the three question marks today:
Alleged Accomplice of Double Agent - What Does Arthur E. Know?
The fairy tale of the shortage of skilled workers - is it just a lack of wages?
Support from the hated state - Did "People's Teacher" Nerling not only lie, but also cheat?
1. From Russia with Laugh
Moscow may not like that, but the damage is certainly greater for Germany than for Russia.
In this respect, the secret service agents in the Russian capital are likely to be gloating: The affair surrounding a senior BND employee who is said to have passed on secret documents from the German foreign intelligence service to the Russian secret service is spreading.
According to SPIEGEL information, an alleged accomplice of the BND employee, who was arrested shortly before Christmas, has now admitted to having traveled to Moscow at least twice to hand over secret BND documents to employees of the Russian secret service FSB.
The conspiratorial meetings in a Moscow restaurant took place in October and November 2022.
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Kremlin in Moscow: Demonstrably flown twice to Russia
Photo: AP / dpa
The suspect Arthur E., who has since been arrested, also testified that at the second meeting in Moscow, the FSB agents gave him an envelope containing cash in return for the secret BND documents.
Officials from the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) arrested the 31-year-old German-Russian Arthur E. on the Saturday before last after arriving from the United States at Munich Airport.
FBI investigators had previously questioned him in the USA and confiscated his mobile phones, laptop and hard drive.
The Attorney General is investigating Arthur E. and Carsten L. on suspicion of treason.
Both suspects, Arthur E. and Carsten L., who was arrested in December, are former Bundeswehr soldiers.
E. had signed up as a contract soldier in 2009 and was trained as an IT specialist. In 2015 he left the Bundeswehr at his own request.
According to SPIEGEL information, the material handed over in Moscow included printed screenshots of secret tables and data on the number of Russian victims in Ukraine, which the BND had apparently intercepted as part of covert operations.
With the documents, the Russian secret service may have been able to draw conclusions about the espionage methods of the BND.
The defenders of Arthur E. and Carsten L. did not want to comment on the allegations.
The BND and the federal prosecutor also did not want to comment on the new details in the espionage case.
Read more here: Suspected treason - German-Russian unpacks via Moscow connections - and incriminates BND agents
2. The skirmish of professionals
Have you recently been to a restaurant where, when you placed your order, it was said that the food could take a little longer – not enough staff?
Or have you recently tried to get a handyman?
Please register again in March.
But in March 2024 - not enough staff.
Or has an important treatment in the hospital just been postponed for you or those around you?
Justification, you guessed it - not enough staff.
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Whether craftsmen, nurses, lifeguards - or kiosk sellers: good staff is easy to find
Photo: Marcel Kusch/ picture alliance/dpa
Everywhere there is talk of a shortage of skilled workers.
The economy is not only sorry for the corona pandemic that important employees have been lost and they cannot be won back.
You didn't have to be a trained economist to wonder about it.
Aren't we more people than ever before in this country?
Most recently, 84.3 million people were counted in Germany - more than ever before, and despite all forecasts, the population continues to grow.
In addition, there are currently more workers in Germany than ever before - 45.9 million, they are better educated than all previous cohorts.
Yes, where are they all when they are supposedly not there?
My colleague Alexander Bartel put this question to an economist - and he gave some refreshing answers.
»If a company lacks skilled workers, it can change this on its own.
Through higher wages,« says Simon Jäger.
He is head of the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Bonn and associate professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
The labor market economist studied economics at the University of Bonn and UC Berkeley.
He then earned his PhD from Harvard University.
His statements can therefore be regarded as well-founded.
Simon makes the following calculation: “Think of the past year: there were massive real wage losses for the employees, with the highest level of employment at the same time.
This does not fit with the thesis of a shortage of skilled workers.
We have an unusual economic situation: workers are being sought, but real wages have fallen.«
It makes sense to me and above all it reminds me of my first job I ever had.
At the outdoor pool in my village, I sold fries, drinks and sweets at the kiosk with Mrs. Wild.
Ms. Wild initially paid 8 DM an hour, later 8.50 DM. All the teenagers wanted to work for her, she had more inquiries than she could employ people.
The fries were better than in the neighboring town anyway.
There, the outdoor pool paid a mark less than Ms. Wild, believed that she could not afford a higher wage.
In the end, Frau Wild not only had the necessary staff, but also many more customers.
In a way, Harvard broken down to Salach in Baden-Württemberg.
Read more here: Bottleneck on the labor market - »The thesis of a shortage of skilled workers is not correct«
3. The Voider
Sometimes you really want to look inside the heads of people like Nikolai Nerling.
What's going on?
Which synapses are affected?
Nerling was a primary school teacher in Berlin until 2018, but attracted so much attention with right-wing extremist theses, ethnic and conspiracy narrative nonsense that the city suspended him from teaching.
He relativizes the crimes of the National Socialists and denies the Holocaust, so the accusation.
During the corona pandemic, he denied the existence of the virus and demonstrated against government measures and the vaccination campaign.
And he was one of those who tried to occupy the Reichstag.
Nerling appears in several reports from the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
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Alleged fraudster Nerling: Support instead of a hat
Photo: Christoph Hardt / Future Image / IMAGO
The further he distanced himself from the state in whose service he had long served, the greater his contempt for him.
Apparently, that didn't stop Nerling from trying to sneak aid money from the same state.
After he was no longer allowed to work in the school, he continued to agitate happily on the Internet, called himself a "people's teacher" and ran a video blog.
