German Of The Day: Sonntagsreden
That means Sunday sermons. As in political sermons that sound nice to those giving them but never lead to anything other than nonbinding resolutions.
Like the one German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock gave yesterday at the United Nations – the world’s most popular venue for Sonntagsreden.
Germany’s foreign minister Annalena Baerbock addressed the United Nations General Assembly before a vote for a U.N. resolution upholding Ukraine’s territorial integrity and calling for a cessation of hostilities after Russia’s invasion. Every country, she argued, had a duty to send a clear signal that the war was coming to an end. Addressing the 30 to 40 countries likely to abstain from the resolution, including China, India and South Africa, she noted: “Today each of us has to make a decision to stand in isolation with the oppressor or stand together for peace.”
The U.N. General Assembly then approved a nonbinding resolution Thursday that calls for Russia to end hostilities in Ukraine and withdraw its forces, sending a strong message on the eve of the first anniversary of the invasion that Moscow’s aggression must stop.
The resolution, drafted by Ukraine in consultation with its allies, passed 141-7, with 32 abstentions.
German Of The Day: Bürokratie
That means bureaucracy.
Warning: This is taken from yet another regularly occuring German article about how German bureaucracy is way out of control and somebody needs to finally do something about it but no one ever will of course because everybody here in Germany knows this is precisely the way the Germans like to have it.
Germany’s aging bureaucracy risks undermining ambitions – From immigration to the energy transition, the success of Germany’s biggest economic priorities relies on an increasingly older, paperbound bureaucracy getting its act together.
Steven Spielberg Presents Bono With Berlin Film Festival’s Honorary Golden Bear
U2 frontman Bono was presented with the Berlin Film Festival’s Honorary Golden Bear for Lifetime Achievement by Steven Spielberg, who made a surprise appearance at the rousing special ceremony on Tuesday.
Or maybe it was the other way around. I forget. You’d have to ask somebody who gives a Scheiße.
More American Imperialism
When will it ever end?
Turtles from America are spreading – North American freshwater turtles have arrived in Europe with the pet trade. Three species are now native to Baden-Württemberg. For local turtles, the immigrants could become a danger.
And these weren’t the first animal imperialists either. The next thing you know they’ll move up to house pet level and American German Shepards will start taking over.
Save The Planet!
Kill the trees!
Those windmill thingies are kind of like trees so deal with it, conservationists. You can’t have both. Boy, these Greens sure have come a long way, haven’t they?
Germany’s wind energy: Conservationists fear for forests – Germany is counting on wind energy to help replace fossil fuels. But critics say massive investment in the sector is ignoring a different environmental crisis.
By 2032, the government wants to have 2% of land area allocated for onshore wind power. This means installing between 1,000 and 1,500 new turbines a year, or four to five a day by 2030, as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz recently said.
Germany needs wind energy to meet its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2045, a target it’s currently in danger of missing, according to multiple studies. The country also missed its emissions reduction targets the last two years in a row, according to think tank Agora Energiewende.
“If Germany fails to meet its climate targets, we will not be able to demand that others meet theirs,” Germany’s Economy and Climate Minister Robert Habeck said in February.
German Of The Day: Abschiebungen
That means deportations. German deportations. Deportations that don’t work, in other words. Migrants deported for criminal offences just turn around and come right back to Germany again. Why, how criminal or something. That they’re able to do so, I mean.
Thousands of deported migrants reenter Germany – Nearly 6,500 people deported from Germany sneaked back to the country over the past three years, police told Bild newspaper.
Citing federal police statistics, the newspaper said 6,495 foreigners had returned or tried to return over the past three years.
During that period, the number of returnees increased by 74%.
“These numbers reveal the enormous gaps in Interior Minister Nancy Faeser‘s security policy.”
Franca L.
German Of The Day: Flüchtlingschaos
That means refugee chaos. You know, as in “Germany threatened with new refugee chaos?”
Hey, what’s one million+ refugees and migrants (every year) for a country like Germany (80 million inhabitants – a considerable number of those also refugees)? Ain’t no big deal. Nancy Faeser (SPD) says she has everything under control.
Germany faces repeat of 2015 refugee crisis as 1mn Ukrainians seek safety – Figure exceeds number of migrants who arrived in the country in 2015-16.
Germany is facing a refugee crisis on an even greater scale than in 2015-16 when almost 1mn asylum-seekers surged into the country, officials said, as Ukrainians pour into Europe’s largest economy in search of safety.
“The problem is now bigger than it was at the peak of 2016,” said Reinhard Sager, head of the Association of German Counties, saying the huge number of Ukrainians had come on top of the many immigrants from other countries as well as those who arrived in 2015-16.
“The mood in the country threatens to tip over,” said Peter Beuth, interior minister of the western region of Hesse. He called on Berlin to do more to reduce the numbers of migrants by speeding up the deportation of failed asylum-seekers to their countries of origin.
What To Expect?
The same pointed political messages, the same leftist championing of disturbing themes, the same provocative (yawn) political exhibitionism from woke virtue signaling political stooges everywhere. What to expect? The same procedure as every year, James.
Berlinale: What to expect at the 2023 Berlin film festival – A look at the highlights of the Berlinale, from the stars on the red carpet to the competition for the Golden and Silver Bears, and the festival’s focus on Ukraine and Iran...
The festival publishes detailed statistics related to gender diversity. Only six films in the competition are directed by women; but taken together, 38.7% of the current productions are directed by women, and 4% of them by non-binary filmmakers.
While there are not any African titles in the main competition, sections such as Panorama and Forum feature several works from the continent.
Observing Hermann 