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Germany will violate international agreements with Unitary Patent, says FFII

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Re: Germany will violate international agreements with Unitary Patent, says FFII

#271

Post by fakedang »

jariel wrote: post #266
fakedang wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except McKinsey didn't hire them after getting the contracts, but before, which clearly positions it to get many contracts. A few years back, it was clear as day that most of the govt business went to McKinsey in the Middle East, while BCG and Bain often received scraps. Relevant article: https://www.wsj.com/articles/in-growing-saudi-business-mckin...

It's nothing. McKinsey is a huge outfit, hiring 8 analysts is nothing. In fact it will help McKinsey more than anyone else as it would help them develop closer relationships with House of Saud. The Saudi government is not giving McKinsey huge contracts because so and so's kid got hired there - point blank. Also remember these kids are already stinking rich they don't even need to work. And it's also a part of the wor…

My oh my do you have a very narrow interpretation of corruption.

Hiring less than capable individuals while excluding more capable individuals, for the sake of obtaining contracts, in a region where ministers are changed on a regular basis (hence no guarantees of the connections staying forever) is exactly what I'd call a kickback.

Re: Germany will violate international agreements with Unitary Patent, says FFII

#272

Post by xnyan »

dependsontheq wrote: post #250
xnyan wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even as an undergraduate polisci major, in my European Union courses she was discussed. Here is an interesting anecdote about her: the institution that granted her equivalent of an MD (she’s still a physician) acknowledged that more than 40% of her thesis was plagiarized, however because telepathic analysis does not exist and this it is not possible prove that she intended in her mind to cheat as she was engaged in t…

While I understand the discussion, in general Medical doctorates in Germany do not have the same standards as other PHDs. “Mouse dying after not being fed for a month” could actually be a real title, the problem for German doctors is that they more or less have to have the title.

If I recall, there's something like 3 "tiers" of physician depending on how long you were in school? It's interesting.

But anyway, I think the point is still a fair one. Major portions of her thesis were plagiarized. Even if it was an accident (I don't see how that would be possible), the least thesis should be revoked or all students should be allowed to plagiarize their theses as well.

Being part of a rich and powerful family does not make one bad, using that power to cheat and exploit sure does.

Re: Germany will violate international agreements with Unitary Patent, says FFII

#273

Post by Denvercoder9 »

ricohboy wrote: post #232
Denvercoder9 wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This reads more like a (ultra-)right-wing party program than a substantiated plan to increase innovation.

>lower taxes >deport --illegal-- immigrants "ultra" right wing Low taxes and people valuing the rule of law is not "ultra right wing"

Repeated mentions of deporting illegal immigrants and withdrawing from the UN convention on refugees are typically only found in ultra-right-wing party programs in Europe.

Re: Germany will violate international agreements with Unitary Patent, says FFII

#274

Post by Nasrudith »

jakearmitage wrote: post #177
fastball wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. Most people in the thread seem against this. 2. Maybe it was more true when you posted 2 hours ago, but that is exactly why comments like this one are not helpful.

It is not about being against the subject or not. It's about the way the arguments are presented. In several threads, when the same scenario plays in the US, the comments are "ad hominem" attacks to the country and its culture. When it happens to Germany, the focus is on debating the actual issue. I'm not American, but the Americanophobia present here and the schadenfreude towards bad things happening in the US is qu…

I have noticed a reoccuring identity archetype of stereotype of any non-world power (including oddly enough large cities who are a world power) freely complaining about the entity in all aspects and then being offended if an outsider complains about it. As opposed to a "used to it" as a world power and being unable to counter by saying that the matter doesn't affect them.

My guess is it might be a result of that sort of defensiveness forming social baselines that it results in a double standard where to say for example "It is because the people of the US doesn't want the pesky innovation part and just wants to rent seek." would be accepted but a non-hypothetical enclosed "It is because Germans don't want the pesky innovation part and just wants to rent seek." would get flagged as flamebait.

Re: Germany will violate international agreements with Unitary Patent, says FFII

#275

Post by Nasrudith »

zoobab wrote: post #152
shmerl wrote: post #147

Parasites and crooks keep pushing software patents. Why can't there be a stronger push against them?

People need to get out of their seat, which is hard.

It is worse than just getting out of their seat really. Even if they regularly formed mobs of protesters and weren't ignored or took harsh measures to force the issues quickly they would still come back. Even going to the extreme of killing everyone who fits the label wouldn't fix it long term as someone else looking for easy money would try to fill the niche whenever their personal courage outweighed the ambient terror.

The only way to fix the issue long term is to replace them and fill the niche better than they can. Needless to say doing so personally risks becoming as bad as those they set out to replace and creating an automated AI official/manager/business entity capable of doing their job better than them and getting it accepted in the face of centuries of stories warning of it being a bad idea before it even existed are very tall orders. It isn't like they are telephone switchboard operators who can be replaced by an impartial dialing mechanism by a disgruntled funeral home owner.

Re: Germany will violate international agreements with Unitary Patent, says FFII

#276

Post by rurban »

_Microft wrote: post #77
ctas wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't consider her being in the conservative party the actual problem. In Germany she's well known for nepotism and corruptness, even if until this day she successfully evaded the punishment. Not long ago there's been a claim that her phone contains important evidence in support of the accusation, but it turned out that data on the phone had been "accidentally" wiped.

I'm german and it's the first time I hear someone calling her corrupt or nepotistic.

