When Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) proclaimed a "turning point" shortly after the beginning of the war, few could imagine anything concrete. Weapons for Ukraine and the Bundeswehr, sanctions against Russia, these are the most obvious measures. But according to Claudia Major, an expert on security policy at the Politics and Science Foundation, that's not enough. Germany must be prepared for a "permanent conflict" with Russia and its allies such as China, she said at the Munich Economic Debates of the...
If military language were not actually prohibited in this context, then one would have to state that German economists have engaged in an almost unprecedented verbal battle in recent weeks. The issue was: Should the West immediately stop all oil and gas imports from Russia because of Vladimir Putin's attack on Ukraine? And if so, would such an embargo be economically manageable, or would Europe end up harming itself more than the Moscow general?What got lost in the heated debate...
Hardly anyone talks about the "World Wide Web" these days; the abbreviation WWW can be left out if you call up websites. And yet the idea remains: a single internet where people can meet virtually across all borders, where goods can be bought internationally.But Claudia Nemat is worried about the future of this "one" network, and that is also due to Russia's attack on Ukraine: "We see that the system rivalry between the United States and China is intensifying," the...
After two years of the pandemic, Germany was actually on a recovery course. At least that's what the Ifo business climate index showed in February. However, the monthly survey of German companies came out on the day of the Russian invasion - and with the war, Germany faces new economic challenges.Since then, food and energy prices have been rising. Calls for price reductions are getting stronger. "Especially from federal states where elections are coming up soon," says Clemens Fuest at...
