Politics German Politics & News

[muck]

Breaking with a decades-old tradition of highly dogmatic pacifism, the Protestant Church of Germany (EKD) has passed a "peace resolution" that, despite its name, embraces Germany's rearmament. Although the paper reiterates and emphasises the EKD's commitment to peace, it makes a number of statements that would have been utterly unthinkable just mere years ago. (Source)

After decades of fierce opposition to all things military, the EKD now says that "We must invest in defence, as it protects the people, their basic rights and public order". After more than 60 years of fighting against compulsory military service, the EKD now advocates for a civic service, of which military service should be an option. Most surprisingly, it has even dropped its fundamental opposition to nuclear weapons, stating that whilst "nuclear weapons must be eschewed on ethical grounds due their devastating potential", the reality is that "the possession of nuclear weapons is necessary because unilateral disarmament would pose a serious threat to the nations owning them".

You might be wondering why I ascribe any importance to this paper, as only 15% of the nominal Protestants in Germany attend mass regularly.

However, the significance of this pivot cannot even be overestimated. The EKD is one of the two pillars of German post-war pacifism, and arguably the stronger one. With its Prussian roots and (erstwhile) social conservatism, its moral authority shielded German pacifists from the suspicion of being Moscow's fifth column, making pacifism a mainstream idea. EKD is the pacifism of the Social Democratic Party and the Greens. This is the same EKD that, just 15 years ago, wanted to invite the Taleban to a prayer for peace (I kid you not).

In my estimation, this paper does show that "Zeitenwende" isn't merely a word. Germany moves much too slowly; but it does move.

 

[muck]

German municipal leaders have penned a flaming letter to the federal government outlining the excesses of the welfare state impressed on them by the previous administrations*. Their spokesperson, the chief officer of the East German county of Greiz, detailed how two thirds of his €143 mio. budget are spent on social welfare; only €2.4 mio. remain for subsidising local businesses, cultural events or public sports.

Apart from raising constitutional grievances, the authors argue their financial situation threatens democracy, as the public is increasingly getting the impression that the system serves the few rather than the many. They give examples of gross wasteful spending mandated by law.

In one instance, Greiz county was required to hire a case officer and social workers for a single delinquent minor, at an expense to the tax payer of €270,000 per year. In another case, subsidies granted to an impoverished person needing 24-hour specialised care amounted to €252,000 per year. A child with disabilities required a specialised attendance for their commute to school, at a cost of €60,000 per year.

With their costs having ballooned by 48% over the past five years, the authors say they face financial ruin sooner rather than later. They argue that they either need more federal grants, or the laws must be changed. (Source) What they mean but don't say: This is one of the reasons why AfD is on track to winning a relative majority in virtually every East German state.

*) If anyone's wondering what that means:

Germany's states and communal governments are semi-autonomous and have sole jurisdiction where defined by the constitution. The federal government can, however, force them to take over some federal duties if it either reimburses them for the associated costs or compensates them by expanding their jurisdiction elsewhere (to create additional sources of revenue).

Angela Merkel and Olaf Scholz chose the latter, gave the states and communes worthless new rights and dumped a whole lot of social welfare duties on them. This "worked" for a time, until the refugee crisis hit this country, greatly straining the fiscus (though admittedly, East Germany's finances suffer far more from their ageing population than the influx of refugees).

 

[muck]

Germany's largest pollster has put the 28-points-"peace plan" touted by the Trump administration to the public to see how they'd respond. Result: 66% condemn the plan, 26% support it, 8% said they did not know. 68% in West Germany and a narrower-lead 54% in East Germany voiced opposition. There's one notable exception: AfD. 54% of the party's voters think that Ukraine should submit to Russia, only 37% called the plan unacceptable. In contrast, even 86% of the voters of the dogmatically pacifist The Left rejected the proposal as unacceptable. (Source)

They actually present themselves as a party of peace now.

In other news, Dresden has started the trial against a leftist terrorist organisation usually dubbed "hammer gang" in German media. The charges include attempted murder and aggravated battery. The group hunted members of right-wing organisations and those they believed to be right-wingers, attacking people from Leipzig all the way to Hungary's capital Budapest. Several victims were seriously hurt, in one instance a victim received no fewer than 15 blows to his head with a fireman's hammer. (Source) The first day of the trial saw protests staged by both left- and right-leaning activists, the former applauding the defendants when they were led into the court hourse.

