Today we are dealing with the advances of the Minister of Defense, with the ideas of Ursula von der Leyen and the taboo of the German language.
AKK on the gas, Scholz on the brake
Ralph Orlowski / REUTERS
This article is from the SPIEGEL
Issue 45/2019
freedom of speech
About real and perceived boundaries of the wordDigital Edition | Printed issues | Apps | SUBSCRIPTION
Federal Defense Minister and CDU chief Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer seems to be finally fed up with the state of permanent self-defense , the quarrel with recalcitrant Thuringians, the worst pension reforms and meager poll numbers.
Today, she meets US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Berlin, and just in time, the Minister yesterday in a defense policy keynote address a few pegs: Germany must take its "role of power," said AKK, and be ready, "together with our allies Exploiting the spectrum of military means if necessary ".
Pompeo likes to hear that, and today he has four opportunities to praise Kramp-Karrenbauer: in a speech at the Körber Foundation, in meetings with Chancellor Angela Merkel and Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier - and in a meeting with Finance Minister Olaf Scholz .
Alas, Scholz. Surely, Pompeo's advisors have long since translated the SPIEGEL message, in which my colleague Matthias Gebauer reported yesterday that the Finance Minister has canceled the two-percent defense spending target from GroKo's mid-term review , against the wishes of Kramp-Karrenbauer. No money means no military "power of design" for Germany. For the time being, the AKK offensive has stalled again.
- Dispute over defense spending: Scholz sabotages Kramp-Karrenbauer
Thinking about Germany
Paul Zinken / DPA
The whole week was marked by the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, and in Berlin joy and suffering are particularly close to each other these days: The exciting and moving commemorative events go hand in hand with a jubilee traffic chaos in the government district, mainly due to the closed traffic route "Road of June 17" is generated.
This morning, the Bundestag will first discuss the peaceful revolution. A good opportunity for West German AfD politicians to explain once more, as in the recent state election campaigns, how the turnaround should be best completed for the East Germans.
The most entertaining event of the day seems to me to take place today at noon in the State Representation Schleswig-Holstein. There a round of gentlemen discusses, mostly former journalists, as witnessed at that time the legendary press conference of Günter Schabowski.
Politically much more relevant, albeit unrelated to the anniversary, but in the evening will be the appearance of the future EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in front of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, where she wants to outline her visions for Europe. Even Angela Merkel will listen, although both women actually meet during the day for discussion and press conference. It shows what weight the Chancellor gives to her ex-minister. Whether she takes Kramp-Karrenbauer equally important?
- Podcast "Stimmenfang": That's how the "Generation Mauerfall" looks at Germany
May one still say "Gypsies"?
Florian Schuh / picture alliance / dpa
In elementary school we used to sing the song "Lustig ist die Gigeunerleben". Since then, I have learned that the ugly word is taboo, one should speak of Sinti and Roma. But thanks to Bundestag Vice- President Wolfgang Kubicki , I now know that there are actually Sinti who find that the word Gypsy is "totally wrongly banished". This was written by the "Sinti Allianz Deutschland eV" in a letter to Kubicki, which the FDP man received after an anti-gypsy debate in the Bundestag, where in the spring just this question was disputed.
The letter states: "It is not the collective name Gypsies that is perceived as discriminatory and offensive, but the exclusionary term 'Sinti and Roma'." It would ban "12 million Gypsies of different origins" who did not feel that they belonged to them.
Anyone who researches a bit on the subject finds that this name dispute for a while between the seemingly rather small Sinti alliance and other ethnic groups. Personally, for safety's sake, I will stay with my embargo of the word "gypsy".
Who knows, maybe the topic will come up today when Federal President Steinmeier performs at a memorial service for the Sinti and Roma murdered in the Nazi dictatorship.
And as luck would have it, on spiegel.de you will find a new column written by our guest author Thomas Fischer , formerly a judge at the Federal Court of Justice, who writes about police crime statistics on discrimination against Sinti and Roma:
- Discrimination against Sinti and Roma: A senator, his police and 86 tricksters
Loser of the day ...
FILIP SINGER / EPA-EFE / REX
... is the bourgeoisie of the AfD. Today will again be a hard day for all who still see a bourgeois force in the alternative for Germany. My colleague Ann-Katrin Müller has revealed another piece of the puzzle in the right-wing extremist past of AfD Federal Executive Andreas Kalbitz.
We will publish the research on spiegel.de starting today at noon. So much beforehand betrayed: It will be a journey in Kalbitz 'years in the military. And the findings should not necessarily strengthen the confidence in the defense mechanisms of the Bundeswehr against right-wing activities.
The compact news overview in the morning: current and opinionated. Every morning (weekdays) at 6 o'clock. Order directly here:
The latest news from the night
- US diplomat charges Serious allegation against Rudolph Giuliani : At his Ukrainian-speaking hearing, George Kent accused Trump's private lawyer of massively cracking down on the US Ambassador to Kiev
- Michael Bloomberg wants to enter the US election campaign, according to the New York Times : The Democrats are not well placed to beat Donald Trump in the 2020 election, says former mayor of New York. Now he obviously plans to register himself as a candidate
- Anton Hofreiter criticizes the Minister of Defense for her plan of a National Security Council : Kramp-Karrenbauer row in recent weeks "daring, unthinkable and age-old ideas together," says the Green Party leader
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I wish you a pleasant Friday.
Your Melanie Amann
