today we are dealing with the dispute over the Grundrente, a beautiful and terrible theorem of the AfD, with AKK's clumsiness and the timeliness of Daniel Jonah Goldhagen.
Political beauty does not always have to be
Ralf Hirschberger / DPA
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Issue 43/2019
The capitulation of the West
How the victory of despots in Syria destroys a people, strengthens IS and threatens EuropeDigital Edition | Printed Edition | Apps | SUBSCRIPTION
Need is not a nice word. Nobody wants to be labeled needy. Therefore, on the one hand understandable that the SPD would like to enforce a basic pension without means test. On the other hand, it is not clear why people who are not in need should receive additional benefits. In this field of tension, the dispute is about the basic pension. The SPD wants to let them write without a means test in the code, the union with.
This conflict already existed in other grand coalitions than this one. Today, the relevant working group of the Federal Government meets , and it is unlikely that one will agree. Quarrels are part of politics, even disputes within a government, but strife over such a long time is political failure. The topic is complex enough to satisfy both sides in a twisted compromise. That would not be a nice solution, but it would be one. That's enough after such a long fight.
- Grand Coalition: Why is the mid-term review postponed?
"Compassionate and dignified"
Daniel Reinhardt / DPA
Yesterday I read as part of a research in the election program of the AfD for the general election 2017 and stumbled over a sentence. That is, I stumbled over many sentences, but one really disturbed me. This: "The AfD is committed to a compassionate and dignified treatment of all animals."
In itself, this is a good sentence. His horror unfolds by the fact that one could not exchange a word. It was not true, the party would write: "The AfD is committed to a compassionate and dignified treatment of all people." For some migrant groups, the AfD has less heart than for animals.
- Son of a Nazi criminal on AfD rhetoric: There speaks my father!
The two dimensions of politics
Michael Kappeler / DPA
Every political proposal is considered in two dimensions: does it make sense in the cause? How does he work in the power structure? Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer's suggestion to set up a protection zone in northern Syria makes sense in the first dimension: those who complain that the Americans' withdrawal has left a dangerous power vacuum should themselves be ready to fill it, even with their own soldiers.
Dimension two: To make such a delicate proposal, without previously agreeing with important party friends, coalition partners and allies reveals at least clumsiness, perhaps even ignorance of the practices in the power structure. In dimension two, AKK takes effect on its proposal in dimension one. Too bad.
Really she is traveling in both dimensions today: In Erfurt, she first visits the armed forces base. Then she intervenes for the CDU in the state election campaign in Thuringia.
- Kramp-Karrenbauers Syria push: The practice maneuver
Goldhagen today
Jens Kalaene / DPA
The state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt will deal today with the attack on a synagogue in Halle. I was immediately struck by the concept of "eliminatory anti-Semitism" after the crime. It comes from the book "Hitler's willing executor" by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen , which was published in 1996 in Germany.
Goldhagen's thesis was that Germans, even before Hitler, had developed a hatred of Jews aimed at extinguishing them. Therefore, they were not seduced to the Holocaust, but willing. The book was heavily criticized, I found it convincing. And for the motive of the perpetrator of Halle, there can only be one concept: eliminatory anti-Semitism. He is back.
- AfD and the attack in Halle: Just pretend that nothing had happened
Loser of the day ...
Sven Hoppe / DPA
... is the defense of Bayern Munich. Two goals conceded last night against Olympiacos Piraeus, for the fifth consecutive year, Hernandez lost by injury, Martinez lost by injury, Süle falls out anyway by the summer. Fortunately, there is a Robert Lewandowski, who always meets, so also twice yesterday, which is why the Bayern won despite everything 3: 2.
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I wish you a nice start to the day.
Your Dirk Kurbjuweit