Dialog International

Werner Rügemer wants to "De-Americanize" Bayer AG

Dr. Werner Rügemer is considered an expert on business practices in Germany. In a recent piece on the anti-American conspiracy Web site NachDenkSeiten, he questions American involvement in the German multi-national corporation Bayer AG.  Judging from this piece, Dr. Rügemer has little understanding of capital markets, and even less knowledge of the United States.  This is hardly surprising.  For many years Dr. Rügemer was affiliated with the DKP, the Stalinist communist party that vehemently opposed free market capitalism and supported the corrupt autocratic-socialist systems of the GDR and former Soviet Union.  Today he spends his time warning against the evils of America and Israel ("USrael").

Dr. Rügemer's biggest concern is the ownership stake of Blackrock in Bayer AG:

Der Finanzinvestor Blackrock ist mit gegenwärtig 6,2 % der Aktien der größte Einzelaktionär der Bayer AG. Ich greife ihn unter den anderen Großaktionären heraus, um deren Rolle im Unternehmen zu klären. Bisher trägt der Vorstand nichts zur Klärung bei.

Of particular interest is the influence of Blackrock's CEO Lawrence Fink on companies where Blackrock has substantial holdings:

Blackrock-Chef Lawrence Fink erklärte vor einigen Wochen: „Wir müssen die Macht unserer Stimmen nutzen, wir müssen mit Vorstand und Aufsichtsrat reden und manchmal auf grundlegende Veränderungen drängen. Und das tun wir. Das ist unser Job.“[2] Ich frage den Vorstand: Wann und an welchen Orten außerhalb der Hauptversammlung fanden im Laufe des Jahres 2014 solche Kontakte statt? Wozu hat Blackrock den Vorstand und den Aufsichtsrat gedrängt?

Fink, a prominent Jew, is a favorite bogeyman of German conspiracy sites, where he often is described as a "bloodsucker" (Der jüdische "Philanthrop" Larry (Lawrence) Fink ist der Chef des blutsaugenden Finanzimperiums Blackrock.) One can't help but think that the desire to "de-Americanize" (Entamerikanisierung) of German industry is really a call for "dejudizaition" (Entjudung) - eliminating Jewish influence on German companies.  

As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, Blackrock is the world's largest asset manager and specializes in "Index Funds" - passively managed funds that mirror the performance of different stock indices.  So any Blackrock fund that is pegged to either the DAX or the FTSE 100 will include shares of Bayer AG.  Likewise any sector fund, such as a Chemicals fund, will include Bayer AG shares, along with shares of Dow Chemical and DuPont.  Or Pharmaceuticals Fund, will include Bayer AG along with Novo Nordisk, AstraZeneca and Pfizer. With over $4 trillion under management, that can add up to a significant number of shares.  Index funds are a great vehicle for retail investors to participate in the global equities markets, since they tend to outperform actively managed funds and have very low expense ratios.

Dr. Rügemer's complaint about American influence on Bayer is especially dumb when one considers how the company has thrived in the US market. With the exception of Siemens, no other German corporation has benefited as much as Bayer AG in the open American marketplace.  in 1994 Bayer acquired the trademark rights to "Bayer Aspirin ' - one of the most valuable personal care brands in America. Today Bayer achieves twice the revenue (US$12 Billion+) and profit in the US market with half the number of employees as it does in the domestic German market.  Dr. Rügemer may find it unacceptable that a good percentage of Bayer's profits come from the "evil" United States, but most shareholders are very pleased. 

The way I see it, Dr. Rügemer has only a couple of options to cleanse Bayer AG of all American influence - to bring the German company "Heim ins Reich."  One, he could convince German investors to buy Bayer AG shares and reduce Blackrock's position as shareholder.  This is unlikely to succeed given the preference of Germans for bank savings accounts over stock investments.  The other option would be to spin-off Bayer's US operations and have a consortium of private equity investors take the German operations private.  This would remove Bayer AG from the DAX - making it out of reach of Blackrock - but destroy much of the value of the company. 

