Friday, May 31, 2024

31 May 2024: Five German News Stories

1.  Just an odd story out of Focus:   At some point on Wednesday afternoon....a couple of swimming pool staff folks were attacked by a group of young men (Bremen area....indoor pool).

Three folks wounded enough to be taken to a hospital. 

Attackers?  Cops say between 16 and 18 years old.

Trigger?  Well...the pool folks had some ban on the entering group, and the young men started a fight over this.

Arrests?  Nothing yet, but the cops are onto an investigation.  

2.  Polling for EU election....this weekend....done for Germany.  What it says?

The CDU/CSU will get around 29 percent.  The SPD?  Near 15 percent.

Greens?  They slumped from 2019....will go near 14 percent (about a 6-point drop).

The AfD?  Near 14 ​​percent.  The BSW (new) Party....6 percent.

The FDP folks get marginally 4 percent.

People charged up?  No.  If you look at past EU elections....at least in Germany,  it goes near 60-to-65 percent of folks showing up to vote.  The most I get out of this....the BSW folks got what the old Linke Party would have gotten, and have yet to really take off.  What does make this election unique?  Voters at age 16 allowed into the system, and no one knows if they will show up or not.

3.  Front-page of most German newspapers.....President Joe Biden has given Ukraine some type of green light, with limits......to attack inside of Russia with US missiles/rockets/bombs. The word is....it has to be done only if Kharkiv is attacked (in the eastern side of Ukraine).

I'll just be blunt....it'll just push Putin to select some US targets (likely in Europe) and make matters worse.

4.  Odd development over at Channel 2 (public TV, ZDF).  Their moderator/boss for the editorial department for politics/current affairs (since 2014)....is 'let-go'. 

Matthias Fornoff....you might have seen the guy a good bit...running the show "Politbarometer"....apparently got into some type of sexual harassment situation.  

5.  Current 'boss' of NATO says that the alliance needs to funnel 40-billion dollars a year into the Ukraine....until the war ends.  

Taking a big chunk out of what each NATO member could spend on itself and it's defense budget?  Yeah, and I'm sure various budget people are grumbling because they can never reach this 40-billion dollar number.

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