Thursday, August 20, 2026

20 August 2026: Germany: 8 Stories

 1.  The RKI folks (national health)....did a study and concluded that 40-percent of Germans don't get enough sleep....more so for men, than women.  Varying reasons given, but there's a list of consequences (bad ones)...if you aren't getting enough sleep.

2.  Focus article on Russia....Russians quietly withdrawing their cash from banks....trust on the decline.  Banks/state itself.....now at risk.

3.  Jan Solwyn....former German federal police officer and currently a security analyst....suggests that in major metro cities of Germany....civil-war potential is brewing....because of crime syndicates/families/clans.  He gave a talk, and indicates that it's beyond the control of what exists for the police.

4.  WELT article: local authorities in Koln examining record and actions of the migration office.  Some suggestion that they were anti-deportation.

5.  Just odd numbers that make no sense.  Currently, in Germany....over 9.2 million people are unemployed.....while the national authorities are hyped up saying that is a shortage of skilled workers.

It begs the question....why expect migration to fix/resolve the shortage?

6.  Someone on social media pointed out: More people died in France this year (2026) from not having air conditioning (7,300) than American deaths from mass shootings in all of recorded U.S. history (1,741).

I paused over this numbers-BS....yeah, the point of climate-change and European heat deaths...you eventually drift over to comparisons that make points invalid.

7.  SPD chatter on income tax reform has started up.  CDU-CSU not exactly in agreement on where this is going.  If you were hyped-up....the SPD end-result is probably 300 Euro in your pocket for the whole year.  Not exactly worth opening a bottle of champaign over. 

8.  German natural gas reserves in trouble?  Well....German levels (as of last week) were at the 50-percent point (mandated levels).  At this time a year ago....it would have been at 67-percent.  Reaching the 80-percent point by 1 November (on the books, it is mandatory that they be at that level)....if you use the calculations....they probably will be 66-to-68 percent.

Problems in buying NG?  Tankers are looking for bids and each load has a hefty price tag.

This relating to a winter shortage of natural gas?  It would depend on winter temperatures and how Feb/Mar goes.  

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