The situation in the morning

Winter is coming

I

think of

Ned Stark is a character from the fantasy epic

.

I really liked him in his lazy, stiff-waisted manner, which is why I found it sad that he died serial death at such an early age.

Stark comes from the north of the

designed by author George RR Martin , and because it can get

there in the north for a long time , the motto of his house is: »Winter is coming«.

Ned Stark said it often and gladly while he still could.

I hear that sentence every day when it comes to the question of whether and how much

will be available to us here in winter.

We already dealt with the topic yesterday, and we can't get around it today either.

Today is the long-awaited

on which the maintenance work on the

Baltic Sea pipeline is to end and on which it will therefore (possibly) be decided whether and how much Russian gas will flow back to Germany.

Yesterday it was reported that gas would flow again, but who knows what will happen today.

Winter is coming.

I like the sentence because there is more to it than just saying that the

change at some point.

It's actually a request: Be prepared, something is coming our way, and that's why it fits in well with the current political situation.

The federal government, above all the communication artist

, is currently doing a lot to prevent the worst: it is calling for gas savings, bowing to the

, launching LNG terminals (even if that is only for this winter will still be of limited use), is buying gas on a large scale.

She is doing something with it that is about in the

too seldom: forward-looking politics.

During the pandemic, it was usually the case that the disaster was looming for a long time, but the federal and state governments did nothing or too little.

And then it was too late.

This time it's different.

Winter is coming.

This type of policy would be even more urgently needed when it comes to the biggest issue of our time,

, but it doesn't work there, at least not well enough.

The heat and drought are not just coming, they are already here and can be felt by everyone, even here in

.

But it will probably only get really, really bad after the next election or the one after that.

That, strange as it may sound, is part of the problem.

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  Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský finds that too timid.

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The red horror

For years I have had a secret admiration for the

.

This has nothing to do with their electoral successes, which have tended to expand in the recent past, nor their staff (which can also be expanded in several respects).

But with a skill that is in great demand today, in the age of

, but has been cultivated by the CSU for years, oh what, decades.

It's about self-portrayal.

Today is the

second day of the

of the CSU state group in

This is worth various reports from the news agencies, reporters go there (yes, also from SPIEGEL).

And even if the impetus has decreased a bit compared to before, there is still a lot of attention, as is actually the case with every exam of the CSU state group - a bit much, I think.

You have to put that in perspective and imagine that a similar thing would happen at the meeting of the North Rhine-Westphalian state group in the

made, which would be roughly comparable.

But that doesn't happen, which isn't because the CSU is so much more brilliant.

The position paper she is debating in the Banz monastery is actually called

.

You have to dare to use such empty phrases first.

But as I said, the Christian Socialists can do

, in contrast to the Social Democrats.

I remember a closed meeting of the SPD party executive at a place called Nauen.

At that time,

was still SPD chairman, he was in a pretty bad mood and dealt with one comrade after the other inside the meeting room.

We reporters lounged around outside and witnessed how various Gabriel victims left the room to catch a breath, to smoke or because they just didn't feel like it anymore.

The retreat went down

in recent party history under the title

Something like that could not happen to the CSU.

Or only when the prime minister is about to change again.

But it's not that bad for Markus Söder.

Or?

• Retreat of the CSU members of the Bundestag: »Opposition is opportunity« 

Gears through the ages

If you've always wanted to see the world and get paid well for it, today would have been an important deadline for you.

This Thursday is the application deadline for the

. Up to 80

(that's how the female form works) for the higher Foreign Service are being sought.

The written part begins at the beginning of September, the oral procedure lasts until January, after which those who have made it are hired.

Recently, there has been some fuss about the

, which is because it has changed.

To be more precise: somewhat simplified.

Many in the Foreign Office, or AA for short, find changes rather stupid.

You see yourself as part of a long

there , think in terms of decades rather than years, and of course many who have passed the selection test at some point secretly imagine it a little.

In the ongoing process, the three-hour

is now being dispensed with for the first time . Instead, in future more emphasis will be placed on specialist knowledge, analytical and language skills - that's how my colleague Christoph Schult, who is very familiar with the Federal Foreign Office, explained it to me.

I have a lot of sympathy for this reform, I spontaneously remembered a test I had to take many years ago at the district military

because I had stated that I wanted to join the

forces.

Among other things, I had to look at pictures with several gears and tick which one would probably turn the fastest.

I could only guess because I just don't have this form of intelligence.

In the end, I was told that for a prospective high school graduate, I was »

«, which, as an 18-year-old who thinks he has the world at his feet, isn’t exactly what you like to hear.

However, I believe that there is another major issue in the AA's reformed selection process.

It's about the question of which

you actually want and who is still willing to do a job that is hardly compatible with a modern

(two people work and at the same time both look after any children they may have) because you are constantly being transferred – i.e. a partner always has to step back if he or she doesn’t happen to be working in the foreign service.

A high degree of social and emotional competence is required,

under these conditions in such a way that everyone can live with it.

Such diplomats may not be found with gear tests.

By the way, I don't mean to say that I became a good diplomat.

On the contrary, unfortunately.

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The west in the east

If you are one of the lucky people who still have their vacation ahead of them, but at the same time do not know where to go, you should read my colleague Philipp Laage's text about the western part of Rügen.

Rügen isn't too far away from Berlin, but I actually wrote it off for the summer - too crowded, I thought, like the Baltic Sea as a whole.

Things are obviously different in the west of the island: »Travellers tend to ignore the western and north-western parts of Rügen and have therefore retained a pleasant calm«, writes Laage.

»There are fewer people out and about there, the fields between the avenue streets seem wider and more lavishly dimensioned, the sky seems a little higher.«

I already know where I'm going in ten days (to the sea, but not to the Baltic Sea, even though I like it very much).

But Rügen's west, specifically the small island of Öhe across from Schaprode, is on the list for next year.

Only, who knows, maybe the peace and quiet there will be over then.

Depending on how many people read the colleague's text.

• Holidays on the Baltic Sea: Rügen's quiet west is so beautiful 

Here is the current quiz of the day

The starting question today: If you want to be able to swim safely, you should at least meet the requirements of the bronze badge.

What does not belong to that?

Winner of the day...

…is

, US Secretary of Health.

Becerra is being visited today by his German colleague

, who is traveling in Washington.

According to the dpa news agency, Lauterbach is conducting health policy talks

there

Politicians usually say before such meetings that they want to find out more about the situation from their colleagues, but those who know Lauterbach a little are more likely to assume that Lauterbach will inform their colleagues about the situation.

In any case, after talking to Lauterbach about health policy, Mr. Becerra should be aware of a few

that he hadn't heard of before.

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I wish you a good start into the day.

Your Christoph Hickmann