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Is this the dirtiest campaign ever?

2021-08-12T15:38:53.736Z


Who is behind the campaign against the Greens. How Germany betrays the girls of Afghanistan. And why unvaccinated guests could soon cause stress in restaurants. That is the situation on Thursday evening.


1.

Wrong greens

Enlarge image

Anti-Green poster (in Cologne)

Photo: Oliver Berg / dpa

For a few days

now

,

large posters have

been hanging in more than 50 cities

, which on a cursory glance look like

green advertising

, but actually

create a

mood against the party

: »Bans«, »Ecoterror«, »# GrünerMist2021«. The sunflowers depicted hang their heads. Behind the action is a Hamburg company called Conservare Communication GmbH, whose managing director David Bendels is at an association that supported the AfD in earlier election campaigns. Bendels is silent about his sponsors. But the AfD has nothing to do with it.

The Greens speak of a dirt campaign.

In fact, it is unusual in election campaigns in Germany to attack political opponents in such an aggressive manner.

SPD leader Saskia Esken and her deputy Kevin Kühnert expressed their solidarity with the Greens today and spread a green-red Twitter tile with the inscription "Separated in colors, united against the law in the matter."

In the USA "negative campaigning" is part of the business

, in Germany, on the other hand, the parties tend to rely more on feel-good images of their own people.

When the SPD recently published a somewhat rougher video against the opponent Armin Laschet, the outrage was great.

SPD top candidate Olaf Scholz distanced himself from the work.

As a journalist you are happy about Remmidemmi in the election campaign. But the reluctance of the parties is, of course, much smarter. Whoever beats in on his opponent does not win his audience, but scares them off. But only a minority of voters would entrust the country to riot thugs.

When

Federal Chancellor Willy Brandt

fought for his re-election in the autumn of 1972, things were much tougher than today. It was said that Brandt was a drunkard, an adulterer, even a murderer. The Junge Union distributed stickers with the words "Willy Weinbrand", next to a Brandt portrait with a cognac glass. A CDU-affiliated citizens' initiative headlined: "The SPD, the party that is most willing to divorce in Germany". In the town of Krefeld, where I was born, CDU members circulated copies of a letter according to which Brandt, alias Herbert Frahm, stabbed an SA man from behind with a jackknife in January 1933. It had long been clear that the letter was about the lying story of a mentally confused person. SPIEGEL reported on the campaigns against Brandt in a cover story at the time.

Incidentally, Brandt got 45.8 percent of the vote in the subsequent election.

To this day, it is the greatest election success in the history of the SPD.

  • Read more here: Greens oppose poster campaigns

2.

The misery of German foreign policy

The

West has run away

in

Afghanistan

.

Now the city of Kunduz, which was once controlled by the Bundeswehr, has largely fallen to the Taliban.

The Afghans who trusted in Germany, the girls who were allowed to attend school under the protection of German soldiers, must feel betrayed.

Minister

Heiko Maas

summed up the whole misery of German foreign policy when he threatened the Islamists this morning in the morning magazine that they would cut their development aid.

"We will not give a cent more to Afghanistan if the Taliban take over this country completely, introduce Sharia law and this country becomes a caliphate."

Well, the Taliban's knees will shake with fear.

Enlarge image

A woman who fled from the north to a makeshift camp in Kabul weeps for her dead son

Photo: Paula Bronstein / Getty Images

Should we

come to the aid of

the

allies of the Afghan army against the Taliban

again, as the CDU foreign politician Norbert Roettgen demands?

My colleague Mathieu von Rohr wrote down why a military mission is unrealistic, but why the western troops still have a task: They have to force peace negotiations.

But how can the Taliban be forced to the negotiating table?

Mathieu writes that international troops would have to pull a protective wall around Kabul, the capital and the surrounding provinces, from the air and also on the ground.

They would have to put a credible deterrent in front of the Taliban that would make a march through in three or twelve months impossible.

"The West failed in Afghanistan, nothing will change that," writes Mathieu.

"The only question is whether he will manage to fail at least in a way that will keep Afghanistan alive with hope of peace."

  • Read the comment here: Protect Kabul!

3. One pizza with a nose stick, please

Unvaccinated people

will soon only be allowed to take a

privately paid test

in hotels, restaurants, to the hairdresser's or in fitness studios.

At an estimated 15 to 20 euros per test.

That won't lift the mood.

Who is telling the customer?

