In the latest victory against right-wing extremism, police officers pull a 16 year-old girl out of chemistry class and advise her to stop posting Smurf-themed AfD-friendly content to TikTok I wrote in February about the plans of Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) to combat “right-wing extremism,” by re-purposing the regulatory state to restrict the speech, travel and economic activity of people with inconvenient opinions. She wants to use state resources to intimidate “those who mock the state,” and she
Germany
Why Olaf Scholz is not a "peace Chancellor," why Ukraine still stands a good chance of getting their cruise missiles, and why the entire debate surrounding Taurus is such a riddle The Taurus leak continues to dominate German headlines. It is an incredible embarrassment for the Luftwaffe, and for the Scholz government it is yet another in a long line of unwelcome crises. Some have ventured to characterise Olaf Scholz as the “peace Chancellor,” opposed to war-hawks like Emmanuel Macron, who
The German energy transition threatens to be an unaffordable, unrealisable disaster, according to the government's own independent auditors The German Bundesrechnungshof, or the Federal Audit Office, is an independent government body charged by statue with overseeing the economic management of the Federal Republic. Last week, they published a devastating “Report … on the implementation of the energy transition” in Germany. Every one of its fifty-eight pages represents a brutal
The WHO Pandemic Agreement may be worrying, but it is also really stupid The WHO Pandemic Agreement has worried many, and justifiably so. Covid has taught us all to be wary of people who talk about pandemics, of people who plan for pandemics and above all of people peddling various snake oils and schemes to mitigate pandemics. The prospect of an international treaty
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz calls for nationwide protests to defend democracy against the consequences of his own policies During the pandemic, our leaders claimed to act on behalf of the health concerns of the oldest and the sickest, effectively reducing all of Germany to a farcical authoritarian care home for the immuno-compromised. While the worst abuses of that era have passed, the lunacy and hysteria have persisted, assuming
The German farmers are greatly angry and there are a lot of them: An early report from the gathering great farmers' rally in Berlin We are now a week into the great German farmers’ protest, and the main event is set for tomorrow in Berlin. 10,000 demonstrators are expected; the rally will begin at 11:30am. Speakers will include Johann Rukwied, President of the German Farmers’ Association, and also Finance Minister Christian Lindner.
The Great German Farmer Protests Have Begun First came the farmers’ protests in the Netherlands, then the Freedom Convoy in Canada. Now the farm protests have reached Germany. The background is simple: On 15 November 2023, the Federal Constitutional Court declared the budgetary manipulations of the Scholz government unconstitutional, in one stroke depriving our rulers of 60
How the climatoids spent the summer lecturing us on the permanent drought that climate change has brought to Central Europe, and how they have earned nothing but rain for their hubris June headlines: "Germany is facing permanent drought." August headlines after a rainy summer: "Rain is no help against drought." December headlines after still more rain: "There is no more drought." In the past year, Germans have had to read a great deal about how carbon dioxide-induced drought is on the
After a 17-hour meeting to address the escalating migrant crisis, German federal and state politicians produce a 5000-word resolution that promises nothing and offers no meaningful solutions at all On Monday, negotiators from the German federal and state governments met to hammer out a solution to the migration crisis. The states themselves have been overwhelmed by the flood of refugees, whose numbers exceed all available infrastructure and financial resources. The federal government – the worst we have had since 1949
Crazy Munich doctor earns nationwide press coverage with call for Germans to resume indoor masking because "we have a lot of infections right now," even though we don't Clemens Wendtner is an oncologist and head physician at the Munich Schwabing Clinic. Despite his total lack of epidemiological qualifications, he rose to prominence in the pandemic because he ended up treating some of the very first officially recognized Covid infections in Germany. In those early days, he was fond
In act of divine retribution, equestrian statue of Angela Merkel collapses spontaneously under its own weight Certain natural events – however seemingly insignificant – achieve so perfectly a higher symbolic meaning, that it is hard not to see in them a divine message. Such is the case with the only equestrian statue erected to honour former German chancellor Angela Merkel, which yesterday collapsed spontaneously under its own weight.