1.
No connection under this number?
The question of what satire is "allowed" to do and in which direction it must "go" is always the subject of heated debate.
When George W. Bush, Prince William, Elton John or JK Rowling are made fun of, the judges are usually lenient.
Unless an award-winning (by the Kremlin) duo was at work.
Then it gets serious.
As in the above cases, Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexey Stolyarov aka "Vovan and Lexus" are also said to be responsible for zoom calls to European capitals, where mayors (including Franziska Giffey) were fooled with a fake Vitali Klitschko.
Jokes loyal to the state in times of war for reactionary reasons.
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NATO summit in Madrid
Photo: Yves Herman / REUTERS
Sometimes it's better not to answer at all.
Just as NATO announced at its summit in Madrid.
Except for special emergency channels, diplomatic communication with Russia has been broken off in the medium term.
"In the light of their hostile policies and actions, we can no longer consider the Russian Federation as a partner," says the "Strategic Concept" of the western military alliance.
Almost word for word, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that almost a week ago in a SPIEGEL interview, emphasizing that Russia "poses the greatest immediate threat to our security and values."
Finland and Sweden are now officially invited to join the alliance - after Turkey paved the way for it.
In the aftermath, Ankara is demanding the extradition of 33 people suspected of "terrorism" from the two Scandinavian countries.
Which brings us back to satire.
Read more here: »We can no longer rule out an attack on the territorial integrity of the Allies«
And here is more news and background information on the war in Ukraine:
Putin's cheerleader:
He insults Olaf Scholz as a "moth" and threatens Germany with war: Vladimir Solovyov rushes on Russian state TV almost every day.
Who is the man?
Zelenskyj demands action by the UN against Russia:
Russia cannot be a member of the Council as long as it terrorizes civilians: In his speech via video stream, the Ukrainian President Zelenskyj astounded his audience with a very specific demand.
Find all the latest developments on the war in Ukraine here: The News Update
2.
With justice against cruelty?
»I go to the bar, order something to drink, see the people around me and think to myself: No, I won't do it.
When I saw people laughing and dancing, I knew I wouldn't do it,” Saleh Abdeslam told the court in April.
It is not a sob story that the Islamist terrorist told his judges.
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Defendants Mohamed Bakkali, Oussama Atar and Saleh Abdeslam
Photo: Benoit Peyrucq / AFP
The jihadist-motivated attacks on November 13, 2015 killed 132 people, including in the Bataclan club.
Abdeslam is the last surviving member of the terrorist squads.
Because that evening in the 18th arrondissement, allegedly out of humanity, refrained from detonating his explosive belt.
He is awaiting his verdict tonight.
My colleague Britta Sandberg accompanied a process in the French capital that is unparalleled – and hardly finds it;
»300 lawyers represented a total of 2,400 civil plaintiffs and defended 20 accused in Paris.
Only 14 of them were present, the others died in Syria or are missing.
Sandberg also experienced the process as a constitutional performance show.
The process gave the accused, relatives and lawyers their space, protected the bereaved and provided psychological care.
Even "supposed monsters suddenly took on a human face, at least for moments."
Even the accused, Sandberg wrote, thanked their lawyers and the judiciary at the end.
It could have been more than one criminal trial.
A civilizing process.
Read the whole story here: »Of course, the attacks were incredibly cruel.
But it shouldn't be the judiciary«
3.
Is traffic turning all by itself?
"I can't help but get the impression," says Green MEP Jutta Paulus in an interview with SPIEGEL, "that this is also about this male thing, according to the motto: an engine has to make noise."
I, on the other hand, can't help but get the impression that most of the drivers of the biggest fuel guzzlers, the SUVs, are women who obviously appreciate the safety there very much - also at the expense of other road users.
I also personally know women who have quickly equipped their standard motorcycles with screaming bags from accessories because it “sounds great”.
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Photo: Filip Singer / EPA-EFE
Apart from the ideological ballast (according to the motto: men stand in the way of progress), Paulus is of course right when she notes that "all major manufacturers" have already "set the course in the direction of battery cars".
Or, as Arvid Kaiser comments quite dryly on the decisions of the EU environment ministers in Luxembourg: »That was probably it for cars with petrol or diesel engines« .
A solar car like the Lightyear Zero, which my colleague Thomas Geiger has already had the privilege of driving, would be even better.
Or a vehicle that is driven solely by the good conscience of its drivers (m/f/d).
Curiously enough, air traffic does not currently have an environmental problem, but is faced with home-made difficulties, which travelers can tell you about at the moment.
The staff shortages are now to be overcome using the historically proven method of employing specialists from Turkey.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) said they now want to issue residence and work permits quickly.
And Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) added that there would be no wage and social dumping or temporary work.
Speaking of SPD.
For Friday, the Ver.di union has called for a warning strike among employees for maintenance in technology and luggage transport.
So it's better to be at the airport five hours before departure instead of just three.
Or just take the train
Read more here: Ten tips from an ex-flight manager to reduce travel stress
(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
Surprisingly lower inflation rate in June:
Inflation in Germany eased in June.