 

[muck]

Sometimes, reason does prevail …

The Merz administration has appointed Ahmad Mansour, a vocal critic of Islam and mass immigration, as Germany's first anti-Islamism czar. Mansour is an Israel-born Arab psychologist and author. He used to be an Islamist himself and parted with the ideology later in life. He has studied Islamic extremism and run a counselling centre for young Muslims ever since. Due to frequent death threats from many countries, Mansour depends on police protection. Not unlike other critics of Islam, he's also been a target of attacks from the left. (Source)

By the way: One of the first things the Scholz administration did after taking office in 2021 was to abolish the advisory board on Islamism, branding it an obstacle to integration because prominent Muslim groups like Turkey-sponsored DITIB had accused it of nursing Islamophobia. They only relented after October 7, when the ugly reality in some Muslim ghettos revealed how full of S**t they had been.

 

[Musashi]

He used to be an Islamist himself

As Putain once said, "there's no such a thing as a former KGB officer" when an American politician referred to him with this name.

Taqiyya - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[muck]

As Putain once said, "there's no such a thing as a former KGB officer" when an American politician referred to him with this name.

Taqiyya - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

No. Mansour is a good guy. His actions speak for themselves.

 

[muck]

Former BND director Hanning has been charged with organising a previous attempt to kidnap the Block children in Denmark. Likewise charged with conspiracy and attempted kidnapping was his business associate Thomas Mehles, previously deputy director of the Hamburg State Police bureau of investigation (LKA). Their security consulting company 360° is alleged to have hired six active police officers from the LKA to kidnap the Block children on their daily commute to school in November 2022. Danish police thwarted the plot and arrested the officers. They placed the father and children under police protection and gave them radio panic buttons, which would pinpoint their location via GPS and also make audio recordings. The Israeli team realised this only half an hour into the second kidnapping attempt, after which time enough incriminating evidence against them had already been retrieved. (Source)

What the actual hell is going on …
And how on earth did this coterie think they'd get away with crap like this?

In exchange for immunity, the Israelis sought by German prosecutors have turned themselves in. They claim that Christina Block, the mother, and former BND director Hanning ordered the kidnapping and paid €220,000 in cash. It's now emerged that the entire team used their real identities and credit cards during the operation, firmly believing the kidnapping was officially sanctioned by the German government. (Source)

Looks like even Mossad has some morons within their ranks … Why on earth would you just believe a story like that?

 

[Picanha]

German municipal leaders have penned a flaming letter to the federal government outlining the excesses of the welfare state impressed on them by the previous administrations*. Their spokesperson, the chief officer of the East German county of Greiz, detailed how two thirds of his €143 mio. budget are spent on social welfare; only €2.4 mio. remain for subsidising local businesses, cultural events or public sports.

Apart from raising constitutional grievances, the authors argue their financial situation threatens democracy, as the public is increasingly getting the impression that the system serves the few rather than the many. They give examples of gross wasteful spending mandated by law.

In one instance, Greiz county was required to hire a case officer and social workers for a single delinquent minor, at an expense to the tax payer of €270,000 per year. In another case, subsidies granted to an impoverished person needing 24-hour specialised care amounted to €252,000 per year. A child with disabilities required a specialised attendance for their commute to school, at a cost of €60,000 per year.

With their costs having ballooned by 48% over the past five years, the authors say they face financial ruin sooner rather than later. They argue that they either need more federal grants, or the laws must be changed. (Source) What they mean but don't say: This is one of the reasons why AfD is on track to winning a relative majority in virtually every East German state.

*) If anyone's wondering what that means:

Germany's states and communal governments are semi-autonomous and have sole jurisdiction where defined by the constitution. The federal government can, however, force them to take over some federal duties if it either reimburses them for the associated costs or compensates them by expanding their jurisdiction elsewhere (to create additional sources of revenue).

Angela Merkel and Olaf Scholz chose the latter, gave the states and communes worthless new rights and dumped a whole lot of social welfare duties on them. This "worked" for a time, until the refugee crisis hit this country, greatly straining the fiscus (though admittedly, East Germany's finances suffer far more from their ageing population than the influx of refugees).

Its totally out of control fiscal scrutiny must be applied and bills checked. Also often laws are stupid and not changed and force certain spendings needlessly.

But as in many places no ones responsible so everyones just dilly dallying.

My wifes collegue has a disabled kid. His disability is so profound that he will never learn anything. Yet the local authorities insist that he must attend school producing enormous costs without any return.

Not for him nor the society.

Another point which is the now hopefully adressed is increased pressure on welfare recipients to take up jobs and reforms of welfare laws allowing for more sanctions towards recipents.

Sleeping all day while others work their asses off erodes social cohesion.

The welfare is for those who need it not for lazy snow flakes.

