The situation in the morning: a pope as an accomplice

You're talking again

That's called travel diplomacy: on Wednesday

flew to Kiev, yesterday he stopped in Berlin, met Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and his counterparts from France and Great Britain, today the most important appointment is in Geneva, so to speak on a neutral basis Territory, the American Secretary of State meets with his Russian counterpart

.

The fact that the two are talking to each other is initially a good sign.

One can at least have doubts as to whether the meeting will ultimately be able to defuse the danger of war in Eastern Europe in the long term. The fronts are too hardened

. In the meantime, Russian soldiers have also arrived in Belarus, and Moscow has announced major naval maneuvers with more than 140 warships in the Mediterranean, the Atlantic and the North Sea over the next few weeks.

In this situation, the US President of all people is causing uncertainty.

Speaking on the first anniversary of his presidency, Joe Biden gave the impression that the West might show leniency over disagreements if Russia decided on a "minor incursion" into Ukraine. He didn't say exactly what he meant by that. It doesn't matter, not only the Ukrainian president couldn't believe his ears, which is why Biden's people then rushed to limit the damage: it was all just a misunderstanding.

Blinken also emphasizes that an attack is assumed if even one Russian soldier crosses the border into Ukraine - and that such an attack would have consequences.

– he would do well to make that clear to Lavrov as well.

It would be even better if he also conveyed the message to Putin's chief diplomat that any kind of

is also a transgression of borders.

The only question is whether Washington actually sees it that way.

• Threat from Russia: Sweden is now bringing up tanks

Church of Terror

So the former pope is praying for the victims.

That's almost it.

Benedict XVI

would have had the last chance to show greatness, admit wrongdoing, take responsibility

for the abuse that children and young people have endured in his diocese - but he has miserably passed up this opportunity.

Instead, he pleads ignorance and argues with outrageous legal sophistry.

One can assume that the victims can easily do without the prayers of the pope.

The fact that the Catholic Church has always tried to cover up the countless crimes committed against girls and boys is nothing new. This has already been brought to light by earlier reports in various dioceses. But what a law firm now describes in 1900 pages about the conditions in the Archdiocese of Munich shakes the clergy particularly violently. Because

And because the current Archbishop of Munich, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, can also be shown to have acted improperly.

Almost 500 victims were identified in Munich alone for the period from 1945 to 2019, the number of unreported cases is likely to be much larger. The experts speak of a

. One of the horrors is that the church has established an

up to its highest representatives

. She was never concerned with the victims, only with self-preservation, even when the full extent of the crimes became apparent to the public.

And now?

Cardinal Marx, the former chairman of the German Bishops' Conference, wanted to leave in June last year, wanting to take responsibility for the church's institutional failure in the abuse scandals.

Pope Francis rejected the resignation, which Marx linked to the diagnosis that the church had reached a “dead point”.

Dead than dead doesn't work - or does it?

It is quite possible that Marx will now ask for his resignation again.

the "shame" that dignitaries now like to publicly profess, as if reality had taken them completely by surprise.

Who should still believe this church?

• New abuse report against the Catholic Church: 1900 pages of shame

The traffic light swears to govern

More fuss was made when the federal government withdrew to team building: Gerhard Schröder brought his red-green ministers together in Neuhardenberg Castle in 2003 and thus revived the

in the first place.

Later, Angela Merkel usually invited to Meseberg Castle, where the federal government has a guest house.

In 2018, when the focus was specifically on digitization, they met at the Hasso Plattner Institute in Babelsberg.

But it's not the time for big excursions. So

apart from the regular Wednesday cabinet meetings simply to the chancellery. There, the ministers of the SPD, Greens and FDP want to

throughout Friday and commit to the joint government work, which is only really beginning now, six weeks after the chancellor election.

Nothing is known of planned icebreaker games such as »Two Truths and a Lie« or other measures to promote cohesion.

Instead, the official agenda includes the program of the German G7 Presidency, the expansion of renewable energies, the modernization of infrastructure, digitization and the topic of housing.

If Olaf Scholz then gives one of his notorious motivational speeches, the traffic lights can really get going.

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Loser of the day...

... is the German national handball team.

Although the young team traveled to the European Championships in Slovakia and Hungary as outsiders, they were secretly hoping for a surprise - similar to the sensational title win in 2016.

Now

, there have now been 13 infections in the team.

The DHB even thought about withdrawing, finally applying for the main round game against Spain to be relocated on Monday evening.

The European Handball Federation refused, Germany had to play with a number of nominated players - and in the end had no chance against the defending champion.

The tournament is not over yet: the team can still win the semi-finals.

That would really be a sensation.

• Corona-plagued handball players lose against Spain: on the last groove

The latest news from the night

• The United States has accused four Belarusian officials of "air piracy conspiracy":

  Dictator Lukashenko had a Ryanair flight diverted to arrest opposition figure Roman Protasevich.

  Now the United States is indicting four Belarusian government officials.

  You face life imprisonment

• In the vast majority of cases, the CIA does not assume a foreign attack in the case of "Havana Syndrome":

  Dozens of US diplomats complained of mysterious headaches, hearing loss, dizziness and nausea, first in Havana and later in other places as well.

  Now the CIA is presenting its investigation report – and is met with skepticism

• Brazilian samba singer Elza Soares is dead:

  she mixed samba, jazz, electro, hip-hop and funk – now Elza Soares has died at the age of 91.

  She was considered one of the greatest singers in Brazil, but her start in life was not exactly easy

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Have a good day.

Heartfelt,

Yours, Philip Wittrock