Berlin-City Election

 BSW: 5-percent

CDU: 20-percent

Linke: 24.5-percent (winner)

SPD: 12-percent

Greens: 15-percent

AfD: 16-percent

No real shocker.  Highly divided in the city at this point.

State Election: Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

 Count as of 6 PM:

AfD wins: 37-percent.

SPD: 35.5-percent

CDU: 5.5-percent

Linke: 7.5-percent

Greens: 5.5-percent

BSW: 5-percent

Coalition build?  AfD is unlikely to get a coalition situation....so it's likely to be the SPD, Linke and Greens.  Shocker?  Last polling suggested better outcome for SPD.

Is There A France Fuel Crisis?

 Well....it's slowly developed into one (very noticeable in mid-Sep).

France is stuck with both a fuel shortage and a price-hike.

Roughly 11-percent of stations are short on either gas, or diesel. If you go back two weeks ago....it was 9-percent.

Pricing?  Diesel now runs around 2.39 Euro per liter....with some stations up around 2.50 to 2.60.

Blame?  First, there's the global shift in delivery going on.  Then you have some French ports being blocked by fisherman, and then there's a 'rush' for demand at the lower-priced stations.  Finally, one can bring up....higher number of diesel cars (nearing 50-percent).  

Same in Germany?  No.  There is escalation of prices, but no shortage.

20 Sep 2027: Germany: 6 Stories

 1.  Day one of Oktoberfest: around 600 individuals treated for serious intoxication.  

2.  Dormant bank accounts?  Germany has identified tens of thousands accounts...totaling around four billion Euro....just sitting there and no visit by the owner in at least a decade. The Green Party is writing a draft law that 'someone' (maybe the banks....maybe the gov't) needs to review ownership....find the owners or heirs, or dissolve the account into the government's hands/pocket).  

3.  Voting day in two German states.  

State of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern?  One single recent poll suggests that the SPD will win (over the AfD) by 2 points.  Previous polls gave 3-point edge to AfD over the SPD.  

State of Berlin-City?  Fairly divided...Linke Party figured to win with 23-percent of the vote...closely followed by the CDU, SPD, Greens, and AfD. 

4.  Fifth and last season of Babylon Berlin TV-series has started (last night).  

I strongly endorse the series but you need to start with season one and go through each season. 

5.  N-TV report....mid-summer 2027....conscription/draft....probably will start (numbers aren't reaching level that people expected). 

First step....you get a letter to come to a health exam by a military doctor-team.  

6.  LNG (natural gas) storage for Germany....at 56.3-percent....goes up around .1 per day presently.  If this were a serious winter....there would be issues brewing by early March.  

Is There a Gas Crisis Starting In Germany?

 What you have....is a public perception....as gas deliveries slowed slightly (US-Iran chaos)....the typical price creeped up.  So E-10 fuel is around 2.40 Euro presently. 

So the blunt truth.  There are two taxes and levies....on each liter of fuel sold.

Energiesteuer (energy tax, formerly Mineralölsteuer) is a fixed exercise duty of 65.45 cents per liter on standard sulfur-free gasoline. 

Mehrwertsteuer (VAT): 19-percent applied to the entire net price, including the energy tax and other levies. 

Then there is a CO₂-Abgabe (carbon price/national emissions trading under the BEHG): a levy on CO₂ emissions from fuels. It's around 15 cents per liter.

Then there is the Erdölbevorratungsabgabe (oil stockpiling levy / EBV contribution), which is a small fee (around 0.27 cents per liter) that funds Germany’s strategic petroleum reserves. 

Having just one single tax?  It would go far in solving the escalation in prices....but no one really wants to do it. 

19 Sep 2026: Germany: 7 Stories

 1.  This EU-Canada 'associate' chatter?  Number of journalists came up and asked questions.  

What you can now say....factually....the EU does not have a official status as 'associate-member'.  They talked about it for Ukraine about a year ago, but that talk went nowhere.  They have not approached a single EU country to officially 'bless' such a status.  

So all that Thursday night chatter on Germany's ZDF (public TV) news?  BS?  Mostly the EU bluffing the story.  

There already being a trade status between the two?  Yeah....for eight-plus years, so that's nothing new.

It is kinda funny....they got hype for roughly 24 hours, and the hype sorta died-out.

2.  Deal done....US has protection status over Greenland.  No chance that China or Russia establishes a presence there.  

Danes fairly shocked (by my opinion)....no one ever thought they were at risk of anything (invasion or such).  Somehow....Trump in some crazy way....got a 'deal' (at zero cost).  

