Elon Musk’s AfD Endorsement Triggers EU Push for Stricter Censorship Under Digital Services Act
By Cindy Harper | Reclaim The Net | December 23, 2024
Elon Musk’s endorsement of Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has sparked significant controversy, particularly among European political figures concerned about the potential for what they call “foreign interference” in Germany’s upcoming elections.
Musk, the CEO of X, voiced his support for some of AfD’s policies following a deadly terror attack in Germany. His comments have raised alarm among EU officials, prompting calls for increased scrutiny of the X app and its compliance with the EU’s stringent censorship laws.
Thierry Breton, the European Union’s former Commissioner, took to X to express his outrage over Musk’s support for AfD. In a tweet posted on December 21, Breton accused Musk of being involved in “foreign interference” in Germany’s electoral process, especially given the timing of his comments around the tragic attack in Magdeburg.
Breton, who has been an advocate for strict censorship of social media platforms, and even threatened Elon Musk over his interview with President Donald Trump, also called for the immediate application of the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) to combat what he described as “double standards” when it comes to regulating speech online.
Breton’s tweet read: “A few weeks ahead of the next elections in Germany, and at the time of the heinous attack in Magdeburg, @elonmusk — the world’s top influencer on X and a potential member of the future U.S. administration — openly supports the far-right AfD party. Isn’t this the very definition of foreign interference? We must end the ‘double standards’ and apply the #DSA in Europe 🇪🇺”
This rhetoric reflects the growing unease among pro-censorship EU officials, who have long sought to use legislation like the DSA to control what is shared on social media platforms.
Musk’s support for AfD, a party criticized by some for its skepticism of some immigration policies and labeled as “far-right,” has spurred discussions about free speech and government intervention online.
Karl Lauterbach, the German Health Minister, also weighed in, echoing concerns about Musk’s political influence. He accused Musk of election interference and advocated for keeping a “close eye on the goings-on on X.”
Lauterbach, a well-known advocate of restricting speech on social media, has called for greater scrutiny of platforms that he believes allow for the unchecked spread of “extreme” views.
This growing tension between free speech advocates and pro-censorship officials comes at a time when Musk’s platform, X, has become a battleground for political discourse, especially with the European Union’s push to enforce stricter speech regulations.
Geopolitical auto-asphyxiation: Here’s why Germany is heading for irreversible decline
Berlin is unable or unwilling to finally abandon a pernicious groupthink that subordinates its interests to Washington’s misguided political agenda
By Tarik Cyril Amar | RT | December 22, 2024
Oops, he’s done it again: Tech mogul, richest man in the world, and also now new bestie of American President-elect Donald Trump, Elon Musk has used his massive social media clout – as owner of X and a personal account with more than 200 million followers – to post about politics. And here we don’t mean his unhelpful recent intervention in how Americans – barely – keep their rickety government contraption from stuttering to a halt for lack of cash.
Nope, this is about Germany: With regard to Europe’s Sick Man on the Spree (there is another one on the Seine, of course), in his first post Musk waltzed in, guns blazing to support the right-wing AfD (Alternative for Germany) party in the run-up to the snap elections on February 23.
Only the AfD, he pronounced with typical modesty, can “save Germany.” In a second post, a few days later, Musk reacted to a murderous attack on a German Christmas market in the city of Magdeburg. This time, he called Germany’s lame-duck Chancellor Olaf Scholz “an incompetent fool” who should resign forthwith.
Some Germans are aghast. How dare Musk, an American, intervene in our elections? Deeply unpopular German minister of health Karl Lauterbach, for instance, went almost comically Victorian with his performance of righteous ire for public display, calling Musk’s statements “undignified and highly problematic.” Shocking, shocking indeed!
Interestingly enough, most of the same Germans still have no problem with Joe Biden, also an American, having helped Ukraine blow up their vital energy infrastructure and then mightily promoting the de-industrialization of Germany and the EU as a whole by subsidizing companies which move to produce in the US. Others think it’s totally normal that German politicians, such as Michael Roth – head of the German parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, no less – massively interfere in the politics of, say, Georgia, not only by messing with its elections but also trying to literally instigate a coup. Judge not, lest ye be judged…
So, let’s cut out the daft pearl-clutching: I am German, and I find it very objectionable when Musk fails to post about the genocide in Gaza, instead taking the side of the Israeli perpetrators. But I could not be less concerned about him stating his opinion – it’s not more than that – about what party would be best for Germany, even thought I do not agree at all. As to calling Scholz what he actually is, go ahead Elon. There, I am even on your side.
