Konrad R. Müller has photographed all German heads of government since Adenauer, now Olaf Scholz too. The portrait is the best answer to the question of who the Chancellor actually is. Of Nils MinkmarOn November 23rd, a Thursday, the photographer Konrad Rufus Müller has an appointment in Berlin. Accompanied by his wife, he goes to the top, so-called private floor of the Federal Chancellery between Tiergarten and Spree and begins to unpack his equipment. It consists of an old camera,...
Triumph and tragedy of the Social Democrats: How the SPD almost always gets in the snout - a historical calendar page on Willy Brandt's electoral success in November 1972. source site
Die Bundesregierung hat sich erleichtert gezeigt, dass Kanada den Weg für die Lieferung der Siemens-Turbine für die Gaspipeline Nord Stream 1 frei gemacht hat. „Wir begrüßen die Entscheidung unserer kanadischen Freunde und Verbündeten“, teilte Kanzler Olaf Scholz (SPD) mit. Die Regierung in Ottawa hatte zuvor erklärt, man werde eine Ausnahme von den Russland-Sanktionen machen und die in Kanada gewartete Turbine nach Deutschland zurückschicken. Hintergrund der Verhandlungen zwischen der deutschen und kanadischen Regierung ist, dass Russland die Drosselung von Gaslieferungen durch...
Der Weg für die Lieferung der in Kanada gewarteten Siemens-Turbine für die Gaspipeline Nord Stream 1 ist frei. Die Regierung in Ottawa erklärte am Samstagabend, man werde eine Ausnahme von den Russland-Sanktionen machen und die Turbine nach Deutschland zurückschicken. Russland hatte eine Drosselung von Gaslieferungen durch die Pipeline unter anderem mit der fehlenden Turbine begründet. Die Bundesregierung hatte indes betont, sie halte dies für vorgeschoben und sehe, dass Russland Gaslieferungen als politische Waffe einsetze. Russland wiederum hatte erklärt, die Gaslieferungen...
There was once a smoky, highly popular Sunday morning program on German television called "Der Internationale Frühschoppen", where many an explosive topic was discussed with journalists from all over the world (it still ekes out a shadowy existence as a "press club" today). Hartmut Palmer, then reporter of the Süddeutsche Zeitung and author of the book at issue here, was invited because Franz Josef Strauss, the muscle man and then top Howler Monkey of the CSU, had called him a...
50 years ago, on April 27, 1972, the German Bundestag passed the first constructive vote of no confidence in the history of the Federal Republic. With the motion, the CDU/CSU parliamentary group wanted to have its chairman Rainer Barzel elected as Willy Brandt's successor to the office of Federal Chancellor. The social-liberal coalition had gradually lost its already narrow majority of twelve votes since the September 1969 election due to factional changes.In the spring of 1972, the lead was only...
Of Heribert PrantlRainer Candidus Barzel kept shaking his head in disbelief. He was, he said later, "struck by lightning." He, the head of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, sat in the front row of the Bundestag, distraught and devastated - a defeated man who had been sure of his victory too early. He stood up as if in a trance, congratulated the winner, Chancellor Willy Brandt, who had surprisingly survived the no-confidence vote that Barzel had called for. It was not...
No, not everything was wrong with the Social Democrats' Russia policy. But it is wrong to want to ignore their failures. source site
Michael Mertes provides a well-founded description of the cycles of power, of upheaval and decline in the republic since 1949. Basically, this is nothing less than a guide for Olaf Scholz. source site
Exactly half a century ago, in 1972, the Federal Republic experienced a particularly turbulent time. The dispute over the "Ostpolitik" promoted by Willy Brandt, the first social-democratic chancellor, and his liberal foreign minister, Walter Scheel, tended towards his decision. The treaties concluded in 1970 with the communist governments in Moscow and Warsaw were finally to be ratified by the Bundestag. These so-called Eastern treaties announced a renunciation of violence and promised peaceful cooperation. Its real purpose, however, was the recognition...
