1.
The current policy of quarrels and procrastination
What can i know
What should I do?
What can I hope for?
This beautiful rule of three does not come from Angela Merkel, but from Immanuel Kant, but it obviously marks the area of tension in which the Federal Chancellor and the country leaders are discussing further measures to contain the corona pandemic today.
Much has been reported in advance about the astonishingly large differences in the assessment of the level of knowledge and the measures now required.
Regarding the question "What should I do?", The consultation round apparently agreed that doctors in private practice should be involved in the corona vaccination campaign from the end of March or beginning of April.
This is how one wants to involve the medical practices in the fight against the coronavirus.
While the Germans are waiting that day for the message about how they will be allowed to celebrate Easter this year, my colleague Jonas Schaible, on the question "What can I hope for?" Safety railing.
If we don't, then we don't just tear down what we have worked for in tough weeks.
Even more: Then we will run into a disaster. "It is guaranteed that Merkel formulated the sentence in today's negotiations:" Spring 2021 should be different from spring 2020. "
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A nurse takes care of a corona patient in the intensive care unit of a hospital in Ludwigsburg
Photo: Sebastian Gollnow / dpa
It is becoming apparent that rapid corona tests will finally be used on a wide scale in Germany in the next few weeks.
My colleague Katherine Rydlink describes what such rapid tests can contribute to a political course that relies on cautious business openings, for example.
I asked Katherine why, in your opinion, it is the reason that Germany, compared to other countries, is very late in adopting the massive use of voluntary self-tests - a policy of hesitation, in which our columnist Sascha Lobo is at work with an "almost malicious ignorance" sees.
"My friends in Austria have been able to get tested on test streets free of charge for months," says Katherine, who is part of the SPIEGEL health team.
"Germany has long lagged behind with a well thought-out testing strategy and is not using the available tests as tools to contain the pandemic wisely." If more people test themselves more frequently, then there is hope that at least some of the outbreak sources can be stopped.
Katherine does not believe that more self-tests lead to greater recklessness on the part of people: "My friends in Austria are still cautious, mainly meet outside and at a distance."
Read the full story here: The rapid tests are coming - what you need to know now
2.
The economic miracle
The poets, who are seldom embarrassed about beautiful pictures, like to speak of “full order books” among business experts.
In fact, industry in Germany and other major euro countries appears to be thriving despite the current lockdown restrictions.
My colleagues Benjamin Bidder, Simon Book and Gerald Traufetter describe the almost uncanny strength of the German economy in these times of crisis.
Never before have so many cars been registered in a December as last.
The VW car people report a whopping 8.8 billion euros in profit.
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Often criticized (rightly), but currently the backbone of the German economy: the car manufacturers
Photo: Germann / Eibner-Pressefoto / picture alliance
What has changed?
"The fear is gone and - unlike a year ago - China is back," report the colleagues.
While the first shutdown last year triggered panic and factory lines were halted due to interrupted deliveries, especially from China, large parts of the economy seem to be functioning splendidly in the current shutdown.
There are hardly any declines in freight traffic, columns of trucks push their way across the highways, German factories are at full capacity.
My colleague Benjamin Bidder says: “The growth data are amazing: Sure, the catering and retail sectors are suffering brutally from the second shutdown.
But the rest of the economy is purring with amazing routine through the pandemic. "
Read the full story here: The uncanny strength of the German economy
3.
Monitored enemies of democracy
That a democracy, if it wants to survive, should be "able to defend itself" is one of the basic political truths that fortunately all schoolchildren in Germany are taught today.
Specifically, the practice of military capability sometimes consists of a 1000-page report by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
The report I am referring to lists evidence of alleged violations by AfD politicians against the free democratic basic order.
And it is the basis for the fact that the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, although not officially, has now internally declared the entire AfD to be a "suspected case" of right-wing extremism.