Once we dispense with the huffy-puffy theatrics, what is really at stake here? And why would it even matter so much to some Germans what Musk has to say about their politics?
It’s not complicated: Musk has hit a very sore spot. And the name of that very sore spot is Germany. Yes, all of it, or at least, everything that has to do with its tanking economy and, frankly, delusional politics. Here’s how:
On December 16, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a confidence vote in the German parliament. That was no surprise but the plan from the beginning. Or to be precise, since November 6, when the former governing coalition of Greens, Free Democrat market liberals, and Scholz’s own Social Democrats imploded with a nasty bang. After that, the no-confidence vote – even if it came with some predictable yet pretty fake drama and backbiting – was merely a formality on the way to snap elections, scheduled for February 23.
On the face of it, the above may look like a minor politics-as-usual hiccup: Sometimes coalitions don’t work out and a country needs new elections to – hopefully – start over with a new government. In postwar Germany (the Cold War Western version and the post-unification one together), this procedure – based on article 68 of the constitution – is not unprecedented; it has been used 5 times before.
But this is not that sort of case. Rather, the snap elections are only one small symptom of a much deeper, all-pervasive malaise: By regularly reading the news about Germany, you could easily come to feel that Europe’s former economic locomotive and political first-among-not-so-equals is now a very unhappy country, economically in severe, persistent decline and politically – to put it kindly – badly disoriented. And you would be right. Except things are even worse, and I write that, let me remind you, as a German.
For what’s really gloomy – indeed, quite literally hopeless – about the current German doom is that no one with even a remote chance at political power in Berlin is prepared to honestly face the root causes of the country’s misery. Germany is not merely in a mess; it also has a dysfunctional non-elite that is in total denial about how to fix that mess. But before we get to that elephant in the misery room that almost all German politicians fail to acknowledge, with stereotypical thoroughness, let’s look at the wasteland their failure has made.
Take a few highlights. There are 84 million Germans. According to a major research institute in the country, a quarter of them have found out that their income is insufficient to make ends meet. In a similar vein, another new study based on official government data pays special attention to the cost of having a roof, any roof, over your head. It has just found that 17.5 million Germans are living in poverty. That is 5.4 million more than previously assumed. The reason they had escaped the traditional statistics is that the cost of their abodes had simply not been factored in. Once you, realistically, do so, a whopping 20 percent of Germans fall under the official definition of “poor.”
No wonder then that ever more Germans need soup kitchens – in German “Tafeln” – to simply have enough to eat. Indeed, demand for housing has grown so much that they even have to ration the food they are doling out.
More and more Germans have to abandon their pets because they simply can’t afford them anymore: cats and dogs are becoming a “luxury item,” and keep people in a “poverty trap.” Germany’s business mood, meanwhile, is “slumping,” according to Bloomberg.
We could go on, but the picture should be clear enough: Germans may be a little on the “Angst” side in terms of temperament, but this time, they are really in trouble. How did that happen to the industrial powerhouse and export champion? The core of the problem is, of course, the economy. It takes not a grain of alarmism – ask Bloomberg again – to observe that its very future is in danger: It is “ravaged” by an energy crisis; Chinese competitors squeeze it, while Chinese markets are being lost; and then there is US President-elect Donald Trump and his threats of brutal tariffs. And all of that on top of persistent stagnation entering its fifth year.
Indeed, for two years already the German economy has simply “flatlined,” and business is (not) looking forward to yet another year of no growth. Germany, a long report has just summed it up, is “reaching a point of no return,” on a “path of decline that threatens to become irreversible.”
Here is the crux: The mainstream parties now contesting the snap elections recognize that the situation is dire. How could they not without being laughed out of the room? They all offer suggestions, as you would expect, for what to do about it. Let’s set aside that such suggestions look a little silly when coming from the parties that made up the last government coalition. Why didn’t they implement their ideas then, after all?
Let’s just note that everything is rather predictable: The Social Democrats stress public spending and infrastructure and make unfounded promises to protect ordinary Germans from social decline, as if that process were not well underway already.
The mainstream Conservatives (CDU-CSU) emphasize lower taxes, budget cuts, less bureaucracy and red tape, and the magic powers of the market to unleash new growth. The market liberals from the Free Democrats do the same, just more extremely. And the Greens promise everything somehow, and then some, while making no sense at all. Everything as usual, in other words.
And yet, none of the above even dare name the one key issue that a new government could resolve quickly and that would have a decisive and fast impact on the German economy: namely the cause of that energy crisis that has hit crucial “energy-intensive” sectors the hardest but is, of course, affecting every single business and all the households, that is, consumers, one way or the other. The reason for that odd blindness is purely political, because that cause is very easy to identify. It’s the “structural blow” of “the loss of cheap Russian energy,” as even Bloomberg acknowledges.
