1. For most of the past year, if you have followed the German Defense Ministry and their 'boss' (SPD's Lambrecht)....you might have noticed a few fumbles here and there.
In the coalition-building process....neither the Greens or FDP wanted the responsibility over the German military (it's a powder-keg and it's been that way for twenty-odd years). So Lambrecht was dragged in by her party to be the Defense Minister.
This past week, they decided to hold an emergency cabinet meeting (coming up this week)....mostly to discuss a defense issue (Lambrecht and her staff were stalling on the purchase of US-made fighter jets).
Some blame her style of management....some blame her reasoning of avoiding mistakes. Part of the delay in this decision? Well....there has to be modifications to a air base at Buchel....which won't be done by 2026....when the new F-35s are supposed to arrive.
This story will linger around for the whole week, and it's possible that Lambrecht will resign by the end.
2. This week, on the 8th (Thursday), a national warning apparatus will be turned on, and tested in Germany....for a minute. So expect a siren episode around noon. Also.....the cellphone warning App will alert as well....all as part of a test.
A big deal? A lot of this warning business was disconnected at the end of the 'Cold War'.....and with the Putin business....they've found reasons to bring back a national warning apparatus.
3. At the end of December....if you run a cosmetic shop in Germany with laser treatment (to kill hair).....you have to have a certificate to operate such a business enterprise.
Yes, for probably 20 years....these shops existed without government regulation in their business.
4. Lot of hype over the weekend....with sport journalists coming out and discussing the German soccer players with this 'cover-the-mouth' protest gimmick at the Qatar World Cup.
Apparently, as this idea was introduced....a number of the players asked what the hell was going on, and why this was necessary. At some point, the German soccer gurus brought in a PR rep to explain the gimmick.
The general impression (if you watch the weekend chats)....is that soccer suddenly got politicized and players couldn't really figure their necessity to participate in this agenda.
5. There's a state election in Hessen for 2023 (Oct is the likely month for it). There's a discussion underway that the fed Interior Minister (Faeser) will leave/resign from the job, and return to Hessen to run the campaign.
The SPD folks think they can do better than they did in 2018 (19.8-percent of the vote)....with Faeser as the 'head' of the campaign.
Odds of Faeser resigning? I'd give it a 60-percent chance. They don't have any great state candidates around and it simply makes sense.
Who would get the Interior Minister job? Well....just my opinion....the Defense Minister....Lambrecht. They'd have to go out and draft up a new Defense Minister though....to make this shuffle happen.
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