With the German chancellor now on the way out, only one leader even remotely has the stature to fill her shoes. He’s in Rome, not Paris.
Archiv: wishful thinking / fantasies / delusions
Europe is losing its moral compass – how will it find its way without Merkel?
Elizabeth and Angela: two opposite worlds, two entirely different functions, and yet, similarities. Those boring speeches no one dares to make any more. That style, that calm, that stability and that way of embodying their countries.
Merkel now embodies more than Germany; she embodies Europe. She’s a pop icon, who has entered our consciousness like a song.
Europe still lacks a unifying vision
This is not to say that strategic autonomy is a bad idea — or that the EU is doomed to geopolitical irrelevance. The prospect of a trade deal with Europe or the threat of EU sanctions can shape the behaviour of countries all over the world. But economic power and moral suasion are not always an adequate substitute for military might. (As Stalin once reportedly asked: “How many divisions has the pope?”)
Biden Adviser Says President „Will Run Over“ GOP Governors Who Resist Vaccine Mandate
„The one thing I admire about this president is the fact that we are always going to put people above politics. And we’re going to fight for those who really need our help,“ Richmond told CNN in response to a question about governors resisting the mandate. „And those governors that stand in the way, I think, it was very clear from the president’s tone today that he will run over them,“ he added.
„And it is important. It’s not for political purposes. It’s to save the lives of American people. And so, we won’t let one or two individuals stand in the way. We will always err on the side of protecting the American people.“
How a Scholz-Led Government Could Transform Germany and Europe
Social Democrat Olaf Scholz is the favorite to become Germany’s next chancellor, but he’ll need a messy three-party coalition to form a government, according to the polls.
The path to power for the SPD and its preferred partner the Green Party is complicated. It would probably involve either a more centrist alliance with the business-friendly Free Democrats, or a shift in the opposite direction in a tie-up with the anti-capitalist Left party.
This constant cycle of violence and retribution is a failed policy and will not make any of us safer. Congress has authority over War Powers and should be consulted before any escalation.
THE SUN ON SUNDAY SAYS: Boris Johnson must grasp the nettle and deliver the freedom we all yearn for
We clearly can’t go on like this forever.
But alarmingly, many people actually think we will.
More than a quarter of people now fear that Britain will never be completely free of anti-Covid restrictions.
The PM has told us that “freedom day” will come on July 19.
But our poll says that only eight per cent believe him.
Sack him Boris! ‚Useless‘ Hancock told to go after claim he withheld positive vaccine news
(20.06.2021)
A study by Public Health England (PHE) was released on June 14 and concluded the vaccines offered “significant protection against hospitalisation from the delta variant”. The Health Secretary is alleged to have known about the findings on June 10 – three days before the Prime Minister ultimately decided to delay the June 21 “Freedom Day” by four weeks.
Biden says Israel has a ‘right to defend itself’ as he sends envoy to deescalate conflict
(12.05.2021)
During a White House press conference Wednesday afternoon, Biden said he had just spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and had an “expectation and hope” that the conflict would end soon.
Biden speaks with Israel’s Netanyahu amid spiraling conflict with Hamas
(12.05.2021)
“I had a conversation for a while with the prime minister of Israel, and, I think, my hope is that we’ll see this coming to conclusion sooner than later,” the president said during remarks to the press about the U.S. response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The president said his national security and defense staff have been in “constant contact” with their counterparts in the Middle East, including the Israelis but also the Egyptians, Saudis and Emiratis.
Chancellor’s Race Presents Germans With a Challenge to Change
Annalena Baerbock of the Greens is a 40-year-old woman who has never served in government, and is promising a new start for Germany. She faces Armin Laschet, a 60-year-old governor from Ms. Merkel’s party who has pledged to continue the chancellor’s mainstream conservative policies.
President Rivlin, Act Now – Before It’s Too Late
The moment of truth for our future is approaching. What we saw the other day on the steps of the Capitol and inside it is a warning sign. Netanyahu’s readiness to break every rule and law is obvious, and reached a peak at the start of his trial, with that scene in the courthouse that could have come right out of a gangster movie. And in fact, the prosecutor in his trial is already under guard day and night, just like the prosecutors in the trials of organized crime bosses, and for the same reasons.
The trial has begun, and so a new situation is before us.
COVID-19: Chief medical officer Chris Whitty warns coronavirus vaccine shortages will last months
(01.01.2021)
„At the moment it doesn’t look good – a hole is appearing because there’s a lack of other approved vaccines and we have to fill the gap with our own vaccine,“ BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin told news weekly Spiegel.