It is true: Germany has an abundance of problems, some long predating the war in and over Ukraine: demography, under-digitalization, the infamous “debt brake,” a public debt limit so primitively designed it makes reasonable deficits impossible, and so on. And yet, the politically produced and self-imposed (Russia did not cut off the cheap energy, the West did, including via violent sabotage as in the Nord Stream attacks) energy crisis is decisive.
Imagine Germany, if you wish, as a past-their-prime, somewhat out-of-shape middle-class type. In principle, there is no reason such a person cannot rebuild by pursuing a healthy diet and decent exercise. Except, of course, you also cut off their oxygen supply by strangling them.
The added irony: Germany – with plenty of help from its big brother “ally” America and its dependent sponger Ukraine – is strangling itself. Auto-asphyxiation is, of course, a well-known and potentially lethal perversion, but usually it’s associated with aging rock stars in lonely hotel rooms. Seeing a whole country do it is peculiar.
In the current German party system, only two parties show signs of being willing to address this core issue instead of avoiding it: The far-right/right-wing AfD under Alice Weidel and the left-conservative BSW under Sarah Wagenknecht. What do they have in common apart from that? Nothing. Except, they both won’t be able to influence German government policy, at least not soon, and not after the February elections. The AfD is, actually, the second-strongest political party after the CDU-CSU Conservatives, according to current polls. Think what you will about Musk’s political tastes (absolutely not mine), but it’s a fact that he has spoken up for a party that almost a fifth of German voters prefer.
However, the mainstream parties swear that they will not allow it into a governing coalition. The BSW is doing reasonably well for a newcomer but may even be struggling to clear the five-percent barrier to gain seats in the new parliament, and it is certainly far from gathering the amount of votes that would make it indispensable for coalition building.
Here’s the final irony: Germany’s fundamental problem is not actually economic. The economy is in catastrophic shape, make no mistake. But the reason for that is political and even intellectual and moral: The inability or unwillingness to finally abandon a pernicious group think that subordinates obvious and vital German interests to the misguided political agenda of, ultimately, Washington and does not allow for what is obviously needed urgently: re-establishing and repairing a rational relationship with Russia.
Tarik Cyril Amar is a historian from Germany working at Koç University, Istanbul, on Russia, Ukraine, and Eastern Europe, the history of World War II, the cultural Cold War, and the politics of memory.
Germany: Effort to ban AfD party faces major setback
Remix News – December 20, 2024
A motion to ban the Alternative for Germany (AfD) is unlikely to move forward, as there is less than a week left to vote on such a ban in this legislative period, and sources involved with the effort say there is no majority in place for such a move.
The motion, originally put forward by CDU MP Marco Wanderwitz, who previously said he would retire after this term, will definitely not be put forward this term, co-signer Carmen Wegge (SPD) told the Rheinische Post.
As Remix News previously reported, it appeared as if a ban procedure would almost certianly move forward just a month ago, with 105 MPs voicing cross-party support, including from MPs like Claudia Roth and Katrin Göring Eckardt from the Greens, and Ralf Stegner and Helge Lindh from the SPD, just to name a few.
The motion will only move forward if there is a majority, but so far, the CDU and the SPD have spoken out against it. There are grave worries that such a ban procedure could take years, and in any case, with elections expected to take place in February, it could lead to a substantial boost for the AfD. Currently, the SPD and CDU also see no success with the Constitutional Court, which has the final say in such a ban procedure.
So far, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and CDU leader Friedrich Merz do not back the ban, although both have hinted that they may support such a procedure in the future.
Notably, politicians involved in the ban procedure are once again resorting to claims of protecting democracy by banning what is currently the second-largest party in the country.
“Due to the early elections, it is not yet clear whether we can put our motion to a vote in this legislative period,” said Wegge. “The AfD represents the greatest threat to our democracy.”
She claims the party’s goal is to abolish democracy, despite the AfD actually putting forward motions for direct democracy in the country, which would allow the country to make decisions via nationwide referendums — undoubtedly a purer form of democracy than what currently serves as democracy in Germany.
Meanwhile, as Remix News previously reported, the Greens are working on an alternative ban procedure which would be more gradual but which MPs of the party, and other parties, believe would have a better chance of succeeding.
Efforts to ban the AfD are certainly not helped by the fact that it is the second most popular party in the country at the moment, routinely polling between 18 and 20 percent. A move to outright ban the party would be seen as a catastrophic blow to democracy.