Icon: enlargePhoto:
Michael Kappeler / picture alliance / dpa
The protection of the constitution refer to speeches and statements by functionaries at all party levels of the AfD, which revealed right-wing extremist tendencies, as well as to links of the party to right-wing extremist organizations such as the "Identitarian Movement".
The AfD wants to take legal action against the nationwide classification as a "suspected case".
My colleague Ann-Katrin Müller and my colleague Severin Weiland write in their analysis of the decision: "The measure taken by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution to carry out the internal classification is possibly a burden for the AfD."
"In fact, the move comes not just six months before the federal elections, but around two weeks before the state elections in Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate, where the AfD sits in both parliaments and, according to surveys, can hope for a return."
Many politicians from other German parties reacted with relief.
The SPD General Secretary Lars Klingbeil told SPIEGEL that the AfD stood for brutalizing political discourse, denied German history and wanted to silence the sensible.
“It lives from the fact that there is hatred and agitation that divide our society.
The AfD is rightly a case for the protection of the constitution. "
Read the whole story here: The Office for the Protection of the Constitution is now observing the AfD nationwide
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What else is important today
Fidesz MPs leave the EPP Group in the EU Parliament:
Dramatic escalation in the dispute between Viktor Orbán and the European People's Party: Hungary's head of government withdraws his Fidesz MPs from the EPP Group in the EU Parliament.
Germany has one of the largest gender pay gaps in Europe:
the wage differences between the sexes remain enormous in this country.
According to a study, Germany ranks third from last in a European comparison.
Fler has to pay 10,000 euros - suspended prison sentence:
The public prosecutor had demanded more than a year in prison for the rapper Fler for various offenses.
A Berlin court sentenced the musician to a fine and suspended sentence.
What we recommend today at SPIEGEL +
Where AstraZeneca is already fully booked:
The British-Swedish vaccine is unused in refrigerators in many German vaccination centers.
In the Swabian town of Tübingen it is different and the demand exceeds the supply.
That leads to sometimes disturbing scenes.
"Trump felt the need to please authoritarian leaders in particular":
Has the Turkish Halkbank helped Iran circumvent US sanctions?
President Erdoğan and Donald Trump kept talking about the case.
John Bolton caught the secret agreements up close.
"Excesses bloom in the single-family housing
estates
":
Turit Fröbe deals with German architecture - and its abysses.
Here she says how a good building sin differs from a bad one and in which city she has not yet discovered a single one.
Which is not so important today
Icon: enlargePhoto: ROBYN BECK / AFP
Happy vaccinated country queen.
Dolly Parton, 75, is thrilled that she has finally been vaccinated.
The American singer and actress, who became famous with songs like "It's All Wrong, But It's Alright", had donated a million dollars for the development of a vaccine and now signed up for a vaccine from the US manufacturer Moderna poke in the right upper arm.
She posted a video and wrote on Twitter: "Dolly receives a dose of her own medicine"
Typo of the day
, corrected in the meantime: "As a result, City seemed to despair of its chances - at least for a short time."
Cartoon of the day:
Perspectives
Icon: enlarge Photo: Thomas Plaßmann
And tonight?
In memory of the great jazz musician Chris Barber, who became famous in the 1950s and died yesterday at the age of 90 in the British town of Welwyn Garden City, I recommend listening to some barber hits like Doing 'My Time for an elegant end to the day «.
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Chris Barber (1930-2021)
Photo: Heritage Images / Getty Images
My cultural colleague Christian Buß, who knows a lot more about jazz than I do, says: »My father and his buddies were crazy about barber and his overheated trombone jazz.
His music was a freaking out soundtrack, which brought together rock'n'rollers and educated jazz bastards in this country in the 1950s. "Chris Barber was also an important man in terms of music history, believes Christian:" He was one of the musicians who started the now largely forgotten genre of skiffle music as the first major European youth movement - and led later British beat stars like the Beatles to rock music.
Good guy. "
Influential band leader: jazz musician Chris Barber is dead
A lovely evening.
Sincerely
yours, Wolfgang Höbel
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