COVID-19: Chief medical officer Chris Whitty warns coronavirus vaccine shortages will last months
„At the moment it doesn’t look good – a hole is appearing because there’s a lack of other approved vaccines and we have to fill the gap with our own vaccine,“ BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin told news weekly Spiegel.
Open Letter to President-Elect Biden & U.S. Senate from Torture Victims and their Advocates Opposed to Mike Morell for CIA and Avril Haines for National Intelligence.
(21.12.2020)
Morell has no place in a Biden-Harris administration. His nomination would send a chilling message to torture survivors and other victims of grave injustice that the United States government, including the Biden administration, does not uphold its own stated principles. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) from the Senate Intelligence Committee has said about Morell: “No torture apologist can be confirmed as CIA director. It’s a nonstarter.” We agree and urge the President-elect not to nominate Morell.
We also oppose Avril Haines, another toture apologist, as Director of National Intelligence. Since she has already been nominated, we ask Senators to oppose her confirmation.
No, Joe, Don’t Roll out the Red Carpet for Torture Enablers
(24.12.2020)
It was painful enough to live through the U.S invasion of Iraq that caused untold devastation and human misery for no justifiable reason.
Now we are again reminded of the grim Bush legacy with President-elect Biden’s nomination of Avril Haines for Director of National Intelligence.
CNN Exclusive: Biden says he will ask Americans to wear masks for the first 100 days he’s in office
President-elect Joe Biden told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Thursday that he will ask Americans to wear masks for the first 100 days after he takes office, in a sign of how Biden’s approach to the virus will be dramatically different from President Donald Trump’s response.
„Just 100 days to mask, not forever. One hundred days. And I think we’ll see a significant reduction,“ Biden said for the first time in the interview with Tapper.
NATO Huddles With Asia-Pacific Democracies to Talk China
The incoming Biden administration has pledged to do even more to partner with allies on the China challenge.
In another step in that direction, on December 2, the foreign ministers of the NATO members, along with delegations from Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea, gathered virtually to discuss the rise of China and the implications for the global balance of power.
Israeli Leftists, Enough With the Generals
The left is now in need of Jewish-Arab partnership, ethical leadership with a clear vision, and ability on the ground based on practical political experience. The left does not need another general from the boring list of names.
That’s right @briebriejoy „3 million people over the age of 60 are still paying on student loans.“
We all should be gasping. This debt is choking trillions, it is a crisis & demands urgent, bold action. The Biden-Harris Admin can cancel student debt Day 1 via Exec Order.
Biden faces a race against the clock for U.S. to rejoin Iran nuclear deal
With Iran due to hold elections in June, any diplomatic effort will have to move swiftly during Biden’s first few months in office, say former U.S. officials, European diplomats and regional experts.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani calls on President-elect Joe Biden to return the U.S. to Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, a state-run news agency reports.
One of President Trump’s signature foreign policy moves was withdrawing from the pact.
Curfew on restaurants and bars in Berlin from 11pm found to lack proportionality by Berlin Admin Court: no evidence infection more likely after 11pm; evidence restaurants & bars were sites of lower transmission.
Berlin Senate is appealing #covid19 #berlin
Berlin bar shutdown: ‚No time to party‘ says mayor amid rising coronavirus cases
(10.10.2020)
„This is not the time to party“, insisted Berlin’s democratic mayor, Michael Müller. „We want to prevent another more severe lockdown“, he added, with a particular message for people under 40.
Angela Merkel argued in favour of the measure on Friday, after consulting mayors from Germany’s 11 largest cities.
Berlin nightlife given first curfew in 70 years as Covid cases surge
(07.10.2020)
The rate of new cases in the inner-city districts that host Berlin’s nightlife were higher still: of seven hotspots listed by Germany’s disease control agency as having a seven-day incidence of more than 50 cases per 100,000 people, four are in the heart of the capital. Trendy Neukölln leads the pack, with 288 new cases recorded over the course of the last week.
Trying to Hammer Iran With U.N. Sanctions, U.S. Issues More of Its Own
Four cabinet secretaries, the White House national security adviser and the American ambassador to the United Nations announced the additional penalties at the State Department, two days after the administration said it had unilaterally reimposed U.N. sanctions against Iran — a declaration European allies have balked at and the U.N. Security Council has refused to recognize.
