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CNN —As Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) grows ever popular, the country’s once dominant Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party finds itself at a crossroads. The center-right CDU was in power for much of Germany’s post-war era and oversaw the reunification of East and West Germany. Max Schwarz/ReutersBerlin’s CDU mayor, Kai Wegner, took to X to write: “What cooperation is there to be had? Populist parties as ‘lightning rods’The CDU’s Michael Kretschmer, state premier of Saxony, believes a shift in policy is the best approach for democratic parties to stop the rise of the far-right. Opinion polls in his state, one of the five that make up Germany’s former east, put the AfD in the lead; Saxony has long been a stronghold for the far-right party.
Persons: Angela Merkel, Friedrich Merz, shockwaves, Merz, Merz backpedaled, , Robert Sesselmann, Max Schwarz, Kai Wegner, Jörg, , ” “, Kühne, ” Tino Chrupalla, John MacDougall, Merkel, it’s, sadi, Michael Kretschmer, Kretschmer Organizations: CNN, Christian Democratic Union, CDU, East, Social, Green Party and Free Democrats, ZDF, Reuters Berlin’s CDU, INSA, New, SPD, Greens, ARD, Bundestag, Getty, Federal Criminal Police, UN, UNHCR, , Citizens Locations: Germany, West Germany, Sonneberg, Thuringia, Germany’s, Saxony, Leipzig, West, East Germany, East Germans, West Germans, Saxony Anhalt, Ukraine, Poland, Syria
Vladimir Putin apparently couldn't believe how fit Biden was in 2021, per a new book. In The Last Politician, Franklin Foer wrote about how the Russian president couldn't believe his eyes. Apparently, Putin had taken it to heart that Biden was a feeble man before their 2021 summit. But it was Putin who couldn't believe that President Joe Biden was looking good during their 2021 summit, according to a new book. Advertisement Advertisement Watch: Inside Putin's secret bunker and billion-dollar palace"When Putin called Angela Merkel to deliver the postmortem of the meeting, he told her, 'President Biden is very fit.'"
Persons: Vladimir Putin, Biden, Franklin Foer, couldn't, Putin, Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Joe Biden's, Foer, Scranton Joe wasn't scrawny, Angela Merkel, Biden's, Matthew McConaughey's, Boris Johnson Organizations: Service, Scranton, Capitol, British Locations: Russian, Wall, Silicon, Geneva, Ukraine, Rehoboth Beach
A clip that shows Russian President Vladimir Putin snubbing French President Emmanuel Macron before shaking hands with other world leaders has been cropped. The full video shows that Putin did not ignore Macron. The full video shows that Putin greeted Macron before shaking hands with then German Chancellor Angela Merkel and then U.S. President Donald Trump (timestamp 0:50) (here). A clip taken from a different angle (timestamp 0:27) (here) also shows the leaders shaking hands. The video has been cropped to make it seem like Putin ignored Macron.
Persons: Vladimir Putin snubbing, Emmanuel Macron, Putin, , Angela Merkel, Donald Trump, Read Organizations: Reuters, Macron Locations: Paris, France
The German government approved a plan on Wednesday to legalize some recreational marijuana use, paving the way to allow adults to legally buy and possess small amounts of cannabis. The legislation, which would allow adults to purchase and possess up to 25 grams of recreational cannabis for personal consumption through nonprofit social clubs, must still be approved by Parliament. But the endorsement from the three-party coalition’s cabinet was a crucial step toward Germany becoming the first major European country to legalize marijuana. The measure is weaker than what Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government had originally proposed. The socially liberal coalition announced its intent to legalize recreational marijuana when it came into power in 2021, quickly finding consensus on an issue opposed for years by the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Persons: , Karl Lauterbach, Olaf Scholz’s, Chancellor Angela Merkel Locations: Germany
Analysis: No decoupling, but West and China drift apart
  + stars: | 2023-08-08 | by ( Mark John | ) www.reuters.com   time to read: +5 min
Containers are seen at the Yangshan Deep Water Port in Shanghai, China, as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak continues, October 19, 2020. But underlying trade and investment trends point to an unmistakable long-term drift in commercial ties with the West. Take foreign direct investment - the more forward-looking clue as to where commercial ties between countries are heading. WATCH GERMANYSome, meanwhile, point to the fact that U.S.-China trade - exports and imports of goods combined - hit a record $690 billion last year as evidence that the reality does not match the frosty political rhetoric. Last month's China strategy document unveiled by Chancellor Olaf Scholz's three-way coalition left open exactly how far Berlin would ultimately go in reining in commercial ties.
