in the big raw material poker, which is part of a world order war, Vladimir Putin plays the next card. Its most reliable threatening monopoly, the Russian state-owned company Gazprom, will stop all gas supplies to Bulgaria and Poland as of Wednesday. What use is it in such a situation that the Polish natural gas group PGNiG insists on its long-term contracts? Russia had already threatened to turn off the gas supply if the purchasing countries didn’t pay in rubles – which they don’t. Poland sees the action for what it is: one of the forms of blackmail that has become commonplace for Putinism.
The case makes it clear that despite all the whining from BASF and Eon, there could soon be an end to Russian gas in Germany too. During a visit to Warsaw, Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck made it clear that Germany could achieve independence from oil supplies from Russia within a few days. A denial from Gerhard Schröder, member of the supervisory board of the oil state company Rosneft, is still pending.
The Republic has had enough of the Chancellor’s pirouettes in the matter of Ukraine. He relativized and tacticed more or less artfully, but did not leave his position. Now it is over. All of a sudden something that allegedly would have brought the country to the brink of a Third World War or a nuclear attack is now possible. Germany supplies decommissioned anti-aircraft tanks of the “Gepard” model to the defenders of Ukraine. And Rheinmetall is ready to deliver 88 “Leopard 1” and 20 “Leopard 2”, as we have learned.
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Perhaps the arrival of US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to Ramstein near Scholz solved a ban. In any case, the guest distributed compliments to the head of government, who was recently scolded, who is setting off on a trip to Japan: “This is important progress, and we see more of it every day.”
The ruble paradox worries politicians in the West. They announce sanction after sanction to bring the Russian currency to its knees – but it keeps rising, higher than it has been in two years, by the way. The war caused the ruble to plummet only initially, but since March 7 it has recovered. This is mainly due to two reasons, as our report shows.
- The resource power Russia continues to export significantly more goods abroad than it imports from there. The ruble rate reflects the flow of goods between Russia and other countries. That would only change if the West imported significantly less oil and gas.
- Individuals in Russia are not allowed to exchange more than $10,000 in any six-month period. So, oligarchs and corporations cannot simply change rubles and thus move funds to accounts abroad. As a result, the exchange rate forms differently than in normal times.
In the end, only a total energy embargo or sanctions against all Russian banks, including Sberbank and Gazprombank, will help against the ruble paradox. But Fyodor Dostoyevsky already knew: “There is no greater crime for the German than to be without money and not to pay on time.”
The paint is peeling on Airbus A350 jets, but the question is whether the paint on Qatar Airways might already be peeling. The Qatari airline has sued the aircraft manufacturer for damages and is leaving about half of its 53 aircraft of the model on the ground because there is a safety risk due to the damage to the paintwork.
In a second process related to the Lack-Zoff, the High Court in London now ruled in favor of the Airbus group. He was then allowed to cancel a $6 billion order from Qatar Airways for 50 jets (“A321neo”) in response to Qatar’s lawsuit. A “cross-default” clause provides that a party may terminate a contract if the customer has otherwise breached a contract.
Qatar Airways has to pay most of the court costs and could now consider that legal tricks could damage the image that the emirate wants to give itself by hosting the soccer World Cup in November/December.
(Photo: Paul Langrock/laif)
It has just become quieter around Axel Springer, the power and love life at the top of “Bild” and their friends is being told at the top, when the biggest case of fraud in the company’s history is coming to the fore. According to the public prosecutor’s office, the damage not yet affected by the statute of limitations is 6.5 million euros. In front of the Berlin district court, the accused, who confessed Markus Günther, tells how he once organized slush funds as the logistics manager of the publishing house. He found it back in 2003 and merely developed it further. of that
- a) other managers like the former board and supervisory board member Rudolf Knepper knew and
- b) many in-house benefits.
Günther reveals how Springer paid directly and indirectly for forwarding services that did not take place. The black money is said to have been used to finance an apartment on Potsdamer Platz and a bundle of tickets for the 2006 World Cup for the benefit of the board members. Or then again, allegedly, the daily delivery tour with fresh German newspapers to CEO Mathias Döpfner’s holiday home near Marseille. Those affected strongly deny it. But that would probably not degrease a headline in the tabloids.
And then there is the American elite university Harvard, which is spending 100 million dollars on an endowment fund and other measures – as compensation for the benefits derived from racism and slavery in the past. A specially appointed committee had previously stated in a 100-page report that the institution had helped maintain racist oppression and exploitation.
After that, even after slavery was abolished in the US state of Massachusetts in 1783, slaves would have had to continue toil on campus and in the university. Harvard excluded black students, the report said. Professors had also spoken out in favor of racism. The Ivy League University is late in coming to terms with its history, which can’t be done any better with $100 million. We read in Jean-Jacques Rousseau: “Shame increases with the knowledge of evil.”
Have a shame free day.
It greets you cordially
Her
Hans Jürgen Jakobs