Actually, I really wish Lawrence Fink would have as much power as the conspiracy theorists like Werner Rügemer think he has.  Fink has been an outspoken critic of companies spending millions of dollars buying back their share instead of investing in long-term, sustainable growth.  Share-buybacks boost the share price in the short-term, but provide nothing of substance to the employees or other stakeholders.  Earlier this year, Fink sent a letter to the CEO's of every corporation in the S&P 500 which included this statement:

It is critical, however, to understand that corporate leaders’ duty of care and loyalty is not to every investor or trader who owns their companies’ shares at any moment in time, but to the company and its long-term owners. Successfully fulfilling that duty requires that corporate leaders engage with a company’s long-term providers of capital; that they resist the pressure of short-term shareholders to extract value from the company if it would compromise value creation for long-term owners; and, most importantly, that they clearly and effectively articulate their strategy for sustainable long-term growth. Corporate leaders and their companies who follow this model can expect our support.

Such statements just don't register with the mind of Dr. Werner Rügemer, whose personal mission is to demonize America and the free market system. However, Larry Fink's letter (unfortunately) had zero influence on the CEOs: stock buyback programs continue at a record pace.

Harmful Impact of Consipiracy Web Sites on German Youth

I just returned from spending a week in South Florida, where the predominant languages one hears are English, Spanish and German.  Spanish, because of all the immigrants from Mexico and Latin America who come to the United States to build a better life for their families. German, due to the thousands of German tourists who love the sun, beaches and hospitality of Florida. 

These tourists from Germany evidently haven't read Wolfgang Bittner's recent book Die Eroberung Europas durch die USA ("The Conquest of Europe by the US") where he describes the United States as a "horror scene":

Spätestens nach dem 11. September 2001 ist eine Schranke der Rechtsstaatlichkeit gefallen. Die US-amerikanische Gesellschaft ist zerrüttet, ihre Regierung schon lange nicht mehr in der Lage, Wohlstand für die Mehrheit zu schaffen und Gerechtigkeit für alle möglich zu machen.Unfassbar hohe Mordzahlen, ein gigantisches Drogenproblem, ein marodes, völlig überteuertes Gesundheitssystem, eine kaputte Infrastruktur, Schulen, die den Namen nicht verdienen, offener Rassismus, unkontrollierte Polizeigewalt, ganze Bevölkerungsschichten, die außerhalb der Armee kaum noch eine Perspektive haben – dies alles vor dem Hintergrund einer Staatsverschuldung, die niemals abgetragen werden kann. Ein Horrorszenario.

(Ever since September 11, 2001 the United States is no longer a nation under the rule of law. American society is dysfunctional, its government is no longer capable of providing prosperity for the majority and justice for all.  Incredibly high murder rate, a huge drug crisis, an ailing, expensive healthcare system, a broken infrastructure, schools not worthy of the name, open racism, uncontrolled police violence, broad spectrum of the population without any future outside of the military - all of this with the backdrop of a national debt that can never be repaid.  A horror scene.)

Nor are these tourists readers of the anti-American conspiracy site NachDenkSeiten, where the editor-in-chief Albrecht Müller sees the United States as the source of all misery in the world ("Der Tod kommt aus Amerika.").

But what about the regular readers of the dozens of German conspiracy sites such as NachDenkseiten, Hintergrund, Kopp Verlag, Junge Welt, etc.?  Sometimes there can be tragic consequences.

The journalist Jana Simon has a fascinating piece in Zeit Magazin about a young man from Saxony who left his typical German middle-class family to join the Islamic State Jihad ISIS in Syria (Jana Simon, Der Junge, der in den Krieg ging ("The Boy Who Went to War").  Simon, the granddaughter of Christa Wolf, spent hours interviewing "Samuel" - the young man -, his parents and friends in an effort to understand what would motivate a teenager to join a terrorist group with a murderous ideology such as ISIS.  

