Germany megathread

[Middle-aged Europe]

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/30/europe/german-special-forces-dissolved-right-wing-intl/index.html

An elite German military unit which reportedly had a number of extreme right-wing members will be disbanded, a source told CNN on Tuesday.


"The Second Commando Company of the KSK will be dissolved," the source said, asking not to be named ahead of an announcement Wednesday.

The KSK is the unified command for German Army special forces -- designed in the 1990s to be the equivalent of US Special Operations Command, according Janes, a defense analysis firm.

The unit has around 1,400 soldiers who embark on operations such anti-terror campaigns and hostage situations, according to the AFP news agency.

Yeah, the recurring "Nazi scandals" have plagued the German Armed Forces for decades now.

In contrast to the militaries of countries with a much a much longer democratic history (US, UK, France...) the German military never fully manged to disconnect itself from the traditions of the Wehrmacht and the culture it entails. That doesn't mean that most German soldiers are neo-Nazis, but there's significant minority that just doesn't want to go away no matter how many reforms the top brass have implemented.

In the case at hand here, a specific problem with the KSK apparently was that as a special forces unit they have existed in a pretty isolated state from the regular military therefore facilitating a self-contained environment in which Nazis were essentially enabled of taking over most of the KSK.

(In more recent times, the Nazi scandals were occassionally supplement by the Islamist scandals... apparently the concept of armed conflict and maybe a strict hierarchy attracts both extreme right-wingers and fundamentalist Muslims.)

[Middle-aged Europe]

The numbers are a bit of a foregone conclusion, but on the left you see "who would you vote for?" and on the right "who will win?" for Germany.

[Middle-aged Europe]

So I just went to observe to big, fat anti-COVID restrictions protest in Berlin. My primary take-aways from there:

- There was a lot of flag-waving going around. The most commonly seen flag seemed in fact to be the Black-White-Red flag of the German empire (1871-1918), also a widely used symbol of full-on neo-Nazis because the Swastika flag itself is outlawed around here, while the Black-White-Red had also been been used as Germany's official flag in concurrence with the Swastika for a transitional period between 1933 and 1935. The apparent ubiquity of that flag today surprised even me a bit. Didn't actually expect everything to be that right-wing.

- The second most commonly seen flag at the protests seemed to be the state flag of the Russian Federation. Go figure. This also included a guy with a Vladimir Putin t-shirt I had seen walking around.

- The third most common symbol was the "Q". Some people who had arrived to the protests in their car had the habit of donning a big, white "Q" symbol on their vehicles. There were even some comibinations with aforementioned symbols, for instance I also saw a woman protestor wearing a t-shirt with a big "Q" in the Black-White-Red colours of the empire.

- A few Trump fans were also waving an American flag, often in conurrence with the Russian flag or even the Black-White-Red one. In Germany, the Stars and Stripes seem to be increasingly becoming a symbol carried by Nazis as a result of the presidency of Donald Trump. But maybe this would change again with a Biden win in November.

- Another notable aspect was that there seemed to be significant age gap between protestors and counter-protestors. While anti-Corona restrictions protestors had an average age of about 50, pro-restrictions counter-protestors were more about 30. This seems to be line with the fact that Pegida and AfD in Germany as well as Trumpism in America is in large parts a rebellion of middle-aged white people against the system. Another feature distinguishing protestors and counter-protestors was that the former group was often mask-less, while the latter group usually wore a mask.

- I happened to come by at a corner were anti-Corona restrictions protestors and the Antifa was almost directly faced against each other. The mood was pretty aggressive there and I sometimes expected a brawl to start any second. But in the end, it limited itself to mutual shouting, insulting, and name-calling.


UPDATE: And I just read in the news that the police has officially dispersed the protests due to non-compliance with phyiscal distancing rules.

Demonstrations in Berlin continue to a degree, but I'm glad the police has stepped in. The court should never have ruled to allow the demonstration in the first place given in what kind of situation we find ourselves in. Many of the protesters are AfD-hacks and other deluded folks anyway. The most hilarious thing is these people complaining about "dictatorship" now. They have no clue what a dictatorship is actually like.

Well, I certainly get the point that banning such protests would only help to embolden them and radicalize them further. And of course, at this point this could very well be the strategy of right-wing extremists: Deliberately not wearing any masks and not keeping distance to fellow protestors so that such protests get banned and so that they can point out how awfully authoritarian everything has become.

However, I do agree that seeing a large-scale (40,000 people?) protest march against a alleged "Corona dictatorship" which primarily dons the flag of the old German empire and of Russia definitely exhibits a certain amount of cognitive dissonance and/or hypocrisy.