Persons: Aly, China's, Louise Loo, Stephen Roach, Yale Law School's Paul Tsai, Angela Merkel, Chancellor Olaf Scholz's, Mark Leonard, , Joe Biden, Loo, Mark John, Christina Fincher Organizations: REUTERS, West, Oxford Economics, Yale Law, Yale Law School's Paul Tsai China Center, Reuters, European Council, Foreign Relations, – Mercedes, Benz, BMW, Volkswagen, BASF –, Oxford, Thomson Locations: Port, Shanghai, China, United States, Europe, GERMANY, Germany, Berlin, reining, Taiwan, U.S
Mario Voigt, a leader of Germany’s mainstream conservative party, has watched with concern the slow but steady string of victories notched by the far-right Alternative for Germany, known as the AfD. In his home state of Thuringia, in eastern Germany, the AfD just last month won the district administrator’s seat, giving the far right bureaucratic authority over an area for the first time. Since the spring, the AfD has only gathered momentum. The party has gained at least four points in polls since May, rising to 20 percent support and overtaking the country’s governing center-left Social Democrats to become Germany’s second-strongest party. A more recent poll, released on Sunday, put the AfD at a record high of 22 percent support.
Persons: Mario Voigt, Voight’s, Angela Merkel Organizations: Social Democrats, Christian Democratic Union Locations: Germany, Thuringia
Welcome to the weird, through-the-looking-glass world of Vladimir Putin’s Russia, where everything is its opposite and almost nothing is what it seems. That may hold as well for the still-murky fate of last month’s mutineer, Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner group. Daniel TreismanWorse yet for the Kremlin, Prigozhin’s claim — coming from a diehard nationalist — will seem quite believable to many Russians. In this looking-glass world, the president has no time for politics. After the war started, Navalny offered a 15-point program for ending it and rebuilding a democratic Russia.
Persons: Daniel Treisman, , , Vladimir Putin’s, mutineer, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner, Alexander Lukashenko, Dmitry Peskov, Peskov, Prigozhin, Putin, Alexey Navalny, Alexander Zemlianichenko, Orwell, Vladimir Kara, Murza, Emmanuel Macron, Navalny, Angela Merkel Organizations: University of California, CNN, Russian Federal Penitentiary Service, Russian, Putin, Kremlin, Twitter, Facebook Locations: Los Angeles, Moscow, Belarus, Vladimir Putin’s Russia, Belarusian, Minsk, St . Petersburg, Kremlin, Russian, Melekhovo, Vladimir, Russia, Kara, Rostov, Sochi, Ukraine, Dagestan, Crimea,
BERLIN, July 1(Reuters) - Germany's coalition government is at odds over whether to bow to British pressure and approve the production of Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets for Saudi Arabia, the newspaper Welt Am Sonntag reported on Saturday, citing anonymous sources. A third of the components for the jets come from Germany, industry sources told Reuters at the time. Since the rapprochement of Saudi Arabia and Iran, which could end their proxy war in Yemen, the British have argued that Germany cannot block the export of Eurofighter jets to third parties. A spokesperson for the Chancellery declined to comment to Welt am Sonntag. Reporting by Sabine Siebold; Writing by Victoria Waldersee; Editing by Jonathan OatisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Persons: Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Christian Lindner, Jamal Khashoggi, Angela Merkel, Sabine Siebold, Victoria Waldersee, Jonathan Oatis Organizations: Eurofighter Typhoon, BAE Systems, Reuters, Social Democrats, Finance, Greens, SPD, Eurofighter, Welt, Thomson Locations: BERLIN, Saudi Arabia, Riyadh, Yemen, Saudi, Germany, United States, France, Britain, Iran
Sovfoto/Universal Images Group via Getty Images Putin poses for a picture with his wife, Lyudmila, and daughters, Yekaterina and Maria. Brooks Kraft LLC/Corbis via Getty Images Putin rides a horse during a vacation in Southern Siberia in August 2009. Alexey Nikolsky/AFP via Getty Images Putin judges an arm wrestling match while visiting the Seliger youth educational forum in Russia's Tver region in August 2011. Dmitry Astakhov/RIA Novosti/AFP via Getty Images Putin plays with his dogs Yume, left, and Buffy at his home in Novo-Ogaryovo, Russia, in March 2013. Chris McGrath/Getty Images Putin and Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attend the G20 summit in Buenos Aires in November 2018.