3.  Gas relief?  Merz got a 'deal'....the energy tax on gas/diesel is to be reduced by 14 cents per liter. If you include the VAT, this results in a tax reduction of 17 cents per liter.  

Enough?  As you imagine pricing right now?   Yes.  If the pricing goes up another 30-odd cents?  They'd have to revisit this situation....with more relief.

Starts 1 October, and ends at end of December.

Merz coalition also worked up.... a fuel price cap with the fuel industry. Some details left to square it away.  Starts 1 Jan 2027....at latest. 

Opposition?  Curiously, the Greens and Linke Party call the plan 'madness'....saying the oil companies are raking in profits. 

4.  Berlin police did a raid on a employee of the AfD Party's candidate in the city election (coming up shortly).  The police thought they had a illegal weapon.  Well....they were wrong.  But what they found were drugs (never telling what type) and Nazi-history crap (also avoiding details).

On the Nazi-era collectables....generally...most stuff like books, uniforms, and such...are legal to buy.  You'd need to portray the purchase as a history-buff thing, and avoid public displays of your 'stuff'.

 You can walk into flea-markets today and likely find items for sale.  The problem is....you have fake crap (made forty years after the war....sold as legit stuff).  Whether the police have legit 1930s/1940s stuff, or counterfeit stuff....unknown.  On the drugs....cocaine and forty-odd drugs would be illegal....weed/marijuana would be legal.  

Counterfeit and imported in?  Zoll guys are going to review what you bought, and you can figure several weeks of review....with 50-50 odds of them confiscating it. 

5.  Focus article....Denmark study done on university graduates....growing number are unable to find a job after graduation.

6.  Oktoberfest starts today....24 C (mild temp)....blue sky.  

7.  Three weeks ago....I got blitz-camera 'caught' (speeding ticket on the autobahn)....in the state of the Pfalz (not Hessen).  The car tag is registered to the wife.....the pic is me.  I don't argue....I was 18 kph over the limit (100).

Well.....the Pfalz sends the letter a week ago.  Normally...in Hessen....as long as you aren't over 30 kph (over the limit)....you just get a letter to pay the ticket.

The Pfalz sent this letter to the wife....to ask if she wants to deny the ticket.  She obviously said yeah....that was the husband (me).  She has to do this on-line....into some database.  So they asked around ten questions in the database.  She inputs all my personal data.

Six days pass, and yesterday....I get a letter from the Pfalz police....do I want to deny the violation?  Oddly, they don't put the violation cost (I figure around 65 Euro), or where to send the money.  Instead, they want me to admit what I've done...before we talk money. 

I asked the wife what happens if I do nothing....I got a 12-minute lecture on 'doing-the-right-thing'.  

Platform Control?

 Talk started up today....in Hessen....over a pilot-program.  They want to organize the Frankfurt train station in such a way....that you would NOT be able to access any of the twenty-odd platforms (arrival or leaving)...unless you had a ticket. 

Obviously, there would be AI....some scan capability....a 'arm-control'.

Several years ago....I was at Den Haag and Amsterdam....where they had such a system running.

Happening in 2027?  No one says that....just that they want to start a program, and Frankfurt would be the choice.

Are there people there....just wandering around the platforms (currently)?  No one says that.  If you asked me....there's probably around a hundred 'walkers' in the Frankfurt station....with no purpose or agenda (other than perhaps robbing you or selling drugs).

NBC Report: Downsizing of US Forces Europe?

 So the story goes....apparently from some Pentagon source, that Sec/War tasked EUCOM/Pentagon to study the idea of downsizing 25,000 troops (minimum), and reflecting a new future.

What you should take from this?

First, several rumors in the past week....Poland asking for a US base.  This may fit into the agenda, with either Lakenheath or Spang fighters....moving with some US Army folk to some joint-base in Poland.

I'm also likely to believe that headquarters staffs at EUCOM, Ramstein and Wiesbaden.....probably will downsize, and re-locate.

I'm less likely to believe that US Navy gives up it's bases in this plan.

Where this leads onto?  The SECWAR expects some report (menu-type) in November and the President approves this in January.  House/Senate will have some say.

Big deal?  This is what should have been done in the mid-1990s. The negative I can see....if Wiesbaden's installation shuts down....that's the end of commissary/BX privileges/use.