Friedrich Merz, the smoother
There was a politician I was really scared of when I was a kid in the 80s.
Of course, I only knew the man as a flickering personality from the white veneered wall unit in which our gray tube television stood.
And in general he seemed to me - language, gestures, physique - as if from another planet.
Franz Josef Strauss at the Munich Oktoberfest: He could also look politely
Photo:
Gerhard Rauchwetter / picture alliance / dpa
My parents didn't seem to mind.
They obviously didn't fear the man, even though they knew his politics.
I didn't know his politics, but I was all the more afraid.
(Later everything took a turn for the better: I read about his politics and no longer feared him).
Well, Franz Josef Strauss.
The politician who was always sweating and (really often) looked angry on TV.
Who was constantly jetting around the world and pursuing secondary foreign policy, although he was only the boss of this Bayern thing.
He was with Mao Tse-tung in China, with the old Assad in Syria, with the Togolese dictator Eyadema, with Pinochet in Chile and over there with Honecker anyway.
Notice anything?
Flawless democrats were not all.
Legendary, of course, was Strauss' Christmas trip to the Soviet Union in the winter of 1987. The prime minister flew the Cessna aircraft himself and, to the protest of his co-pilot, landed it at Moscow Airport, which was actually closed due to snowstorms.
Enlarge image
Strauss fan Markus Söder, CDU boss Friedrich Merz: Also friendly
Photo:
Peter Kneffel / dpa
Things are different in the Union now, so you can rest easy.
When CDU leader
Friedrich Merz
travels to Warsaw for talks today, to meet Polish Prime Minister
Mateusz Morawiecki
, among others , he doesn't fly himself (although of course he could, of course, everyone knows that since his Sylt expedition recently). .
No child is afraid of Friedrich Merz these days, but the trip will cause a little trouble, presumably in the Chancellery.
It is said that Merz wants to calm things down in Poland after heavy criticism of Germany was recently voiced because of the sluggish exchange of tanks for Ukraine.
Merz already smoothed the waves for Scholz - hohö - when he was the first top German politician to travel to Ukrainian President Selenskyj in Kyiv in May.
Hesitating Ukraine ring exchange: CDU leader Merz wants to calm things down in Poland – and thus snubs Chancellor Scholz
A bizarre gas game
When noticeable gaps appear on the shelves of hardware stores and supermarkets, then the crises from the big world have arrived in our small cosmos of prosperity.
At the peak of the pandemic there was no toilet paper, shortly after the Russian attack on Ukraine there was flour and now the barbecue gas bottles and oil radiators are gone.
Significantly, all of these cases are self-induced shortages.
Enlarge image
Gas receiving station of the Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea pipeline in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
Photo:
Stefan Sauer / dpa
Because people were afraid that they would not be able to get off the toilet in lockdown, they bought a few more packs than necessary.
And because people are now afraid of freezing next winter, they are investing in electric heaters.
Fear and (pre-)care determine our actions.
And that's exactly where the warmonger from the Kremlin comes in.
While Putin is waging war on Ukraine and terrorizing the population with his bombs and rockets, he is waging a gas war against the EU states.
In the first case, a state is to be wiped out, in the second, a political community is to be frightened and permanently destabilized.
Today – once again – the gas tap is to be turned off a bit at one point: Gazprom has announced that 20 percent of the maximum capacity (instead of the previous 40 percent) will flow through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.
However, via another pipeline - the Transgas pipeline, which runs through Ukraine and Slovakia to Germany, among other places - Gazprom has apparently reserved larger capacities than usual for Wednesday.
That became known on Tuesday evening.
Open the gas tap, close the gas tap, cut back here and then surprisingly ease the tension there again: what Putin is doing is of course psychological warfare.
For the 69-year-old, however, this is a dwindling war resource, because in the foreseeable future Europe will be independent of Russian gas, of Russian raw materials in general.
Putin can still play the blackmailer for a few months, maybe this winter and the coming winter.
European Energy Crisis: Is Russia Sending More Gas to the West Through Slovakia?
