Thursday, June 11, 2026

11 June 2026: Germany: 6 Stories

 1.  Stuttgart rail infrastructure project....delayed again? It's currently around 10 years in waiting-to-be-done status.  Based off commentary yesterday....they laid out around 1,000 km of cabling....incorrectly.   It has to be yanked-up and done right. Blame?  They aren't pointing fingers but you wonder.

2.  Some kind of massive power outage in Reutlingen (Baden-Wuerttemberg)....went on for several hours  Man-made incident.....everyone is avoiding saying a 'terror-act'.  

3.  Curious Forsa/RTL/N-TV survey/poll....Germans were asked 'who' can come in and fix all the problems/woes facing society.

CDU and AfD each had 13-percent.

Greens: 8-percent, Linke; 4-percent, SPD: 5-percent.

Then 55-percent said no party was capable of fixing the problems. Makes you wonder.

4.  RyanAir CEO gave a blunt talk on BER (Berlin' airport)....pretty negative...says the gov't now needs to step in.

Having recently been through BER....it's a nice medium-sized airport....fairly modern.  Bag-turn-in was five-star.  My general complaint....one  eating area....very limited seating (crap). 

5.  WELT piece: Talking over the Frankfurt train-station problems with safety.  One comment stuck out...they (the police) can run raids six times a day....yet the infestation of drugs....is still there.  My advice....if you have to travel  through (either via the long distance trains or subway).....just walk directly....don't linger....don't stop for a beer or burger.

My humble view....either in the station, or  in the underground area, or within 200 meters of the building....there's probably 300-plus people engaged in selling/dealing or using drugs....around the clock.  Cure? If they were to detain/take anyone....they need to physically remove them  (figure 200 km) from Frankfurt.

6.  N-TV: One in five Germans order 'something-grocery-like' via on-line now. 

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