Just as his brother Attila Hildmann fled to Turkey in spirit, Nerling fled to Brazil in the meantime and was up to mischief from there.
According to his own statements, there was an arrest warrant against him and he was wanted by the police.
However, for offenses such as incitement to hatred, insult and trespassing.
In August he was sentenced to nine months imprisonment, which was suspended for three years.
Now it has become known that Nerling could also have made himself liable to prosecution in other areas.
The public prosecutor's office in Berlin has brought charges against the right-wing extremist video blogger.
The 42-year-old is accused of Corona emergency aid fraud.
He applied for emergency aid in April 2020 and was also paid 9,000 euros.
However, he made incorrect statements.
Nerling is said to have claimed to have founded a sole proprietorship in October 2018 under the name "volks Lehrer.info".
In fact, this only happened a year later.
He is also said to have stated that he needed the financial aid for ongoing operations.
According to the investigation, however, this was probably not the case.
Nerling did not want to comment on the new allegations to SPIEGEL, but would like to do so in court, "should it come to that." But that can be assumed.
Even if he doesn't believe in the rule of law, that doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
Read more here: "People's teacher" accused of Corona emergency aid fraud
News and background to the war in Ukraine:
Ready for the war against the Kremlin troops in five weeks?
Near the German border, Polish soldiers train with Leopard 2 tanks – on the simulator and in the field.
Ukrainians could soon be practicing military action here.
Here you can see the video.
Helmholtz Association closes office in Moscow:
For a long time, Russian and German teams of scientists researched large-scale projects together.
The Ukraine war brought the caesura.
A leading German organization is now drawing further conclusions.
The United States is supplying longer-range missiles, Zelenskyj is calling for EU progress:
the United States is putting together the next military package for Ukraine.
Zelenskyj expects "news" from the summit with the EU.
Vice Chancellor Habeck is against fighter jet deliveries.
Recent Developments.
Find all the latest developments on the war in Ukraine here: The News Update
What else is important today
Puma tanks collide on Bundeswehr training ground - one seriously injured:
Apparently two Puma infantry fighting vehicles collided on the Gardelegen military training ground.
A soldier had to be transported by helicopter.
A total of twelve people were injured.
Von der Leyen wants to counter US subsidies:
US President Biden is fighting inflation with aid worth billions.
In response, the President of the EU Commission has now presented a package of measures that gives priority to green technologies.
The Federal Constitutional Court objects to police powers in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania:
It is about longer-term observations and the use of undercover investigators: Judges criticized the tightened security and regulatory law in the northern German state - it must now be revised.
What we recommend today at SPIEGEL+
The Last Giant:
For over 50 years, Boeing produced the Jumbo, an airplane that changed the world like no other.
Now this era is over – and the future of the once legendary company is uncertain.
The imposter becomes a "potential espionage threat":
The lying scandal surrounding George Santos is getting serious: the congressman has resigned from his committee posts for the time being, authorities are investigating his finances and the origin of mysterious donations.
Is there a trail to Moscow?
More green helps against death from the heat:
Europe experienced the hottest summer in 2022, and further records will follow.
Now, an analysis shows how many lives could be saved if more trees grew in cities.
Which is less important today
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Musician Osbourne (in August 2022): Time to say goodbye
Photo: HANNAH MCKAY / REUTERS
Walking stick instead of hard rock: in
2003, the singer of the band Black Sabbath,
Ozzy Osbourne
, had an accident with a quad, four years ago there was another serious accident in which his spine was damaged.
A tour planned for 2020 had to be postponed again and again.
Osbourne has now announced that it will probably never take place.
The 74-year-old hard rocker capitulates to frailty, unlike the 72-year-old cuddly singer: Phil Collins completed his last tour with Genesis sitting on an office chair.
Osbourne, on the other hand, resigned "I never imagined that my days as a touring artist would end like this".
Mini concave mirror
The »Rheinische Post« about Mozart's so-called Coronation Mass:
»To this day, no one really knows which coronation is actually meant: at the premiere it did not yet have a nickname.
It was not attached to the work until the 18th century, well after Mozart's death in 1791.«
Here you can find the whole concave mirror.
cartoon of the day
And tonight?
Could you watch the film “Doping and Poetry – The Difficult Legacy of GDR Sport”.
The film was shown last night on MDR and shows why GDR athletes won medals by the dozen and were later given the stamp "all doped".
This story was primarily driven by the former East German track and field athlete Ines Geipel, who saw East German athletes across the board as victims of the system.
She published several books and was honored with the Federal Cross of Merit for her enlightenment.
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Former GDR athlete Ines Geipel, once chairwoman of the Doping Victims Assistance Association (2018): discord between her and fellow campaigners
Photo: Gregor Fischer / dpa
But not only in the GDR was doping - moreover, not all athletes were victims, but also part of the system when they grew up and knowingly participated as "diplomats in tracksuits" and allowed themselves to be doped.
The film by Uwe Karte is based on an article that my colleagues Udo Ludwig, Thilo Neumann and Thomas Purschke wrote in SPIEGEL last May.
There the word "impostor" is mentioned, there is talk of a rift between Geipel and former comrades-in-arms, which was even negotiated in court in the end.
You can watch the film in the ARD media library here and read the SPIEGEL text here.
A lovely evening.
Heartfelt
Yours, Janko Tietz, Head of Department Germany/Panorama