Germany departed from longstanding policy again on Sunday with chancellor Olaf Scholz announcing the government would invest more than 2% of GDP in the military from its 2022 budget. He praised Russians who protested against the invasion for their bravery
Continue reading...Category Archives: Germany
Zelenskiy and Johnson welcome move to cut off Russian banks from Swift – video
The US, Canada and key European countries, including Germany, have agreed to remove ‘selected Russian banks’ from the Swift international payments system. UK prime minister Boris Johnson welcomed the move, saying: 'More countries are joining the call of the UK to use Swift … to tighten the economic ligature around the Putin regime'. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said that cutting off some Russian banks will 'effectively block Russian exports and imports’. The move was welcomed by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy. ‘This is billions and billions of losses for Russia, a tangible price for this vile invasion of our country,’ he said
Continue reading...Putin shunned by world as his hopes of quick victory evaporate
Russian troops facing fierce resistance as Germany abandons its postwar military stance to supply arms to Ukraine
Vladimir Putin was facing growing international isolation and the prospect of pariah status on Saturday night as long-term allies dramatically turned against him following the invasion of Ukraine, and western nations planned further decisive military and financial action against Moscow.
As his hopes of a quick victory evaporated in the face of fierce resistance by Ukrainian soldiers and armies of citizen volunteers, Russia’s president was deserted by his key ally, China, and had his ultimatum demanding Kyiv’s surrender defiantly brushed aside by Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Continue reading...Can Germany function without Vladimir Putin’s gas?
Analysis: Nord Stream 2 was meant to deliver 70% of country’s gas and switch to renewable energy has been slow
The Ukraine crisis has plunged Germany into an intense debate about how it will heat its homes and power its industry in future, summed up in the short question: can Europe’s largest economy function without Vladimir Putin’s gas?
The Green federal economics minister, Robert Habeck, answered with a decisive “yes it can”, a day after the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, announced the suspension of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which was meant to deliver from Russia as much as 70% of Germany’s gas requirements. There are considerable doubts as to whether the $11bn project will ever now go ahead.
Continue reading...‘Her blood … his hands’: what the papers say about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
Photograph of teacher bloodied by Russian attack on Ukraine dominates front pages as Putin sends his troops to war
The front pages in Britain and around the world are devoted to the shocking events in Ukraine, with graphic images of the destruction unleashed by Vladimir Putin.
A photograph of a woman with a bloodied and bandaged head in the wake of a Russian attack dominates the front of the Guardian with the headline “Putin invades”.
Continue reading...Kyiv furious as EU wavers on banning Russia from Swift payment system
Ukraine foreign minister voices anger as EU leaders likely to decide against blocking Russia from international payments system
The EU faced furious remonstrations from Kyiv as Europe’s leaders looked set to hold back from imposing the potentially most damaging sanction on Russia, even as the Kremlin lay siege to Ukraine via land, air and sea.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, voiced his anger as EU heads of state and government appeared likely to decide against blocking Russia from an international payments system through which it receives foreign currency.
Continue reading...Europe could see out winter on gas reserves if Russian imports stop, says German analysis
Economic institute says current levels of gas enough for six weeks if mild temperatures continue
Europe could heat its citizens’ homes and power its industry on existing gas reserves for the remaining months of a relatively mild winter even if the standoff with Moscow over Ukraine were to escalate to a total stop on Russian gas imports, a leading German economic institute has said.
Unusually low gas reserves have raised alarm among several European governments in recent months, with storage tanks across the continent on average at only 31% capacity at the start of this week – roughly half as full as in 2020.
Continue reading...Johnson’s Germany comparison highlights UK’s low sick pay
Proportion of UK worker’s salary covered is typically less than quarter of Germany’s 100% in first six weeks
Asked this week about whether his move to drop Covid isolation requirements would drive infectious workers into the office, Boris Johnson said UK workers should learn from their German counterparts and stay home when unwell.
The prime minister did not mention the stark differences in the support available for British workers compared with Germany and the rest of the world, and whether this could explain their reluctance to take a sick day.