One interesting passage from Simon's long piece describes how Samuel and his best friend Max (who later perished in Syria) would carefully read the conspiracy Web sites:

Mit Max redet Samuel auch über den 11. September, ob die offizielle Version des Anschlags so stimmen könne, über chemtrails, Kondensstreifen der Flugzeuge und deren Chemikalien, die die Menschheit angeblich vergiften. Sie lesen Websites wie "Orwell-Staat", die "Nachdenkseiten" und Compact, das Magazin von Jürgen Elsässer, dem Polit-Aktivisten, der stets Verschwörung wittert. In der Welt dieser Seiten werden Politiker ausschließlich von Konzernen gesteuert und von Lobbyisten getrieben. Die Massenmedien lügen und sind Marionetten der Mächtigen, hetzen gegen Russland und Putin, die Palästinenser und den Islam. Das Königreich des Bösen aber sind die USA. Wer längere Zeit auf diesen Seiten verbringt, fühlt sich danach angeschlagen. Es gibt tatsächlich vieles, was man kritisieren kann an Medien, Politik und den USA. Es gibt Heuchelei, Lügen, und es gibt Interessen. Aber in der Welt dieser Seiten gibt es kein Grau. Jeder Zwischenton ist durch eine Meinung ersetzt. Zufälle existieren nicht, stets wird ein Komplott vermutet. Samuel verliert sich in diesen Theorien.

("Samuel would talk with Max about Sept. 11, whether the official version of the attack was true, about Chemtrails - patrols of aircraft spraying chemicals to poison people. They read Web sites like "Orwell-Staat", NachDenkSeiten and Compact, the magazine of Jürgen Elsässer, the activist whose always uncovering new conspiracies.  In the world as described in these sites, all politicians are controlled by corporations and lobbyists.  The mainstream media reports nothing but lies and are marionettes of powerful people, they attack Russia and Putin, Palestinians and Islam. But the United States is the Kingdom of Evil. Whoever spends much time with these sites will soon feel under attack.  To be sure, there is much to criticize about the media, the political situation and the US.  There is hypocrisy, lies and interests. But the world in these pages has no gray area. Every nuance is replaced by an opinion. Chance doesn't exist - everything is a conspiracy.  Samuel loses himself in these theories.")

Congratulations to Albrecht Müller, Udo Ulfkotte, Jürgen Elsässer, Wolfgang Bittner, Knut Mellenthin and all the other conspiracy theorists with popular Web sites.  Your words seem to be having an effect on impressionable young people.

Coca-Cola celebrates "the good old days" of Nazi Germany

As a kid I didn't much care for drinking Coke.  But I loved the orange-flavored carbonated Fanta.  I wasn't aware that Fanta was a product of Coca=Cola - or that it originated in Germany.

Coca-Cola is celebrating 75 years of Fanta.  Unfortunately, the company made references in a promotional video to "die guten alten Zeiten" -  the good old days - when Fanta was created - in Nazi Germany.

Was geschah wirklich im Jahr 1940? Aufgrund von Einfuhrbeschränkungen waren in Deutschland die Originalzutaten für Coca-Cola knapp geworden. Da mischte ein findiger Mitarbeiter aus dem, was er gerade bekommen konnte, ein neues Getränk, die Hauptbestandteile waren Molke und Apfelfasern. Die Mixtur wurde Fanta genannt, sie war die einzige Brause, welche die Firma Coca-Cola zwischen 1942 und 1949 in Deutschland verkaufte. Erst später wurde die Marke auf eine Limo mit Orangengeschmack übertragen.

("What really happened in 1940? Due to import restrictions the ingredients to make Coca-Cola in Germany were scarce.  So an inventive employee mixed a new beverage from whatever was available, the main components were whey and apple fiber. The mixture was called Fanta, it was the only fizz drink that Coca-Cola sold in Germany between 1942 and 1949. Only later was the brand converted over to a soda drink with orange flavor.")

