The situation in the morning

Unloved Ritual (Protest 1)

I'm a friend of rituals.

Traveling once a year with your best friends, once a year to the Oktoberfest, at least twice a year with the kids for a weekend to Flaeming-Skate, to this wonderful skater idyll just outside of Berlin, the Christmas mass on Christmas Eve - rituals can be wonderful.

On the other hand, the

, becomes more and more suspicious to me.

The course always seems to be the same: the unions make high to illusory demands (in this case 10.5 percent more salary for the 2.5 million employees in the public sector, but at least 500 euros more per month).

The employers offer lower to outrageous counter-proposals (in this case a pay increase of five percent in two steps plus 2500 euros one-off payments).

A warning strike here, a warning strike there, you end up somewhere in the middle.

Does the anger of the people waiting in vain for the bus in Duisburg really affect the outcome of the negotiations?

Can't you just skip the ritual and meet right in the middle?

On the other hand, the right to strike is one of the few means of power employees have.

Taking it away from them would not exactly be conducive to social cohesion either.

So we will have to continue to live with the fact that public life is sometimes restricted until the Aristotelian middle has been found.

After the work stoppages of the past few days, the strike continues today.

Ver.di has announced that

it will paralyze local public transport in

.

If you live or work there and should be able to benefit from an operating agreement that allows you some time to work from home, then perhaps you should take advantage of that convenience today.

Even if it may thwart the goal of the warning strike (see anger, above).

• Strikes in rail, post, flights and public services: Will Germany be paralyzed in spring? 

Fridays reloaded (Protest 2)

As if the unrest wasn't enough, the Fridays For Future are storming the city centers again today.

You remember: These are the activists who fight for a better climate policy

.

Compared to their »last generation« combatants, the FFFers seem like a group of altar boys on a pilgrimage to Altötting.

However, this movement has so far achieved much more politically than the »Last Generation«, which is clamoring for riotous attention.

Angela Merkel had already conceded that climate legislation under her chancellorship would probably not have progressed so far without pressure from the streets.

And icons like Greta Thunberg have long been part of the regular inventory of speakers

at institutions like the

But apparently the pressure from the streets wasn't great enough: Germany missed its climate goals last year, with the war, the energy crisis and the cessation of Russian gas playing their part.

: phasing out coal by 2030 (the federal government has only planned an early phase-out in North Rhine-Westphalia so far), 100% renewable energy supply by 2025 and an end to subsidies for fossil fuels.

If you look at the number of municipalities in which protests are taking place today, you get the impression that the FFF movement could be revived after the forced break caused by Corona and the usual fatigue.

.

So, if you don't march yourself, be prepared for chants and traffic jams in the following cities (we do not claim to be complete):

Hanover, Bonn, Braunschweig, Göttingen, Berlin, Munich, Nuremberg, Cologne, Dortmund, Karlsruhe, Freiburg, Hamburg, Dresden, Kiel, Stuttgart, Potsdam, Leipzig, Magdeburg, Halle, Münster, Frankfurt (Oder), Radolfzell, Augsburg, Heidelberg , Stralsund, Dusseldorf, Mannheim

.

• Hanover's mayor on the "sticking protests": "I saw the city peace endangered" 

Pretty much best friends …

... are US President

and German Chancellor

, at least if the German Chancellor has his way.

Scholz is full of praise when he talks about the US President, probably because he sees himself

, apart from external characteristics.

Biden thinks far ahead, he weighs every step carefully, he is less interested in polls and superficial moods, more in the broad lines;

he supports Ukraine as generously as he can while maintaining

;

everything just like Scholz – in the eyes of Scholz.

Only when

did the two friends seem to have briefly disagreed.

At the time, the Germans told the White House "that they were not prepared to send the Leopards into battle" as long as Biden was not prepared to send Abrams as well, Jake Sullivan, the US President's national security adviser, recently said.

Biden, who considers the US Abrams tanks unsuitable for the fight in Ukraine, then gave in so as not to endanger the "unity of the alliance".

