1.
In northern Syria, the terrorist militia "Islamic State" is evidently gaining popularity - also because the West is not caring enough
Will everything get better in the new year in the life of the individual as in world politics? In these days of tightly formulated good intentions and blissfully expressed beautiful hopes, I often have to think of a doctrine of the strict, great poet Gottfried Benn. Benn wrote: "To hope means: to have wrong ideas about life." Many people in the western world seem to want to believe that. My colleagues Daham Alasaad and Maximilian Popp report from the northern Syrian city of Rakka - and have a decidedly different opinion.
Apparently, Islamist strategists are currently recruiting young fighters, especially among the Bedouin tribes around Raqqa. As citizens of the city describe it, the terrorist militia IS is regaining power in the region due to the extensive withdrawal of US troops. It is said that the Islamists collect compulsory taxes from traders, truck drivers, craftsmen and farmers by threatening those unwilling to pay with murder. According to estimates by observers, there are likely to be several thousand IS cadres, some of them heavily armed, in northern Syria. "They hide in caves in the desert and wait until their time comes," the colleagues quote in their text as a smuggler who allegedly supplies the IS fighters with food.
Four years have passed after the expulsion of the IS militiamen who viewed Raqqa as the unofficial capital of their "caliphate". The jihadists harassed, tortured and beheaded dissidents and raped women before being pushed out of Raqqa by Kurds and US forces in autumn 2017. The city is currently governed by an association of predominantly Kurdish fighters and local politicians who - unhindered by their former western allies - probably primarily concern themselves with the interests of the Kurdish minority.
The majority of the citizens of Raqqa are Arabs, many of them apparently perceive the current rulers in the city as occupiers.
Sunnis would find it difficult to get jobs, would be harassed by security forces.
It sounds frightening to me when my colleagues Daham and Maximilian now report that quite a few residents of Raqqa would »wish IS back«.
"For politicians in Europe and the USA, the war against IS is over and the jihadists have been defeated," says Maximilian.
“Unfortunately, it's not that simple.
Many IS fighters are dead or in custody, but our research shows that IS is reorganizing in Syria.
So far, IS cadres have mainly operated underground.
But the terrorist threat has not been completely averted. "
Read the full story here: The ghosts of Raqqa
2.
Putin is having his soldiers practice defending against an air strike - to signal NATO military strength in the conflict over Ukraine
This morning the Russian military practiced a maneuver simulating defense against an air strike.
According to the agency, about a thousand soldiers were involved in the exercise.
This is not a great force;
and yet the maneuver is another muscle-playing gesture by Russia's head of state Vladimir Putin, whose military chiefs have gathered around 100,000 soldiers in the border region with Ukraine in recent weeks.
Last Thursday, Putin refused to give a clear answer to the question of whether he could guarantee that his country would not invade Ukraine.
How great is the hope that an escalation in the conflict, which has been bloody fought since 2014 between Ukraine and Russia in eastern Ukraine - with around 13,000 dead so far - can be avoided? Over the past few days, Putin has repeatedly threatened military options, but has also declared himself ready to resolve the new tensions in the Ukraine conflict diplomatically. Russia is demanding binding security guarantees from the West and wants to prevent Ukraine from becoming a member of NATO. The western military alliance rejects the demands. In an interview with US MPs, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi suggested that the UN should be included in the peace process - and that it demanded “decisive action”.
Clearly, it is gratifying that Russia's talks with the United States are scheduled for January; the so-called NATO-Russia Council could meet at the beginning of the year, for the first time in two and a half years.
At the same time, it sounds ominous with which words Putin only rekindled the fear of an escalation of the war yesterday, Sunday.
If the negotiations fail, the answer will depend "on the proposals that our military experts will make to me," the president said on state television.
That doesn't sound very hopeful, but rather like a decidedly gloomy outlook.
Read more here: Russian soldiers rehearse defense against air raids
3.
In 2022, drivers will be obliged to carry face-to-face masks in their first-aid kits - they could confuse first-aiders in an emergency
My colleagues from the SPIEGEL Mobility Team have put together what changes will be made for German drivers in the New Year. An example: In Germany, private owners of electric cars will be able to take advantage of a further subsidy in addition to the purchase bonus from January 1st onwards - thanks to a certificate trade in which the emissions saved by their own electric car are sold. For this purpose, a blanket greenhouse gas reduction quota with the beautiful abbreviation »GHG quota« was set for e-cars, which the owner can now sell to mineral oil companies, for example. With the trade, the corporations avoid penalties for exceeding CO₂ limit values.
A new catalog of fines has been in effect in the country since November, which sanctioned, among other things, wrong parking, driving too fast or blocking an emergency exit.
The German sales law will also be reformed on January 1, 2022.
Used car buyers in particular should benefit from the changes.
Millions of Germans will also have to have their driver's license renewed in the next few years.
If you were born between 1953 and 1959 and still have an old paper driving license, you have to exchange it for a credit card-sized document by January 19, 2022.
