German of the day: „Riviera des Nahen Ostens“

That means “Riviera of the Middle East.”

Book early or something.

Das Kernzitat lautet: “Die USA werden den Gazastreifen übernehmen, und wir werden dort ganze Arbeit leisten.“ Im englischen Original: „The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too.“ Zudem sagte er: „Wir werden ihn besitzen.“

The core quote is: “The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too.” In the original English: “The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too.” He also said: “We will own it.”

Being Putin’s top lobbyist…

Can really wear a guy out.

Former German leader Gerhard Schröder receives treatment after showing signs of burnout – Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who has faced heavy criticism in recent years for his ties with Russia, is receiving treatment in a hospital after showing signs of severe burnout, German news agency dpa reported Tuesday.

The 80-year-old Schröder led Germany from 1998 to 2005. He was the leader of current Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s center-left Social Democratic Party from 1999 to 2004.

But his involvement with Russian state-owned energy companies and his reluctance after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine to distance himself wholeheartedly from Russian President Vladimir Putin, with whom he has long had a friendly relationship, estranged him from the German political establishment.

“Startlingly aggressive?”

I’d say it’s more like “refreshingly different.”

Merz doubles down on gambit with German far right in combative speech – Prospective chancellor takes startlingly aggressive line against those protesting against gamble with AfD.

The German conservative opposition leader, Friedrich Merz, whose party is widely tipped to win this month’s general election, defended his hardline migration proposals after a wave of protests accused him of breaching the time-honoured “firewall” between the far right and centrists.

In an uncompromising speech to a party congress of his Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in Berlin, Merz said he was confident they would win the 23 February vote “with a very good result”, well ahead of the anti-immigration, anti-Islam Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), which has been consistently placing second in the polls.

Five days after passing a non-binding resolution on border policy with the votes of the far right – marking a historic breach of a taboo – Merz renewed a promise to bar any formal cooperation with the AfD in future.

“We will not work with the Alternative für Deutschland – not before [the election], not after – never,” he said to a lengthy standing ovation from delegates.

“Accept fewer?”

Isn’t that the same as reject more?

It all depends on your point of view, I guess.

Immigration: German voters want to accept fewer refugees – A majority of Germans believe the country should accept fewer refugees, according to the latest Deutschlandtrend poll. However, most are in favor of EU-wide solutions and are against their country “going it alone.”

German of the day: Abweichler

That means dissenters.

As in dissenters within your own party. In this case, Germany’s CDU.

Germany’s parliament rejects radical migration plan – Greens and SPD earlier refused to support the Influx Limitation Act amid fierce criticism from Merkel over Merz’s cooperation with AfD…

The highly-controversial proposal, put forward by the CDU/CSU opposition party which leads in the polls, failed to secure a majority in the Bundestag, despite the backing of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland.

Germany’s Green economy rocks

It pitches, reels and staggers too.

Talk about having a gross domestic product.

Germany slashes growth outlook in ‘serious’ diagnosis of Europe’s largest economy – The German government on Wednesday slashed its gross domestic product forecast to just 0.3% growth in 2025.

This is down from a previous forecast of 1.1% growth, but broadly in line with estimates from bodies like the International Monetary Fund.

“The diagnosis is serious,” Robert Habeck, Germany’s Economy and Climate Minister, said during a press conference.

German of the day: Antrag

That means motion. As in proposal.

German immigration motion passes, breaking taboo on cooperation with AfD – Narrow passage of controversial CDU-CSU motion ends longstanding boycott on cooperating with far-right party.

The German parliament has narrowly passed a motion urging tough restrictions on immigration that was highly controversial because it was backed by the far-right Alternative für Deutschland party.

The motion was brought by the conservative opposition CDU-CSU and backed by, among others, the AfD, breaking a longstanding taboo on cooperation with the anti-immigration party.

Elon is one smart cookie…

But this wasn’t exaclty rocket science.

Musk Says Germany Has ‘Too Much of a Focus on Past Guilt’ – His comments to the hard-right Alternative for Germany party escalated efforts by the billionaire to influence the country’s election for chancellor next month.

‘Too Much of a Focus on Past Guilt’ is one hell of an understatement. Guilt is an all-consuming obsession here.

German of the day: Mehrheit

That means majority.

Despite Scholz’s criticism (German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, SPD): majority of SPD voters support Merz’s asylum ban, according to poll – Scholz had protested vehemently against the CDU’s push for a turnaround on migration. A survey now shows that 66% of Germans support Merz – as do the majority of SPD voters.