Continue reading...Germany hopes protein-based Covid vaccine will sway sceptics
About 1.4m doses of Nuvaxovid to arrive in country this week, after EU approval in December
Germany will offer its population a new protein-based Covid-19 vaccine comparable to conventional flu jabs this week, in the hope of swaying a sizeable minority that remains sceptical of the novel mRNA technology used in the most commonly used vaccines.
About 1.4m doses of the Nuvaxovid vaccine developed by the US biotech company Novavax are to arrive in Germany this week, the country’s health minister, Karl Lauterbach, confirmed last Friday. A further million doses are to arrive the week after, with the German government’s total order for the year 2022 amounting to 34m doses.
Continue reading...Huge wave shatters ferry window as Storm Ylenia batters Germany – video
A huge wave smashed through the front windows of a ferry in Hamburg, forcing passengers to run from their seats as the boat filled with water. Storm Ylenia hit northern Germany on 17 February with strong winds and heavy rain, causing flooding and disruption to trains and flights
Continue reading...UK has been slower than some countries in giving Covid jabs to younger children
Progress has been slower than in adults, with authorities blaming hesitancy among parents and some doctors as well as mixed messaging from experts
All nations of the UK will offer Covid-19 vaccines to all 5-11 year olds, with England, Northern Ireland and Scotland all joining Wales in offering the jabs to younger children on Wednesday.
Britain has been slower than some other countries in offering the shots to this age group. Many EU member states began offering vaccination to all children aged five to 11 in December, but progress has been patchy, with authorities blaming hesitancy among parents and some doctors as well as mixed messaging from experts.
Continue reading...Coronavirus restrictions ease across Europe despite high case rates
France, Netherlands and Germany all announce plans to reduce or remove Covid controls
France’s nightclubs reopen for the first time in three months on Wednesday and the Netherlands returns to “almost normal” from next Friday, as European countries continue to lift their coronavirus curbs despite relatively high infection numbers.
Groups may also play to standing audiences in French concert venues, customers in bars and cafes will be allowed to eat and drink while standing at the counter and cinemagoers and train passengers can snack during their film or journey.
Continue reading...Ukraine crisis: Russian invasion could start at ‘any time’, White House warns – live updates
- US relocating remaining staff to Lviv, Antony Blinken confirms
- ‘We will strive for peace’: president Zelenskiy posts video to Facebook
- Vladimir Putin suggests dialogue is still possible on Ukraine crisis
- Russian envoy warns of right to counterattack in eastern Ukraine
- Ukraine quashes suggestion it could drop Nato plans to avoid war
Latest words from Scholz as he prepares to meet the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy:
We urgently expect signs of de-escalation from Moscow. Further military aggression would have very serious consequences for Russia. I absolutely agree with our allies on that. We are witnessing a very, very serious threat to peace in Europe.
“Ukraine is convening a meeting with Russia and all member states in the next 48 hours to discuss the reinforcement and movement of Russian forces along our border,” he wrote on Facebook.
I would like to emphasise once again that we are talking about the movement of Russian troops on Russian territory,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, once again accusing Ukraine of ramping up tensions.
“Large-scale movements of Ukraine’s armed forces are also carried out in the border zone on Ukrainian territory, moreover, in the area that borders on the territory of the self-proclaimed republics, which leads to escalation of the situation”
Continue reading...Germany’s plan for vaccination mandate losing momentum
Bundestag debate on general mandate unlikely before end of March when Covid-19 cases are forecast to fall
Germany’s plans to introduce a general vaccination mandate this spring are faltering, as a growing number of politicians question if it will find a majority in parliament.
The Bundestag was originally due to debate motions in favour and against mandatory vaccinations this week, after the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, indicated he considered such a step necessary to cope with a possible resurgence of the virus in the next few months.
Continue reading...German leader to head to Moscow amid fears time is running out
Olaf Scholz will make economic case for peace to defuse ‘extremely dangerous’ situation in Ukraine
Olaf Scholz will use his trip to Moscow on Tuesday to press home the economic cost of a Russian invasion of Ukraine, German government sources have said in what some European leaders fear could be a last opportunity to defuse the “extremely dangerous” situation on the border between the two eastern countries.
The German chancellor, who has faced criticism at home for cutting a low-key profile in the diplomatic effort around the military buildup on the Ukrainian border until now, first arrives in Kyiv on Monday as US intelligence over the weekend claimed that Russia had accelerated plans for an invasion and could move troops across the border as soon as Wednesday, before the end of the Winter Olympics on 20 February.