‘Profiting from mass immigration to Germany’ – Israeli-owned firm could earn €300 million housing migrants in Berlin
Remix News | December 18, 2024
An Israeli real estate firm based out of Luxembourg is set to profit massively from Germany’s migrant crisis. Currently, the Berlin Senate is preparing to approve a plan to pay the firm €157 million to accommodate 1,500 migrants in an office complex until 2035 in Berlin’s Westend.
The Aroundtown group is already earning €143 million for an accommodation in Lichtenberg in the east of Berlin. The Senate was set to decide on the building’s future on Dec. 11, but that decision has now been pushed back to January due to opposition from the Christian Democrats (CDU) and various citizens’ groups. If it eventually goes through, the company would earn €300 million over the next 10 years in total between the two different projects.
German news outlet NIUS has reviewed court documents related to the case. The building at Soorstrasse 80 is located in the middle-class Berlin Westend, and according NIUS, the Senate is ready to pay a “whopping” sum to house the migrants, far higher than what the actual real estate market in the area would normally be able to obtain.
“A state government that dreams of diversity and sustainability has no qualms about doing business with a real estate company based in Luxembourg that could not care less about the concerns of local residents,” writes NIUS.
Notably, Berlin is run by a Christian Democrat (CDU) mayor, Kai Wegner, who is notably extremely pro-migrant. His government has been actively looking for accommodations for migrants as the Berlin-Tegel reception center, which is housed in the former airport, is currently overflowing and facing massive problems.
The office space in Westend, which is 32,000 square meters of space, would earn the Israeli-owned firm an extraordinary sum of money.
According to the documents obtained by NIUS, the agreed to rent per square meter is €25.02 per square meter per month. Included in this sum is €8.80 per square meter for “conversion and refurbishment measures” because the real estate company is paying for converting the office tower into a migrant shelter.
However, the real estate portal ImmoScout24 states that the average rent in the area is €14.46 as of October 2024, which means the rent is nearly twice as high as market rates. In addition, of the 32,000 square meters in the space, only 23,000 square meters can actually be used, according to the State Office for Refugee Affairs.
However, the building management costs are also extremely high, equaling an additional €10 per square meter compared to the average of €2.79 for Berlin renters. That is three times as high as average. The Senate will pay €1.2 million per month based on these sums, which will be increased at a rate of 3 percent per year due to annual rent indexation.
In total, the real estate firm will earn €156.7 million over the course of 10 years, far higher than market prices.
To illustrate this point, at least one private investor wanted to purchase the building in the summer of 2024 for €45 million. However, the Israeli owners are going to be earning more than three times as much merely by renting out the office building. Afterward, they could theoretically sell the building and earn an enormous profit on top of the €156 million they already earned from German taxpayers.
The firm that owns the building is “Projekt Soorstraße 80-82 Berlin Grundstücks GmbH,” which is a company in the “opaque corporate network of the Tel Aviv-born investor Amir Dayan, who comes from one of the richest families in Israel,” according to the NIUS report.
“Since 2008, he has been buying up commercial properties on a large scale, especially in Germany. Dayan’s main company, TLG Immobilien AG, later merged with the real estate group Aroundtown – and so the office complex on Soorstrasse passed into the hands of the Luxembourg-based company.”
The report continues: “Aroundtown, in turn, was founded 20 years ago by the Israeli businessman Yakir Gabay. It is now one of the largest real estate companies in Europe. Gabay followed a similar principle to Dayan. In 2004, the now 58-year-old began investing in Berlin real estate. The group has its formal headquarters in the tax haven of Luxembourg, but its operational headquarters are in Berlin-Tegel at Wittestrasse 30. The subsidiary “Projekt Soorstrasse 80-82 Berlin Grundstücks ApS & Co. eGbR” is also based there.”
The company, which specialized in buying up “problem” properties others did not want, has faced serious losses in recent years, amounting to nearly €2.5 billion in 2024. Its stock price has declined dramatically from 8.70 euros down to 90 cents and currently, it is back up to approximately 3.18.
“In these difficult times, Aroundtown is apparently moving towards a new business model. While the industry is fighting for survival, it is profiting from mass immigration to Germany. The state as tenant promises guaranteed payments of millions,” writes NIUS.
Scholz loses confidence vote in German parliament, worsening Berlin’s political crisis
By Lucas Leiroz | December 17, 2024
The political crisis in Germany is deepening. Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a confidence vote in parliament on December 16, effectively dismantling his government. With the collapse of the coalition and the need for early elections, it seems clear that the irresponsible policies of support for Ukraine have been a “death sentence” for the Scholz government.