Such upsets may also be one of the reasons why Olaf Scholz is paying the US President a “working visit” to Washington today –

.

It should be a two-hour one-on-one meeting without a consultant.

In addition to the tank question, it will probably also be a question of the conditions under which

would be conceivable.

The question of how to ensure the supply of sufficient arms and ammunition to Ukraine.

And about Ukraine's long-term prospects, such as security guarantees and possible NATO membership.

It also cannot be ruled out that Joe Biden might suggest to his close friend from Germany that he might take a step ahead - and not always wait until the Americans take this step first.

Unfortunately we won't find out.

• Poland in the Ukraine War: On the way to the center of Europe 

You can find more news and background information on the war in Ukraine here:

• The latest developments:

  Ten people are missing after a residential building in Zaporizhia was shelled – and President Zelenskyj threatens Russia.

  Brazil wants to remain neutral.

  And: new aid from the USA.

• What is known about the incident in Russia's border region:

  Russia's ruler Putin speaks of a "terrorist attack" in the border area with Ukraine - he accuses "Ukrainian saboteurs".

  But a Russian right-wing extremist plays a central role. 

• At least Lavrov is listening this time:

  The G20 foreign ministers' meeting is supposed to be about issues like humanitarian aid.

  But Annalena Baerbock uses the opportunity to attack Putin's foreign minister harshly.

  At least he stays in the room. 

• "If I had gone ahead, it would have hit me":

  They saw officers beating, commanders lying, comrades looting: the Russians Sergei, Nikita and Danil marched into the Ukraine.

  Here they tell of an attack that didn't go according to plan from the start. 

Here is the current quiz of the day

The starting question today: Who was the governing mayor of West Berlin when the Wall fell on November 9, 1989?

Winner of the day...

... is

, the CDU's top candidate in the Berlin re-election and presumed future Governing Mayor of the capital.

However, Wegner did not play a major role in the fact that this election would end so happily for them.

Sure, he got a sensational election result, but mainly thanks to the weakness of the still incumbent mayor Franziska Giffey from the SPD.

But for a long time it looked as if Wegner couldn't do anything with it - for lack of willing coalition partners.

Red-Green-Red was already in the starting blocks for a second round, at least that's how it seemed.

In reality, however, this coalition was apparently

permeated

This is the only way to explain why everyone suddenly wants Wegner, both the SPD and the Greens, who are now blaming each other for the worst.

Yesterday, the CDU leadership spoke out in favor of starting the SPD coalition negotiations.

Kai Wegner probably still can't believe it to this day.

• Berlin SPD for alliance with CDU: The return of the grand coalition 

The latest news from the night

• Prominent US lawyer found guilty of murdering his wife and son:

  It was about fraud, drugs and a failed contract killing: The Alex Murdaugh case has occupied the United States for months.

  The jury then reached a verdict.

• SPD local association announces appeal against Schröder's acquittal:

  Will Gerhard Schröder remain in the SPD?

  Many comrades would like to get rid of the former chancellor.

  However, an arbitration committee of the party had rejected such requests.

  Some members don't want to put up with it.

• More than two tons of cocaine washed up on the French coast:

  the estimated value is 150 million euros: cocaine loads have been washed up on several beaches in France.

  There are several theories about the background.

The SPIEGEL + recommendations for today

• Can Habeck's heating revolution succeed?

  Economics Minister Robert Habeck wants to gradually ban gas and oil heating from German homes.

  This is important for the energy transition - but the exchange program has a social imbalance. 

• “We have to get away from hourly wages”:

  The job market is changing a lot right now – which is good for people, says Professor Barbara Prainsack.

  Here she talks about the advantages of the four-day week - and the unconditional basic income for millionaires too. 

• Being at the Olympics is expensive:

  Advance ticket sales for the 2024 Summer Games in Paris have started.

  You want to be there live at the sports spectacle?

  Then it's about time.

  Here you can read how it works - and what consumer advocates warn against. 

I wish you a nice start into the last day of the working week.

Yours sincerely, Martin Knobbe, head of SPIEGEL's capital city office