Today we are dealing with Turkey's military strategy, with too many fires, with the danger from paper planes, with dragons and with a glass house.
Circled by Turkey
DPA
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Issue 52/2019
The heroes of the Bible
How much truth is there in the stories of David and Goliath, Solomon and Moses?Digital edition Printed edition Apps | SUBSCRIPTION
Two countries in crisis are crucial for the refugee situation in Europe: Syria and Libya. Turkey is already militarily involved in Syria, and will soon be in Libya. Since yesterday, President Erdogan has had Parliament's permission to send combat troops there.
You don't want to be paranoid, but that sounds like a strategy to put pressure on the EU in a very sensitive place. Turkey can already control immigration to Greece via the Aegean. The refugee boats leave from Libya with the destination Italy, Spain or France.
Turkey may have other interests in Libya. The encirclement of the EU on the issue of refugees should worry us.
- Libya: three wars in one country
Festival and fire
David Young / DPA
Dealing with fire remains a human problem. A police officer was seriously injured in Leipzig on New Year's Eve, among other things by fireworks. More than 30 monkeys were burned in the Krefeld zoo because a sky lantern started a fire. From the New Year's Eve celebrations in Berlin I hear many reports of how aggressively people would have fired their rockets and firecrackers. I too saw a man on Torstrasse who was firing wildly until his little son screamed in ear pain. The man continued.
It's clear that all of this cannot be compared. But if after a few hundred thousand years of dealing with fire, mankind is still unable to handle it reasonably, either out of aggressiveness or negligence, then one would have to think differently about designing New Year's Eve, the great festival of fire ,
- New Year's Eve: Which retailers still sell fireworks - and which do without
Justice and paper plane
Daniel Karmann / DPA
The dpa daily calendar for today is largely empty. I leave the event of the day uncommented, it is announced as follows:
Nuremberg - 10:00 continued process of throwing banned paper planes at a demonstration in front of the Federal Refugee Office. The district court has invited a witness. According to a court spokeswoman, a judgment could then be made. The prosecutor accuses a 50-year-old housewife of violating the Bavarian Assembly Act. As the person responsible for a rally, she is said to have allowed 100 paper planes to be thrown over the fence of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees.
Man and dragon
Jason Bryant / DPA
Over the holidays I used a moderate fever to finally read "The Divine Comedy" by Dante Alighieri. It is one of those books that is always on the shelf and weighs on your conscience. You would have to. Now I have.
In his imagination, Dante finds access to the hereafter and is led to paradise via the inferno (hell) and the purgatory. I will never forget a scene, it takes place in the inferno, where the worst sinners find their punishment. Some are doomed to unite with dragons, in a mixture of mating and merging. Man and dragon merge, are separated, merge again. And forever.
Reading that is sheer horror, even if you subtract the usual hypersensitivity at 38 degrees Celsius. When we think anxiously about the future, it's about illness, job loss or climate change. Merging with dragons was part of the medieval dream. Then we are served quite well.
Winner of the day ...
Hannibal Hanschke / REUTERS
... ... are the architects of 3XN for me. You built a glass cube in front of Berlin Central Station, which is finally finished and spectacularly beautiful. In an environment in which most buildings have windows like embrasures, it exudes freshness, liveliness, optimism. Fortunately, I can see him almost every day.
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The latest news from the night
- Powerful Iranian general killed by U.S. military: Kassim Soleimani was commanding Tehran's Quds brigades. The conflict is likely to escalate further
- Tens of thousands flee from fires in Australia: catastrophic conditions are expected in the south of the country on Saturday. And the prime minister is hostile
- US baseball league blocks players for 81 games: Domingo German had allegedly been assaulted on his girlfriend
The SPIEGEL + recommendations for today
- Psychiatrist on the stress and burnout of politicians: "At some point everyone gets to their knees"
- Crisis of German manufacturers: Once upon a time there was a car country
- Sting on politics and Donald Trump: "I see signs of war"
- Bamberg researcher recreates medieval instruments: the sound of the flute 500 years ago
- A Syrian is coming to Rotenburg (Wümme): goodbye, dear reader
I wish you a nice Friday and a good start to the weekend.
warmly
Yours truly, Dirk Kurbjuweit