Scholz lost with a total of 394 votes against him, while only 207 parliamentarians voted in his favor. As a result, early elections will have to be called, and are expected to be scheduled for February 23. For now, Scholz remains in office, but will have to deal with the situation of a minority government. This means that the prime minister does not have the necessary majority of supporters to pass laws of his interest in parliament, in effect being a kind of “symbolic government”.
This situation was expected, considering that his political alliance had already collapsed recently. The pro-government coalition was dismantled after the chancellor fired then Finance Minister Christian Lindner due to disagreements on issues such as the military budget and support for Kiev. Along with Lindner, other ministers and officials who disagreed with Scholz were also dismissed or resigned, which was seen by the coalition as an attempt at a “purge” to eliminate partners who disagreed with the chancellor’s projects.
It is important to remember that Scholz publicly acknowledged the Ukrainian issue as responsible for the crisis in the coalition. Germany is going through a time of great economic and budgetary difficulties. The economic and energy crisis and the large public spending to reverse the “side effects” of the anti-Russian sanctions have harmed various sectors of German society. In parallel to all this, the pro-Scholz wing maintains a policy of support for Ukraine that further expands expenses, creating a worrying budget imbalance.
Having seen the devastating effects of supporting Ukraine on German domestic politics, Scholz desperately tried to reverse this situation by “softening” his Ukrainian policy. He refused to send long-range weapons to the Kiev regime, despite the international pressure to do so and the recent wave of “deep strikes” with direct NATO participation. In addition, he had a direct conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a telephone call, which caused outrage among his Western and Ukrainian partners. More than that, Scholz promised to call Putin more often, arguing that it is vital that European politicians participate more actively in the diplomatic process.
Not even this “change” in stance was enough to improve the public image of the German prime minister, who continued to face strong opposition in parliament, in addition to growing unpopularity. The growth of the German political right, both with the conservative nationalists of the AfD and the “moderate” Christian Democrats of the CDU, shows that Scholz’s political image is already exhausted, with the people and parliament demanding changes that he has proven incapable of achieving.
The problem is that Scholz will remain in office until the next election, which raises concerns for all sides of German politics. Scholz is expected to run again, representing the Social Democratic Party (SPD). His main rival will be the Christian Democrat Friedrich Merz, whose popularity seems to be growing in parallel with Scholz’s decline.
There are two possibilities: either Scholz will adopt an even more moderate stance on Ukraine until the election, in an attempt to gain support from the wing that wants to reduce German war spending; or he will adopt a kind of “suicide stance” and engage in a wave of all-out escalation, similar to what Biden is doing in his final days in the White House, since his chances of re-election are slim.
Scholz’s case is just one more in the great political crisis in the West since 2022. The special military operation had a profound effect on the West, indirectly causing the fall of several political leaders who proved incapable of dealing with the reality of the conflict. The more bellicose and active in the war in favor of Ukraine, the more unpopular Western leaders become and lose the trust of their own voters and supporters, becoming weak and vulnerable politicians.
Indeed, it is currently impossible for a Western leader to pursue a policy of full support for Ukraine. The fact that, unlike the pro-war countries, states like Hungary and Slovakia remain strong and stable, with their leaders enjoying broad popular support, is proof that Kiev is a destabilizing factor for the West. Scholz realized this too late and could not prevent his own collapse.
Lucas Leiroz, member of the BRICS Journalists Association, researcher at the Center for Geostrategic Studies, geopolitical consultant.
You can follow Lucas on X (formerly Twitter) and Telegram.
Germany’s AfD leader questions NATO membership
RT | December 15, 2024
Germany must ask whether NATO membership “is still useful for us,” Alternative for Germany (AfD) co-leader Tino Chrupalla has said, arguing that the US-led military bloc forces Europe to act in America’s interests.
”Europe has been forced to implement America’s interests. We reject that,” Chrupalla told German daily Welt on Sunday.
”NATO is currently not a defense alliance,” he continued. “A defense community must accept and respect the interests of all European countries, including Russia’s interests. If NATO cannot ensure that, Germany must consider to what extent this alliance is still useful for us,” he explained.
West Germany joined NATO in 1955, at the height of the Cold War. Accession to the bloc meant that Bonn could focus its spending on post-WWII reconstruction and welfare while outsourcing defense to the US. However, NATO’s first secretary general, Britain’s Lord Ismay, reportedly remarked that the bloc’s purpose in Europe was to “keep the Soviet Union out, the Americans in, and the Germans down.”
