The infantilization of the election campaign
You have surely heard this earth-shattering news long ago:
Armin Laschet looked
bad
in an interview with two children
.
This is usually also said about Laschet interviews conducted by adults. But this time even more. At least on Twitter. The two children had asked Laschet for a ProSieben format, among other things, whether Hans-Georg Maaßen was a Nazi. Laschet apparently thought the question was stupid, what you could see in him. Some drew the conclusion that Laschet couldn't even curb his aggression towards children. Many people are now giving their aggressions to Laschet completely uninhibited.
The CDU candidate was obviously far worse briefed than the children for this format. The fact that Laschet either works with moderately motivated or moderately talented consultants (or does not feel a great inclination to seek optimal advice) is not a completely new finding. Whereby one should also keep in mind: No child who was brought up halfway normally is seriously interested in the CDU direct candidate from South Thuringia. If children are in the mood for horror, they are more likely to stick with Hui Buh than with Hans-Georg.
Anyone who spent the whole of yesterday on Twitter could actually get the impression that
Laschet's children's interview was the topic of the day.
An election campaign, which for many mainly consists of tweeting around video snippets in which Armin Laschet looks as dumb as possible, shows one thing above all: The infantilisation of the political debate has made decisive progress.
Failed Laschet appearance: do child reporters really ask the better questions?
Triple knowledge and double Lindner
The leadership of the Free Democrats will try a communicative feat of the highest valuation category this morning.
It could go down in history as a triple knowledge.
Or at least as a double Lindner.
At a press conference in the Berlin FDP headquarters,
party leader Christian Lindner and his general secretary Volker Wissing
want to
present
a so-called
election call
. The trick will be to tell as much negative as possible about a traffic light alliance with the SPD and the Greens after the election, so that this option seems completely unrealistic (so as not to scare off conservative swing voters who otherwise tend to join the Union) . And in the end, nevertheless, such a traffic light alliance cannot be completely ruled out.
That is the fine art of dialing code communication.
If the two top liberals had needed visual lessons in this discipline, they could have oriented themselves to Olaf Scholz and Annalena Baerbock.
They have been trying a similar feat for weeks.
In dealing with the left.
Election campaign for public finances: The black and yellow debt error
Development aid for the Taliban?
In her State of the European Union address yesterday, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced
an additional 100 million euros to support Afghans in need.
"We must do everything we can to avert the real danger of a major famine and humanitarian catastrophe," said von der Leyen.
Foreign Minister Heiko Maas had previously promised 100 million euros in aid at the support conference for Afghanistan in Geneva.
That sounds nice and generous at first.
But are the many millions really money well invested?
Or are they primarily supporting the radical Islamic Taliban in their attempt to preserve a piece of the Middle Ages in the 21st century - including chopping off their hands?
It is certain that it will not be possible to precisely monitor the use of the aid payments on site.
It may also be that one or the other dollar will not reach the needy citizens of the battered country.
But every penny that helps save people from starvation is well invested.
And as for the Taliban: If Germany, Europe and the rest of the West had seriously wanted to prevent their return to power, they should have done so during the 20-year occupation of the country.
In this context, it would be particularly cynical to refuse humanitarian services now because of the Taliban.
SPD politician Müntefering on Afghanistan: "The pictures of veiled women in universities shake me"
Winner of the day ...
... is
NATO
. It does not appear to have to dissolve for the time being - even if Germany is governed by a left-wing alliance in the future. Gregor Gysi, foreign policy spokesman for the Left, was my guest at the top SPIEGEL meeting yesterday. The dissolution of NATO is more of a vision of his party, he relativized. Nothing will happen in the next legislative period, so you can rest assured. SPD chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz had called for a commitment by the left to NATO as a prerequisite for forming a government. Gysi advocated a government coalition made up of the SPD, the Greens and the Left. However, he considered it less realistic that he himself could become foreign minister in such an alliance.
He talked openly about the conversations with his father Klaus Gysi, who was a big figure in the GDR as minister of culture and who was also active for the Stasi as "IM Kurt".
The right way to deal with the father's vita, according to Gysi, was taught by Helmut Kohl of all people.
At the end of our conversation, Gysi, who once founded the Left together with Oskar Lafontaine, should complete the beginning of the sentence: "If one day I end up as a quasi-lateral thinker like Oskar Lafontaine ..." Gysi went on without hesitation: "Then I hope that I am in a state that I no longer notice it myself. "
The latest news from the night
Nuclear submarines for Australia - as a signal to China:
The US government wants to share "extremely confidential" technology so that Australia can acquire nuclear-powered submarines for the first time.
This is part of a new security pact for the Indo-Pacific region.
China responded immediately
French soldiers apparently kill the leaders of
the ISG's
Sahara offshoot:
President Emmanuel Macron speaks of a "success in our fight against terrorist groups in the Sahel zone": French soldiers killed the ISGS leader Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi
Prominent US attorney commissioned his own assassination:
It's about drugs, fatal boat trips and shots when changing tires: The Alex Murdaugh case has been preoccupying the US authorities for months.
Now the lawyer has admitted a murder plot - the target was himself
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I wish you a happy Thursday
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