So was the Coca-Cola company an indirect supporter of the Third Reich?  History is never black and white.  The Web site Snopes has the best explanation:

Fanta sold well enough to keep the plants operating and Coca-Cola people employed. In 1943, 3 million cases of Fanta were vended, but not all were imbibed — some were used to flavor soups and stews. (Sugar rationing inspired many a housewife to look to unusual sources for that which could no longer be bought outright in large enough quantities to satisfy.)

Until the end of the war, Coca-Cola executives in Atlanta did not know if Keith was working for the company or for the Nazis, because communication with him was impossible. Their misgivings aside, Keith was safeguarding Coca-Cola interests and people during that period of no contact. It was thanks largely to his efforts that Coca-Cola was able to re-establish production in Germany virtually immediately after World War II.

In any event, Coca-Cola's reference to "the good old days" was a marketing faux pas and the company immediately removed the video.  But here, for your viewing pleasure, is the original video celebrating 75 years of Fanta:

Why do Germans avoid investing in stocks?

Many on the German Left constantly complain that foreign - primarily American - investors are taking over German industry. The anti-American conspiracy Web site Nachdenkseiten recently complained that one third of German equities are held by "Anglo-American interests": 

Nur ein gutes Drittel der Anteile an den Dax-Unternehmen wird von Inländern gehalten. Ein weiteres Drittel gehört Personen und vor allem Finanzkonzernen aus den USA und Großbritannien, während das letzte Drittel sich auf den Rest der Welt verteilt.

But there is one major barrier to putting these companies back in German hands: most Germans avoid investing in stocks. 

It is ironic that the CEO of the Deutsche Börse - the Frankfurt Exchange - recently complained that there were too few German shareholders in the Exchange:  

Der scheidende Vorstandschef der Deutschen Börse, der Schweizer Reto Francioni, wünscht sich mehr deutsche Beteiligung an dem Dax-Konzern. „Mir wäre ein paar deutsche Aktionäre ganz lieb gewesen“, sagte Francioni der Frankfurter Allgemeinen Sonntagszeitung.[...]Schließlich tragen wir das „deutsch“ schon im Namen“, bekräftigte der Schweizer.  „Deutsch ist auch ein Bestandteil unseres volkswirtschaftlichen Auftrags. Aber offenbar sind wir für das Ausland attraktiver als für viele deutsche Investoren“.

("The departing CEO of the Deutsche Börse, the Swiss Reto Fancioni, would like to see greater German participation in the DAX company. "I'd like to have a few German shareholders." Francioni told the FAZ on Sunday. [...] After all, we have the word "German" in the company's name. German is also an important factor in our economic mission.  But apparently we are more attractive abroad than we are for German investors.")

He is not alone.  Germans appear to be content to put their savings in low yielding fixed income securities - or even bank savings accounts that pay virtually no interest.

A recent survey shows how risk-adverse German investors are.  A representative sample were asked what they would do with 10,000 Euros for a 25-year time frame.  Only 13% would put all or more than half of the amount in stocks. A majority would not invest in stock at all.

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German columnist: Soviets did not liberate Germany by themselves

For the past few days, all eyes have been on Moscow and Russian President Vladimir Putin's military extravaganza commemorating the "Great Antifascist Victory" by Mother Russia.  May 9 is Putin's day:

"During his 15-year rule, Putin has turned May 9 into Russia’s most important state holiday, and this year’s marks the most militarized and politicized it’s every been. The Kremlin’s English language television channel, Russia Today, bragged about nuclear bombers and tactical surface-to-air missile systems on the square. The show was meant to wow the populace and the world, and it mostly succeeded. Many viewers who saw fighter-bombers forming the number “70” in the sky said they were impressed."

Not everyone was celebrating for Russia, however.  For the people of Poland, the Baltic states, and elsewhere in eastern Europe, V-E days marks the end of one brutal occupation and the beginning of another.