Persons: Vladimir Putin’s, Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, ” Prigozhin, ” Wagner, , Dmitry Peskov, , Prigozhin, ” Peskov, Putin, Putin Putin, Joseph Stalin, , “ Putin, Evelyn Farkas, , Vladimir Putin, Maria Putina, Archivio GBB, ZUMA Press Wire Putin, Laski, Maria, Vladimir, Anatoly Sobchak, Lyudmila, Yekaterina, Boris Yeltsin, Yeltsin, Fidel Castro, Reuters Putin, George W, Bush, Stephen Jaffe, Camp David, Brooks Kraft, Alexey Druzhinin, Alexey Nikolsky, Mikhail Metzel, Ivan Sekretarev, AP Putin, Dmitry Medvedev, Dmitry Astakhov, Buffy, Angela Merkel, Jochen Lübke, Thomas Bach, Medvedev, Vladimir Konstantinov, Alexei Chalyi, Sergei Aksyonov, Sergei Ilnitsky, Kirill Kudryavtsev, Alexander Lukashenko, Merkel, Francois Hollande, Petro Poroshenko, Mykola Lazarenko, Barack Obama, Ban, Chip Somodevilla, Turkey Andrei Karlov, Karlov, Donald Trump, Chris McGrath, Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, LUDOVIC MARIN, Emmanuel Macron, Volodymyr Zelensky, Eliot Blondet, Joe Biden, Antony Blinken, Biden, Sergey Lavrov, Denis Balibouse, Macron, Sergey Ponomarev, Mikhail Gorbachev, , Alexander Nemenov, Alexey Danichev, Xi Jinping, Pavel Byrkin, Pavel Bednyakov, Peter Zwack, Beth Sanner, ” Sanner, “ He’s, … Putin, Moscow’s, Priogozhin Organizations: CNN, Kremlin, Communist, McCain, Putin, Getty, Russian, ZUMA Press, KGB, ZUMA Press Wire, Getty Images, Reuters, US, White House, Camp, Brooks, Brooks Kraft LLC, RIA Novosti, AP, AFP, International Olympic, Crimean, Ukrainian, United Nations, UN, Assembly, Russian Foreign Ministry, Sputnik, World, Saudi Arabia's Crown, Macron, SPUTNIK, New York Times, Central Clinical Hospital, AP Putin, Belarus, State Russian Museum, Russia’s Southern Military District, US Army, National Intelligence for Mission, State Department, European Union Locations: Moscow, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, Kremlin, Russia’s Belgorod, Putin Russian, Russian, Rostov, St . Petersburg, Leningrad, Germany, AFP, Kazan, Cuba, Soviet Union, Southern Siberia, Russia's Tver, Novo, Ogaryovo, Hanover, Sevastopol, Crimea, Belarusian, Minsk, France, Turkey, Helsinki, Finland, Buenos Aires, Ukrainian, Paris, Geneva, Switzerland, Taganrog, Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, , Canada, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, Soviet, Kazakhstan
Most attendees hail from the ex-Soviet states, Africa, Cuba, and the UAE, per the Moscow Times. But it's still charging foreign participants over $25,000 to attend, which appears to baffle even the forum's own organizers. "The main problem for the 2023 organizers is to scrape together participants," a forum organizer told The Moscow Times on Thursday. "Although it serves no real purpose, this forum will never be abandoned," a manager at another major Russian state-owned company told The Moscow Times. Organizers of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider sent outside regular business hours.
