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
October 2018
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 …
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
October 2018
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
October 2018
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
October 2018
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
October 2018
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
October 2018
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
October 2018
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
October 2018
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
October 2018
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
October 2018
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
October 2018
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
By
Hans-Peter Bartels
October 2018
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.…
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