Writing in Der Tagespiegel, the journalist and author Harald Martenstein reminds his readers that Stalin didn't free Germany from Nazi rule by himself.  He expresses something that is rare to see today in the German press: gratitude to the United States for the role it played in defeating Hitler:

Ich bin dankbar dafür, dass Hitler den Krieg verloren hat und ich nicht in einem Naziland leben muss. Aber ich bin auch dankbar dafür, dass nicht die Sowjetunion der alleinige Sieger des Krieges gewesen ist. Mit Stalin als alleinigem Sieger wäre ganz Europa in ein Straflager verwandelt worden. Die Rote Armee hat den Überlebenden der Konzentrationslager die Freiheit gebracht, danach wurden die Lager mit neuen Insassen gefüllt, von denen viele unschuldig waren und viele starben. Hitlers Ende war eine Befreiung. Danach begann, im sowjetisch besetzten Teil Europas, der Aufbau eines neuen Unterdrückungssystems.[...] Dass Deutschland heute ein freies Land ist, verdanken wir vor allem der Tatsache, dass die USA den Kalten Krieg gewonnen haben und nicht die Sowjetunion. Wenn es umgekehrt gelaufen wäre, gäbe es in Berlin heute immer noch Militärparaden, Fahnenappelle und einen Führer, dem niemand ohne Gefahr widerspricht.

(I'm grateful that Hitler lost the war and that I'm not living under the Nazis. But I'm also thankful that the Soviet Union was not the only victor of the war.  If Stalin had won by himself all of Europe would have been transformed into a gigantic prison. The Red Army freed the survivors of the concentration camps; then the camps were filled with new inmates, many of whom were innocent and many died. Hitler's demise was a liberation. Then, in the Soviet-occupied part of Europe there began a new system of oppression. Germany is today a free country thanks to the fact that the US won the Cold War instead of the Soviet Union. If the opposite had happened, we'd still have military parades today in Berlin, with flag ceremonies and a Führer that no one could criticize without putting oneself in danger.)

Oskar Lafontaine: Germany must stand with Russia against the United States

For forty years the East German SED (Socialist Unity Party) was the Kremlin's most reliable partner, presiding over the building of the Berlin Wall and the Stasi.  Today, 25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall the successor party to the SED -  die Linke ("Left Party") - remains loyal to Moscow even as Putin has become a supporter and benefactor of extreme right-wing parties such as the Front National in France, or neofascist parties such as Jobbik in Hungary.

Yesterday, on the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII, Oskar Lafontaine, the Left Party leader, gave a speech thanking Russia for its role in defeating the Nazis while also blaming the United States for the current crisis in the Ukraine: 

Kennan hat Ursache und Wirkung der Ukraine-Krise klar benannt. Die Lüge, auf die man sich geeinigt hat, um Voltaire zu zitieren, macht nicht diesen verhängnisvollen Fehler der amerikanischen Politik, sondern Putin zum Verursacher dieser Krise. Aufgabe der Linken gerade an dem heutigen Tag ist es, auch in Erinnerung an die weit über 27 Millionen Kriegstoten der Völker der ehemaligen Sowjetunion, darunter fünf bis sieben Millionen Ukrainer, dafür zu werben, die Politik der Entspannung und der guten Nachbarschaft mit Russland und der Ukraine, für die Willy Brandt den Friedensnobelpreis erhielt, wieder aufzunehmen. Sicherheit in Europa, auch das ist die Lehre des Zweiten Weltkrieges, ist nicht gegen, sondern nur mit Russland zu erreichen. Auch am heutigen Tag haben wir den Beitrag der USA zum Sieg über den Nationalsozialismus nicht vergessen, aber wenn der aggressive US-Imperialismus nach dem Zusammenbruch der UdSSR jede Selbstbeschränkung aufgegeben hat und in fahrlässiger Weise seine Expansionspolitik weiterverfolgt, dann reklamieren auch wir Linke eine neue Verantwortung Deutschlands in der Welt. Allerdings begreifen wir diese Verantwortung anders, als es die herrschenden Parteien tun. Wir brauchen endlich eine eigenständige europäische Außenpolitik, die den Werten Europas, der Freiheit, der Demokratie, der sozialen Gerechtigkeit und der Menschenwürde verpflichtet ist und auf Interventionskriege und neokoloniale Abenteuer verzichtet. Unsere Verantwortung besteht darin, einer verhängnisvollen US-Politik in den Arm zu fallen und darauf zu bestehen, dass Russland seinen Platz im gemeinsamen Europäischen Haus hat. Wir wollen mit Russland in Frieden leben, weil wir gemäß dem Schwur der Überlebenden von Buchenwald eine Welt des Friedens und der Freiheit bauen wollen.