 

[PegAsus]

In exchange for immunity, the Israelis sought by German prosecutors have turned themselves in. They claim that Christina Block, the mother, and former BND director Hanning ordered the kidnapping and paid €220,000 in cash. It's now emerged that the entire team used their real identities and credit cards during the operation, firmly believing the kidnapping was officially sanctioned by the German government. (Source)

Looks like even Mossad has some morons within their ranks … Why on earth would you just believe a story like that?

Maybe they wanted to believe? Because they considered this action to be justified?

 

[muck]

The Five Sages [they're actually called that], the advisory board of the German government on economy, has issued a stark warning about Germany's economy being headed towards a death spiral. (Source) They demand that drastic changes be made to the German welfare state and pension system, and warn of an imminent constriction of public finances. The statement included the following observations:

• Based on current predictions, the entire federal budget for the 2029 fiscal year will be spent on welfare, defence and debt servicing, leaving nothing for other branches of government like education and research.
• The German pension's system is rapidly becoming untenable, even though old age pensioners in Germany receive some of the lowest pensions in the developed world relative to their previous salaries, with only Americans and the Japanese getting smaller pensions. Demographic change being far from the only issue in this regard, the Sages recommend that groups hitherto exempt from mandatory pension insurance payments (public servants, politicians, the self-employed) should have to contribute, too.
• The welfare state discourages low-income workers from working. A full-time minimum wage job in Germany nets only €328 more than unemployment benefits.
• The welfare state is not just overly generous, it is also extremely ineffective. Previous attempts to make the system more just by tailoring benefits to certain needs have created an incalculable and confusing system of more than 3,000 individual benefits, many of which so obscure they're unknown even to many employment office staff.
• The employment office is a dark sea of bureaucracy and inefficiency. Only 24,000 of its 101,000 employees actually work as placement officers.
• Immigration is a huge burden on the German welfare state.

 

[Mike1976]

The Five Sages [they're actually called that], the advisory board of the German government on economy, has issued a stark warning about Germany's economy being headed towards a death spiral. (Source) They demand that drastic changes be made to the German welfare state and pension system, and warn of an imminent constriction of public finances. The statement included the following observations:

• Based on current predictions, the entire federal budget for the 2029 fiscal year will be spent on welfare, defence and debt servicing, leaving nothing for other branches of government like education and research.
• The German pension's system is rapidly becoming untenable, even though old age pensioners in Germany receive some of the lowest pensions in the developed world relative to their previous salaries, with only Americans and the Japanese getting smaller pensions. Demographic change being far from the only issue in this regard, the Sages recommend that groups hitherto exempt from mandatory pension insurance payments (public servants, politicians, the self-employed) should have to contribute, too.
• The welfare state discourages low-income workers from working. A full-time minimum wage job in Germany nets only €328 more than unemployment benefits.
• The welfare state is not just overly generous, it is also extremely ineffective. Previous attempts to make the system more just by tailoring benefits to certain needs have created an incalculable and confusing system of more than 3,000 individual benefits, many of which so obscure they're unknown even to many employment office staff.
• The employment office is a dark sea of bureaucracy and inefficiency. Only 24,000 of its 101,000 employees actually work as placement officers.
• Immigration is a huge burden on the German welfare state.

Meh don't worry, you'll schaff it! Just import a couple hundred thousand more dentists, doctors and engineers.

 

[muck]

The Interior Ministers' Conference, a committee coordinating the internal security policies of the German federal and state governments, has proposed establishing "crisis resilience" as a regular school subject in Germany. The curriculum would include abilities like fighting fires, giving first aid or ensuring one's sustenance in the event of a breakdown of society. (Source)

 

[muck]

On Wednesday, Thuringian AfD chairman Bjoern Hoecke delivered a scathing speech against compulsory military service in his state's parliament. After claiming that drag queens, mass migration and the economic situation had turned Germany into a country not worth fighting for, Hoecke embarked on a bizarre minutes-long rant, describing in excruciating details how he imagined his sons being sent to fight in Ukraine, only to be wounded, captured and being slowly tortured to death, castration and amputations included.

Hoecke falsely claimed that the federal government's new conscription bill forces all men to serve in the military¹, and that conscripts could be sent abroad against their will². He also used his appearance to praise Russian President Vladimir Putin as a great statesman, particularly commending Putin's alleged great knowledge of history, which Hoecke said Chancellor Friedrich Merz was lacking. The bizarre speech provoked angry and incredulous reactions from the other parties. (Source)

¹ Actually, the law only compels men to undergo medical examination; only if recruitment quotas cannot be met on a voluntary basis, a number of random men would be drafted. Moreover, Germany's constitution guarantees conscientious objection.​

² In reality, conscripts are legally forbidden from serving abroad (unless they voluntarily ask for an exemption). The rules are so strict that the pre-moratorium Navy never deployed conscripts on ships, as they would risk leaving German territorial waters for training.​

Hoecke … what a treasonous whore.

