Yes, but we’re rebuilding it thoroughly

We’re from the government and we’re here to help.

The rebuilding of Berlin’s Pergamon Museum is 40 years behind schedule – It’s yet another German construction debacle.

Almost 25 years ago, in October 1999, Gerhard Schröder, Germany’s then chancellor, attended a ceremony to mark the renovation of Berlin’s Old National Gallery, one of five world-class museums that constitute the Museumsinsel (Museum Island) in Berlin. Mr Schröder talked about the courage and vision needed to rebuild the rest of the quintet within ten years. “We will manage this,” he promised…

They want to restrict knives now too?

But Germans have always carried knives and used them in public, right?

Sheesh. The next thing you know they’ll be restricting clubs, spears and stone axes.

Germany getting tough on knife crime – German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser wants to further restrict the carrying of knives in public, to combat a perceived rise in knife crime. But some have criticized the plan as impractical.

The German government has promised tougher knife laws after the police reported a rise in the number of stabbings, especially near train stations — though the statistics remain controversial.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has called for the law to be changed so that only blades of 6 centimeters (2.36 inches) would be allowed to be carried in public, rather than the current 12 centimeters. An exception would be made for household knives in their original packaging. Switchblades would be banned altogether.

Rave rhymes with save

Get it?

The “Rave The Planet” party parade has begun – The event aims to set an example for love and peace.

The techno parade “Rave the Planet” with Loveparade founder Dr. Motte has started in Berlin. Thousands are on the Straße des 17. Many people are still on their way to the party demonstration between the Brandenburg Gate and the Victory Column in Tiergarten.

Let’s diversify!

Just like we did with our dependency on Russian gas a few years back.

It’s called diversification through more dangerous entanglement.

German investment in China soars despite Berlin’s diversification drive – Politicians warn of rising geopolitical tensions but country’s carmakers stick with Chinese manufacturing.

German direct investment into China has risen sharply this year, in a sign that companies in Europe’s largest economy are ignoring pleas from their government to diversify into other, less geopolitically risky markets.

Hope rhymes with dope

And nope. And learn how to cope. Already.

And while you’re at it, wash your mouth out with soap.

German voters have high hopes for Kamala Harris – Respondents to a monthly trend survey had a clear preference for the Democrats’ new presidential candidate.

German media have reported on the shift in the political mood in the US over the past two weeks since President Joe Biden bowed out of the race. The new candidate, Kamala Harris, is seen to be scoring points against the Republican challenger, former President Donald Trump.

Respondents to Germany’s monthly Deutschlandtrend survey by pollster infratest dimap have a clear preference: of the 1,300 eligible voters surveyed between August 5 and 7, a whopping 77% said they believe Vice President Kamala Harris is more suitable for the presidency, while only 10% favor Donald Trump.

Booking “financing of transport infrastructure” as defense spending?

To “meet” their pledge of keeping defense spending at 2 percent of GDP?

Clever of the Germans. How refreshingly dishonest. And by that I mean openly dishonest.

Berlin wants to pump defense spending numbers by including military mobility – Germany wants to keep defense spending at 2 percent of GDP, but budget constraints make that difficult.

The cash-strapped German government is looking at how it can include the financing of transport infrastructure used by the military into its defense spending to meet NATO’s spending target.

But it will continue to use the Teslas it already owns “for reasons of sustainability and resource conservation”

Drugstores with Teslas?

They are clearly making way too much money. Maybe we should no longer support these drugstores.

German drugstore chain shuns Teslas over Musk’s support for Trump – German drugstore chain Rossmann said on Tuesday it would no longer buy Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab cars for its corporate fleet due to CEO Elon Musk’s support for U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

The drugstore chain, which is among the largest in Europe, said its decision was with immediate effect and due to what it called an “incompatibility” between statements by Musk and the values that Tesla represents.

Just because “we’re the lowest court…”

Doesn’t mean we can’t sink any lower.

German court due to rule on ‘from the river to the sea’ case in test of free speech – Defendant is accused of ‘condoning the assault by Hamas’ by using slogan during protest…

A spokesperson for the court, Lisa Jani, confirmed that while there had been about five cases in Berlin involving “rioting” and “incitement” at pro-Palestinian protests, this was probably the first revolving specifically around the use of the politically charged phrase.

Even if the defendant is found guilty on Tuesday, it would be only the beginning of a long legal odyssey of appeals through higher tribunals. “The ruling … would not be binding – we’re the lowest court,” Jani said.

We won’t allow ourselves to be blackmailed this time

Honest. No, really.

We mean it now. Those days are over. For real.

Foreign Office in Berlin says Germans still being held in Russia – Germany’s Foreign Office confirmed on Friday that there are a “low double-digit number of people” with German citizenship still being held in Russia. A “single-digit number of Germans” are also being held in Belarus, the Foreign Office said on Friday.

And why was Germany the key?

Because Putin (and everybody else the world) knows that Germany is erpressbar (blackmailable, open to blackmail).

Just like the current US-Amerika government of… whoever is actually running the government at the moment.

Why Germany was key to prisoner swap deal with Russia – The German government’s decision to release a convicted Russian killer serving a life sentence for murdering an exiled Chechen in Berlin in 2019 was crucial for the prisoner swap between Russia and the West…

The main figure in the swap, which involved several countries, was Vadim Krasikov, a Russian convicted of killing a former Chechen militant in Berlin in 2019.

A clear message to future blackmailers: The German government lets a convicted murderer go free after two years in prison, just like that, somebody who bumped off one of Putin’s critics right here in Berlin’s Tiergarten, in broad daylight.