Because then you only consume German media, which is equally corrupt. Pure government mouthpieces. Non German media is more informed on German malpractices.

Re: Germany will violate international agreements with Unitary Patent, says FFII

#277

Post by woodpanel »

johndrocky wrote: post #243
codethief wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the 300M € von der Leyen supposedly embazzled look pathetic to the budgets these companies dump on consultants each year Are you saying that Blue Chip to Mid Cap Stock Index companies regularly spend > 1B on consulting?

He might be referring to Germanys beacons of good corporate governance and not corruption; Deutschebank and Wirecard Either way using relativism to minimise a crime is sophistry "I murdered a few people - the US government kills thousands of people a year in " - you're still guilty of murder, even if someone is better at the crime than you are.

still guilty of murder - so much for subtlety…

Again: Although there were a parliamentary investigations, there was no crime. No conviction, no indictment, no charges pressed.

300M € was what was spent on all external consultancies combined. The yearly Bundeswehr budget is 42 bln € [1]. 300M is In 2018, the big four (KPMG, PwC, EY and Deloitte) extracted 650M € from the 30 DAX companies alone. And that is just the auditor segment. This doesn't include the strategic consultancies, IT consultancies or Headhunters.

And it also doesn't include the consultancy subsidiaries of said DAX companies. Speaking of subsidiary consultancies: 2/3 of said 300M € "embazzled Bundeswehr money" were spent on it's own consultancy BDI.

This whole "Affair" just resides on general public resentment of the word "consultant" and the public's inability and unwillingness to calculate or research these numbers themself. Especially as soon as there is a "smoking gun" to find by focusing all efforts on looking the other way, which allows us to create a hoax like this.

[1] German: "Milliarde"

Re: Germany will violate international agreements with Unitary Patent, says FFII

#278

Post by woodpanel »

codethief wrote: post #224
woodpanel wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being a consultant in Germany myself I can tell you that during the whole "Bundeswehr Berateraffäre" (an alledged scandal involving contracts given to consultancies when von der Leyen was Secretary of Defense), that at least all Blue Chip to Mid Cap Stock Index companies in Germany cringed in silence, as the 300M € von der Leyen supposedly embazzled look pathetic to the budgets these companies dump on consultants eac…

> the 300M € von der Leyen supposedly embazzled look pathetic to the budgets these companies dump on consultants each year Are you saying that Blue Chip to Mid Cap Stock Index companies regularly spend > 1B on consulting?

Yes (See my explanation in another answer).

I also like to point out that of those political groups that were screaming foul the loudest with regards to the "consultant affair", these were the groups with the least interest in or sympathy to the German military.

Which is adding insult to injury because the whole reason the Bundeswehr has to hike its expenditures on consultants at all is because policies of the last decades, specifically of those groups, left the Bundeswehr one of the least attractive employers in the whole country, especially for seeked after talent.

Re: Germany will violate international agreements with Unitary Patent, says FFII

#279

Post by woodpanel »

fakedang wrote: post #235
woodpanel wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being a consultant in Germany myself I can tell you that during the whole "Bundeswehr Berateraffäre" (an alledged scandal involving contracts given to consultancies when von der Leyen was Secretary of Defense), that at least all Blue Chip to Mid Cap Stock Index companies in Germany cringed in silence, as the 300M € von der Leyen supposedly embazzled look pathetic to the budgets these companies dump on consultants eac…

What's more pathetic is that even after such high government expenditures in defence, Germany still lags behind most smaller nations in terms of the size of its army as well as the technological capabilities. So clearly she hasn't done a good job, yet she's been rewarded with the presidency of the EU, which is corruption in itself.

What's more pathetic is…

I'm sorry, the cost/performance ratio makes complete sense.

The Bundeswehr is culturally frowned upon in large parts of our society since at least the 1970s so it is no wonder that policies enacted breathe that spirit.

Thus we are a country whose military openly admits it can't defend the country. For a couple of years now. There is close to zero outcry about that, certainly less outcry than the "Berateraffaire" got.

So clearly she hasn't done a good job

Not saying she did in general, but blaming an army depleted and frowned upon for decades on her six years as Secretary of Defense (SoD) is deceitful (not saying that you do).

On the contrary: Turning this shipwreck around affords even more expenditures. So expect the cost/performance ratio to become even worse.

she's been rewarded with the presidency of the EU, which is corruption in itself.

Since von der Leyen clearly hasn't proved herself to be included in the realms of sinister masterminds (she got ousted from her SoD job for a non-scandal) the curruption-part lies within the EU itself, for nullifing an election result, and how they've chosen her.

Re: Germany will violate international agreements with Unitary Patent, says FFII

#280

Post by oaiey »

mschuster91 wrote: post #64
oaiey wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is a very good point. Problem is that the enthusiasts are the young people across Europe and not exactly a minority. That is a 50:50 or 60:40 thing. So when you satisfy on group (good enough) you will make the the other half unhappy.

The old people will die off rather sooner than later, the problem will solve itself biologically. The real question is: will this happen fast enough to avoid hitting a no-way-back point in climate change?

That is not really accurate. The young people get older as well. And change their world view. Once you hear hundreds of times the "bad" news of immigrants, workers from rumania taking your jobs, etc, experiencing the slowness of evolvement of the EU or just switch to thinking british style (nations do better, europe is only a shared market).

For sure, that is all inaccurate in one way or the other, but people are busy or in bad situations, leaving their enthusiasm behind them.

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