The Putin ditch between desire and reality

1. Putin's bunker mentality

While the Russian TV audience was shown a cheerful report from the front from the Kherson region at the weekend, which featured hot showers and freshly baked bread for Russian soldiers, a depressed mood is spreading among Putin's hardliners.

Ann-Dorit Boy and Alexander Sarovic from our foreign desk describe how the chaotic retreat of Russian soldiers along the Dnieper River is causing depression among Russian propagandists.

Igor Strelkov, who led the staged uprising in the Donetsk region for Moscow in 2014, wrote of lost months.

More weeks would pass, during which time they would only be able to defend themselves and "retreat."

The otherwise combative warmonger Vladimir Solovyov warned in a talk show that one should not expect quick successes.

A Putin deputy in the partially occupied Kherson region claimed in a video that the situation was under control.

However, as the camera revealed, he had already saved himself on the east bank of the Dnieper, far away from the Ukrainian troops.

"The gulf between Putin's wishes and reality has once again widened considerably," write Ann-Dorit and Alexander.

The question arises: With his bunker mentality, does Putin still notice how the situation is developing?

Our columnist Nikolaus Blome now has doubts about this, which are also fueled by assessments from the Chancellery in Berlin.

He writes: »The chancellery is meanwhile assuming that the circle around Putin consists almost exclusively of bull necks from the security services.

As things stand, with the partial mobilization of the reservists you have proposed, he has missed the very last political exit for himself.

As long as Putin is in office, there will be no easing of sanctions and no peace.

Anyone who wants both in Russia at some point has to get past Putin.

I guess that's called the endgame."

Nikolaus makes a – somewhat daring – comparison with Hitler's last days as depicted in Oliver Hirschbiegel's film »Der Untergang«.

Similar to Hitler, who ended up issuing increasingly absurd military orders, according to research by the New York Times, Putin is said to have ordered that the Russian army not be allowed to withdraw from Cherson.

With the result that 20,000 soldiers were almost cut off.

Do Putin's generals now also keep two statistics on Russian losses: one real and one embellished so as not to irritate the ruler?

One thing is certain: If the thesis of the increasingly irrational Putin is correct, that would not be good news.

While Hitler could only babble about miracle weapons, Putin has real weapons of mass destruction at his disposal in large numbers.

• Read the full story here: Last days in the Kremlin

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

• "It is impossible to monitor every place at all times":

  The Ukraine war has changed the security situation in the Baltic Sea.

  Sweden's Navy Chief Ewa Skoog Haslum on Russian provocations - and the investigation into the alleged sabotage of Nord Stream 1 and 2.

• Lauterbach rows back after Putin's statement:

  "We are at war with Putin": Karl Lauterbach had positioned himself so clearly.

  Defense Secretary Lambrecht promptly contradicted him.

  The health minister now admits that his party colleague is “completely right”.

• EU Commission fears power outages and other emergencies in Europe:

  The EU is concerned that the lack of energy as a result of the Russian sanctions could still lead to major supply problems.

  A central crisis intervention plan should help.

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

2. Excavator free in Lützerath

The former settlement of Lützerath in the Garzweiler lignite mining area, occupied by climate activists, will be excavated.

This was announced today by the Green Economics Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Mona Neubaur.

In return, the lignite-fired power generation of the energy company RWE is to end as early as 2030, eight years earlier than previously planned.

The Green Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck therefore spoke of a "good day for climate protection", which of course not everyone in his party sees that way.

The youth organization Green Youth, which has close ties to the protest camp, tweeted: "Lützerath must not fall!"

One could say: Welcome to the harsh reality, dear Greens.

After Putin's plan to build a bridge to the renewable future with cheap natural gas from Russia was blown up by Putin, all the more coal is now needed to supply Germany with energy.

At least temporarily, until there are enough wind turbines, solar roofs and, above all, storage options.

Well, you could also rely on nuclear power or fracking gas from Germany instead.

Especially since it would be the more climate-friendly alternative compared to coal.

But here, in addition to technical and financial hurdles, party folklore stands in the way of the Greens.

