the three question marks today:
SPD defeat in NRW - Should the SPD and Olaf Scholz change their Ukraine policy?
Sweden application to join NATO – How does Putin react?
Hacker attack on Sixt - Why does the rental car company talk about their IT problems?
1.
For Olaf Scholz, the SPD result in NRW is a personal defeat, but that doesn't necessarily mean he has to change his Ukraine policy.
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Olaf Scholz
Photo: Michael Sohn/AP
Can a country and its most important politician show their leadership through hesitant deliberation?
No, says my colleague Mathieu von Rohr, who accused Olaf Scholz in today's sister newsletter "Lage am Morgen" of wasting Germany's international reputation and was also partly responsible for the defeat of the SPD in the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia.
According to Mathieu, who heads the foreign affairs department, it has to be said that “those parties that were the clearest in their course in relation to Ukraine won in NRW – above all the Greens, those of their nationally popular figureheads Annalena Baerbock and Robert Habeck could benefit.«
Today the parties reacted to the NRW election results and Lars Klingbeil, head of the SPD, claimed that the Ukraine policy was by no means decisive.
A realignment of the SPD's position on the Ukraine war is not necessary.
During the election campaign, he even experienced support for the course taken by the federal government.
The SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert also practiced to ward off criticism of Scholz and said: "I would not accept the thesis that this state election result would now be a confirmation or refutation of the policy of the federal government."
The FDP party leader Christian Lindner, on the other hand, described the result for his party as a "disastrous defeat".
My colleague Severin Weiland analyzes what that means for the liberals.
The party will need "steady nerves" in the coming period, writes the colleague.
The fact that it achieved a catastrophic result in NRW, the most populous state in the republic, should also affect the power of the FDP in the federal traffic light coalition.
Even if Lindner, the federal finance minister, now claims that the "institutional importance" of the FDP within the federal government remains "unchanged".
How big is the pressure today for Scholz and his followers to change their stance in the next few days on what is currently the most important issue for Germans, Ukraine policy?
Yesterday's election was definitely a day of personal defeat for the chancellor, after all he had been heavily involved in the election campaign and his face was smiling from many posters.
The polls for Scholz are not good either.
But I like the idea that the German chancellor is sticking to his policy of warning of a possible escalation and of restraint, for example on the question of even more arms deliveries to Ukraine, not out of weakness but out of conviction.
I think that procrastination can sometimes also show strength and possibly even be a role model for other state leaders.
Read more here: Black Land, Red Core and Green Speckles
2.
Today Sweden applied for the country to join NATO, and Putin is threatening the consequences – but without a clear statement.
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Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson during a troop maneuver
Photo: Jerrevang Stefan / TT / IMAGO
Almost all parties in the Swedish parliament voted in favor of their country joining NATO today.
Sweden's Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said of the country's application for membership: "There is a lot in Sweden that is worth defending, and Sweden is best defended in NATO." last Sunday for an application to join the military alliance.
Finland also wants to join NATO.
Turkey was the first and only member state to object to Sweden and Finland joining the military alliance.
Sweden said today that the country would send diplomats to Ankara and conduct negotiations with Turkey to clear the reservations.
At the same time, Russia's President Vladimir Putin once again declared today that his country would react to the planned expansion of NATO to include Sweden and Finland.
NATO expansion is a problem, he said.
Putin once again left it unclear exactly what Moscow's reaction would look like because he obviously wants to stir up Western fears of an escalation in the Ukraine war with diffuse threats.
One of the consequences of the war is that the EU Commission today drastically revised its growth forecast for the European economy downwards.
The economy of the EU and the euro countries will only grow by 2.7 percent this year instead of the previously expected 4 percent.
It was also reported today that the price of wheat, a bread grain, has risen to a new high.
The reason is the wheat export ban announced by India on Saturday.
India is the second largest wheat producer in the world, in 2021 the country exported 110 million tons.
India is now suffering from a heat wave, and the wheat harvest is likely to be correspondingly poor.
The war in Ukraine has led to a shortage of wheat on the world market and thus to sharply rising prices.
According to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, 20 million tons of grain are stored in Ukraine, which cannot be exported due to blocked delivery routes and ports.
My colleague Maria Marquart wrote about the wheat crisis a few days ago: »Although large parts of the world are longingly waiting for grain, a large amount is currently being left behind in the Ukraine, »as long as the transport is too expensive, too complicated or simply not can be organized reliably.«
Read more here: Sweden applies to join NATO
And here is more news and background information on the war in Ukraine:
Video is supposed to show the use of incendiary ammunition:
drone images show the shelling of the steel works in Mariupol with brightly glowing projectiles.
Is it phosphorus ammunition, as some suspect?
A chemical weapons expert reviewed the footage for us.
Lithuania's foreign minister accuses Hungary of taking hostages in the oil embargo:
With an import ban on Russian oil, the EU wants to sanction Russia for the war of aggression against Ukraine.
But Hungary is opposed.
As a result, frustration is growing in other EU countries.
'It's good that my life is almost over.
I haven't seen too many good things.«
Anton Rudnev survived the terror of the Nazis.
Now the 96-year-old is holding out in the destroyed Kharkiv.
Other Holocaust survivors are still in the city - or are being evacuated to Germany.
Find all the latest developments on the war in Ukraine here: The News Update
3. After a hacker attack, Sixt plays down its own IT problems - a rather difficult to understand secrecy
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Sixt counter (archive image): Not everything is back to normal in the branches
Photo: Arnulf Hettrich / IMAGO
Many rental car customers in Germany need strong nerves at the moment.
Because demand is high and prices are also high due to supply problems in the auto industry;
and because there has obviously been a problem with IT in the last few days, especially at Sixt.
