Tag Archives: Ukraine

German of the day: Aufrüstung

July 11, 2024 By in Hard Facts Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means rearmament.

US to send Tomahawks, hypersonics, other long-range fires to Germany – The U.S. will start deploying long-range fires units to Germany in 2026, according to a joint statement from both the U.S. and German governments released today amid the NATO Summit in Washington, D.C.

The new capabilities will “have significantly longer range than current land-based fires in Europe. Exercising these advanced capabilities will demonstrate the United States’ commitment to NATO and its contributions to European integrated deterrence,” the joint statement reads.

“To our surprise,”

July 7, 2024 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

You didn’t want me to lecture you in person.

So I’ll just have to lecture from here at home.

Diplomatic tensions are escalating between Germany and Hungary after Budapest canceled a meeting between Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó and his German counterpart, Annalena Baerbock, that had been planned for Monday in Budapest.

The unusual last-minute cancellation — tantamount to a diplomatic éclat — comes after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and other EU leaders strongly criticized a trip by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to Moscow, where he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday.

Baerbock had planned to raise the issue of Orbán’s meeting with Putin during her visit to Budapest on Monday. But “to our surprise, the Hungarian side canceled” the appointment with Szijjártó “at short notice,” a German foreign ministry official told reporters late Friday.

Peace bunkers are out

July 2, 2024 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

Now “war bunkers” are in. Again.

Germany plans new war bunkers – German cities are calling for new bunkers to be built, to protect the population in the event of war. But critics argue there’s no point.

There might be no better way to gauge a country’s anxieties than by checking in on the companies building panic rooms and private bunkers.

Business has been going worryingly well for BSSD Defence, the Berlin-based company that builds “protection room systems” for private, business and military applications. As well as a range of home security equipment, the company offers everything from “pop-up panic rooms” for around €20,000 ($21,400) to full-scale bunkers for close to €200,000.

So, wait a minute.

June 19, 2024 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

Are you trying to tell me that diplomats are spies?

Yikes. I honestly had no idea.

Russia buying spies to make up for expelled diplomats, German agency says – Russia has turned increasingly to blackmail and financial incentives to hire Germans to spy for it after the blow dealt to its intelligence services by Europe’s expulsion of some 600 Russian diplomats, Germany’s domestic security service said.

The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) said Russian intelligence services were spending big to recruit agents in Germany despite Western attempts to limit their operations since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine Recovery Conference?

June 11, 2024 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

Does this take place before or after the Germany Recovery Conference?

Zelenskyy arrives in Berlin for Ukraine Recovery Conference – President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has arrived in Berlin for an event that aims to shore up support for Ukraine’s war-torn economy. He is also slated to meet with Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

More than 2,000 representatives from 60 countries have arrived in Berlin for the Ukraine Recovery Conference

The conference, established in 2022, aims to facilitate international initiatives like business development to support Ukrainian society long-term.

“Chronic overwork?”

May 28, 2024 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

In the German army?

Damn. Dodging responsibility is more stressful than I imagined.

German army officer jailed for spying for Russia – A German military officer has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison for spying for Russia.

The man, identified only as Thomas H, had been a captain in the army’s procurement office when he contacted Russian embassy in Berlin and passed on secret military information…

The man claimed that chronic overwork had impaired his ability to think critically about his actions.

No asylum for you!

April 21, 2024 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

You’re a European, after all.

And we have too many of those.

Germany: No asylum for Russian draft dodgers?

German authorities say that men coming to Germany from Russia to avoid being enlisted in the army are not at risk of persecution if they return to Russia.

“We are expected to speak out and be more politically active, and then we are denied asylum. According to several articles of the law in Russia, we can be thrown into jail just for taking part in protests here.”

I can’t stand it…

April 18, 2024 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

I know you planned it.

What could it be? It’s a mirage. You’re scheming on a thing, that’s sabotage!

German police arrest two suspected of spying for Russia – German police have arrested two men on suspicion of spying for Russia. The German-Russian nationals are accused of acting as agents for sabotage purposes.

German of the day: Unwahrscheinlich

April 11, 2024 By in Hard Facts, Hideology, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means unlikely. As in “a recovery of German industry to the level before the war in Ukraine is unlikely.”

Go Green, go… lean.

Germany set to permanently pay for reliance on Russian gas—as power chief says ‘significant structural demand destruction’ means it will never fully recover from energy crisis.

German industry got rich, thanks partly to its close energy trading relationship with political and economic rival Russia. The past few years have shown just how misguided that relationship was, as Russia invaded Ukraine and cut off Germany’s cheap, vital gas supply.

Now, one of Germany’s leading renewable-power bosses has suggested it’s a mistake the country could rue forever, as the fallout from the energy crisis is set to permanently damage its industry.

German of the day: Die Schnauze voll haben

March 28, 2024 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Having the snout full means to be fed up with it, to be sick to death of it.

And the German Greens are filling up everybody’s snouts these days.

Germans Fed Up With Greens as Founding Member Resigns – The aggressive policies of the German Greens have alienated not only many voters in Germany but also their own supporters, including one of the founders of the party who has accused them of pursuing a warmongering foreign policy…

Annalena Baerbock, the young, inexperienced minister of foreign affairs, has promised to introduce a ‘feminist foreign policy,’ but she seems helpless in the face of the momentous challenges posed by the Russian-Ukraine war. The Greens have converted from a ‘pacifist’ party into the most belligerent party of all.