Five German News Stories

 1.  Public TV commentator steps into 'crap'.

Well....the way this story goes....ARD (Channel One) of the public TV situation, allows for commentary.  I should note....it can only be a journalist under their employment.  It can't be a regular butcher, or a German professor, or just a regular citizen.  

So, Ukraine President Selenskyj shows up in Washington DC, and does the speech in the House chamber.  

ARD has a Washington correspondent....Gudrun Engel....who came to gave a commentary over Selenskyj's appearance.  In simple terms, she said the whole trip was "act of desperation" and only symbolism that "brings the world no meter closer to the end of the war".  

Within minutes....all hell broke loose on German Twitter as the commentary is pushed out and openly discussed.  Lets just say a fair number of Germans took this as a negative hype and 'dumped' upon ARD's news team.

The perception landscape existing in Germany presently?  180-degrees.  Probably 10-percent of society is pro-Russia and have daily references to Putin's propaganda efforts.  Another 10-percent perceive Ukraine as being absolutely corrupt in nature (at the same level as Russia), so this group has hit the 'mute-button' on the whole war story.  

The SPD Party enthusiasts?  They had for sixty years a seemingly 'happy' relationship built on Soviet/Russian relations/commerce....so they are in pretty much shock how things have gone, and are fairly scared of the war coming to the front-door step of Germany presently.  

Anti-refugee behavior like you saw in 2015/2016?  With a million-plus Ukrainians in Germany.....it's just awful rare that you hear negative or critical commentary over the present-day refugee situation.

Should someone had read the commentary of this ARD journalist ahead of time?  Just a humble guess....there's probably at least one manager who knew what the two-minute statement would be and no one disagreed with the words spoken.  

2.  Bakhmut battle scene in the Ukraine?  Pretty intense battle going on.  If you follow the German reports....Russians are holding out, but have taken enormous causalities.  

3.  N-TV ran a piece this AM talking about the German shortage of drugs.  So, the hype of the shortage goes to the fact that China produces the bulk of drugs used in the world (if you didn't know that).  In recent months, the Covid problem has gone 'turbo' and the Chinese now have the attitude that the drugs manufactured.....are needed there in China.  Rather than make more.....they simply took over distribution and aimed it primarily at their own people.  

How bad is the situation in Germany?  It's bad enough that the Health Minister is putting a plan up....to force German companies to manufacture critical drugs here....no matter what the cost level leads to.  So, you might wake up in late 2023 to find a drug which was 14 Euro per bottle before.....now runs at 18-to-20 Euro now. 

4.  WELT wrote up an interesting piece this AM....basically asking the question, after years of hyping public transportation and use of bikes....'why Germany remains a nation of motorists.'

If you can find the paper, it's an interesting talk. 

I will say, from my prospective....if you try to relate German society to what existed in the 1970s/1980s, there's simply a lot of people who don't want to live in urbanized areas like Hamburg or Frankfurt.  So once they get to a key salary structure....they pack up....leave, and buy a home 20 to 40 km from their job 'center'.

This current distaste of urbanization has countered the massive effort to lessen car use in the country.  

5.  I noticed out of Berlin, via RBB....a speeding incident.

City cops report a speeding camera catching a guy in a 30 kph zone in Berlin-Spandau....doing 113 kph.  

Aspects of the situation?  The guy maxed out on the fine.....at 800 Euro...got 2 points on the license review, and will sit out on driving for three months.  But then they brought up what their interest is....that they think he was in a car race.....so they are looking around for other bits of evidence.  So far, they haven't found a second car in this 'race'.  

If they find evidence (witnesses or cameras)?  Well....he's going to face a more stiff situation....his license could be revoked for a minimum of six months....and going up to five years.  They could also refer the guy when he attempts to recover his license....to a mental fitness test (the so-called dummy test), and his problems multiply rapidly.