^^

Since this ongoing story from the international COVID thread is increasingly about right-wing extremism in Germany rather than the coronavirus pandemic itself, I decided to outsource it and continue with it in this thread here. Probably makes more sense.

Anway, later this evening at least a couple of dozen COVID restriction protestors, waving Black-White-Red flags from the Imperial era, broke through barricades in front the Reichstag and atttempted to storm the entrance of the German parliament, throwing rocks and bottles at nearby police officers. The protestors were eventually repelled by the police, using pepper spray.

Somewhat unsurprisingly, this is now the top story in Germany and possibly also the moment where the protests are ultimately backfiring on the protestors, since they went a bit too far for their own good.

As I indicated in the beginning, the narrative is now not about COVID restrictions any longer, but about violent neo-Nazis and how neo-Nazis have effectively taken over and assimilated the anti-restrictions movement.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Eventually, either Merkel or one of her successors are going to have to make the decision to ban AfD.

They literally are Germany's new Nazi Party.

According to the constitution, political parties can only be banned by Germany's supreme court, which was specifically set up as a safeguard since it was the Nazis who simply could ban any party they wanted to back in 1933 under the laws of that time. The government could theoretically file a motion to such an effect. In the past, the supreme court had repeatedly refused to ban the neo-Nazi NPD though.


Anway, here are some pics of the events in front the Reichstag:

[Middle-aged Europe]

So what’s going on with the Left party? Heard their leadership is about to change.

Yeah, Kipping and Riexinger won't run again after eight years as co-chairs. Unclear who's gonna be their successors. Wagenknecht has been gone for a while now too, so the party lacks a prominent figurehead who has the pull to bring voters to the polls. Speaking of which, polling numbers numbers having been that great either lately (7-8%), having lost a big chunk of the mere protest vote to the AfD. Lately, some prominent Left representatives - including the outgoing party chairs - have said some positive things about a possible coalition with Greens and SPD next year.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Yeah, Gerhard Schröder was a total comeback kid. In 2002 everybody thought he would lose (and for a while polling numbers certainly pointed that way) and then he managed to win a slim majority again in the end. 2005 was pretty similar, albeit to a somewhat lesser extent... coming back from the dead to block a seemingly certain CDU-FDP majority and secure his party a continued presence in the government.

Not so great Chancellor, but a great campaigner and a great fighter. Come to think of it, he had almost a proto-Trumpian quality to him. Schröder didn't care about protocol or the decorum if he thought something was very popular with his electorate, especially when had his back against a wall. He also had a total macho approach to politics and campaigning: Always insist that you're right, that you're totally a successful Chancellor, and that you're gonna win again, no matter what. Never apologize, never back down.

The downside was that Schröder quickly ran into problems when he had nobody to fight against, when he had to build and create something in a constructive manner.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Up until 2012 or so, the PDS and then Left Party had been under surveillance by the Verfassungschutz. Since then this has been downgraded (but not entirely discontinued), with the Verfassungsschutz now surveilling only specific radical sub-organizations and wings of the Left Party.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Terrible incident, I hope everyone gets well soon and the maniac brought to justice.

As he has been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic that latter part is unlikely to happen though. At present he's confined to a psychiatric institution.

https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/video/ice-angriff-bayern-polizei-100.html

[Middle-aged Europe]

An Anti-vaxxer plot to kill the Governor of Saxony has been foiled.

German police confiscated weapons during raids in the eastern cities of Dresden and Heidenau on Wednesday in connection with an alleged plot by radical anti-vaccination activists to kill Saxony's governor.

Members of a group calling itself "Dresden Offlinevernetzung," or Dresden offline network, had discussed killing state premier Michael Kretschmer on the online platform Telegram, according to police.

Both Dresden and the nearby small town of Heidenau are located in the country's state of Saxony, which was once part of communist East Germany. The region has among the lowest vaccine rates and highest number of COVID-19 infections in the country.

Police said they targeted five members of the Telegram group and that after searches of the sites "the initial suspicion was confirmed."

A spokesman for the State Criminal Police Office (LKA) Saxony said five residences and one workplace were searched and that police confiscated weapons, parts of weapons and crossbows, according to Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Thanks for adding this.

I just hope they get a very strong punishment and the federal government takes on Telegram messanger much more agressively.

Hope Kretschmer will be alright. I actually like him, despite being a CDU member.

Berlin's governing mayor Michael Müller and a couple of other politicians have also recently received death threats from the anti-vaxxer scene, consisting of pieces of raw meat and the warning that a general vaccination mandate will result in "bloody resistance". Authorities are investigating.

Who would have guessed that the fight against Corona would degenerate into sort of a War on Terror?

