Today it is about the planned meeting between the Belarusian and Russian presidents on the Ryanair affair, about the still acute shortage of vaccines - and about new details in the Wirecard scandal.
Visit to the protector
In international politics it is sometimes like a scuffle in the schoolyard. If someone is in trouble, he runs to his big brother and begs for help. This is also the case with the Belarusian
dictator Alexander Lukashenko
, who comes under pressure in the affair surrounding the hijacked Ryanair plane. Lukashenko plans to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi on the Black Sea today.
It is a real crisis talk:
The new sanctions of the West against his regime are affecting Lukashenko, he obviously hopes for further political, economic and moral
support from Putin.
The Russian shouldn't mind, he already counts Belarus among his natural sphere of influence.
He also likes it when he is allowed to give the big brother.
With this, Putin can demonstrate his power internally and externally.
Perhaps he will also use the meeting to let Lukashenko feel once more who is in charge in this relationship.
Enlarge image
Alexander Lukashenko, Vladimir Putin
Photo: - / dpa
Nonetheless, the question arises as to what will happen in the relationship between Belarus and Russia.
The
Lithuanian Foreign Minister
Gabrielius
Landsbergis
, pointed at the sidelines of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Lisbon on Russia Belarus
annex soon
could.
He spoke of a corresponding cooperation between Lukashenko and Putin.
He compared Russia's actions with the annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea.
Other participants in the ministerial meeting were reluctant to make such assumptions.
Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said: "You can see it that way, but you don't have to see it that way."
Lithuania's Deputy Foreign Minister on the Protassevich case: "Belarus is a new North Korea"
EU authority decides on the approval of child vaccinations
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Jens Spahn
Photo: Markus Schreiber / AP
Another chapter is added today to the apparently endless saga "When is who is vaccinated in Germany?"
The
EU Medicines Agency
Ema
wants to decide whether it will also approve the vaccine from Biontech-Pfizer, which has previously been approved for ages 16 and over, for 12 to 15 year olds.
It is widely expected that the agency will give the green light.
But that does not mean that every child can be vaccinated after June 7th after the vaccination priority has been lifted. Because what is still missing is sufficient vaccine. There will also be no special vaccination campaign for the children.
Chancellor Angela Merkel
(CDU) said after the vaccination summit that even after June 7th, it would not be possible to make an offer to everyone. "We don't have any additional vaccines for this," said Berlin's Governing Mayor Michael Müller (SPD).
Once again,
the actual failure of German politics in this crisis
becomes
clear: Although the
Biontech vaccine was
probably the best and safest product developed in Germany, Chancellor Merkel and her responsible minister, Jens Spahn, failed
to order
enough vaccine doses
quickly enough
. Instead, they left the task to a completely overwhelmed EU bureaucracy, which allowed itself to be duped by the Americans for orders.
For comparison:
after the FDA approved the Pfizer Biontech vaccine for 12 to 15 year olds in the USA on May 12, teenagers and their parents were able to go to a pharmacy or any other pharmacy almost anywhere with their parents the next day Go to the vaccination center and were vaccinated after a few minutes, just like all adults.
It is still like this: there is no waiting and no big debates, but finally many happy faces again among children and parents.
Dispute over child vaccinations: resentment against Spahn
Indications of the Wirecard scandal leaked
Enlarge image
Wirecard logo
Photo: LUKAS BARTH-TUTTAS / EPA-EFE / REX / Shutterstock
It is one of the biggest financial scandals in the history of the Federal Republic, now new details are coming to light. The
Munich public prosecutor's office criticizes serious failures
in the supervision of the Wirecard group. The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), which is responsible for combating money laundering in Germany, reached the prosecutors too late.
Commerzbank
had already
submitted an extensive suspicious transaction report to the FIU
on February 26, 2019
: the bankers had identified 345 conspicuous cash flows at Wirecard, dubious transactions worth more than 350 million euros. As it turns out today, the clues led to the heart of
fraud in
the billions:
Circular business, dubious company acquisitions, breach of trust
- Commerzbank provided valuable
clues
for everything investigators are now dealing with. But the information got stuck.
The FIU only forwarded the information from the bank and numerous reports from other institutes to the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office on July 28, 2020 with an analysis report, which it finally sent to the public prosecutor's office. The
public prosecutor told SPIEGEL that the public prosecutor's office told SPIEGEL in response to questions about the suspicious
activity reports that "the FIU does not want to be responsible for the fact that the
very late forwarding of the information
from Commerzbank has
caused
investors and damaged banks
to suffer
financial losses, some of them very high." The fact is, “that the reports, especially those from Commerzbank, are
largely assessed
by the public prosecutor
as very valuable
become".
The FIU stated that even before the scandal became known, it had "immediately forwarded all relevant issues that were dealt with in its jurisdiction to the competent law enforcement authority."
Suspicious activity report from Commerzbank: early indications of the Wirecard scandal seeped away in the authorities' swamp
Winner of the day ...
Enlarge image
Karine Jean-Pierre
Photo: Evan Vucci / AP
... is
Karine Jean-Pierre
.
She held the press briefing in the White House for the first time as spokeswoman for the US President.
It was a historic moment, because Jean-Pierre is only the second black woman in this role.
Most recently, President George Bush Sr. had a black spokeswoman who also held briefings.
But that was 30 years ago.
You have to know: US President Joe Biden had already promised before taking office that he would put together as diverse a team as possible that would represent modern America in all its diversity.
While practically only whites worked in the White House under Biden's predecessor Donald Trump, there are now many blacks there too.
And: The communication team consists only of women.
The latest news from the night
UN investigates Belarusian air piracy:
The United Nations speak of "serious concern" - and are investigating the forced Ryanair landing in Minsk.
Meanwhile, Olaf Scholz is urging Russia to influence Belarus at today's summit
Russia refuses European airlines flights to Moscow:
European planes are supposed to avoid the airspace over Belarus after the Protassevich fall: For alternative routes to Moscow, however, they need Russia's approval - and that is sometimes not available
US Investigators Investigate Possible Interference
Attempts From
Ukraine:
Have Ukrainian Officials Tried To Influence The 2020 US Election In Donald Trump's Favor?
Investigators in the USA are apparently investigating this question.
According to a report, Rudolph Giuliani also plays a role in this
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If a Syrian comes to Rotenburg (Wümme): You German naysayers and your "nice weekend"
I wish you a good start to the day.
Your Roland Nelles
