Schedium

One of the paradoxes of democracy is that it creates freedoms which can be exploited by extremist groups to win enough votes to form a government and then destroy democracy itself from within. The most striking example of such a process is the rise to power of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, or NSDAP) in 1932-33. ©Anja Pietsch via Wikimedia Commons     On November 9, 1918, the German Emperor William II abdicated after the country's defeat in World War I. The Social Democrat Philipp Scheidemann proclaimed the founding of a German Republic from the balcony of the parliament (Reichstag) building.¹ The German Republic is commonly known as the Weimar Republic, because the assembly that wrote its constitution met in the city of Weimar. However, its official name was "German Empire" (Deutsches Reich). As a matter of fact, Germany retained the same official name from 1871 up until 1945 despite the three political u

  Germany's Defence Minister Boris Pistorius meets with his PRC counterpart General Li Shangfu at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on June 3rd 2023. Photo by Germany's Defence Ministry via Twitter . ______ Former officers of Germany's armed forces (Bundeswehr) have been working for years as trainers for the air force of the People's Republic of China (PRC), according to a joint media report by German public-service broadcaster ZDF and the magazine Der Spiegel.  Several former German air force officers are allegedly employed as trainers for the PRC military. These include two Eurofighter instructors and a Tornado pilot, only identified as Peter S., Alexander H., and Dirk J. All three know NATO's secret deployment tactics, the report states. The Intelligence Services Oversight Committee of the German Parliament (PKGr) has been monitoring the possible employment of former German military officers in the PRC army with alarm.  “We are concerned that after being empl

On May 4 Sawsan Chebli , a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and Berlin State Secretary, posted a tweet that was later deleted by Twitter for allegedly violating the platform's new rules regarding election manipulation. "My father's name was Mohammed. My name is Sawsan Mohammed Chebli. My oldest nephew's name is Mohammed. My niece gave her son her grandfather's name. Shortly: We will make sure that this name never disappears!" wrote Chebli on her Twitter profile.  #Servicetweet für die #AfD : Mein Vater hieß Mohammed. Ich heiße Sawsan Mohammed Chebli. Mein ältester Neffe heißt Mohammed. Meine Nichte hat ihrem Sohn den Namen ihres Opas gegeben. Kurzum: Wir werden schon dafür sorgen, dass dieser Name nie verschwindet! pic.twitter.com/HPkVwkJIWH — Sawsan Chebli (@SawsanChebli) May 4, 2019 Her tweet was expressly directed at the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD). The AfD has called asylum and immigrat

A court in the German city of Duesseldorf has ruled that the license identifier "HH 1933" may be revoked by the Road Traffic Licensing Department (RTLD).  According to Der Spiegel , the motor vehicle licensing authority of the district of Viersen had authorized a requested personalized registration plate featuring the ID "HH 1933." After a citizen issued a complaint, however, the license plate was revoked. The driver appealed the decision in court.     "HH 1933" is thought to be a reference to the Nazi salute "Heil Hitler" (HH) and to the year 1933, when the Nazis seized power.  On May 2 a court in Duesseldorf ruled that the RTLD may revoke the licence plate.     The court ruled against the Department's initial request that the driver replace the licensing plate. The court found that the Department only has the authority to prohibit the vehicle from being driven on public roads, but not to order a replacement of the lic

Yalta, Crimea (by Marcin Konsek via Wikimedia Commons ) In early April the Ukrainian embassy in Berlin notified the German government that 22 individuals, including five lawmakers of the far right, anti-EU Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, and two of the socialist Left party, planned on attending the Yalta International Economic Forum in Russia.  The 5th Yalta International Economic Forum titled "World. Russia. Crimea. New Global Reality" took place in the Crimean city of Yalta on April 17 - 20 for the purpose of attracting investment and promoting relations between Russia and foreign politicians willing to accept Moscow's annexation of Crimea in 2014.  At a conference held within the framework of the Forum, Head and Prime Minister of Crimea Sergey Aksyonov urged Friends of Crimea clubs to consolidate efforts to lift sactions imposed on Russia after the annexation of Crimea.   "We saw how many allies we have," Aksyonov said. "Toda