Persons: , Emmanuel Macron, Angela Merkel, Vladimir Putin's Organizations: UAE, Moscow Times, Service, St ., Economic, United Arab Emirates, The Moscow Times Locations: Davos, Africa, Cuba, Moscow, St, St . Petersburg, Ukraine, Swiss, Russian, Europe, Petersburg
He is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and a former spokesperson for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The possibility of miscalculation has increased in recent months as China has triggered some close encounters with US ships on the high seas. (In 2020, China overtook the US as Europe’s biggest trading partner for goods.) The confusion in Europe over how to treat China was on full display earlier this year when French President Emmanuel Macron and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen made their disastrous joint visit to China. Blinken’s visit to Beijing is being marketed as a bilateral meeting with a shot at achieving détente.
Persons: Michael Bociurkiw, Antony Blinken, Michael Bociurkiw Chrystia, Laura Ballman, Blinken, Li Hui, Lu Shaye, can’t, Emmanuel Macron, Ursula von der Leyen, Angela Merkel, Philippe Moreau Chevrolet, , , Xi Jinping Organizations: Atlantic Council, Organization for Security, Cooperation, CNN, Amsterdam CNN —, NATO, CIA, European Commission, Twitter, Facebook Locations: Odesa, Europe, Beijing, United States, China, Ukraine, Washington, Taiwan, Canada, Russia, Paris, French, Russian, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Iran
Russia's isolation from the global economy caused poor turnout at Putin's economic forum in St. Petersburg. The event previously drew big names from the West, but was mostly populated by lower-level politicians this time. Experts have sounded the alarm on Russia's economy amid Ukraine war sanctions. But experts have warned that the moat between Russia and Western world could be lethal to Russia's economy. Though some prognosticators see Russia's economy posting small growth this year, those estimates are largely based on the Kremlin's "cherry-picked" statistics, according to two Yale researchers, who recently made the case that Russia's economy is struggling far more than Putin has let on so far.
Persons: , Vladimir Putin's, Emmanuel Macron, Angela Merkel, Zhang Hanhui, Zhou Liqun, Putin Organizations: Service, Bloomberg, Union of Chinese Entrepreneurs, Yale Locations: St . Petersburg, Ukraine, Soviet Union, America, Asia, Russia, China, Moscow, Western
BERLIN, June 7 (Reuters) - Following are some of the key moments in the rise of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), the country's' most successful far-right party since the Nazis were in power. The party wants Germany to quit the euro and reintroduce the Deutsche Mark. 2015 - The party shifts right during Europe's migration crisis, causing some of the original founders to quit. As the only party to criticise Chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door policy that let in hundreds of thousands of migrants, it sees support rise steadily. 2021 - Germany's BfV domestic spy agency service places the AfD under surveillance on suspicion of trying to undermine Germany’s democratic constitution.
Persons: Chancellor Angela Merkel's, Bjoern Hoecke, Chancellor Olaf Scholz's, Sarah Marsh, Madeline Chambers, Edmund Blair Organizations: Deutsche, Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social, Thomson Locations: BERLIN, Germany, Turkey, Thueringen, Russia
The logo of Russia’s state gas company Gazprom was emblazoned on the shirts of players at the soccer club Toennies chaired. In Germany, Toennies’ story is far from unique. At the centre of Gazprom’s influence campaign was Schalke 04, the soccer club Toennies chaired at the time and which Gazprom began sponsoring in 2006. Russian gas imports have dropped dramatically and Germany is supplying tanks and other weapons systems to Ukraine. In 2001 Toennies assumed another of his older brother’s roles – chairman of soccer club Schalke 04.
