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News: Finland wants to join NATO, Uwe Tellkamp fails because of the tower extension

2022-05-12T16:12:48.819Z


Why the Finns are in such a hurry to join NATO. How the petrol station shooter from Idar-Oberstein radicalized himself. And how Uwe Tellkamp fails because of his tower extension. This is the situation on Thursday evening.


1.

Finland wants to join NATO

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Finland's Prime Minister Sanna Marin and President Sauli Niinistö: "As a member of NATO, Finland would strengthen the entire defense alliance"

Photo: Markku Ulander / picture alliance /dpa / Lehtikuva

The President and Prime Minister of Finland today spoke out in favor of joining NATO "immediately".

On the one hand, that comes as no surprise after Russia invaded Ukraine and the Finns fear they could be next.

On the other hand, it is a big, yes, a historic step after almost 80 years of neutrality.

The fact that this neutrality was not voluntary, but came about as a result of pressure from Russia, is quickly forgotten.

After Finland became independent in 1917, it only escaped occupation by Stalin's troops in World War II through fierce resistance, a national near-death experience.

For decades, the price of independence remained limited sovereignty and the need for close agreements with Moscow.

»We are not Switzerland.

At the time, we simply had no alternative,” a department head in the Finnish Ministry of Defense told my colleague Jan Petter, who traveled to Helsinki and Imatra to research how the population felt about the western alliance – and about Russia.

According to a recent survey, 76 percent of Finns are in favor of joining NATO, while only 12 percent are against it, reports Jan.

He came to a country that always anticipates emergencies and seems "well prepared for war":

  • To this day, 70 percent of all young men decide to do military service, and it binds many of them together for life.

  • Reservists then receive further training for years.

    In the short term, the country with a population of five million can mobilize 280,000 men and women, and more in the long term.

    "The Finnish military should benefit NATO at least as much as vice versa," estimates Jan.

  • Shelters are mandatory for larger dwellings across the country.

    The civil protection office also keeps bunkers in good condition.

    In the capital Helsinki alone, 900,000 people are said to be able to find refuge.

The operator of an army shop said to Jan: "I'm glad we haven't become like Germany." He means the cheerful to naive pacifism of the Germans.

Jan found it »remarkable how concretely prepared society is to this day for a Russian attack.

Behind the supposed Finnish peacefulness is a country that could soon turn out to be Putin's strongest neighbor.«

Russia reacted immediately to the announcement by the Finnish head of state.

A Kremlin spokesman spoke of a "clear" threat and announced a "symmetrical response."

Everything now depends on how NATO expansion develops and which military infrastructure is transferred to Russia's borders.

What has been evident since the beginning of the war is becoming ever clearer: With his war, Putin is achieving the opposite of what he intended.

  • Read more about the background here: How Finland is rushing to join NATO

And here is more news and background information on the war in Ukraine:

  • "The letter 'Z' is the new swastika":

    Marija Alyokhina has been fighting the authoritarian Putin regime for years.

    Now the Pussy Riot activist has secretly left Russia to embark on a concert tour.

    A Conversation on War, Imprisonment, and Protest.

  • "Russia will sink like the 'Titanic'":

    For many Russians there are still only a few signs of crisis: the ruble is more stable again, life goes on.

    The Moscow economist Nikolaj Kulbaka explains why this is - and how the sanctions are still working. 

  • Opinion-making from Moscow:

    The Kremlin relies on massive propaganda in the Ukraine war - and thus reaches loyal fans in Germany.

    You can hear how the Putin Ultras think and what that has to do with denying the corona virus in the Voice Catching podcast.

  • “Let's forget the Soviet systems, that's over”

    : Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba is visiting Germany – and calls for new weapons in pithy words.

    He praises and criticizes the federal government at the same time.

  • Find all the latest developments on the war in Ukraine here: The News Update

2.

The shooter's chats

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Gas station crime scene on the evening of September 18, 2021: Here Mario N. shot the gas station employee Alexander W.

Photo: Christian Schulz / dpa

So now Bill Gates has caught the corona virus too.

A good gag writer should actually be able to turn it into an absurdly funny conspiracy theory.

Unfortunately, it is often not funny at all what is fabulated and fantasized in relevant chat groups, what boils up in hate and hatred, as the report by my colleague Julia Jüttner shows.

She observes the trial of software developer Mario N., 50, who has to answer in court for murder out of malicious intent and base motives.

On the evening of September 18 last year, he shot the cashier at a gas station in Idar-Oberstein: Alexander W., 20 years old.

The young man asked Mario N. to wear a mask – that's the only way he could get two six-packs of beer.

"The process documents the radicalization of Mario N.", reports Julia.

The investigators secured several terabytes of data on eleven devices that are said to have belonged to N.

Including an intensive exchange between Mario N. and his brother-in-law in the USA – the two men have been regularly sending each other excessive video messages and chat messages for years.

It sounds like a worst of the conspirator scene:

  • Global warming is a "damn hoax"

  • He railed against Greta Thunberg (“mentally retarded”) and Carola Rackete, the captain who rescues refugees from distress at sea (“bitch”).

  • He agitates against "these Arabs" and "the damned Merkel".

  • "I no longer see a solution that does not involve violence."

  • "I'm going to go to jail this year for murder or manslaughter."

N. admitted the fact before the district court of Bad Kreuznach.

  • Read the full story here: What chats reveal about the shooter

3.

Tellkamp's tower extension

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Tip how to proceed

Photo:

Heike Steinweg / laif

The sequel to »The Tower« has been released?

