Quote Originally Posted by severncity View Post
Reich means “realm” and a German-dominated EU is inevitable after the U.K. leaves. I don’t for one minute think that there will be a Nazi regime in Berlin. However I do think that the anti-democratic tendencies within the EU power structures will be hijacked by Germany. One only has to look at how the national budgets in Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Italy have had to be rubber stamped by both the EC and the Frankfurt-based ECB to see that Germany exerts a powerful control over its “realm”.

All that Germany will need in order to de facto control the EU is a compliant France run by, say, an ex-Goldman Sachs banker. Hey Presto the Fourth Reich.

And anyway I was applying the term “black and white” thinking to past or current events. I’m not sure that it is really applicable to divining the future given the nature of this particular universe.
Let's just say your version of events does not include many, if any, "grey areas" (granted, you're far from alone in being like that - there are plenty on both sides who feel the same way), so I'd say you're seeing things in the same black and white terms you accused Cyril of displaying.

Also, no matter the context in which it's used, I think plenty of Germans would, rightly, be upset to see the term "fourth Reich" applied to them currently - the connotations are obvious even if you say that was not your intention.