Persons: Clemens Toennies, Vladimir Putin, Toennies, Willy Brandt, , Putin, Sberbank, Angela Merkel, , ” Merkel, Bernd, Clemens, Putin’s, Alexei Gromov, Gromov, Gerhard Schroeder, Schroeder Organizations: Gazprom, Toennies, Schalke, Gazprom’s, Reuters, Miele, Volkswagen, Deutsche Telekom, ” Schalke, Chelsea, Kremlin, Former Locations: WIEDENBRUECK, Germany, Russia, Russian, Moscow, Ukraine, Berlin, Russians, Crimea, Gazprom, Rheda, German, Europe, Nord Stream, Dresden
Walking away, President Joe Biden wrapped his arm around Zelensky’s shoulders. None of the G7 leaders are particularly popular at home, even as they produce results abroad. After all, it was Trump who had argued over dinner at the 2019 G7 summit in Biarritz, France, that Russia should be allowed back into the group. That level of chaos was nowhere to be found in Hiroshima this past week, when leaders appeared to generally like each other. Even before Biden left for the G7 summit, the stalemate over raising the federal borrowing limit prompted a scramble to rearrange the president’s engagements so he could return to Washington early.
Zelenskiy flew to the western city of Aachen with Chancellor Olaf Scholz following talks in the German capital. He received a standing ovation at a ceremony in the Coronation room of Aachen town hall, where he was awarded the prize, which celebrates services to European unification. "Ukrainians will always make Europe stronger," Zelenskiy said in English before switching to Ukrainian to address the gathering that included European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. The Ukrainian people, under Zelenskiy's leadership, are fighting not only for their country "but also Europe and European values", the prize committee said in a statement. Previous recipients of the prize include French President Emmanuel Macron and former German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Russian servicemen rehearse on Sunday for the Victory Day parade, when Moscow will aim to display its military prowess. Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP/Getty ImagesSeveral Russian regions have cut back on Victory Day celebrations, due to insufficient military weapons available for display. World leaders such as former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan attended the military parade in previous years. ‘Evil has returned’Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday suggested moving Ukraine's Victory Day parade a day earlier so it does not align with Moscow's celebrations. Like Russia, Ukraine traditionally commemorates victory over the Nazis on May 9, but that date has become increasingly associated with a parade in Moscow.
That's the warning from a former German general who argues that Germany must refurbish its badly neglected armed forces — though this will take years to accomplish. Today, the German military is just 183,000-strong, and it can't meet its recruiting goals. In 2020, German defense spending was only 1.4% of GDP, well short of 2% goal that NATO members have pledged to hit by 2024. "Armament procurement concentrated on armored transport vehicles rather than on battle tanks and infantry fighting vehicles," Vad writes. RONNY HARTMANN/AFP via Getty ImagesDespite years of calls by France for pan-European defense, coordinating German defense procurement with other EU states — each with distinct military needs and political priorities – is difficult.
Fed Chair Powell held a call with Russian pranksters pretending to be Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. "No sensitive or confidential information was discussed," a Fed spokesperson told Insider. Footage circulating on Russian State Television showed Powell answering an interviewer's questions, with the central bank head seemingly thinking he was speaking to Ukraine's leader. In a statement sent to Insider, a Fed spokesperson confirmed that Powell participated in a call with someone "who misrepresented himself" as the Ukrainian president in January. The phone call, which appears to have been carried out by Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexei Stolyarov, covered a range of topics like Powell's inflation outlook and Russia's central bank, Bloomberg reported Thursday.