While the AfD’s platform has never called for an outright withdrawal from NATO, Chrupalla has previously argued that the bloc’s confrontational stance toward Russia was “driving a wedge into the continent of Europe” and precluding reconciliation with Moscow, which, he said, would be vital “to ensure lasting peace and prosperity” on the continent.
With snap elections in February looming, the AfD is currently polling at around 18%, ahead of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’ Social Democrats at 15% but behind the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) at 32%. However, even if the AfD were to emerge as the largest party after the vote, all of Germany’s other mainstream parties have ruled out entering a coalition with the right-wingers.
The AfD nominated co-leader Alice Weidel as its candidate for chancellor earlier this month, marking the first time in its 11-year history that the party has put a name forward for the position.
Speaking to reporters after the nomination, Weidel promised to introduce drastic immigration restrictions, to roll back Scholz’s climate policies, and to cut off military aid to Ukraine.
“We want peace in Ukraine,” she said. “We do not want any arms supplies, we do not want any tanks, we do not want any missiles.”
Speaking to Welt, Chrupalla said that “Russia has won this war,” and that “reality has caught up with those who claim to want to enable Ukraine to win the war.”
Can Europe be saved?
Professor Glenn Diesen interviewed by Dimitri Lascaris
Glenn Diesen | December 11, 2024
I was interviewed by Dimitri Lascaris about the future of Europe. I argue that Europe’s decline derives from its inability to adjust to a multipolar international system. Europe can become one of several centres of power by pursuing collective bargaining power based on common interests, diversifying economic partnerships to avoid excessive dependence on the US, and overcoming the Cold War legacy of zero-sum bloc politics.
The Europeans have done the exact opposite. The European security architecture has been built on the premise that expanding a military alliance ever closer to Russian borders would create peace and stability. Relations with Russia have subsequently collapsed and Europe is losing a costly proxy war against the world’s largest nuclear power. Countries in the shared neighbourhood (Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova) are destabilised and their democracy undermined to ensure pro-West/anti-Russia governments take power. These deeply divided societies have become the battleground for drawing new dividing lines in the new Cold War.
European economies are deindustrialising as they cut themselves off from the Russian market, and are also pressured by the US to decouple from the Chinese market. The US Inflation Reduction Act offers subsidies to what remains of struggling European industries if they relocate to the US. Excessive reliance on the US means that Europe cannot even criticise the US for destroying its energy infrastructure after the attack on Nord Stream. After centuries of a Europe-centric international system, the Europeans have not realised that they have been demoted from a subject to an object of security.
Governments that do not represent national interests will eventually be swept away, yet the political elites become increasingly authoritarian to keep their power. In France and Germany, their political opposition is pushed aside with undemocratic means. Hungary and Slovakia are punished by the EU for failing to fall in line. The election results in Romania were overturned after the electorate did not vote for the right candidate.
The continent desperately needs course correction, yet power structure and ideology prevent necessary changes from being implemented. More aggressive means to control the narrative also result in declining freedom of speech.
Merkel Testing Public Opinion With Recent Praise of Russian Gas, German Politician Suggests
Sputnik – 12.12.2024
The head of the German Council for Constitution and Sovereignty, Ralph Niemeyer commented on national politics in the light of governmental crisis.
Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s recent remarks about the benefits of past gas supplies from Russia could have been an attempt to test public opinion on the possibility of resuming such supplies under a future government involving the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the head of the German Council for Constitution and Sovereignty, Ralph Niemeyer, told Sputnik.
Merkel said on Tuesday that she did not consider the years-long gas imports from Russia to Germany a mistake, noting that the arrangement was mutually beneficial.
“It is possible [that the statement was a test of public opinion]. A good quality of Friedrich Merz [CDU leader and chancellor candidate] is pragmatism. If he sees no other way forward, he quickly changes his approach,” Niemeyer said.
Merz could pragmatically disregard earlier promises to Volodymyr Zelensky and work to rebuild relations with Russia, he added.
The German government collapsed in early November after Chancellor Scholz fired Finance Minister Christian Lindner, the Free Democratic Party (FDP) leader, citing his unwillingness to greenlight new proposals for the 2025 budget and more aid for Ukraine.
As a result of the government split, February 23 has been set as the potential date for a snap general election. Scholz will submit a written request for a vote of confidence to parliament on December 11, with a vote to be scheduled for December 16.
If Scholz survives the vote of confidence, he will enter coalition talks with rival parties in a bid to prop up his minority government, which consists of the Social Democrats and the Greens. This scenario is considered unlikely due to a near-universal agreement in parliament on the need to hold an early election.