That's when I think of Stephen King with my West Berlin Abitur.

But it's about Uwe Tellkamp - and even I know him.

Probably because our last names sound and look similar.

I don't want to rule out that my cursory glance lingered in the Tellkamp bookshop, afraid that a relative might have published something.

So, after 14 years, Uwe Tellkamp has written a sequel to his Wenderoman, no, a »continuation«, as he calls it.

It's called The Sleep in the Clocks.

Archipelagus I.', making confusion with Stephen King unlikely.

My colleague Xaver von Cranach from our culture department has worked intensively on Tellkamp.

He traces how the author talked his head and neck in the refugee discussion and how he wallowed in his role as a victim.

Xaver also looked back at the 2004 Ingeborg Bachmann Prize, which Tellkamp read for.

The recording of the Klagenfurt literature competition could not be found on YouTube;

the apparently unlabeled rolls of film were stored at the ORF.

An employee had to "physically go into the basement and see if anything was there," they told Xaver on the phone.

Finally, ORF kindly had the tapes digitized for EUR 39.58 and made them available.

"2004 was longer than you would have thought," says Xaver.

The tapes show how the jury chairperson praises Tellkamp's text: There is no interest apart from the voluptuous, "no hate, no disgust, no reckoning, no morality."

Xaver writes about the new novel: »There is no interest apart from the political.

So much hate, disgust, reckoning, morality.« In short: Xaver finds the book »an intellectual and aesthetic impertinence«.

The most positive thing he can discover about the novel: "fit for publication in the sense that there is nothing unconstitutional in it."

Otherwise: »illegible«.

As he read it, Xaver says, he asked himself whether he was too stupid to understand the book himself.

A question that sounds familiar to me from the moments when I do read the feuilleton.

But Xaver doesn't even have a West Berlin high school diploma.

And also in the »Zeit« it is said in a review: »One blames one's own inability that one does not understand anything at the beginning.« Anyone who continues reading the book after 50 pages is brave.

»Who still holds it in his hand after 200

is crazy.

Anyone who reads 900 pages of it is probably a reviewer.« Xaver thinks: Tellkamp has capitulated to itself.

  • Read the full smear here: What ruined it so much? 

(Would you like to receive the "Situation in the evening" conveniently by e-mail in your inbox? Order the daily briefing as a newsletter here.)

What else is important today

  • Tax revenue this year 40 billion euros higher than expected:

    Despite the war in Ukraine and the corona pandemic, the federal, state and local governments can expect significantly more tax revenue this year than expected in November.

    Finance Minister Lindner still sees little financial leeway.

  • Kosovo is pushing into the Council of Europe:

    Kosovo wants to be admitted to the Council of Europe.

    The Balkan republic has now officially submitted an application.

    Serbia's president had threatened serious consequences in this case.

  • Investigations against Essen students on suspicion of terrorism:

    A 16-year-old is said to have planned crimes at two schools in Essen.

    Now is being determined because of the preparation of a serious act of violence that endangers the state.

    The police found material for a bomb on him.

  • Why twice as many e-cars are registered in the south as in the east:

    Electric cars are mainly bought in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg.

    According to the environmental organization ICCT, this is not only related to income.

What we recommend today at SPIEGEL+

  • A look into the heart of the Milky Way:

    For the first time, astronomers present an image of the black hole in our home galaxy.

    It is only the second recording of this kind - and the result of a scientific mega project.

  • "Something's brewing in society"

    Highest level in politically motivated crime: Most crimes are committed by right-wing extremists, but the number of crimes that cannot be assigned is rising sharply.

    FDP Vice-Chairman Kuhle sees this as a particular threat.

  • Man can't hear it anymore:

    we decided it together.

    She can do it better than me.

    I already do more than anyone else: This is how fathers explain why they don't take care of their children on an equal footing.

    What's behind it? 

Which is less important today

Enlarge image

Photo: IMAGO/Christian Spicker

Sole ruler

: Chancellor

Olaf Scholz

, 63, is obviously difficult to double.

A doppelganger agency from Mülheim an der Ruhr has been looking for men who look like the Social Democrats since the federal elections - and simply can't find any, as the managing director says.

He has received more than 50 applications, and none of them meet his requirements: »V-shaped eyebrows, the head goes up a bit at the back and the mischievous look«.

At least one photo gave hope, but then it turned out that the man was 15 centimeters taller and 30 kilograms heavier.

The agent says, "I can't do that."

Typo of the day

, now corrected: »Linked article«

Cartoon of the day:

NATO marketing

And tonight?

Could you look in the basement, in the attic, in the back corners of your desk drawers to see if there is still a Tamagotchi flying around somewhere.

These things came to Germany 25 years ago, so they must have been stunted (more on that here) - I doubt anyone has endured a quarter of a century of care.

However, the search would be just as pointless as feeding the electric critters themselves.

Enlarge image

Photo:

Matthias Kremp / DER SPIEGEL

But if you're lucky, you might find an old iPod, like my colleague Matthias Kremp and I did in the past few days.

We took the news that Apple no longer wants to produce its music player as an opportunity to dig out our first iPods.

Matthias even wrote about it, namely the "Netzteil-Newsletter", which you can subscribe to here.

Sometimes it's fun to listen through old playlists, sometimes you blush with embarrassment when the click wheel stops at something Bonjoviesque or U2-y.

It's my life.  

A lovely evening.

Yours sincerely,


Oliver Trenkamp

Here you can order the »Situation in the Evening« by e-mail.

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2022-05-12

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