Saturday, February 11, 2023

German middle finger, too

 Hans Modrow, the last Communist prime minister of East Germany, died at age 95. Many of today's news reports mention that he oversaw democratic reforms that opened the way to German reunification in 1989. However, they don't mention that in 1993 he was convicted of vote rigging in the municipal elections held in Dresden in May,1989. Or that he gave orders to destroy incriminating Stasi files.

It's quite interesting to consider Modrow's career path. He was a Nazi soldier in WW2 who the Soviets captured and sent to an anti-Fascist indoctrination camp. 

April 11. 2023

 Austria plans to extend checks at its borders with Slovenia and Hungary by another six months from May 11, when the current six-month suspension of free travel over those boundaries expires, and I bet Germany doesn't complain. Illegal immigration is a major world-wide issue regardless of the feelgood rhetoric.

April 20, 2023

"Flashes of Memory: Photography During the Holocaust" is an interesting exhibition that moved from Israel for the first time and is currently presented at Berlin's Museum of Photography. It's a reminder that photography during the Nazi era was used as a tool to manipulate the public opinion but also served to document atrocities for later war crimes trials. So kids, you gotta take the good with the bad. Learn from history, don't deny or erase it.

May 24, 2023

The Fehmarn Belt Tunnel, the world’s longest immersed tunnel, will link Denmark and Germany, and create a land route between Sweden and Central Europe that will be 160 kilometers shorter than it is today.

June 14, 2023

Germany boosts coal imports from Colombia while seeking to phase out fossil fuels at home.

July 12, 2023

 AfD, which is labeled the far right, has nationwide support in Germany of 20%., mostly due to the out of control migration problem. No one wants to work with them, nor address the migration problem. Demonization of AfD is not working.

July 24, 2023

Friederich Merz, the leader of center-right CDU in Germany, now claims he'll work with the AfD on the local level. His tune will change more.

Aug 7, 2023

AFD's polling numbers are on the rise in Germany while it calls the EU a failed project. Will CDU have to work with AFD?

Sept 22, 2023

Is Bavaria with its own border police, the "Texas" of Germany?

Oct 9, 2023

Free Voters and the AfD look set to claim around 30% of Bavaria's vote. Soder(CSU) needs an attitude adjustment. 1, 3, and 4 are center right to right. 




nov 18, 2023:

On November 12, the old 485s trains(Coke cans) took their last runs on Berlin streets. 


Jan 14, 2024
The Dortmund District Court in Germany is pressing forward with deportation proceedings for a Tajik national accused of planning the New Year's Eve terror attack on Cologne Cathedral.
I'm stunned.
Feb 21, 2024
Hamburg is testing debit card for asylum-seekers to prevent state benefits from being sent outside the country. And one recipient is mad because she can't send money back home to pay her debts.
Feb 23, 2024
Former Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, who is charged with making false statements to a parliamentary inquiry into alleged corruption, will receive the court verdict soon. He could get three years in jail.
April 9, 2024
Germany sends its first soldiers for a permanent Lithuania force to be named Panzerbrigade 45.
Lithuania has a border with the Russian Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad and Belarus.
Suwalki Gap is around the border between Lithuania and Poland, and centers on the shortest path between Belarus and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad Oblast on the Polish side of the border. 
April 18, 2024
Bavaria asks: Get drunk, not high at Oktoberfest. In my party days, I'd say why not both.
June 5, 2024
Germany will likely deport Afghan migrants who pose a security threat back to Afghanistan, which runs counter to its usual stance of not repatriating people to countries where they are threatened with death. It's election time!
Interior minister Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said it must be done quickly.
June 24, 2024
   Djir-Sarai , one of Scholz' coalition partners, calls for a slash to benefits for Ukrainian refugees in Germany, while Scholz suggests Milei work on more socially acceptable policies in Argentina.
Sarai serves on the Committee on Foreign Affairs.

August 17, 2024

Nancy Faeser, the IM of Germany, gave a chilling response, to a German court provisionally lifting the ban on Compact, a right-leaning magazine. Basic Law "expressly provides an instrument to ban organizations in order to protect democracy from enemies of the constitution."

Aug 28, 2024

Germany’s AfD party is using opposition to renewable energy projects in rural areas to clinch its first wins in two east German state elections on 9/1/24.

It proposes tougher new planning rules for constructing turbines

Sept 5, 2024

AfD's record result in the eastern German state of Thuringia confuses so many folks. The center and mild right  refusal to deal with migration issues is the major reason for the AFD's success. 

Sept 16, 2024

Austria's Chancellor Karl Nehammer 's response to Germany tightening its border controls will be to send more people eastward towards the Balkans. No one is listening to the EU bosses.


Sept 25, 2024

 Nouripour and co-leader, Ricarda Lang, who took the helm of the German Green party in early 2022, are stepping down after disappointing  election results in eastern Germany. 

Sept 29, 2024

Germany has stopped approving war weapons exports to Israel, but continues to insist that there is no ban in place.

It appears many weapons' approvals were granted late in 2023 but  the spigot has been nearly shut in 2024.

Nov 8, 2024

AFD is pushing for Chancellor Scholz, whose coalition has disintegrated, to face a vote of confidence next week. I bet he won't.




Earlier blog on Germany:  


German middle finger

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