Slovak MP Slams EU Leadership’s ‘Idiotic’ Russian Gas Sanctions
Sputnik – December 11, 2024
Reducing energy dependence on Russia became one of the European Union’s top priorities after the West unleashed its sanctions campaign against Moscow in 2022. The move has backfired on the continent, leaving Europe facing a crippling energy crisis, while Russia retained its position as the world’s largest gas exporter in 2023.
If the EU wants to drive its economy off a cliff, its self-destructive goal of halting Russian gas flows will get that result, Andrej Danko, deputy speaker of the National Council of the Slovak Republic, told Sputnik.
Ending imports of Russian gas will be a huge problem, he warned, adding that “whoever claims that this is not true is a fool.”
“Therefore, we need to talk about this problem, and a solution is needed,” Danko underscored.
The Slovak politician is set to visit Moscow in January to discuss prospects for Russian gas supplies in 2025.
He weighed in on EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s crusade of totally banning both Russian piped gas and LNG, specifically, recent remarks about wanting to discuss with US President-elect Donald Trump an increase in purchases of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States to replace Russian supplies.
The Slovak lawmaker admitted he was puzzled by her proposal.
“How much would US gas imports cost? What was the purpose then of Nord Stream 1, Nord Stream 2? What do they want to achieve? This will be a problem for Germany, where Ursula is from originally… If she wants to live in America later, then I get it. But if Ursula is going to live in the European Union, it’s impossible to understand her… It’s inconceivable for a person of her rank to say something like that,” Danko said.
Gas prices exceeded $500 per thousand cubic meters in Europe in November, with European gas futures reaching around €46 ($48.6) per MWh as Russia suspended fuel deliveries to Austria’s OMV. Furthermore, Ukraine is about to stop the transit of Russia’s gas through its territory by the end of the year, which could affect several European nations, including Austria and Slovakia.
Unless the EU changes its self-harming policy course, it won’t exist in 10 years’ time, Danko speculated. EU sanctions on Russian energy have generated a terrible situation, according to him, and people like Ursula von der Leyen are only driving the bloc’s economy into the ground.
He also voiced hope for dialogue between Moscow and Washington under incoming President Donald Trump. As for Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, he “does nothing for his people, he only creates problems,” Danko noted, likening the expired Kiev regime leader to a chattering “con artist.”
The EU’s energy problems are also linked to the Green Deal, Danko said, which “some jokers had come up with,” and foolhardy talk about scrapping nuclear energy.
He claimed the biggest problems were created by shutting down nuclear power plants under Germany’s then-Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Codified in a 2002 law, the nuclear phase-out in Germany was finalized after the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan. The country’s last trio of operating nuclear power plants, Emsland, Neckarwestheim 2, and Isar 2, were finally shuttered on April 15, 2023.
Berlin’s move to join the West’s energy sanctions against Russia and give up Moscow’s reliable and abundant energy supplies, along with the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage and the “green agenda” aimed at replacing fossil fuels and phasing out nuclear energy, have all contributed to Germany’s dismal economic data and looming deindustrialization.
Assessing the litany of mistakes made by the European Union, Danko speculated that if the continent hopes to achieve progress in energy and the economy, a fresh influx of “parties of the people” is needed to breathe new life into the EU.
Iran rejects latest E3 allegations about its peaceful nuclear program
Press TV – December 11, 2024
Iran has rejected the latest allegations about its peaceful nuclear program by three European countries, saying it will give an appropriate response to any confrontational move.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei made the remarks on Tuesday while responding to a joint statement by France, Germany, and the UK that accused Iran of failing to honor its commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal and UNSC Resolution 2231, urging Iran to halt what they termed as “nuclear escalation.”
The European statement came after a report by the UN nuclear watchdog indicating that Tehran had stepped up uranium enrichment activity, fulfilling its pledge to respond to a Western-sponsored censure resolution criticizing the country for what was described as a lack of cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Iran has reduced its commitments under the JCPOA over the past years following the re-imposition of sanctions lifted under the accord and the failure of European parties to compensate for the losses incurred by Iran.
Baghaei said the recent decision of the Iranian government was to activate more advanced centrifuges, within the framework of specific rights given under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and with due notification and under the supervision of the IAEA.
“As a responsible member of the IAEA, the Islamic Republic of Iran has proven its commitment to cooperation with this institution, and the understandings reached during the visit of the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency to Tehran on 14-15 November,” he said.
The spokesman added that “it is regrettable that the three European countries, regardless of the achievements of the Director General’s visit, which could have been a basis for strengthening cooperation in the future, insisted on their unconstructive approach and proceeded to pass a resolution against Iran.”