BERLIN, April 26 (Reuters) - Germany's domestic spy agency on Wednesday classified the youth organisation of far-right party the Alternative for Germany (AfD) as an extremist entity that threatens democracy, as authorities seek to combat a widespread rise in extremism. Germany's spy agency on Wednesday classified two other organisations, the Institute for State Policy and "One Percent", as extremist entities pursuing aims against the constitution. The spy agency said that the Young Alternatives wanted a society that was as ethnoculturally homogeneous as possible, designated migrants of non-European origins as fundamentally impossible to integrate and warned of the destruction of "organically grown European peoples". It is now Germany's most successful far-right party since World War Two and is currently polling just a few percentage points behind the Greens and the ruling Social Democrats (SPD). "We have seen that the whole discussion about extreme right tendencies has not hurt the AfD," said Guellner.
[1/2] German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock speaks during a joint press conference with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang (not pictured) at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China, April 14, 2023. Suo Takekuma/Pool via REUTERS/File PhotoBERLIN, April 19 (Reuters) - German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Wednesday described parts of her recent trip to China as "more than shocking" and said Beijing was increasingly becoming a systemic rival more than a trade partner and competitor. Beijing in turn asked Germany to support Taiwan's "reunification" and said China and Germany were not adversaries but partners. Speaking to the German Bundestag (lower house of parliament) on Wednesday about her China trip, Baerbock said "some of it was really more than shocking". China is Germany's largest trading partner, said Baerbock, but this did not mean Beijing was also Germany's most important trading partner.
[1/5] A demonstrator takes part in a protest against the shut down of the last three German nuclear power plants, in Berlin, Germany, April 15, 2023. An estimated 50,000 protesters in Germany formed a 45-kilometre long (27-mile) human chain after the Fukushima disaster from Stuttgart to the Neckarwestheim Nuclear Power Plant. One of the long-running movement's early successes came in the 1970s when it managed to get plans for a nuclear plant in Wyhl in western Germany overturned. It was a Greens-coalition government that introduced the country's first nuclear phase-out law in 2002. "The nuclear phase-out is a Greens project ... and all parties have practically adopted it," said Rainer Klute, head of pro-nuclear non-profit association Nuklearia.
[1/5] A general view shows the Neckarwestheim nuclear power plant, as Germany shuts down its last nuclear power plants in Neckarwestheim, Germany, April 14, 2023. Following years of prevaricating, Germany pledged to quit nuclear power definitively after Japan's 2011 Fukushima disaster sent radiation spewing into the air and terrifying the world. Germany's commercial nuclear sector began with the commissioning of the Kahl reactor in 1961: eagerly promoted by politicians but met with scepticism by companies. With the end of the atomic power era, Germany has to find a permanent repository for around 1,900 highly radioactive casks of nuclear waste by 2031. The government also acknowledges that safety issues remain given that neighbours France and Switzerland still depend heavily on nuclear power.
A DB spokesperson told Reuters that under current IT security legislation it did not have to run network components by Germany's cybersecurity office, the BSI, unlike public telecoms network operators. A BSI spokesperson said it was not aware of any law that determined the DB IT systems as "critical components". A Huawei spokesperson said the firm would never harm any nation or individual. The December contract with Deutsche Telekom Business Solutions, a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom, is for Huawei tech like switches and routers. A government source said it had detected some operators had already built in Huawei critical components without waiting for a BSI green light and could be required to replace those.
The Perils of Premature Negotiation Over Ukraine
  + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Michael Kimmage | Hanna Notte | ) www.wsj.com   time to read: +1 min
One year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the engines of diplomacy are revving up. France, Germany and the United Kingdom have recently floated the idea of giving Ukraine a security guarantee. The Biden administration has repeatedly pledged to support Ukraine for “as long as it takes.” But Washington isn’t free from constraints. There is a limit to the money and materiel the U.S. can send to Ukraine. Absent the decisive defeat of Russia or Ukraine, the war will have to end with a negotiated settlement.
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