It's ironic he failed to notice that, after years of denying Russian war crimes, he accidentally acknowledged them with this strange speech. I mean, who'd be those ominous captors and torturers of German soldiers hypothetically sent to fight for Ukraine?

By the way, this is a perfect example of what I've been preaching about AfD for a long time now:

Instead of trying to win a sustainable majority in all of Germany, they prioritise their most radical elements as a surefire way of keeping their few East German seats. You see, the German electorate is overwhelmingly in favour of ending the moratorium on the draft, and every AfD convention except the very last had always ended with their delegate's vote to reintroduce mandatory military service.

But then Hoecke and his fellow East German Neo-Nazis, who'd just won the Thuringian State elections, began spreading the claim that Merz would go to war with Russia if elected, and the party promptly took its own pro-conscription resolution behind the woodshed.

These people don't actually want to rule this country. They'd be forced to compromise, and risk losing their guaranteed seats in the process.

 

[Hiryu2.0]

What’s Die Linke’s Foreign Policy, Jan van Aken? - Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung

The party’s co-chair on internationalism, Ukraine, and Palestine

www.rosalux.de

 

[muck]

WW2 bomb going off in Hanau, Germany

EOD specialists had wrongly identified the bomb as an incendiary weapon and placed a small charge to conduct a controlled explosion; in actuality, they'd dug up a 500 lbs high-explosive bomb, the detonation of which rendered 28 homes uninhabitable.

 

[Redav]

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[Picanha]

Russian sabotage efforts show links also into Germany

Sabotage-Anschläge bei DHL - Spuren der Ermittler führen auch nach Deutschland

Ermittler in Polen und Litauen haben offenbar ein aus Russland gesteuertes Netzwerk identifiziert, das hinter mehreren Brandanschlägen in Europa stecken soll. Nach Informationen von WDR, NDR und SZ gab es auch in Deutschland eine Durchsuchung.

www.tagesschau.de

Then the suspicious amount of terror attacks just before the new elections.

Anschläge in Deutschland: Auffällige russische Suchanfragen

Vor Europa- und Bundestagswahl gab es mehrere tödliche Anschläge in Deutschland. Auffällige russische Suchanfragen im Netz werfen nun Fragen auf.

www.zdfheute.de

The Russian tactic is clear destabilize and then talk about "paranoia" and " conspiracy theories" so annoying.

The whole refugee crisis and far right rise is a work of the FSB.

Anti EU rethoric - dividing peoples - using the weaknesses of democracies and enlightened societies while you control everything from your medieval fiefdom and give a S**t about what you pray.

Today this tomorrow that the end goal is the destruction of democracy and freedom.

Just look at what comes out the Kremlin on regards to Merz.

They're stooping so low that for sure they plan all they get accused off. Open their mouth and a gaslighting lie to confuse the victim comes out.

Thats all you need to know about them.

 

[Picanha]

One of the arrested in the DHL parcel bombings case is also suspected of havng unearthed hidden drone oarts in Lithuania and brought them to Germany for further use or possible attacks.

The FSB likes to recruit Ukrainians as single use only agents to - you guess it - deflect and deny.

Russischer Geheimdienst soll Drohnenteile nach Deutschland gebracht haben

Im Auftrag des russischen Militärgeheimdienstes GRU sollen 2024 Drohnenteile und mehrere SIM-Karten über Litauen und Polen nach Düsseldorf gebracht worden sein. Das berichtet die polnische Zeitung Wyborcza mit Bezug auf Sicherheitskreise.

www.tagesschau.de

 

[Picanha]

AfD fraction did not bring their proposal through in Saxony-Anhalts parliament to cancel the public broadcast fees and contracts.

Landtag Sachsen-Anhalt: AfD scheitert mit Abstimmung zum öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunk | MDR.DE

Im Landtag von Sachsen-Anhalt ist die AfD mit einer Abstimmung zum öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunk gescheitert. Es ging darum, den Rundfunkstaatsvertrag zu kündigen.

www.mdr.de

While there is merited criticism regarding the public broadcasting (mainly costs and waste) the AfDs vision is surely not what they claim it will be.

Like all autocrat lovers free media sucks they talk bad about you.

And thats not possible better have totally aligned uncritical media parroting der Führers thoughts daily.

Coincidentally thats what they accuse the MSM of.

But its always the same their scheme is very simple.

 

[muck]

Registered cases of illegal migration to Germany

2025: 62.526
2024: 83.572
2023: 127.549

(Source)

50% down since 2023. Not enough, but it's a start.