Thursday, March 28, 2024

Hoping for a “together first”

By Peter Altmaier

Germany’s Minister for Economic Affairs Peter Altmaier speaks to The German Times on trade, Trump and taxing US companies in Europe

 

Minister Altmaier, economically speaking, Germany is on pretty firm footing. Economists call this the “strongest boom in two

Behind the trade wars prompted by the US president looms nothing less than a fight over the new economic world order

By Hans-Jürgen Jakobs

Poverty and hunger are perennial threats to any political system. They are also the factors that in the 1970s prompted China’s Deng Xiaoping to seek a simple and effective way to restore his underdeveloped country. “It doesn’t matter whether the …

Trans-Atlantic Book Review

Trans-Atlantic Book Review
By Lutz Lichtenberger

WHITHER WEST?

Joschka Fischer is afraid. As Fischer turns 70 this year, this one-time rebel who crusaded against capitalism and the state back in the late 1960s only to join the establishment as German Foreign Minister from 1998 until 2005 …

German soccer fans are worried about their clubs’ ability to stay competitive in the face of European rivals with massive spending power

By Joachim Klaehn

It is, generally speaking, very hard not to notice Cristiano Ronaldo. In the case at hand, the former Real Madrid star was singing along to the official Champions League anthem just prior to the start of the second-leg quarter-final against …

Innovation is seen as a stepping stone to the future in Germany

By Manfred Ronzheimer

The self-driving cars of the near future depend on precise digital geolocation data to navigate the urban jungle and arrive at their destinations. Here, a multinational company with offices in Berlin, has developed one of the best online mapping services …

The rediscovered original manuscript of Arthur Koestler’s novel Darkness at Noon allows for a new interpretation of a literary and political classic

By Lutz Lichtenberger

It’s the political novel of the day, a warning signal, a reck­oning with all forms of totalitarianism, a riveting literary dystopia. As a matter of fact, Darkness at Noon, Arthur Koestler’s international classic, is undergoing its third finest hour in …

Leading a government she did not want and unable to silence her critics, Angela Merkel finds herself in a tough spot

By Günter Bannas

The final years are always the hardest. For nearly 13 years, Angela Merkel has been chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany. No current head of government in the Western democratic world has held power longer than this woman from …

The automotive industry is facing major challenges around the world. German carmakers have more to lose than most and are thus investing a great deal in securing its future.

By Martin Gropp

At first glance, it would appear that the German automotive industry has little reason to complain. Records are being broken left and right. In early July, the Stuttgart-based Daimler group announced it had sold more than 1.18 million Mercedes vehicles …

Germany’s greatest revolution, one hundred years ago

By Robert Gerwarth

On Nov. 10, 1918, the prominent editor-in-chief of the liberal daily Berliner Tageblatt, Theodor Wolff, published a remarkable commentary on the events that had unfolded in Germany over the previous days: “Like a sudden windstorm, the greatest of all …

More than just architecture: Frankfurt has its historic Old Town back

By Matthias Alexander

A number of architects had already started issuing prophecies of doom. Indeed, back when planning was underway to reshape the center of Frankfurt, word on the street was that it was destined to become a “gebaute Lüge,” that is, the …

Despite the recent cooling-off, Russia and Germany can still work together – if they see each other for what they really are

By Dmitri Trenin

Like Moscow’s relations with the West more broadly, Russia’s ties with Germany – its most important European partner – have grown increasingly strained over the past few years. Previous hopes of Russia’s integration into a Greater Europe, from Lisbon in …

WHY EUROPE NEEDS A PLAN B. Or how to make Europe great again.

By Benjamin Zeeb

Maybe Europe will be all right in the end. Perhaps the little we can do within the structures of the EU will turn out to be just enough to steer us through these trying times. Maybe the realization that we …

Why Germany’s populist AfD attracts so many followers

By Peter H. Koepf

This time it was Chemnitz. News reports around the world showed beefy, baldheaded men in black raising placards and their right arms, chanting xenophobic slogans. Right-wing extremists, soccer hooligans and angry citizens gathered – of all places – around a …

Germany’s armed forces are going to be fully equipped again for the tasks they face

Germany’s armed forces are going to be fully equipped again for the tasks they face
By Hans-Peter Bartels

Germany’s military is too small. That’s what the Poles say, and the French, and the Brits, and the Americans. Instead of fearing German military aggression, as they did in 1914–18 and again in 1939–45, they fear the country’s military weakness.…

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOC – Four upstarts are upending German politics.

By Lutz Lichtenberger

The German Times’ editor Lutz Lichtenberger takes stock of their prospects to define the nation’s politics for the years ahead

THE WHIPPERSNAPPER

It should have been a crushing defeat, for the cause and for him personally. Kevin Kühnert wanted to …