Enlarge image

Activists in Lützerath

Photo: Federico Gambarini / dpa

However, the activists in Lützerath are likely to feel betrayed.

My colleagues Lukas Eberle, Tobias Großekemper and Benedikt Müller-Arnold have been asking around the protest camp in recent weeks, they write: »The settlement at the opencast mine is charged with symbolism and global politics.

Greta Thunberg has already visited, Luisa Neubauer and the Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate.

Lützerath has become a place of pilgrimage for activists, one of their most important arenas in the fight for the 1.5 degree target.

They keep organizing demonstrations in which thousands of people take part.«

Some of the activists had already occupied the Hambach Forest four years ago.

The forest between Cologne and Aachen, which is also located at an RWE opencast mine, was cleared by the police.

At that time, emergency services dragged activists out of the tree houses, they threw faeces, and a student died in a fall.

Now the most active are preparing for the next fight, my colleagues write: »On a plywood board in the camp there are posters with a timetable with ›workshops‹, which will be offered in the coming days: ›lock yourself in‹, ›barricade plenary‹, ›Staffing excavators made easy‹«.

In the fight for the Hambach Forest, the climate protesters had large parts of the public on their side, it was about old trees and rare animal species.

In Lützerath, on the other hand, there is hardly anything apart from half-ruined buildings.

Even the last original villager left his house with compensation.

Will Molotov cocktails be flying and batons brandished here soon?

My colleagues asked an activist if she would use violence to protect Lützerath.

At first she didn't want to answer that;

then she said: "Social change was never achieved peacefully."

• Read the full story here: The place that Greta Thunberg canonized 

3. Goodbye charging cable chaos

There will soon be a standardized charging plug for smartphones in the EU.

In Strasbourg, the EU Parliament voted to introduce the USB-C format plug as the standard.

By autumn 2024 at the latest, all mobile phones, tablets and digital cameras should be able to be charged with the same device, as should loudspeakers, headphones, mice and printers.

The regulation primarily forces Apple to replace its connection with a compatible system.

The harmonization will help reduce more than a thousand tonnes of waste in the EU every year, EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said today.

The agreement now only has to be formally approved by the member states, which according to a spokeswoman for the Council should happen in October.

Enlarge image

The left connector wins: connectors with USB-C, Lightning and Micro-USB standard

Photo: Mohssen Assanimoghaddam / dpa

I have to admit that the news of the unified plug has mixed feelings for me.

On the one hand relief that the constant search for the right cable will finally come to an end.

On the other hand, there is a risk that the EU will establish a state of the art that does not yet represent the best of all solutions.

Imagine if Germany had made the old DIN plug the standard for all stereo systems sold in Germany decades ago, instead of facing the cinch cable competition from the USA and Japan: That would hardly have been in the interest of music lovers.

There's a lot of bad things to say about Apple.

But I would be reluctant to accuse a lack of innovative spirit.

Shouldn't an EU competition commissioner also ensure that she keeps the competition for the best technical solution going?

• Read more here: USB-C is becoming the standard for chargers

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What else is important today

• Unexplained gas price brake - decision on further relief will probably be postponed:

  The rising energy prices are the central topic at the meeting of the federal and state governments in the early evening.

  However, participants do not expect a breakthrough on important issues.

• Traffic light is in favor of repeating it in around 300 polling stations:

  long queues in front of polling stations, voting after 6 p.m.: there was a lot of confusion in the federal elections in Berlin.

  The traffic light parties see a partial repetition of the election as necessary.

• Nobel Prize in Physics goes to three quantum researchers:

  The Swedish Academy of Sciences awards the Nobel Prize in Physics to Alain Aspect, John F. Clauser and Anton Zeilinger.

  They are honored for their work in the field of quantum physics.

• Liz Truss prefers to announce the budget:

  The British Prime Minister is making the next U-turn: In order to calm the financial markets, she wants to publish her spending plans much earlier.

  Tories' poll numbers plummet.

• The number of teachers who have completed a teaching degree has fallen by 13.8 percent:

  Many schools have vacancies.

