Friday, March 3, 2023

Five German News Stories

 1.  The Ukraine gov't made a blunt talk on 'talks' with Russia......they have to start with reparations (paying Ukraine for damages).  I just don't see Putin ever being in this frame of mind....ever.  Nor would I see any replacement for Putin thinking this way.  

2.  Three floating Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) terminals are being made operational around the Hamburg region....to cover what will be natural gas ships delivering the precious product.  In addition.....if you follow N-TV this AM....over the next couple of years....eight additional 'ports' will be completed.  Lot of discussion is going on....if all of this is necessary.  

3.  NDR (public TV, for NW Germany, sub-network off ARD)....has a public forum show called 'Zapp'.  The show was originally designed two decades ago to be investigative reporting and a outlet for critical journalism.   In the past two years....it's been more geared toward youthful viewers....mostly being aimed at the data-streaming crowd.  I'll just say....it's not the same show as before.

So, last night.....the ARD top 'boss'....Kai Gniffke ended up as a guest.  What the moderator went out?  Well....Gniffke's salary....30,000 Euro a month.  I'd describe it as going 'south' real quick, and whatever Gniffke tried to do...explaining salary....just didn't work.  

The whole public TV crowd is getting a lot of attention, and I would imagine some major change in the next five years is coming, with manpower cuts.

4.  WELT has an excellent piece on home-purchasing and how the middle-class are pretty much pushed out of buying their dream house....because of inflation and the mortgage rate spiral (upwards). In December, the general rate was 3.91.

5.  In my region (Wiesbaden)....zero bus and local train traffic today....strike.  Pretty much shuts down everything.  

2 comments:

Wrench said...

Here's a good story. A 77 year old was pulled over for speeding in Berlin. (17 kmh over the speed limit) As the officer approached the car and ask for the mans license, he noticed a pornographic movie playing on the vehicles touch screen. After an "enlightened conversation" the old man was sent on his way. It was not determined whether the film had anything to do with his speeding.

Schnitzel_Republic said...

I'm skeptical of the story. 77-year old German....trying to operate a vehicle media screen? It's taken me 40 hours to train my German wife on how to operate the GPS in the car. She has yet to grasp that you could run movies via the system (3 years later). I think there's still two dozen features on the car that she hasn't grasped they exist.