Anyone who is checked after this date with a driver's license that is too old pays a warning fee of ten euros.
Issuing a new, EU-compliant driver's license costs 25 euros.
It is then valid for 15 years.
One of the innovations is, as the colleagues put it amusing, "compulsory mask in the first-aid kit": The first-aid kit in the car must in future contain two mouth and nose covers, so there is a change in the road traffic regulations, which in all likelihood in the year Comes into force in 2022.
The exact timing is still unclear, as is the amount of the fine in the event that the masks are missing.
"Many new rules mean more bureaucracy or costs," says my colleague Nils Sorge, Mobility Team Leader at SPIEGEL.
After all, a benefit can be seen predominantly.
“It is questionable, however, whether the masks that are now required in the first-aid kit really help in emergency situations.
Instead, they might confuse some inexperienced first responders. "
Read more about the new road traffic regulations here: That will change for drivers in 2022
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What else is important today
Director Jean-Marc Vallée is dead:
In cinema dramas like “Wild” or series like “Big Little Lies” he drove stars like Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman to perform at their best.
Now Jean-Marc Vallée has died at the age of 58.
Kubicki defends statements about the compulsory vaccination:
"Simply irresponsible" - Green politician Winfried Kretschmann has sharply criticized Wolfgang Kubicki for his statements on the possible corona vaccination requirement, now the FDP vice and the designated general secretary have reacted.
Energy costs will continue to rise in 2022:
electricity, gas and heating oil have risen dramatically in the current year.
According to experts, relaxation is not in sight for the time being.
My favorite story today: survey among authors
If you had to write a novel about 2021, what could it be called and what could it be about?
My colleague Maren Keller, who is often admirably full of ideas, asked German-speaking writers about their ideas.
In her most enjoyable compilation of the answers, she presents, among other things, a few nice suggestions and ideas from the authors Kristine Bilkau and Judith Kuckart, whom I admire.
What I find most enjoyable, however, is the novel content suggestion by the writer Ferdinand Schmalz. Schmalz dreams of a book with the title "When the shamans left the sweat lodges". After his introduction, the blurb should begin with the following sentences: »Ulf, the alternative practitioner and mindfulness coach, almost dies in a sweating ritual, but he has the all-important inspiration: Ulf has to face the resistance. Together with his friend Manfred, a diabetic computer technician who claims to hold the worldwide record of postings per hour, he goes on a search for the deep state, the secret shadow government. «The plot summary gives me hope that Schmalz will Book really writes next year too.
Read the full story here: If you had to write a novel about 2021 ...
What we recommend today at SPIEGEL +
The political climber of the year:
A political pain in the ass, an indestructible one who stayed in the second row for a long time - and a minister whose name the citizens first have to learn: Here are the political winners of 2021.
Why do I hardly see my friends anymore?
Friendship used to be easier.
People cooked, partied or traveled all the time together.
Today, weeks often pass between meetings - despite all good resolutions.
“Marlene saved my life!” To
see his idol once: With dreams of Marlene Dietrich, a Jewish prisoner defied the agony in the concentration camp and 14 months in dark imprisonment.
After the war, Heinz Dietrich Feldheim wrote to the diva - she answered.
Which is less important today
Enlarge image
Robert Lewandowski has mastered the dress code for a political career
Photo:
YOAN VALAT / EPA
Football hero with
talent for
state leadership:
Robert Lewandowski, 33-year-old football striker for FC Bayern Munich,
has what it takes for a political career.
At least that's what one of his fans, Bayern Honorary President Uli Hoeneß, thinks.
Hoeneß, 69, said he would trust Lewandowski to a top position in politics after the end of his career, even a job as Polish Prime Minister. Hoeneß also said what talents, in his opinion, distinguish the athlete for a political position.
Lewandowski is "well rested and has clear ideas about life."
Typo of the day
, now corrected: "Last week, Trump felt the anger of corona deniers."
Cartoon of the day:
values
And tonight?
Could you, because you finally have time, culturally conscious of doing a lot of catching up work and watching one of the missed top series of 2021 in front of your screen.
My colleague Oliver Kaever put them together on a list.
Enlarge image
Scene from "The White Lotus": Deep black satire on rich people and their problems
Photo:
HBO / Sky
On the one hand, the list gives me a bad conscience because I haven't even seen the opening episode of any of the series myself.
On the other hand, an absolutely enthusiastic cultural consumer like me nowadays needs the courage to leave gaps because of the huge range of series goods.
So I'll limit myself to one tip, the HBO series "The White Lotus".
It apparently takes place in Hawaii under palm trees and the bright sun, but according to Oliver it is "a deep black satire on rich people and their problems, which they follow to their oasis of luxury".
(Read here the short reviews of the six series that you should definitely see in 2021.)
A lovely evening.
Sincerely
yours, Wolfgang Höbel
Here you can order the "Lage am Abend" by email.