(Kennan clearly named the cause and effect of the crisis in the Ukraine.  The grand lie that unites everyone - to quote Voltaire - makes Putin the instigator of the crisis - instead of the catastrophic mistake of American policy. It is the job of the Left Party today, in memory of the 27 million war dead in the former Soviet Union - including 5 million Ukrainians - to advocate once again for a policy of detante and cooperation with Russia and the Ukraine, for which Willy Brandt received the Nobel Peace Prize. One lesson from WWII is that we can only achieve security in Europe with Russia - not against Russia.  We shouldn't forget the contribution of the USA to victory over the Nazis, but if aggressive American imperialism -  since the collapse of the USSR - continues to pursue a reckless expansion policy it is the duty of the Left Party to claim a new responsibility for Germany in the world.  We view this responsibility somewhat differently from the other ruling parties.  We need an independent European foreign policy that is beholden to European values of freedom, democracy, social justice and human dignity, which deplores wars of intervention and neo-colonial adventures. It is out responsibility to work against the disastrous US policy and to insist that Russia assumes its proper place in Europe.  We want to live in peace with Russia because we want to build a world of peace and freedom - in accordance with the oath of the survivors of Buchenwald.)

Of course there was no mention of Putin's military Anschluss of Crimea, nor of his sending troops and heavy arms intoe Eastern Ukraine.  Lafontaine had to overlook these inconvenient facts so that he could keep a straight face while condemning the United States for "wars of intervention and neo-colonial adventures."  Why do I keep thinking of the Hitler-Stalin Pact whenever I hear Oskar Lafontaine (or his wife Sahra Wagenknecht) speak?

Werner Rügemer on the evils of the United States

I had never heard of Werner Rügemer, but evidently the author and former DKP man is an expert on America and the history of the United States. Werner Rügemer was the keynote speaker at Albrecht Müller's recent anti-American hatefest in Pleisweiler-Oberhofen.

Herr Rügemer spoke about 100 years of American evil-doing in Germany and how the United States has done everything it can to subjugate Germany - turning it into a virtual US colony.  In his speech he presented a long list of damning evidence - including transcripts of private conversations between former president Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger where they said nasty things about then-chancellor WIlly Brandt. But there is much more: American  agencies such as Moody's and Standard & Poor's have forced investors in Germany to accept their ratings, American tax advisers such as Deloitte have helped German multinational corporations shelter their taxes in Luxembourg, and the evil American fund manager Blackrock has taken over Deutsche Bank.  Another key clue to American dominance: the American Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland said famously : "F*ck the EU!".

In the follow-up Questions and Answer session Herr Rügemer explained how the Marshall Plan was a diabolical plot to weaken Germany and impose American dominance over Western Europe.  He also revealed that German car companies Daimler, VW and BMW investing $billions in America to manufacture cars was really a US effort to weaken German labor unions.

These are just a few of the nuggets of wisdom I learned from Werner Rügemer's presentation.

 Herr Rügemer has been sounding the alarm about the evils of America for some time.  In 1986 he published  Der Kranke Weltpolizist: Das Innenleben der USA als Gefahr für den „Rest der Welt“.  Werner Rügemer is evidently also an expert on Israel.  Last year he appeared at an "Anti-Zionist" forum together with the conspiracy theorist Ken Jebsen and told the audience that Israel is a „Versuchslabor für Überwachungs- und Tötungstechnologie“ ("An experimental lab for surveillance and killing technology").