How Trump fueled the storming of the Capitol
This is the last layer on the morning before Christmas.
The political calendar is already empty.
The release of the Capitol Storm investigation report on January 6, 2021 was announced as the last major event before the Christmas break.
The parliamentary investigative committee then made it exciting, and the final report was not available until later in the evening (Washington time).
The panel had already called on the US Department of Justice on Monday to initiate criminal proceedings against ex-President Donald Trump – among other things, for inciting or aiding and abetting a riot.
Now the report spreads out the reasons for this appeal on 845 pages.
A first look inside: The report accuses Trump of a "multiple conspiracy" to reverse the results of the 2020 presidential election.
The central cause of the storm was “one man”, writes the panel: Trump.
The uprising seriously threatened democracy and "put the lives of American legislators at risk," it said.
The ex-president did not stop his supporters from violently storming the Capitol.
Here is a first analysis from our US correspondents - Final report on the storming of the Capitol: Script for a coup d'etat
Has the federal government understood the "turning point"?
We are nearing the end of an extreme year.
I can't remember a more eventful and cataclysmic year in my journalism career than 2022. Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine is having a bigger impact on the world than the towers collapsing in New York 21 years ago.
The big word "turning point" describes the year correctly.
Even if it is questionable whether the federal government is really doing enough to prepare the country for the consequences.
"With the announcement of the turning point, the opportunity was better than ever to finally break open the partly completely outdated structures in Germany, especially in the Bundeswehr," writes my colleague Konstantin von Hammerstein this week in the SPIEGEL editorial.
But Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht missed this opportunity and left everything as it was.
"Lambrecht is the wrong person to be Minister of Defense," writes Konstantin.
"As long as despondency and lethargy triumph in her case, the turning point will not get beyond the Chancellor's speech manuscript."
SPIEGEL editorial on the Bundeswehr's Puma debacle: It's getting embarrassing
On our own behalf: Our Ukraine coverage 2022
SPIEGEL's foreign department, for which I am responsible, has expended an enormous amount of energy and resources this year to report on this war for you.
Before February 24, on the day of the attack itself, and since then, my colleagues have been traveling in Ukraine almost continuously;
there was hardly a day when there wasn't a reporter from SPIEGEL in the country, in the cities and behind the front lines.
And at the same time we continue to report – even if it hasn't gotten any easier – from a permanent office in Moscow;
of course we also talk about the consequences of the war on the whole continent.
We are in Ukraine with so many colleagues because we think it is important not only to analyze from a distance, but also to explain what war means in concrete terms on the spot.
I would therefore like to use this »situation« as an exception to draw attention to the work of the colleagues who traveled to the Ukraine and Russia for you this year.
Here I put together a series of texts from the year about this war, it is only a small selection:
Before the war, Lina Verschwele celebrated New Year's Eve with young Ukrainian women in Kyiv who didn't want to be afraid of Putin
On the morning of February 24, shortly after the Russian attack, Alexandra Rojkov from Kyiv wrote the first report from a city at war for SPIEGEL
Shortly after the invasion, Christoph Reuter accompanied a load of German Bundeswehr helmets on a coach to Kyiv
Moscow correspondent Christina lever reported on the funeral of one of the first fallen Russian soldiers
Christian Esch and Thore Schröder reported on the war crimes in Bucha, where Russian soldiers indiscriminately murdered civilians
Christian Esch wrote about his return to Moscow after seeing Bucha's war crimes
In a report, Alexandra Rojkov reported about the boy Kolya, who lost his entire family in Mariupol
Thore Schröder talked about a village in eastern Ukraine that was first occupied by the Russians and recaptured by the Ukrainians - since then there has been distrust among the residents
Walter Mayr visited the hometown of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Alexander Sarovic reported on the hasty Russian withdrawal from the Kharkiv province
Christina lever told the story of a Russian who tried to evade mobilization
Christian Esch and Alexander Sarovic reported from the liberated city of Cherson
Unfortunately, it doesn't look at all as if the war will end soon in the new year.
Russian President Vladimir Putin recently announced a further militarization of society, and in Ukraine there are concerns that Kyiv will be attacked again.
In the new year we will also report for you from Ukraine and Russia and about this war and its effects on Germany and Europe.
And of course above all about its consequences for the country attacked: This also includes the suffering of the civilian population in Ukraine, who have to spend Christmas with little electricity and failed heating due to the Russian attacks on infrastructure.
You can find more news and background information on the war in Ukraine here:
Zelenskyy succeeded in Washington what Biden failed to do in Kiev:
the Ukrainian president managed to appeal to the hearts of Americans in a major speech before the US Congress.
Joe Biden's 2015 speech to the Kiev parliament was less successful.
“This fight will determine the world in which our children live”:
Volodymyr Zelenskyj urged the delivery of heavy tanks and fighter planes in a dramatic speech to the US Congress.
The applause was frenetic.
But how long does the euphoria last?
Draft budget with Ukraine aid passes the US Senate:
Shortly before a possible shutdown, Democrats and many Republicans approved a draft budget.
This also includes civilian and military support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia.
Christmas is usually a time of little news.
Let's hope it stays that way.
I wish you a peaceful and happy end of the year.
The next »Lage« will be published on December 27th.
I wish you all the best for the coming year – may it be a happier one in terms of world politics.
Here is the current quiz of the day
The starting question today: when were the first conscripts called up for military service in Germany?
Loser of the day...
... is the Federal Intelligence Service
.
A BND employee is said to have disclosed state secrets to Russia.
The officer was arrested and BND offices were searched.
The man is said to have passed on highly sensitive information to a Russian secret service.
So sensitive that, according to SPIEGEL information, Chancellor Olaf Scholz was informed several weeks ago that the BND was suspected of being a spy.
It could be one of the biggest espionage cases in the history of the BND.
If the suspicion were confirmed, the German foreign secret service would have had a double agent in its own ranks - and that while Russia was waging a war of aggression in Europe.
Secret service scandal: Suspected Russian spy exposed at the BND
The latest news from the night
Draft budget passes US Senate:
Shortly before a possible shutdown, Democrats and many Republicans approved a draft budget.
This also includes civilian and military support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia.
Buero.de withdraws offer for Galeria branches:
An online retailer had expressed interest in 47 shops of the ailing Galeria group.
Now buero.de no longer wants to.
The situation at Galeria is worse than expected.
Russia is considering launching rescue capsule for ISS crew:
Is the damaged Soyuz capsule no longer safe?
Russia is considering alternatives for the planned return of three ISS crew members.
An unmanned rescue spaceship may have to be sent into space.
The SPIEGEL + recommendations for today
'Fighting isn't bad.
Wordlessness is bad«:
When siblings argue about the inheritance, feelings are always negotiated as well.
The Cologne lawyer and mediator Dorothée Linden explains how brothers and sisters manage to talk to each other rationally.
Journey into a gloomy future:
tropical nights, forest fires, the drained Rhine: In the summer, the consequences of climate change became noticeable to everyone.
And more hot years will follow.
How can forests, fields and cities be converted to be climate-resilient?
American Demolitionist:
A Creative Destroyer?
A choleric with Asperger's syndrome?
For Twitter boss Elon Musk there are more important things than money, recognition and false media power: Musk himself.
"You haven't by any chance eaten the fillet of veal in bitumen?":
Jürgen Dollase is considered one of the most important restaurant critics in Germany.
Here he explains what bothers him about vegan cuisine, why the predicate "delicious" is a killer argument - and what his Christmas dinner looks like.
I wish you happy holidays.
Yours, Mathieu von Rohr