Referring to a November 29 meeting with representatives of the three European countries in Geneva, Baghaei stated that the Islamic Republic of Iran continues to believe in constructive interaction based on mutual respect.
“At the same time, the Islamic Republic of Iran will respond to any confrontational and illegal behavior within the framework of its legal rights and in an appropriate manner,” he stated.
Baghaei noted that the root cause of the situation stems from the US withdrawal from the deal and the failure of the E3 to fulfill their commitments.
He emphasized the importance of mutual adherence to the path of constructive interaction and advised the three European countries to address the root cause and reason for the current situation, which is a combination of continuous breach of commitment and the illegal policy of pressure and sanctions against the Iranian nation.
Earlier, Iran’s UN envoy, Amir-Saeid Iravani rejected Western allegations of non-compliance with its JCPOA commitments as “disingenuous and hypocritical.”
He called on the European parties to the 2015 nuclear accord to abandon their campaign of pressure against Iran and make real efforts to revive the deal.
He made the call in a letter addressed to the UN Security Council and UN chief Antonio Guterres.
Russian gas was ‘win-win’ – Merkel
RT | December 10, 2024
Buying natural gas from Russia was a good deal, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said, rejecting suggestions that it may have been a strategic mistake.
Merkel, who served as chancellor from 2005 to 2021, was in Paris this week to promote her memoir. She gave an exclusive interview to state TV channel France 2, in which she was asked about Germany’s energy relationship with Russia.
“The gas trade with Russia has a deep-rooted tradition. It began during the Cold War and continued throughout my time in office. I do not think it was a mistake, because we obtained Russian gas at a favorable price,” Merkel said in the interview, which aired on Monday evening.
“It was a win-win situation,” the former chancellor added.
Following the escalation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Germany had to source gas elsewhere because “prices exploded,” Merkel said, noting that this would have happened much earlier had Berlin stopped doing business with Moscow during her term.
“I believe it is reasonable to procure the most affordable gas,” she told France 2.
Earlier on her press tour, Merkel also defended the decision to build Nord Stream 2, noting that she had “no support from the business community to stop the gas trade with Russia” at the time. The project was launched in 2015 and the first pipes were laid in 2018.
While the government of Merkel’s successor, Olaf Scholz, has accused Moscow of “shutting off” gas to Germany, his coalition partner Robert Habeck had moved to end the energy trade long before the Ukraine conflict and EU sanctions on Russia provided the pretext. The Green Party leader presented giving up gas for “renewables” as an environmentally responsible policy choice.
Berlin thus refused to certify the newly finished Nord Stream 2 pipeline in January 2022. Nord Stream 1 was destroyed by a series of underwater explosions in September 2022. Investigations by Germany, Sweden, and Denmark have not pointed to a culprit yet, though German media reports have blamed a “rogue” group of Ukrainians.
One of the lines of Nord Stream 2 survived the bombing unharmed and could still deliver gas to Germany should Berlin change its policy and certify the pipeline.
The loss of Russian gas and reliance on the far more expensive US alternative has since pushed energy prices in Germany beyond what a lot of industrial enterprises could afford, triggering a wave of shutdowns and bankruptcies.
In a December 2022 interview, Merkel revealed that Germany and France considered the Minsk Agreements – a framework to peacefully resolve the dispute between Kiev and the two Donbass republics – as a play for time until the West could arm Ukraine for a confrontation with Russia. Former French President Francois Hollande has confirmed her claim.
Germany Deindustrialising & Subordinated
Sevim Dağdelen, Alexander Mercouris & Glenn Diesen
Glenn Diesen | Dec 2, 2024
I had the pleasure to speak with Sevim Dağdelen (member of parliament) and Alexander Mercouris about the changes within Germany and its role in the world. Germany has been the economic powerhouse pulling the EU forward and it represented a peaceful way to do politics. Yet, Germany changed fundamentally within a relatively short period of time as the German economic locomotive has gone off the rails. Germany is de-industrialising, it has subordinated itself to the US, and there is an absence of political leadership. It fuels the proxy war in Ukraine and supports genocide in Palestine. German is pursuing self-harm as it keeps buying Russian oil from India at a much higher cost, buying expensive American LNG after the Americans destroyed their energy infrastructure, and Germany gave Joe Biden a medal even as the US Inflation Reduction Act relocates German industries to the US. Sevim Dağdelen explains how Germany ended up pursuing these seemingly irrational policies, and she outlines alternatives to turn things around.
Watch at Odysee