US says all UN sanctions on Iran restored
(20.09.2020)
WASHINGTON: The Trump administration declared Saturday that all UN sanctions against Iran have been restored, a move most of the rest of the world rejects as illegal and sets the stage for an ugly showdown at the world body ahead of its annual General Assembly.
German lawmakers flag private party ban as coronavirus cases rise
„We must not risk that day care centres and schools will close again and that children are forced to remain at home for weeks because we have accepted higher infection rates due to lax rules at family parties,“ Saskia Esken, co-leader of the Social Democrats, told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (FAS) newspaper.
Ralph Brinkhaus, leader of the CDU/CSU conservative parliamentary bloc, said: „Unfortunately since the start of summer a certain recklessness has spread.“
Pompeo says he’ll go to UN ’soon‘ to push for snapback sanctions on Iran
The process is expected to be messy, as China and Russia openly oppose the effort to snap back sanctions, and other parties to the deal — Germany, the UK, France — are also against the move. All of them question the legality of the US trying to reimpose sanctions under the 2015 nuclear pact, which the Trump administration announced it was leaving in May 2018.
Canada’s embarrassing governor general should resign — and no one should replace her
A Canada with more self-confidence would have the courage to revisit its governor general entirely on its own terms. If the country is truly the beacon of principled democratic liberalism it so often claims, eliminating a failed, undemocratic office should hardly be painful.
Trump promises ’snapback‘ to force return of UN Iran sanctions
The president was referring to the contested argument that the US remains a „participant“ in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal — despite Trump’s withdrawal from it — and therefore can force a return to sanctions if it sees Iran as being in violation of its terms.
Shut down the country and start over to contain Covid-19, US medical experts urge political leaders
Covid-19 „will end up as a Top 10 leading cause of death“ this year, statisticians from US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicted in a Thursday email to CNN.
U.N. Rights Expert Urges EU to Punish Any Israeli Annexation in West Bank
A U.N. rights investigator urged the European Union on Friday to consider measures to prevent or punish any Israeli annexation of parts of the occupied West Bank, a few days after over 1,000 European lawmakers made a similar call.
Dr. Fauci Expects Spike in Coronavirus Cases Due to Protests
(08.06.2020)
The percentage of positive coronavirus cases is declining across the D.C. area, but those numbers come amid a new warning from the nation’s top infectious disease expert on protests during the pandemic. News4’s Doreen Gentzler reports.
Immunity Certificates: If We Must Have Them, We Must Do It Right
(20.04.2020)
Credential Use:
1. When the individual attempts to gain access to, for instance, a place of work, the business will verify1.the validity of the credential, then make a determination to grant or deny access. This verification does not require contacting the issuer of the credential.
2. As part of the process of determining whether to grant or deny access, the verifier can compare the cryptographically verified photo against the individual through manual means or through automated facial recognition.
The Dawn of Eurasia: On the Trail of the New World Order
(…)
Bill Gates calls for nationwide shutdown: ‚Shutdown anywhere means shutdown everywhere‘
“This is a recipe for disaster. Because people can travel freely across state lines, so can the virus. The country’s leaders need to be clear: Shutdown anywhere means shutdown everywhere,” he added. “Until the case numbers start to go down across America — which could take 10 weeks or more — no one can continue business as usual or relax the shutdown.
How Epidemics Change Civilizations
Measures developed for the plagues of the 14th century are helping authorities fight the coronavirus now says Yale historian Frank Snowden.
Exclusive: Inside The Military’s Top Secret Plans If Coronavirus Cripples the Government
(18.03.2020)
According to new documents and interviews with military experts, the various plans – codenamed Octagon, Freejack and Zodiac – are the underground laws to ensure government continuity. They are so secret that under these extraordinary plans, „devolution“ could circumvent the normal Constitutional provisions for government succession, and military commanders could be placed in control around America.
„We’re in new territory,“ says one senior officer, the entire post-9/11 paradigm of emergency planning thrown out the window. The officer jokes, in the kind of morbid humor characteristic of this slow-moving disaster, that America had better learn who Gen. Terrence J. O’Shaughnessy is.
General Terrence O’Shaughnessy: Secret plan to install general if law breaks down
The United States would then be placed under the authority of Terrence O’Shaughnessy, a four-star general and former fighter pilot who is the designated “combatant commander”, according to Newsweek.
General O’ Shaughnessy, 56, leads the US Northern Command (Northcom), a military authority responsible for homeland defence, created after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.