Frankfurt Police HQ (by Magadan  via Wikimedia Commons) Policemen in the German city of Frankfurt have been accused of threatening a lawyer and exchanging far-right and Nazi content in a chat group.  On 2 August 2018 lawyer Seda Başay-Yildiz received an anonymous fax signed by "NSU 2.0." The message described her as a "lousy Turkish pig" ( miese Türkensau ) and threatened to "slaughter" ( schlachten ) her two-year-old daughter. The authors of the fax knew not only her private address but also  her daughter's name. She reported the incident to the police.  Başay-Yildiz was representing a victim of the NSU - National Socialist Underground - a far-right terrorist group responsible for 10 murders and various terror attacks. The trial of NSU members lasted from May 2013 to July 2018 and resulted in 5 convictions.  According to the Tagesspiegel , in October investigators searched the 1. police department in Frankfurt and found out t

Breitscheidtplatz, Berlin (by Harald Krichel via Wikimedia Commons) More than two-thirds of Germans think that Donald Trump 's foreign policy is making the world more dangerous, according to a recent  survey . The survey shows that 69 percent of respondents worry that Trump's policy is making the world more dangerous, topping this year's list.  63 percent of respondents said they are worried about asylum seekers, 63% fear "tensions due to the arrival of foreigners", 61 percent worry about politicians' inability to tackle problems. 59 percent are worried about terrorism - 12 percent less than a year ago. 58 percent are worried about the cost of the EU debt crisis to German taxpayers, while 57 percent fear political extremism. "The Fears of the Germans" (Die Ängste der Deutschen) is a survey conducted every year by R+V-Infocenter since 1992. 2,400 people above 14 years are asked about their biggest worries. This year the survey was conduct

2018 State of the Union (by The White House via Wikimedia Commons) "Our Lord has made us free by sending us a man like Adolf Hitler as a leader," said  Arnold Gustavs , pastor in the small northern German island of Hiddensee, in one of his sermons in the 1930s. " Heil Hitler ! we shout. And day after day millions of arms are raised for this salute, and millions of lips speak out these words ... We often read the word Heil ['salvation', 'hail '] in the Old and the New Testament: but salvation is always given by God. Therefore, when we say Heil Hitler !, we wish him God's salvation. This salute is actually a prayer, for we pray that God save this man, our Führer , that he protect and bless him, that he give him the helmet of salvation so that he may bravely carry on the struggle for the renewal of the German people."  Pastor Gustavs was only one of many church leaders in Nazi Germany who enthusiastically supported Hitler, and who port

Headquarters of Germany's Federal Intelligence Office, Berlin (by Fridolin Freudenfett [CC BY-SA 4.0] via Wikimedia Commons ) Cyber security experts of the German government have warned of possible Russian cyber attacks on power plants that could cause blackouts across Europe. According to German magazine Der Spiegel , the National Cyberdefence Centre (Nationales Cyber-Abwehrzentrum, NCAZ), an agency set up by the German federal government in 2011, issued a report warning that Russian hacking attacks on infrastructure could disrupt energy, water and gas supply as well as traffic. Due to the interdependence of Europe's infrastructure, a cyber attack on Germany could impact other European countries. The report was drawn up by experts from the Federal Criminal Police Office, the Federal Intelligence Service, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the Federal Office for Information Security and other government bureaus.  The German authori

On July 27, 2017, China’s State Council announced that “ foreign garbage ”, including "plastic waste from living sources, paper, textile waste, and vanadium slag," would be banned from entering the country.  On July 18 Beijing had already notified the World Trade Organization (WTO) that by the end of the year it would no longer accept shipments of those types of waste. According to state-run Xinhua News Agency , China began to import solid waste as raw materials in the 1980s to meet its domestic demand for resources. However, some companies allegedly engaged in smuggling foreign garbage into the country for profit, "damaging the environment and public health." The Chinese authorities believe that imported solid waste poses "a serious threat to the environment" and has caused "widespread public concern." By the end of 2019 China will gradually phase out the import of "solid waste for which substitute resources are available in Chin