Zelensky justified the spectacular dismissals with the fact that more than 60 employees from these authorities remained in the Russian-occupied territories and “collaborate with the enemy,” as the Kiev head of government explained in a video speech.
There are a total of 651 criminal cases against employees of the public prosecutor’s office and other law enforcement agencies for high treason and collaboration with Russian services. The enemy is closer than you would like.
It took four months, but now the Russian authorities have struck: against the journalist Marina Ovsyannikova. She became known on March 14 through her protest action against the military operation in Ukraine, which was shown live on Russian television, when she held up a sign to the camera behind the newsreader on the Pervy broadcaster’s program “Vremya”: “Stop the war. Don’t believe the propaganda. You are being lied to here.” She also shouted, “Stop the war!” before the live broadcast ended abruptly.
Owzyannikova published a video and a photo on her Telegram channel on Friday that showed her with a poster on a promenade in Moscow, with the Kremlin in the background. “Putin is a murderer,” says the poster – and: “His soldiers are fascists.” Now the activist has been arrested. Unfortunately, it’s no longer like John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s peace campaign more than 50 years ago: “War is over, if you want it.”
“Pretty blank” sounds pretty explosive at first. In fact, the statements made by the German Army Inspector Alfons Mais at the beginning of the Ukraine crisis pointed to a desolate German force with wooden guns, popularly known as the “Bundeswehr”. Now, a good four months after Vladimir Putin’s recapitulation of the methods of World War II, Mais expresses himself somewhat more discreetly in an interview with the Handelsblatt. The army general is of the opinion that the Bundeswehr is not adequately equipped for national and alliance defense: “We can do everything if we are given enough preparation time. But if it has to be done very quickly, we have problems.”
The local army went to the limit when handing over weapons, says Mais, and at the same time warns against underestimating the Russian army. It is questionable how long Kyiv can hold out in a “war of attrition and attrition”.
Conclusion: To paraphrase Karl Kraus, a war involves first the hope that one might be better off, followed by the expectation that the other is worse off, then the satisfaction that the other is not better off either, which finally ends everything comes with the big surprise: that both of them are worse off.
The Association of Research-Based Pharmaceutical Manufacturers has described rising energy prices as a poison to the economy. According to the two authors of a study, significant price increases due to more expensive gas and oil are to be expected by 2024. Ultimately, this costs prosperity, and the state can no longer compensate for the burdens, but only redistribute them, they explain. Marcel Fratzscher, President of the German Institute for Economic Research, on the other hand, does not see an end to the price rally, which is actually a price stampede: “It is very likely that we will never return to the level before the crisis.”
Maybe we don’t just have to back “prosperity” with figures from gross domestic product, but also show that we only feel “comfortable” when Europe stands up for values, freedom and democracy, and does not give in at the first resistance to sanctions. With all due respect to all the doubters in the CSU, AfD or Viktor Orban’s right-wing party “Fidesz”: Political “disease” is always worse than a little less growth.
(Photo: AP)
A wave of solidarity goes out to the Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, who announced his resignation after the ruling party, the Five Star Movement, which the President rejected. Business and professional groups are calling on the ex-president of the European Central Bank (ECB) to stay – from banks to steelmakers to construction companies and agriculture.
One fears the total blockade of the country, which could jeopardize billions in transfers from the EU Commission from the European reconstruction plan. One consequence of Draghi’s resignation could be early elections in early October, which would throw the country into new uncertainty.
An appeal from the health sector states: “We cannot afford a crisis now. On behalf of the women and men in the health and social care professions, we make a heartfelt appeal for unity and responsibility.”
Carlo Bonomi, president of the employers’ association Confindustria, had previously accused the five-star party of “total irresponsibility, which leaves us speechless”.
And then there is the next heat wave, which announces itself reliably like the next transfer from FC Bayern Munich. Record temperatures and water shortages are putting southern Europe on the alert, and parts of western France were already on the highest heat alert level on Sunday. Alert level red. In the midst of the temperature shock (subito more than 40 degrees Celsius are expected), environmental politicians from 40 countries are meeting in Berlin today, Monday, to prepare the next climate conference in Egypt.
The focus of the considerations is how to deal better with the resource water in the future. In the future, cities will have to be able to store more water, like a sponge, says Uli Paetzel, President of the German Association for Water Management, Wastewater and Waste: “The sponge city principle must become the guiding principle for urban planning.” Policy section recommended.
Don’t forget Thomas Alva Edison’s definition: “I’m a good sponge because I absorb ideas and then make them usable. Most of my ideas originally belonged to other people who didn’t bother to develop them further.”
I wish you a great start to the week, wherever you are absorbing ideas. And this time we simply say to the many mood killer topics: “Sponge over it!”
I wish you a successful day with heart.
It greets you cordially
Her
Hans Jürgen Jakobs
Senior editor
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