For example, my colleagues Markus Böhm, Jörg Breithut and Max Hoppenstedt report on a branch in southern Germany where customers could only use credit cards as the only means of payment on Friday.
The employees were also not allowed to accept cash.
"The employee behind the pane refers to a hacker attack that Sixt fell victim to," says the story of the colleagues.
»So there are still IT problems.«
On May 1, Sixt announced that it had noticed "IT irregularities" two days earlier and had taken countermeasures.
The company was able to contain a cyber attack at an early stage, it said.
The effects on the company, its processes and its services were "minimized".
In response to a SPIEGEL inquiry on Friday, Sixt said rental car bookings via websites and apps "worked smoothly throughout".
Some customers of the company Sixt, headquartered in Pullach, would probably contradict this representation.
They felt the consequences of the IT problems as soon as they tried to call the company's customer service, which simply didn't work.
Sixt told SPIEGEL on Friday that the hotline will be available again from the weekend.
During test calls on Monday, however, it said again: "The number you dialed is not assigned.
Please call the information desk.” The Sixt app also continues to point out that the hotline is not available and that if you have problems with the rental, you should send an e-mail.
Sixt apparently shies away from clear admissions of current disadvantages for its customers.
This picture is repeated for other problems.
On the website of the Sixt Share offer, for example, a banner has been emblazoned for days that says that you can no longer register there - which actually doesn't work.
"Technical fault" is the headline.
"At the moment, Sixt's mobility service can't get anyone mobile who hasn't registered there a long time ago," say the colleagues.
The company evades concrete inquiries about what actually happened at Sixt – whether, for example, there was a ransomware attack and whether the company is now being blackmailed.
At the end of an email to SPIEGEL it says: "Incidentally, the competent investigative authorities urgently advise
did not provide any further details on the incident.
Please understand that we follow this advice.«
"It's a mystery to me why Sixt sugarcoats its technical problems in such a transparent way," says my colleague Markus Böhm.
»It's not the first big company that has been slowed down by a hacker attack.
Maybe people in Pullach are worried about their own reputation as a pioneer in digitization.«
Read the whole story here: How Sixt sugarcoats its IT problems
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What else is important today
Denmark apparently allowed Greenlandic women to use IUDs against their will:
According to a report, the Danish colonial power implanted IUDs in Greenlandic women between 1966 and 1975 for contraception.
Politicians condemned the now uncovered practice: “It borders on genocide”.
Federal Prosecutor General investigates against 16-year-olds:
According to SPIEGEL information, the Federal Prosecutor's Office is investigating the young person who is said to have planned a terrorist attack on schools in Essen.
The background is the »special significance of the case«.
Buffalo gunman is said to have manipulated the murder weapon:
An 18-year-old white man is said to have shot ten people in the United States for racist reasons.
Before the crime, he apparently worked on his gun - so he could fire more ammo faster.
My favorite story today...
...is about Gioacchino Gammino, one of the most dangerous escaped mafiosi ever.
It was his fate that one day a car from Google Street View drove past him - in a small town near Madrid.
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Screenshot of the Street View recording intended to show the criminal in front of his shop
Photo:
My colleague Claudio Rizzello had the anti-mafia investigator Lorena Di Galante tell him how, with the help of the digital world map, she and her team managed to arrest this mafia boss who had been wanted for 20 years: If you use Google to look around the Spanish town of Galapagar, can spot a man on a corner, comfortably leaning against the wall of a greengrocery like a pensioner who is free to dispose of his time, talking to another.
You can read here how the investigator found out that this supposed pensioner was Gammino.
Read the full story here: How Google Street View killed a mafia boss
What we recommend at SPIEGEL+ today
How Soviet leader Khrushchev risked a nuclear war:
When the Soviet Union decided 60 years ago to station nuclear missiles in Cuba, hectic military poker began with enormous risks.
The story of an escalation that nearly led to World War III.
The discovery of resistance:
A month ago, HSV was sixth in the second division and promotion seemed passé.
Now the club has made it into the relegation.
How is that possible?
And what are the chances against Hertha?
If nobody nags:
If Elon Musk takes over Twitter, he also wants to bring Donald Trump back – and that's just one reason to unsubscribe there, because our author has been annoyed by the bullying for a long time.
But how well does the Mastodon alternative work?
What is less important today: Ex-First Lady flirting with comeback
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Melania Trump (stock image)
Photo: Michael Brochstein / dpa
Melania Trump
, 52, wife of former US President Donald Trump, 75, who worked as a model when she was young, says she liked living in Washington.
"I enjoyed looking after the White House," she said in an interview, and she also liked the city.
Trump, who rarely speaks in public and seemed at odds with the role of First Lady during her husband's presidency, responded to questions about a possible return to the White House by citing the title of a James Bond film: "Never Say Never." .«
Typo of the day
, now corrected: The fact that the FDP annoyed the traffic light coalition at Corona with Freeday Day was not a nuisance for liberal voters, but Wissing's photo ban on Instagram was.
Cartoon of the day:
Offended liver sausage stand
And tonight?
Film sensation »Parasite«: criticism of capitalism for all the senses
Photo: Koch Films
Could you check out the really very funny and intelligent film »Parasite« available in the Arte media library.
My colleague Hannah Pilarczyk praised Bong Joon-ho's Oscar-winning work two and a half years ago when it was released in German cinemas as "a critique of capitalism for all the senses".
And indeed, the class struggle of two families in a very nice residential area of Seoul not only puts you in a good mood, but also stimulates thinking.
A lovely evening.
Yours sincerely,
Wolfgang Hoebel
Here you can order the »Situation in the Evening« by e-mail.