The situation in the morning: How Putin manipulates the Germans

Today is about Russia's psychological warfare - it is more successful than its military ones.

Also: The Hamburg public prosecutor's office searches emails from Olaf Scholz.

And: How can Germany's ailing public transport be saved?

Russia's dead, Russia's threats

Some messages have to be seen in relation to each other.

First: Russia has announced that it will suspend the mutual controls on nuclear weapons agreed with the USA as part of the “START” agreement.

Second, six months after Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine began, Russian airlines are dismantling their planes for spare parts - they can no longer buy them because of sanctions.

And: According to estimates by the US Department of Defense, 70,000 to 80,000 people have been killed or injured on the Russian side so far.

An enormous number, even if it cannot be independently verified.

In its war of aggression, Russia undoubtedly wears out enormous amounts of material, but also of soldiers.

What does that mean?

.

The bloody toll that the Russian army pays when it invades the neighboring country is enormous.

It is therefore probably no coincidence that the Russian regime would like to remind the world of its own nuclear arsenal in this situation - by refusing inspection visits and thus raising fears: This cunning communication strategy is already working well, especially in Germany.

Nowhere in Europe is the fear of Russian nuclear weapons so overemphasized as in this country, even by the chancellor's office.

Of course, one must never forget that Russia is a nuclear power – but also not that the use of these weapons is extremely unlikely: the consequences would be incalculable for Putin – both internationally and within his own army and regime.

But the "german angst" works and that should be in the interest of Putin.

Its

is far more successful than its military at the moment: the federal government remains very reluctant to supply weapons that could make a real difference to Ukraine on the battlefield in the coming months.

• New weapons, insidious attacks: how Putin's war in Ukraine is changing 

Hamburg catches up with Olaf Scholz

Chancellor Olaf Scholz 's

.

That doesn't sound good for Scholz.

It happened back in the spring, it only became known now through a report in the »Hamburger Abendblatt«.

It shows that Scholz's Hamburg past - the so-called

- is still haunting him.

The news comes just one day after it became known that more than 200,000 euros were found

in the safe deposit box of prominent Hamburg ex-MP

According to the "Abendblatt", the public prosecutor's office is investigating against the Social Democrat Kahrs and other parties involved because of the initial suspicion of favoritism and aiding and abetting tax evasion.

A

.

It is about the question of whether there was political influence on the tax office in 2016 when it decided to waive a tax reclaim of 47 million euros against the Warburg Bank - and whether there was a connection to the bank's party donations to the SPD.

Scholz himself has stated in the past that he had not interfered in the tax process.

The whole matter is far from over for the SPD.

If she cares about her credibility, she should urgently uncover what has long been known as the »Kahr system«.

• Career of the Hamburg ex-SPD politician: The case of Johannes Kahrs

FBI raids Trump's Florida home

It is quite remarkable that the

last night

.

On his own social media platform Truth Social, the ex-President lamented: "My beautiful home, Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is currently being besieged, stormed and occupied by a large group of FBI agents. .. They even broke into my safe!'

This escalates the

that are underway against Trump: In order for the FBI to be able to get a search warrant, it first had to convince a federal judge of the seriousness of the allegations.

According to the New York Times, the search was related to 15 boxes of secret documents that Trump took with him to Florida as president and initially did not return even after he was voted out.

At the same time, the evidence that Trump had actually tried to bring about a kind of overthrow on January 6, 2021 was growing in the congressional committee of inquiry.

However, his legal problems will hardly prevent Trump from declaring his renewed candidacy for the presidency – quite the contrary.

• Former US President: Trump reports FBI search of his private residence Mar-a-Lago

Public transport in Germany

A Porsche driver and opponent of the speed limit, who defends tax privileges for a company car, describes calls for the continuation of the 9-euro ticket as a "free mentality":

.

Who believes that the Federal Minister of Finance is interested in public transport?

Nevertheless, there are

.

First: Why should such a high subsidy for public transport also benefit high earners and not just the socially disadvantaged?

Second: Public transport in Germany is in such a miserable state, it is grossly underfunded.

The Deutsche Bahn is currently hardly usable: trains are canceled en masse, are hours late and overcrowded.

It would make sense to start by repairing public transport, fundamentally reforming the railways - and then creating inexpensive offers.

For this, however, Federal Minister of Finance Lindner would have to agree to the massive investments required in rails, switches and trains.

• Subsidies in traffic: The expensive free mentality of the company car company 

Compromise on the nuclear deal?

In the middle of an enormously turbulent world, the

recently took place almost unnoticed: in the eye of the storm, in Vienna, the negotiators from Iran, the European Union and the USA spoke about a return to the 2015 treaty, the Donald Trump resigned.

Iran and the US did not speak to each other directly, only through EU diplomats.

Now the negotiations are over, the EU spoke of a very good compromise - and the question now is whether Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei also sees it that way.

He is expected to answer in the next few days or weeks whether he wants to return to an agreement.

Time is running out for this: First, Iran is making progress on its nuclear program, and second, US President Joe Biden may not have the necessary votes for ratification after the midterm elections in November.

Here is the current quiz of the day

The starting question today: Why was the animated film »Lightyear« banned in more than a dozen countries in 2022?

loser of the day...

... is the

.

The ever-new revelations about the behavior of the RBB director Patricia Schlesinger are right for all those who would like to abolish ARD and ZDF.

However, they also prove that it would be in the interests of a strong public service broadcaster to urgently reform it: It is difficult to explain why it has to be divided into principalities with powerful directors and committees, why there have to be 14 state media authorities with their own structures , why as an artistic director you need an expensive company car with a driver.

Why all the small and very small institutions of the ARD, maybe four or five are not enough?

Or could one not even build a powerful German BBC with all the money for the many ARD and ZDF stations?

A single institution with many stations - so that all the fee money flows into the program,

in strong journalism, and not in bloated directorships?

Anyone who believes in fee-financed broadcasting should not leave criticism of the system to the abolitionists - but should take part in a discussion about fundamental reforms.

• Broadcasting Council on Schlesinger's resignation: "Greed eats brains" 

The latest news from the night

• Serena Williams wins first match in 14 months:

  The former tennis world number one wins the first match of the US Open preparatory tournament in Toronto against Spaniard Nuria Parrizas-Dias.

• German consular officer in custody after death of husband in Brazil:

  A German consular officer calls the police in Rio de Janeiro: his partner fell under the influence of alcohol and pills.

  The man is now in custody – on suspicion of murder.

• Supermarket chain in Denmark closes all stores due to hacker attack:

  Suddenly all cash registers failed.

  175 7-Eleven brand stores have closed in Denmark.

  The company announced on Facebook that it had apparently "become the victim of a hacker attack".

The SPIEGEL + recommendations for today

• "It's ambitious, but doable":

  More than 30 companies worldwide promise to develop nuclear fusion reactors.

  They would achieve what the state-funded large-scale research has been failing for decades.

  Two German start-ups are also involved.

• "A dictated peace is not real peace":

  Heidi Tagliavini mediated in conflicts with Russia for decades, including in Georgia.

  Here she explains why she thinks peace talks between Russia and Ukraine are currently hopeless.

• As Better Call Saul Foreshadowed the Trump Era:

  The world is heading towards the final episode of Better Call Saul.

  This is the end of the television era that introduced the criminal as the favorite main character.

  And now? 

• The sound of the sea for breakfast, please:

  Would you like a croissant with a view of the beach?

  Our author takes you to some of the most beautiful campsites along the French coast.

I wish you a good start into the day.

Yours, Mathieu von Rohr