Germany

Environmental activists on Monday protested in front of a fuel element factory in Germany where a Russian uranium shipment was set to arrive.

The Russian ship Mikhail Dudin was expected to arrive at the Rotterdam port Sunday evening, and the uranium was to be transported by truck on Monday to a plant in Lingen, near the German-Dutch border.

Protesters demanded an “immediate stop to nuclear deals with Russia,” according to a statement published by a citizen initiative.

Have these guys signed a non-aggression pact we’re not aware of?

Germany’s “dithering and inaction” since the Russian invasion of Ukraine is prompting other European states to question its value as an ally, the Polish prime minister has said.

While Berlin has pledged at least €1.2 billion worth of military aid — more in absolute terms than any other country except the United States, Britain and Poland — Kyiv and some of its more gung-ho backers are dissatisfied with the slow pace of deliveries.

In 2011, the German Baltic Sea Nature Conservation Foundation (Naturschutzstiftung Deutsche Ostsee) was created as a result of an agreement between Nord-Stream, the three main environmental organisations in Germany — WWF, BUND (“Friends of the Earth”), NABU — and the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. This foundation was immediately provided with a lucrative budget of ten million euros by Nord Stream.

Europe’s industrial powerhouse has managed to reduce itself to an instrument of Putin’s aggression

It wasn’t so long ago that Germany was able to present itself as the sensible man of Europe – the wise country which retained control of its public finances while other governments were losing their heads, and whose taxpayers were a little resentful about having to bail out less-responsible southern European nations. Now it is Europe’s fool.

Police used pepper spray and batons against protesters in the German city of Kassel in the early hours of Friday morning as anti-war demonstrators attempted to block the entrance to an arms factory.

Officers said the protesters had begun to throw objects at them. At least one person was arrested.

Activists for the Disarm Rheinmetall movement have been calling for protests across the country to try and stop the production and delivery of weapons, including for the war in Ukraine.

Germany’s domestic intelligence agency is investigating allegations that two senior civil servants working in the economy ministry could have been spying for Russia, according to a local media report.

Die Zeit, which first revealed the case, said the officials being investigated had close involvement with energy supply issues and held key positions.

The economy ministry and the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), the country’s domestic intelligence agency, would not comment on the reports. The economy ministry would only say that it was in continual dialogue with the BfV, and that the ministry found itself “under particular focus” due to its work tackling the energy crisis.

Hmmm

German FM: I will put Ukraine first “no matter what my German voters think” or how hard their life gets. pic.twitter.com/GwAqIZ2jL7

— Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil (@ivan_8848) August 31, 2022

h/t Mauser

Spy chiefs are warning of violent protests that could shake the foundations of the nation’s democratic system

At first glance it was just another bad day in a rotten week for Olaf Scholz. A week ago the German chancellor travelled to Neuruppin, a small town 40 miles northwest of Berlin, to deliver a routine speech to a sympathetic audience of 300 people or so.

Instead he found himself drowned out by a din of boos and taunts from 300 protesters gathered outside the cordon around the square: “liar”, “piss off”, “traitor to the people”. So far, so normal in today’s Germany.

A political revolt is brewing in Germany

The coalition government is out of touch with what voters want

… The coalition government of Social Democrats, Greens and Liberals looks out of touch with a voter base that has recently shifted in a dramatically pro-nuclear direction. Several polls have shown that at least 60% of Germans want to postpone the phase-out of nuclear, including a surprising 61% majority among supporters of the Greens.