  Teachers are therefore desperately waiting for new colleagues.

  Although more students have recently completed a teaching degree, the number is still lower than ten years ago.

My favorite story today: The self-healing heart

Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death in Germany, so my colleague Jörg Blech asked the doctor Carolin Lerchenmüller what can be done to keep the heart healthy.

Her answer was as disappointing as to be expected: exercise, eat healthy, get plenty of sleep, and don't smoke.

In that sense, I've done almost everything wrong in my life.

Too late I thought.

Enlarge image

Physical exercise causes new muscle cells and blood vessels to sprout in the pumping organ

Photo: Karrastock/Getty Images

But then came Lerchenmüller's good news;

it is: There may be a second chance.

In a study on mice, she discovered that, contrary to previous assumptions, the heart is apparently capable of forming new cells.

"Cardiac muscle cells can be lost through the aging process and disease," Lerchenmüller says in an interview, but "our study suggests that we can shift the balance towards regeneration.

Perhaps we can rejuvenate the heart through regular exercise.«

The heart rejuvenates itself: a comforting thought.

What do I have to do to get the self-healing powers going?

Well, three guesses.

"We actually currently recommend regular physical activity above all," says Lerchenmüller, "preferably 30 minutes on five days."

• Read the full interview here: The heart's amazing ability to rejuvenate itself 

What we recommend at SPIEGEL+ today

• Why is fracking so controversial?

  In Lower Saxony there are gigantic natural gas deposits that could supply Germany with energy for over 20 years - but the major parties prefer to avoid the topic in the state election campaign.

• This is how Germany heats:

  heating costs are exploding, experts are warning of a gas shortage.

  Who is particularly dependent on a stable supply and how big is the savings potential?

  An overview of the start of the heating season.

• Where Europe's last feudal lord lives:

  Feudalism - wasn't that something in the Middle Ages?

  Yes.

  But on the islet of Sark it has survived to this day.

  Now the residents have to assert themselves between the old order and new requirements.

  A visit .

• Tesla for truckers:

  Logistics giant DB Schenker has ordered 1,500 units of a newly designed truck: The Volta Zero shows how innovations could change the nature of trucks - for the better.

  A test drive.

Which is less important today

Kim Kardashian (2016)

Photo: © Eduardo Munoz / Reuters/ REUTERS

Cryptic:

, 41, has endorsed a cryptocurrency on her Instagram account, but has not said she was paid to promote it.

It is now costing her dearly.

The Internet celebrity has to pay $ 1.26 million in fines and compensation in a settlement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the agency announced yesterday.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has been warning investors for years about dubious investment tips from celebrities with a high reach on the Internet, especially in highly speculative crypto assets.

In 2018, the US Securities and Exchange Commission had already fined boxing star Floyd Mayweather, 45, and hip-hop producer DJ Khaled, 46, for doing unfair, paid promotions for digital currency transactions on their social media channels.

Typo of the day

, now corrected: "The woman is said to have never seen the vase."

Cartoon of the day:

Kremlin...threats keep coming

And tonight?

In the new episode of her video column, our literary critic Elke Heidenreich deals with the Goncourt brothers and the Belle Époque.

In their diaries, the brothers painted an unsparing picture of 19th-century Parisian society;

they noted embarrassments and affairs, but "not like gossips," says Elke Heidenreich, "but as very clever chroniclers of their time."

At the same time, however, they were unaware of what was happening in their own home: the drama of Rose, the maid, who led a double life, was taken advantage of by a good-for-nothing man, secretly gave birth to a child and later buried it, and her employers after Strich and thread lied to and stole from.

Enlarge image

Elke Heidenreich

Photo: DER SPIEGEL

The Swiss author Alain Claude Sulzer has now written a novel about this complex constellation, which Heidenreich warmly recommends: »We are dealing with a very elegant author who writes in a noble, graceful, soft language, as it is done today Hardly anyone can," she says, "and this book is both, it's a piece of contemporary history and a wonderful novel."

I wish you a nice evening.

Cordially

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