Ostalgie

Here's what looks like an interesting series from the UK Government's official mouthpiece, the BBC.

In the Lost World of Communism the BBC will be lamenting the passing of East Germany.

I was struck by the quote from East Germany's first president Walter Ulbricht.

"It has to look democratic but we must have everything under control."

That statement sums up perfectly the political situation in the UK, where two parties participate in a pretend-democracy, and also the EU which has been forced on the people of Europe whether they like it or not. When a referendum is occasionally taken, the result, which is always negative, is ignored, or the people are forced to vote again until they come up with the "right" answer.

So although the Berlin Wall and the East German regime did fall, and the last President of East Germany, Erich Honecker, like many Germans 45 years earlier, retired to Chile, what ended up happening was the primary idea behind the founding of that nation - all decisions taken by a small elite over the heads of the "great unwashed" - went on to be incorporated in how all the nations of Europe are now governed.

Ironic really!