Businesses fear not only losses, but also unpleasant encounters.

My colleagues Michael Kröger, Hannah Krolle and Maria Marquart asked around at the companies.

Enlarge image

Employee in the catering industry

Photo: Ralph Peters / imago images

Marc Breckwoldt, managing director of the Ryf hairdressing chain, for example, says:

"The demand will collapse."

Peer Petersen, head of the restaurant chain operator Mr. Jones, predicts: That creates stress for the guests.

"What should we do if a family is at the door and one of them does not have their proof with them?" The pizzeria chain L'Osteria has announced that it is currently keeping a few test sets ready for guests.

And so the nose stick is served in front of the pizza.

  • You can find all the voices here: Stress with the guests is inevitable

(Would you like to have the "Situation in the evening" conveniently delivered to your inbox by email? Here you can order the daily briefing as a newsletter.)

What else is important today

  • Surprise candidate should challenge Prime Minister Günther:

    Schleswig-Holstein will elect a new state parliament next year.

    With the Social Democrats, Midyatli was the favorite for the top candidate.

    But according to SPIEGEL information, things turn out differently.

  • Bahn warns of full trains on Friday:

    After the end of the strike of the train drivers' union GDL, all trains should run normally again, promises the Deutsche Bahn.

    Nevertheless, travelers should not expect a relaxed journey.

  • Crypto hackers give back part of their booty:

    Is there still good in people after all?

    Hackers who stole more than 600 million euros from a cryptocurrency company are now apparently trying to return their loot.

My favorite story today: Until the end of the shift

Dentist?

A dream job

.

One should believe.

In the past, even the job of the dentist's wife was associated with recognition and social prestige, as you can see on television advertising.

But the times are obviously over.

A 27 year old assistant dentist from North Rhine-Westphalia, let's call her Ida, told my colleague Florian Gontek how things really work.

About her studies, she says: "In the laboratory we cried every day - out of desperation, out of weakness." About her first job: "Apart from sucking off saliva and sweeping the floor, I didn't do much."

And their starting salary of 2000 euros gross doesn't sound like a Porsche, Rolex or private yacht.

The only thing that helps is gritting your teeth together.

  • Read the full story here: "Apart from sucking off saliva and sweeping the floor, I did little"

What we recommend today at SPIEGEL +

  • "There are worse fates than being traded for this office":

    There will be no Bavaria as Chancellor anytime soon.

    But a Bavarian as Federal President?

    CSU politician Ilse Aigner on her future, the tired election campaign and the CDU's fear of Markus Söder.

  • "German cities are being left behind":

    We should go on the "street diet" and replace petrol stations with community gardens, says Stefan Carsten.

    He examined what was going wrong in Germany - and which cities could serve as role models.

  • Anyone who parks money in Turkey should now be careful:

    Turkish banks will shortly be delivering account data to the German tax authorities, thousands will have to tremble.

    For whom it is now tight - and what threatens tax evaders: the overview.

Which is less important today

  • Gold in the mouth

    : The

    Japanese softball Olympian Miu Goto

    , 20, receives a new gold medal.

    You didn't want to put the old one on her - she was bitten.

    The mayor of her hometown had put her between his teeth at a reception.

    The pictures caused indignation in Japan.

    At the Olympics, the athlete had to put on her medal herself for corona reasons, then a mayor simply bite into it.

    Yuki Ota, 35, Japan's first Olympic fencing champion, said: "I find this incredible."

Typo of the day

, corrected in the meantime: "Accordingly, songs that promote superstition or cults are also taboo."

Cartoon of the day:

train cancellation

And tonight?

Enlarge image

Stephen King

Photo: Lou Rocco / Walt Disney Television via Getty Images

Stephen King

wrote his best novel in years. This is the verdict of my colleague Marcus Müntefering about

"Billy Summers"

, a 720-page crime thriller that was also published in German this week. King's novel hero is a

contract killer

that will kill a villain. While he waits for his opportunity, he becomes part of the small town community, experiences an America of the decent - until everything turns out differently and Billy gets to Colorado, in a mountain hut with a view of a burned down hotel. Fans know which one is meant. The novel is a "classic Stephen King, but without ghosts, vampires or monsters," says Marcus: "Or rather, the real monsters, it turns out, are people."

I wish you an exciting evening.

Sincerely,


Alexander Neubacher

Here you can order the "Lage am Abend" by email.

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2021-08-12

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