You can find more news and background information on the war in Ukraine here:
Russians report capture of Ukraine's largest coal-fired power plant:
Pictures are intended to show Wagner mercenaries: Russian forces have apparently captured a huge coal-fired power plant in eastern Ukraine.
Dozens of foreigners were reportedly killed in an attack on the International Legion.
That's why real estate groups really want to turn on the heating:
Large landlords like LEG are calling for a law so that they have to heat less in winter.
They advise residents to wear sweaters and blankets.
The tenants' association is outraged - and suspects other motives than saving energy.
The first freight train has arrived in
the Russian exclave: train traffic to Kaliningrad was restricted for weeks due to EU sanctions, and now the governor is reporting a “quite a big success”.
However, the transit of military equipment remains prohibited.
Putin, the decomposer
In the time he has left, will Putin succeed in dividing European societies, sowing discord, destroying communities, playing groups off against each other?
In the world of Stasi agents, who are no strangers to Putin, that used to mean: decomposition.
KGB agent Putin, in the 1980s
Photo: ZUMA Press / IMAGO
Only: The man didn't count on the determination of the West when he attacked Ukraine. Perhaps he will now be surprised by Europe's unity in the gas war.
What to do?
First of all, don't assume that Putin
will
spare us, but work together as Europeans to actively work our way out of the trap.
In the SPIEGEL editorial, my colleague Gerald Traufetter outlined how this can be done: We should act as if gas were no longer flowing out of Russia;
we should reward gas saving with bonuses;
the EU should form a buying cartel;
The construction of wind turbines could be promoted by emergency decree.
Read here what other ideas there are.
Second: We have to secure our community, our cohesion.
And protect those who are the weakest, who are at the mercy of high energy prices without a buffer.
How can that be?
About redistribution.
My colleague Michael Sauga - completely unsuspicious of socialism, believe me - argues here for an excess profit tax.
He writes: "While skyrocketing oil and gas prices threaten to plunge millions of low-income earners into poverty, some companies in the sector are reaping horrendous additional profits." to counter the underclasses«.
Redistribution and independence are the means against Putin's subversive measures.
By the way: Whenever there is talk of attempts at blackmail against a company or a state,
I always have to think of Helmut Schmidt
.
Of course, as a later-born I only know his legendary TV speech from the German Autumn 1977 from YouTube, but the chancellor at the time said a few very true things that, slightly modified, also fit the current situation.
Schmidt accused the terrorists of wanting to
"undermine the democratic state and the trust of the citizens in our state
. "
The state must respond with the “necessary toughness”, but those involved must “keep a cool head”.
And he called out to the terrorists: 'You may feel a triumphant sense of power at this moment.
But let them not deceive themselves."
Because against their deeds stands "the will of the whole people".
Let's hope that this is still the case with all the people in winter.
Here is the current quiz of the day
The starting question today: Who got the worst SPD result in state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia as the top candidate in 2022?
Winner of the day...
… is Robert Habeck.
The vice chancellor is allowed to play boss today because the chancellor is (again) on vacation in the Allgäu.
Habeck will lead the cabinet in the Chancellery and
his
team will deal with the whistleblower protection law, among other things.
You can google it now, unfortunately there is no more space here.
The latest news from the night
Weak PC market affects Microsoft, Google reports less profit
: The analysts had expected more: the Ukraine war, a strong US dollar and sluggish computer sales are making business difficult for Microsoft.
Google also fell short of expectations.
Majority of Democrat voters would like candidates other than Joe Biden:
According to a recent survey, approval for the US President is dwindling – among his own supporters.
Donald Trump, who is flirting with a renewed candidacy, is also controversial in his own camp.
First wobbled, then magic:
In the end it was a clear victory for England's footballers.
But semi-final opponents Sweden were clearly the better team for 30 minutes – thanks to a trick by the coach.
Then the hostesses came and made a dream come true.
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I wish you a good start into the day.
Yours, Sebastian Fischer