O Merkelbaum, o Merkelbaum!

I’m sure everybody remembers “Merkel Legos”, those ugly concrete blocks with knobs on top that were installed in many German cities after the vehicular jihad at the Christmas market in Berlin.

The latest iteration of the same concept is the Merkel Christmas Tree, which is both decorative and functional. It adds a festive touch to those sidewalks where cultural enrichment might otherwise decide to encroach.

Many thanks to MissPiggy for translating this RT video, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:

Video transcript:

02:02   I think it’s quite OK. These newer ones are quite nice.
02:07   Kinda funny these Christmas trees, concrete Christmas trees.
02:23   I don’t really see an advantage or disadvantage. Maybe you feel a little safer because of it.
02:31   In the beginning, the last few years when they starting using them, I was even somewhat skeptical.
02:36   Imagine when a car runs into one of these blocks and it shoots 20 yards in the air through the huts.
02:41   That wouldn’t be so great, but I think it’s a bit of a deterrent.
02:53   Naturally, I’m absolutely thrilled about the new barricade bollards in the form of Christmas trees.
02:59   Whoever had the idea should receive prize money and three stars.
03:04   Otherwise, we feel very safe at the Christmas market.
 

2 thoughts on “O Merkelbaum, o Merkelbaum!

  1. @Baron: you write that this Merkel Xmas tree of cement is “functional”.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V33fbfmAgTo&feature=youtu.be

    The Merkel trees are quoted as weighing 3t, that is, 3,000 kg.

    The above video shows a truck weighing 10 tonnes driving at 50 kmh and identical to the one used in the Nice attacks brushing aside in 2017 in Germany concrete blocks weighing 2,400 kg, as you see from the numbers given in the video. No doubt the 600 kg difference is important (irony: off)

    Conclusion: these “truck barriers” are eyewash aimed at soothing the masses and preserving retail Xmas market sales.

    As a commentator wrote at PI News in German on 14.11, his SUV could knock such 3t items aside too. He added that the Merkel trees then become projectiles as well.

    The masses have no experience of big trucks colliding with obstacles but rely on their “feeling” that such an obstacle is “very heavy”, after all it is made of concrete.

    The footage of the Twin Towers in which Boeings “sliced through” the buildings comes to mind:-))

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