handelsblatt explains Germans and Russians share a long history of attraction and repulsion, fear and embrace, conflict and harmony. That endlessly complicates their relations today. Published on July 25, 2017 5:28 pm The longest sea-floor pipeline in the world runs through the Baltic from Russia to Germany. Russian gas has been flowing through Nord Stream 1 since 2012, and in a few years a twin, Nord Stream 2, will double its capacity. Everything about it is controversial. Poles and Balts hate it, because the pipeline, by circumventing them, threatens their energy security and could leave them open to Russian blackmail. America distrusts it and will probably include it in a new round of sanctions to punish Russia. In Germany the controversy is personal: The chairman of Nord Stream’s board is Gerhard Schröder, the former German chancellor and bosom buddy of Vladimir Putin. In a more symbolical sense, Nord Stream thus represents an umbilical cord that connects, … [Read more...] about Why Germans are so ambivalent about Russia
German traditions
Vice or virtue? Berlin exhibition charts Germans’ penny-pinching mania
"Merkel's bullying", "Queen of austerity", "German dogma": headlines from around the EU greet visitors to the baroque pile on the leafy Unter den Linden boulevard that houses the museum. All are relics of Berlin's insistence that eurozone members stick to strict limits on debts and deficits at the height of the currency bloc's post-2008 financial blues. Politicians and the public have been puzzled by the rage from other nations, while Spaniards, Italians and above all Greeks have cursed Berlin for soaring unemployment and slashed government services. "These attacks meet with little understanding in Germany. Why is this conflict so highly charged emotionally?" questioned museum chief professor Raphael Gross. To most Germans, saving around 10 percent of their income has long been an "unquestioned virtue" come war, inflation, famine or fortune, Gross noted. Witness to that fact are some €2.3 trillion ($2.8 trillion) socked away in savings accounts or under mattresses, according … [Read more...] about Vice or virtue? Berlin exhibition charts Germans’ penny-pinching mania
Vice or virtue? Exhibition charts Germans’ mania for saving
While the European Union gears up for another of its endless post-crisis bouts over spending, debt and deficits, Berlin's German Historical Museum has turned a microscope onto the mania for saving in Europe's largest economy. "Merkel's bullying", "Queen of austerity", "German dogma": headlines from around the EU greet visitors to the baroque pile on the leafy Unter den Linden boulevard that houses the museum. All are relics of Berlin's insistence that eurozone members stick to strict limits on debts and deficits at the height of the currency bloc's post-2008 financial blues. Politicians and the public have been puzzled by the rage from other nations, while Spaniards, Italians and above all Greeks have cursed Berlin for soaring unemployment and slashed government services. "These attacks meet with little understanding in Germany. Why is this conflict so highly charged emotionally?" questioned museum chief professor Raphael Gross. To most Germans, saving around 10 percent of their income … [Read more...] about Vice or virtue? Exhibition charts Germans’ mania for saving
Real reason why we traditionally eat Fish and Chips on Fridays
It's a tradition millions of us follow - eating fish on Good Friday. It's as much a part of Easter as chocolate eggs and the Easter bunny, only this tradition goes back much further. Christians have abstained from eating meat on Good Friday for centuries and many people, whether or not they are religious, still will only eat fish on the day. In fact many Christians, especially Catholics, won't eat meat on any Friday. The reason behind this tradition is very much a religious one. It's believed Jesus Christ suffered and died on the cross on a Friday, Christians from the very beginning have set aside that day to remember this and 'unite their sufferings'. This led the Church to mark every Friday as a 'Good Friday', where people remember the Passion by offering the 'penance'. Meat was seen as a worthy sacrifice as it was linked with feasts and celebrations. In ancient cultures meat was seen as a delicacy and "the fattened calf" wasn't slaughtered unless there was something to celebrate. … [Read more...] about Real reason why we traditionally eat Fish and Chips on Fridays
Puigdemont Extradition Bid May Spark German Court Battle
Spain’s effort to get hold of former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont will start a cascade of court procedures in Germany that could drag on for months.Puigdemont, who was arrested on Sunday as he crossed into Germany from Denmark by car, will first appear before a judge on Monday who will issue a preliminary ruling on whether he can be held in custody. That hearing isn’t public and will take place in the town of Neumuenster where the Catalan politician is currently held.German prosecutors will then start the process of handling the Spanish request to return him to face trial on rebellion charges. Spain issued a European Arrest Warrant, which aims to simplify and speed up extraditions between member states of the European Union. Nevertheless, German law requires that a court must clear any extradition, a procedure which can take several weeks or months.The former Catalan president’s detention in Germany was hailed by anti-separatist forces as a decisive blow … [Read more...] about Puigdemont Extradition Bid May Spark German Court Battle