Goods and services cost an average of just 7.6 percent more than in June 2021. Price drivers were again energy and food.
What to do with the broken toaster?
- In the supermarket!
From Friday, consumers can hand in old or broken electrical appliances such as toasters, kettles or hair dryers to Aldi, Edeka and Co., regardless of whether they were bought there.
However, there are some limitations.
Seriously injured 34-year-old remains in critical condition:
five people died when a train derailed in Bavaria.
A woman seriously injured in the accident is still in poor condition.
The investigations of the Soko "Zug" are complex.
My favorite story today...
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Depicting the sack of Rome in 410 (1890 painting)
Photo: Thomas Cole / Heritage Images / ullstein bild
... is about the decline and fall of the Roman Empire.
If you have a lot of leisure and strong nerves, you can reach for the classic standard work by Edward Gibbon.
After a short period of familiarization, his six-volume »Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire« reads like a bloodthirsty soap opera between »Game of Thrones« and »Gladiator«.
However, Gibbon wrote between 1776 and 1788, which is why his reasoning for the decline and fall of the Roman Empire is now considered outdated.
The scholar blamed the Christian Church on the purple slippers.
More reasons have now been given for the fall of Rome than when emperors were strangled, stabbed, or poisoned—and that's saying something.
Sometimes environmental problems, sometimes financial problems are assumed.
One is the migration of peoples tried, sometimes decadence.
Some researchers even claim that ancient Rome - like ancient China - never really fell, it only changed.
My colleague Frank Thadeusz visited several exhibitions on the subject in Trier, which was also the capital of what was then a rather shaky empire.
In it, the focus is primarily on internal power struggles that such a gigantic state – from Scotland to Syria, from Egypt to Romania – had to face.
"When the end came," Thadeusz wrote, "the population hardly took any notice of it."
Lessons for today's empires, he says, can hardly be learned from this.
Read the full story here: How the Roman Empire destroyed itself
What we recommend at SPIEGEL+ today
Why the flight chaos could get even worse:
Those who want to fly are currently suffering: because of a lack of staff and technology, passengers are struggling with queues, canceled connections and overloaded hotlines.
The climax is yet to come.
Trump's crazy freak:
tantrums, an attempted grip on the steering wheel, an attack on his bodyguard: A witness reports to the US Congress about Donald Trump's behavior around the Capitol storm.
The investigation is becoming more and more of a problem for the ex-president.
Are you really serious?
Which is more dangerous: old anti-Semitic cartoons from Indonesia or anti-Semites breaking into synagogues with submachine guns?
About the Germans' fatal desire for symbolic politics.
Which is less important today
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Billie Eilish
Photo: Matthew Baker / Redferns
Billie Eilish
, 12, and
Anya Taylor-Joy
, 16, okay, just kidding, let's start again: Billie Eilish, also 20, a few years ago was still considered the youngest superstar of all time ("Bad Guy"), and the Actress Anya Taylor-Joy, 26, famous for her unusually wide-set eyes and her roles in "The Queen's Gambit" or "The Northman", may in future have a say in the awarding of the Oscars.
They are among 397 people with whom the Academy, which has around 9,000 members (similar to the German PEN), wants to position itself younger and more diverse.
According to sources within the Academy, 44 percent of all members are already female, and 37 percent belong to "minorities," whatever minorities they may be.
Unlike the German PEN, for example, the admission ticket is at least one Oscar nomination;
Eilish, for example, was recently successful with a "Bond" song.
Unlike the German PEN, no split is to be expected in the near future.
The longer you think about it, apart from the desired rejuvenation, diversification and openness to freaks (Will Smith and his slap in the face), there are basically no further parallels to the German PEN.
That's good news too, so congratulations to Eilish and Taylor-Joy.
Typo of the day
, now corrected: "Vladimir Solovyov is, that's also part of the truth, probably a highly intelligent man"
Cartoon of the day:
Off to vacation
And tonight?
One of the most effective basic constellations of comedic film art since pictures learned to walk is the inevitable descent of a man into chaos and despair.
There's a sometimes more, sometimes less funny line that stretches through Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, the unforgettable Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau, Loriot in the waiting room ("The picture is crooked!") to Rowan Atkinson as Mr. Bean draws.
Only Atkinson remains among the living.
On Netflix he can now be seen in a series that is all about chaos and despair.
In it he plays a quirky oaf who has to look after a luxury property in the absence of the owners - but is so stunned by a bee that he reduces the house to rubble.
Like Mr. Bean, »Man vs. Bee« largely does without dialogue, so it thrives on situation comedic slapstick – and the growing despair of a man who stumbles over his own temperament at least as much as the presence of the intrusive insect.
Admittedly, this is nothing for lovers of fine, hinted or elaborate laughter.
But, above all, something for the six-year-old in all of us.
At most, it should be critically noted that the »bee« is more of a bumblebee.
And it is well known that bumblebees cannot fly.
A lovely evening.
Sincerely,
Arno Frank
Here you can order the »Situation in the Evening« by e-mail.