even just temporarily lost access to their Microsoft/Apple/AWS/Google/Meta/Mastercard/Visa/Paypal/... accounts. And since the current US administration is a bully who will exploit weaknesses for their own gain, ... add 1+1 together yourself.

    Europe had a lot of time but never bothered with sovereign IT. Even with the current US administration they still mostly continue like before, as if nothing changed in the world. That's like technical debt. It may not haunt you now, it may not haunt you within 10 years, but it WILL haunt you at some point. That point is now within viewing distance.

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  • [โ€“] 6 points 2 days ago

    Since the second term Germany also has a new chancellor with a US influenced past.

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  • [โ€“] 5 points 2 days ago (2 children)

    I'm always fascinated by the other side in those surveys: 1/3 of german citizen think that what is happening in the US with a crazy president threatening Germany, doing idiotic things with tariffs and US billionaires meddling in german elections do not have a greater influence than f.e. during the Obama admin? WTF?

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  • [โ€“] 5 points 2 days ago

    This tells you that about a third of Germans are pedantic sticklers (big surprise ๐Ÿ™„) that tried to interpret the ambigious question litterally and concluded that the US always had a big influence, and how visible or negative it is technically doesn't matter for answering this question.

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  • [โ€“] 1 point 2 days ago

    f.e. during the Obama admin? WTF?

    Makes no difference. Makes no sense to interpret it in such a detailed manner.

    I believe that a great majority of all survey answerers do not read beyond the first few words of a question.

    Like: "Trump" "influence on Germany" - ok, decided, next question.

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