The distant one
Chancellor
Olaf Scholz
is taking part in the SPD parliamentary group retreat today.
If you look back at the first year of his chancellorship, one thing is clear:
you didn't learn anything about Olaf Scholz as a person.
Only one official was visible.
His predecessor, Angela Merkel, wanted to do something similar, but couldn't keep up.
Here and there her spirit flashed, allowing glimpses of her soul and private life.
The Germans were curious about this chancellor, the first woman, the first East German to hold this office.
They wanted to get to know the person in the official.
This curiosity was met with a certain permeability on the part of Merkel.
In this way, many citizens were able to gradually develop sympathy from a distance.
Scholz is more hermetic than Merkel, than Gerhard Schröder, than Helmut Kohl, than Willy Brandt.
He doesn't show anything of himself, and there's also little sign of curiosity about him.
Greater distance between governor and governed was rare, perhaps never.
The chancellor and the Ukraine war: the worried Mr. Scholz
Without line
In this week of exams, it is also
the turn of the
CDU federal executive board .
Weimar was chosen as the location, as if one wanted to ennoble oneself a bit, Goethe, Schiller, Herder.
Not much remains of Merkel's first year in the opposition after 16 years as chancellor.
Party and faction leader Friedrich Merz has occasionally managed to persuade the official Scholz to make emotional statements in the Bundestag.
A new party line is not recognizable, actually no line at all.
Merz recently railed against migrant boys, "little pashas", that would not have happened to Merkel.
But what the new program is supposed to be, the offer to the voters - that is not yet clear.
Maybe after the exam.
CDU General Secretary on integration policy: Why is the CDU struggling with the issue of migration, Mr. Czaja?
"A Russian Victory"
How to end the war in Ukraine?
The SPD is not the only one concerned with this question, after party leader Saskia Esken said in an interview with SPIEGEL that she was counting on a "victory" for Ukraine.
Chancellor Scholz has so far said that Russia should not win.
Orlando Figes, one of the western world's best experts on Russia, writes the depressing words in his new book A History of Russia:
"A Russian victory of some kind is the most likely outcome of this war, given the resources at the Kremlin's disposal stand."
Figes names the price of this "victory," even if the Russians were to confine themselves to the Donbass as territorial gain: Ukrainian uprisings and civil disobedience.
Huge cost to rebuild.
Further weakening of the Russian economy through sanctions.
Junior partner in a close alliance with China.
That, in turn, would become a problem for the West: "As the Kremlin understands, this war is not just about Ukraine, but about the end of the US-dominated global order and economy through the growing power of Eurasia."
Attitude to the war: Esken's Ukraine push surprises the SPD
You can find more news and background information on the war in Ukraine here:
Call for delivery of fighter jets to Ukraine, pressure on Scholz in tank debate:
The West should also make fighter jets available to Ukraine - that's what ex-NATO commander Stavridis thinks.
Union and FDP insist on rapid Leopard deliveries.
Recent Developments.
How many more men does Putin send to war?
As of next week, Moscow wants to mobilize another 500,000 men, reports Ukraine.
The Kremlin denies.
But rumors are also spreading in Russia that soldiers are being prepared for an offensive in the spring.
Doctor removes unexploded grenade from Ukrainian soldier's chest:
The projectile could have exploded at any time: A Ukrainian serviceman had a grenade in his chest.
Despite special circumstances, a military surgeon and his team managed to operate on her.
Short, shorter, Bundeswehr
Apparently soldiers have the best and most ideas for shortcuts.
They're really creative there.
IFOR.
SFOR.
KFOR.
UNPROFOR.
And so forth.
I get the impression that in the military they would shout incomprehensible acronyms all day long, and yet everyone would always know.
Why it is like that?
Maybe you're so busy that you don't have time to use whole words (although my occasional visits to the Bundeswehr gave me the opposite impression).
Or everything that can be said must also be morse code within a reasonable time.
I dont know.
The pinnacle of virtuosity is reached when abbreviations are longer than conventional words, such as:
EUNAVFOR MED IRINI
.
I'll spare you the translation.
In any case, U35, ie U-Boot 35, ie Submarine 35, is returning to the port of Eckernförde today from an EUNAVFOR-MED-IRINI mission off the coast of Libya.
DIEGZF.
Lambrecht with the Panzertruppe: That's the marten - is the leopard coming soon?
Here is the current quiz of the day
The starting question today: Who did Vladimir Putin copy from in his doctoral thesis on “strategic planning”?
Loser of the day...
… is Joe Biden
, the President of the USA.
Isn't that incredible?
Secret documents are discovered during a raid on Donald Trump's house, which may have made him liable to prosecution, which would be proof of his unfitness for political office.
And now Biden is boosting Trump's second term prospects by storing self-classified material in private rooms.
Are there still people on the other side of the Atlantic where democracy is in good hands?
Special investigators deployed for files: Biden's sloppiness becomes a political scandal
The latest news from the night
Lisa Marie Presley is dead:
Lisa Marie Presley came to the hospital as an emergency, apparently after a cardiac arrest.
The daughter of rock 'n' roll legend Elvis Presley died a little later.
The singer and author was 54 years old.
Several deaths in tornadoes in the USA:
In the US state of Alabama, several tornadoes raged within a few hours.
The small town of Selma was particularly hard hit.
Several people were apparently killed.
Former US soldier released from Russian custody:
Taylor Dudley was in prison in Russia for nine months.
Now the former US soldier has been released.
There was initially no question of an exchange.
The SPIEGEL + recommendations for today
On the espionage front:
blinds closed when visitors come: dozens of MPs have their offices opposite the Russian embassy in Berlin.
This makes them particularly vulnerable to scout attacks.
Who has to work here – and how it feels.
What good bosses do differently: One
-on-one meetings motivate and are good for the working relationship - if the manager and team member prepare well and really listen.
What questions to ask.
Only the egos are super here:
Apple has condensed the dramatic days in which top clubs tried to found a Super League in a documentary worth seeing.
However, the film makes heroes of characters where there are only villains.
»Let's crack the ice box!«:
Huge reserves of raw materials lay in the soil of Siberia.
But there was a lack of people and money to salvage the treasures.
The Soviet Union therefore ensnared the Germans in the early 1970s.
I wish you a good start into the day.
Yours, Dirk Kurbjuweit