[Middle-aged Europe]

An off-duty police officer who attended an anti-lockdown/anti-vaxxer rally in Saxony has physically assaulted other police officers who were on duty there. He has been suspended and placed under arrest.

https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/justiz/corona-demo-in-pirna-lka-beamter-soll-polizisten-attackiert-haben-a-169e574a-33be-415e-b92b-ed5fdbdf47df

Everything's just crazy.

[Middle-aged Europe]

An off-duty police officer who attended an anti-lockdown/anti-vaxxer rally in Saxony has physically assaulted other police officers who were on duty there. He has been suspended and placed under arrest.

https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/justiz/corona-demo-in-pirna-lka-beamter-soll-polizisten-attackiert-haben-a-169e574a-33be-415e-b92b-ed5fdbdf47df

Everything's just crazy.

To follow up on that a bit, a staff sergeant in the German Army has been arrested after posting a video online in which he had set the German government an ultimatum until which COVID restrictions and the vaccination mandate for military members had to be discontinued.

https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/verteidigungsministerium-soldat-video-impfpflicht-103.html

[Middle-aged Europe]

On a somewhat lighter note, Merkel's former economics minister Peter Altmaier (CDU) probably has the best drunken New Year's Eve tweets. The incorrectly spelled Böllerverkaufsvefbot Böllerverkaufsverbot refers to a COVID-related ban on the selling of fireworks around here. This is the spirit of covfefe:


https://twitter.com/peteraltmaier/status/1477052168553340930


https://twitter.com/peteraltmaier/status/1477059173368188936

[Middle-aged Europe]

Brace yourselves, memes incoming...

[Middle-aged Europe]

Angela Merkel has rejected a job offer at the UN:

https://twitter.com/dwnews/status/1483863325234634752?cxt=HHwWgIC5vaP13pcpAAAA

Merkel also refuses to become honorary chairwoman of CDU: https://m.tagesspiegel.de/politik/eine-tradition-von-frueher-angela-merkel-verzichtet-auf-cdu-ehrenvorsitz/27996522.html

Before her, all former CDU chancellors had become honorary chairmen, and the CSU currently has three of them (former proper party chairs Stoiber, Waigel, and Seehofer).

I wonder when Merkel will leave the CDU altogether.

[Middle-aged Europe]

A brutal cop murder in Rhineland-Palatinate has shocked the nation today. Two officers, a 29-year old man and his 24-year female colleague, were shot during a routine inspection early in the morning. Two suspects were just arrested. I hope these sick and deranged individuals get the toughest punishment possible.

https://twitter.com/TheLocalGermany/status/1488219920215117826

The perp, a 38-year old man named Andreas S., has been described as a "businessman" who had went bankrupt a couple of months ago and who was in possession of a hunting license, hence the guns.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Germany banned the German-language version of Russia Today.

The German broadcasting regulator has banned the transmission of the German-language channel of Russian state broadcaster RT, amid rising tensions between Moscow and the West.

The transmission of the channel “RT DE” was “prohibited because it does not have the necessary broadcasting licence”, the regulator’s authorisation and oversight commission said in a statement on Wednesday.


The broadcaster was blocked from Europe’s satellite network on December 22 at the request of German authorities, less than a week after going on air, but was still available over the internet and via a mobile app.

In response to the earlier decision, RT DE said its suspension was “illegal” and the result of political pressure from Berlin, at a time of diplomatic tensions between Germany and Russia.

Russia has just retaliated by shutting down German public international broadcaster "Deutsche Welle" in Moscow.

https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/politik/moskau-buero-deutsche-welle-100.html (in German)

[Middle-aged Europe]

Germany banned the German-language version of Russia Today.

The German broadcasting regulator has banned the transmission of the German-language channel of Russian state broadcaster RT, amid rising tensions between Moscow and the West.

The transmission of the channel “RT DE” was “prohibited because it does not have the necessary broadcasting licence”, the regulator’s authorisation and oversight commission said in a statement on Wednesday.


The broadcaster was blocked from Europe’s satellite network on December 22 at the request of German authorities, less than a week after going on air, but was still available over the internet and via a mobile app.

In response to the earlier decision, RT DE said its suspension was “illegal” and the result of political pressure from Berlin, at a time of diplomatic tensions between Germany and Russia.

Russia has just retaliated by shutting down German public international broadcaster "Deutsche Welle" in Moscow.

https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/politik/moskau-buero-deutsche-welle-100.html (in German)

English-language article: https://www.dw.com/en/russia-shuts-dws-moscow-office-withdraws-staff-credentials/a-60646973

[Middle-aged Europe]

So the Traffic Light honeymoon is over. 57% of Germans disapprove of the government's performance against 38% approval, which is a major turnaround from December's numbers of 46% approve/37% disapprove.