Continue reading...How much does a Covid test cost around the world?
As the UK Treasury pushes for free tests to be scrapped, here’s how charges look in other countries
In Australia, a federal scheme introduced at the end of January allows pensioners and concession card holders to access up to 10 free rapid antigen tests over three months through their chemist. But the scheme got off to a difficult start, with supply issues hampering attempts to procure the tests. In January the competition regulator raised concerns that rapid antigen tests often cost between A$20 and A$30 (£15-£20) per test and sometimes more than A$70 a test through smaller retail outlets, despite wholesale costs ranging from A$3.95 to A$11.45.
In Belgium the price of an antigen self-test sold in pharmacies is around €6-€8 (£5-£7), more expensive than in neighbouring countries, such as France and the Netherlands, although they are available in Belgian supermarkets for about €3. Prices have come down and are expected to fall further: one big pharmacy chain announced this week they had begun selling tests for €1.99. While a PCR test, which costs about €41, is free for people with symptoms, or may be reimbursed by health insurance, self-tests usually have to be funded by individuals. The Belgian consumer association Test-Achats/Test Aankoop estimated this week that a family of four could spend €250 a month on Covid tests, hand sanitiser and face masks.
Continue reading...The rise in global inflation – the hit to living standards across the world
Analysis: From Pakistan to the US, Australia to Germany, the cost of living is rising to new highs and causing new hardships
After decades lurking in the shadows, inflation is back. On Amazon, you can find fridge magnets printed with words spoken 40 years ago by Ronald Reagan, before the election that swept him into the White House.
“Inflation is as violent as a mugger, as frightening as an armed robber and as deadly as a hit man.”
Continue reading...What have Nord Stream 2 and gas got to do with the Ukraine standoff?
We answer your questions on the pipeline as the west considers its options in the event of a Russian invasion
Gas is not just a source of energy, sometimes it is a political weapon. As western countries weigh possible sanctions against Russia for an invasion of Ukraine, the future of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline hangs in the balance. But it’s complicated. The EU gets 41% of its gas from Russia; Russia earns 60% of its import revenues from the bloc. The crisis over Ukraine comes as Europe is struggling to deal with soaring gas prices and internal divisions over how to wean itself off fossil fuels in response to the climate emergency.
Continue reading...German bridge demolished using 120kg of explosives – video
A 70-metre-high old Autobahn bridge was demolished for safety reasons in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The controlled detonation had to be monitored closely to prevent damage to the new bridge which was built alongside the old one. It was the first time ever a bridge of that height was detonated in Germany
Continue reading...Red poets’ society: the secret history of the Stasi’s book club for spies
For seven years, the East German security service’s poetry group met in Berlin to discuss literature. But there was more to it than just learning about iambic pentameter
At the height of the tense second phase of the cold war, a group of Stasi majors, propaganda officers and border guards convened at a heavily fortified compound in socialist east Berlin. From spring 1982 until winter 1989, they gathered once every four weeks, from 4pm until 6pm, at the House of Culture inside the premises of the Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment (the Stasi’s paramilitary wing), in Berlin’s Adlershof district. They met in a first-floor room adorned with portraits of East German leader Erich Honecker and Vladimir Ilyich Lenin that was closed with a security seal overnight.
But the Stasi men did not gather to gameplan nuclear war scenarios, work up disinformation campaigns or fine-tune infiltration techniques. They set out to learn about iambic pentameter, cross-rhyming schemes and Petrarchan sonnets. The group, which internal memos referred to as the Working Circle of Writing Chekists (a reference to the fearsome Bolshevist secret police, the Cheka), produced two anthologies over this seven-year period. I got hold of a copy of one shortly before I moved to Berlin in 2016. The slim paperback, its title Wir Über Uns (“We about us”) falling down the front page in curling calligraphic letters, felt like something out of a Monty Python sketch, or a spin-off from the film The Lives of Others. How had a secret police synonymous with the suppression of free thought ended up writing poetry? Over the coming months I tried to track down former members of the circles, and contacted them to see if they could tell me more.
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