Sabotage, reasons of state, and the ordinary citizen

Nordstream 1 and 2 were rendered unusable for years on two consecutive days with the help of powerful explosive devices. According to a usually well-informed expert from CCTV-4 (the Chinese state television), the force released on this occasion was equivalent to at least two tons of TNT. The explosion was so powerful that it caused seismographs in Denmark and Sweden to tremble. Sabotage, reasons of state, and the ordinary citizen weiterlesen

Europe on Probation

The war was prepared long in advance. At the latest since 2005, when Vladimir Putin described the disintegration of the Soviet Union as the „greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century,“ he was anxious to reverse what he saw as a disastrous development. Europe on Probation weiterlesen

Peter Michael Lingens – Why this juggling with facts?

To prevent any misunderstandings: I admire the former editor-in-chief of Austria’s “Profil” and current contributor to “Der Falter” for the lucidity of his style, his straightforwardness, his political intuition and, yes, for his sense of justice. Moreover, I hope not being inclined to quarrel over each dot on top of an ideological „i“ to the point of utter disagreement – a tendency so widespread among left-wing thinkers. Peter Michael Lingens – Why this juggling with facts? weiterlesen

Volodymyr Zelensky: The dismantling of a Hero

Public opinion – it is a bloodthirsty beast. It purrs and cajoles when a hero is born, it mercilessly rips him apart as soon as he stumbles or even begins to fall. The Ukrainian comedian was a nonexistent entity before he assumed his country’s presidency; he was a shining light to the West and beyond as he stood up to injustice on behalf of an invaded nation.

Volodymyr Zelensky: The dismantling of a Hero weiterlesen

Europe – Island of Pacifism?

This question is no longer discussed only behind closed doors. CDU politician and former environment minister Norbert Röttgen made the following statement in an interview with Der Spiegel: 

SPIEGEL: You write in your book that for Europe it is a matter of „to be or not to be.“ A bit pathetic, isn’t it? Röttgen: No, it’s the naked truth. We have outsourced energy to Russia, the growth markets to China, security comes from the USA. At the same time, climate change and migration pose enormous challenges. Europe – Island of Pacifism? weiterlesen

Wrong: Checkmate! Ukraine will capitulate and Europe is brought to its knees

Self-correction two days after publication. The demand for payment in rubles could have led to a halt in gas supplies and the destructive economic and social effects mentioned below. However, Putin left himself a loophole (see footnote *0* below). Nevertheless, I am not deleting the article because it shows Europe’s fatal dependence on foreign resources and its possible consequences.

Wrong: Checkmate! Ukraine will capitulate and Europe is brought to its knees weiterlesen

Friends and Foes – German (Self)Righteousness

It happens that sharp-eyed psychologists are amazed at how similar people, e.g. men and women, can become when they are together for years, e.g. in a marriage. Malicious voices even claim that such similarity may frequently be observed between a dog and its master (mistress). Both then seems to become each others strange counterfeits. We need not find this surprising: a close coexistence inevitably leads to an alignment of habits, views, preferences, and antipathies – otherwise a close coexistence would not come about in the first place. Friends and Foes – German (Self)Righteousness weiterlesen

Germany – a Banana Republic?

The critics of representative democracy suspect it of disenfranchising voters because they are prevented from voting directly on legislative proposals. This accusation ignores social reality, which has changed fundamentally since ancient Greece and the Germanic Thing, where free men (women were still excluded) decided on war and peace and many other basic concerns. Modern society has become so complex that most decisions require technical expertise that can only be provided by specialists. Germany – a Banana Republic? weiterlesen

Delta – Is democracy losing the battle against dictatorship and autocracy?

Although we usually hear populists in both camps saying, that the realm of good – their own – is facing that of evil – the other side, U.S. and Chinese students and scholars move effortlessly from one country to the other. After the Chinese conformed most of their institutions to the Western model, the similarities between them are significantly greater than anything that still separates them. Delta – Is democracy losing the battle against dictatorship and autocracy? weiterlesen

Adolf Hitler in private – a jolly good Fellow?

Experts are surrounded by their own aura. They know everything about a certain subject, which they have usually studied all their lives – this seems to make them unassailable. But why, then, does a popular German saying deny them a truly profound knowledge? There is often but a single step from specialism to professional blindness! Adolf Hitler in private – a jolly good Fellow? weiterlesen

Adam Tooze – An experts’s review of ten years of global economic crisis

Recently (on 14 August) I had the good fortune to follow an interview with the British historian Adam Tooze on Austrian Radio. I was so impressed that I immediately took to reading his book „Crashed. How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World“ (Allen Lane 2018) ) – and so an important work finally reached me with a two-year delay. These are my comments:

Adam Tooze – An experts’s review of ten years of global economic crisis weiterlesen