Scholz's approvals have collapsed to just 43% approve/51% disapprove. Lindner and Habeck are also in negative territory. Baerbock, interestingly, has gained, but still a majority disapprove.

53% of FDP voters disapprove, while only 4% approve. Even amongst SPD and Green voters, approval is just over 2/3 each.

The CDU is now back ahead of the SPD in polling averages:



So what's the cause of this?

Well, basically everything: gasoline and heating gas prices are through the roof, there is ever-increasing frustration with the COVID restrictions situation, inflation is hurting, SPD infighting about Russia, the Greens are slashing funding for eco-friendly housing and suffered a defeat on nuclear being considered "green", there is total paralysis about a vaccine mandate (which a majority of Germans support), etc.

But one of the biggest issues is that there simply seems to be a total lack of leadership, especially from Scholz himself. He has been more or less totally absent for the past month, it seems. Even if he is working like a dog behind the scenes, he needs to occasionally show some leadership publicly and also corral his own party.

Furthermore, there are very few accomplishments to speak of. What few there are, are either still in the draft stage (12 Euro minimum wage, 11 billion in tax breaks and COVID aid, abortion access, 2% of the budget for wind power, etc.) or are non-actions (not raising taxes). Otherwise just....nothing is happening. Total stagnation in the face of multiple crises, it seems.

Of course, while the CDU/CSU are up, Merz's favorabilities are still quite negative: only 37% approve of him (can't seem to find any disapproval numbers other than a vague "majority disapproves").


As an SPD member, I have to agree. It's been 5 months and nothing meaningful has happened. If anything, things have gotten worse as more COVID restrictions came into effect in October despite 70%+ vaccination rates and there seems to be no end to this. And that moron Drosten wants to consider lifting restrictions only after Easter (!), despite hospitalizations falling, while the government is debating loosening restrictions later this month. It just never ends and the communication has been absolutely atrocious.

^^ You're right about most things, although I somewhat doubt that the Corona restrictions thing has anything to do with it. The same poll you cite shows that 44% consider current restrictions "appropriate" and for 22% they are even "not going far enough", meaning 66% of the population essentially opposes loosening them at this point. That's less support than a month ago, but still a pretty definitive majority.

[Middle-aged Europe]

At this rate I wonder when Schröder is gonna accept Russian citizenship.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Meanwhile, Annalena Baerbock has made a bit of an usual pick. She appointed American enviromental activist and executive director of Greenpeace International Jennifer Morgan as special representative for International climate policy at the German Foreign Office. Later on, Morgan is supposed to serve with the rank of an undersecretary. In order to do his, a fast-tracked naturalization as a German citizen is planned.

Maybe it's the compensation for losing Gerhard Schröder to Russia.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Markus Söder was in favour of vaccine mandates, before he was against it, before he was in favour of it, before he was against it again!! Or in other words, he always supports vaccine mandates as a theoretical concept, but he's against actually implementing them. He likes to talk tough.... emphasis on talk, not tough.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Markus Söder has always been a flip-flopper, whatever served his immediate political interest. Around 2018/19, he suddenly discovered his passion for environmentalism when it was cool because kids were protesting. His pandemic policies were far less successful than he claims and he more than once switched between "Team Vorsicht" and "Team Locker".

I hope Scholz and his cabinet follow through to sue Bavaria for refusal to execute the vaccine mandate law, if Söder doesn't correct course. Laws are on the books to be enforced and you can't cherrypick whichever you want.

The legal recourse if a state refuses to implement federal law is Article 84 of the Basic Law which authorizes the federal goverment to place a state under so-called "federal supervision" (Bundesaufsicht). I don't know if this article was ever actually used before but it gives the federal government a number of options, including the appointment of commissioners who would supervise the state agencies responsible for implementing the federal law in question.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Justice minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) has issued the most scathing reply to Markus Söder' refusal to implement the vaccine mandate for medical and nursing personnel: "Under the rule of law the laws apply. When the governing are choosing for themselves which laws they are following and which they are not tyranny is not far behind."

Meanwhile, evidence amounts that even Söder's refusal is just talk and no action again, considering that his health minister has assured that the implementation of the vaccine mandate in Bavaria will only be minimally delayed.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Did the SDP ever banned Schroder from party membership and will they ever do?

Party expulsions in Germany are a long-winded and messy procedural business that never seem to go anywhere. In light of recent, um, "events" the SPD has started to get more impatient with him though. There has been some talk of at least suspending him.

[Middle-aged Europe]

I expect the first real post-invasion polling data tomorrow btw. ARD Deutschlandtrend is due. I expect all of you to be in awe.

I think majorities for delivering weapons to Ukraine and increasing the defense budget are possible across all parties except the Left and the AfD (but the slimmest of the majorities might be detected in the SPD, I suppose).