That means poison attack.
Iranian man held in Germany over suspected chemical attack – A 32-year-old Iranian man has been arrested in Germany for allegedly plotting an “Islamist-motivated” attack.
The man had been plotting to use cyanide and ricin to commit a “serious act of violence.”
If the Germans don’t know about losing energy bets, nobody does. Old Vlad better listen up.
Putin has gambled away gas leverage, says German vice-chancellor – Robert Habeck says ‘half of our eggs were in the basket of Putin’ but Germany is now recovering capacity.
Vladimir Putin has gambled away his gas leverage over Europe, Germany’s vice-chancellor has claimed as he sounded a note of cautious optimism over his country’s energy supplies during a visit to Norway.
They’re all too yellow to admit that none of this will deliver enough energy in their lifetimes, if ever at all.
Germany and Norway reach blue hydrogen agreement – Germany’s RWE and Norway’s Equinor have agreed to supply Germany with low-emissions hydrogen fuel. The long-term plan is to provide 100% cleanly sourced green hydrogen.
What is blue hydrogen? For years, the prospect of clean hydrogen fuel — which emits mostly water vapor when burned — has excited those hoping to abandon fossil fuels.
However, the production of completely clean “green” hydrogen, which is separated from water with power generated by clean renewables such as solar and wind, is not currently viable at a large scale.
The alternative “blue” hydrogen, which is produced by burning gas, remains a cheaper option and aims to capture and store more than 95% of emissions.
And defense for free (from Dire Straits, sort of).
Our German Ally: Tanking.
Putin has given any number of reasons (all of them nonsense) to justify Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. One of them was that Russia was “threatened” by NATO’s expansion. That is, to put it mildly, unconvincing. Russia’s grumbling about Ukrainian independence dates back to the Yeltsin era, long before (the special case of the vanished East Germany aside) NATO had expanded to include any countries in the former Soviet bloc.
A more convincing explanation (so far as the Kremlin’s attitude to NATO was concerned) was that Putin had seen the alliance’s weakness and concluded that it would present Moscow with no problems in the event that Russia took back control over its neighbor. An important reason why the Kremlin might have seen things that way was the position of Germany, a supposedly key member of NATO, but one that had a distinctly, uh, nuanced view of what membership of the alliance meant.
One obvious sign of that was the country’s neglect of its armed forces throughout Angela Merkel’s dismal chancellorship.
That means complacency or smugness.
A long and highly valued German state of mind.
I still recall the sardonic, patronizing response I received in the German Chancellery around 2010, when I tried to warn my interlocutors about the danger of Russian hybrid warfare tactics—the cocktail of disinformation, economic coercion, subversion, espionage, and threats of force that Russia uses against its neighbors. “You are not seriously saying that Russia would conduct these operations against the Federal Republic of Germany?” my hosts asked, incredulously.
“Duh, yes,” I replied.
Scholz publicly hankers for a return to Europe’s “pre-war peace order,” suggesting that the lessons of 2022 have yet to sink in.
What does it matter that the EU can’t even control its own borders, create a common defense, organise vaccines, agree on a data protection law, control money laundering, unite properly over practically all major issues, agree on one location to seat its government, sanction its own misbehaving members, actually get rid of daylight savings time after having announced it got rid of daylight savings time many years ago… And so very, very much more?
Its bureaucrats, technocrats, kleptocrats and all the other crats mean well and have their hearts in the right place. So, sure, who could be better qualified to place Twitter under direct supervision? Other than Big Brother himself. I mean herself. You know what I mean. Whatever kind of self Big Brother might have these days.
EU should put Twitter under direct supervision after missteps: German official – A senior German official said on Thursday Twitter should join other tech firms in being directly monitored by the European Commission, saying the company’s erratic behaviour under new owner Elon Musk posed a threat to free speech.
“The power of the big platforms over public discourse needs necessary safeguards so that fundamental rights are effectively protected.”
Unable to see beyond the tips of their noses, a group of zany climate activists tried to tip the balance of power in Germany by tipping their hands and cutting off the tip of a Christmas tree.
That’s right. Don’t ask. Hell if I know.
Police got a tip-off but this anonymous tip came too late to keep the tip from tipping off. The activists are doing this, they were told, in order to… Wait a minute, it’s on the tip of my tongue… That’s right! In order to “save the planet.” How stunning and brave or something. Merry Christmas to you too, pal.
Climate activists decapitate prominent Berlin Christmas tree – Climate activists said Wednesday that they have sawed off the tip of the Christmas tree erected in front of Berlin’s iconic Brandenburg Gate.
The group Last Generation said two of its members used a hydraulic lift and a hand saw to cut two meters (six feet) off the top of the 15-meter (50-foot) tree and hang up a banner stating: “This is only the tip of the Christmas tree. (tip of the “climate catastrophe,” get it?).”
Wa-Way. As in Huawei. It’s the German way.
Germany is (still) a Huawei hotspot in Europe – Europe’s largest economy Germany hasn’t kicked its habit of using Chinese kit for its 5G telecoms networks yet.
A new study analyzing Huawei’s market share in Europe estimates that Germany relies on Chinese technology for 59 percent of its 5G networks. Other key markets including Italy and the Netherlands are also among eight countries where over half of 5G networks run on Chinese equipment.
The kind of December
When gas was there and temps so mellow…
Nobody said “saving the planet” would be easy.
Snow covers Germany amid gas crunch – As Germany experienced its coldest December in a decade, the government implored residents to exercise restraint on turning up the heat.
“Germany is still very, very far from having its gas needs totally covered for the next two years. Because of this, in spite of the cold, I implore you to exercise restraint with gas use.”
That means blackout.
Blackout risk – Germany’s gas storage facilities are 94 percent full, but the level is steadily declining in view of the cold weather.
“Everyone is preparing for it…” He pleads for a factual discussion without scaremongering, but warns against possible acts of sabotage – and explains what emergency supplies citizens should stock up on in case of an emergency.
Observing Hermann 