It was another one of those days where you would have been well advised not to listen to the news or read a paper.
So here is what I remember:
- First and foremost, I remember that Frau Merkel is/was in Afghanistan. It seems like she finally discovered that “Nothing is well in Afghanistan”. Not even having made arrangements for the trip (“unangekündigte Reise”), she visits the Federal Army in Afghanistan. Initially, Merkel had planned to visit the German soldiers in the “disquieted province” of Kunduz. But, due to inclement weather conditions (snow), that was not possible.
So for me, the hope remains that now, after having witnessed everything herself, Frau Merkel will come up with another one of her lonely about-faces, this time – for a change – making a sensible decision and putting an end to the spook. Even if the reason might only be electoral tactics. - Perhaps the reason for this surprise visit of our Federal Chancellor is the gun rampage (Amok-Lauf) of a US soldier in Afghanistan. Apparently, one of the US soldiers was fed up and took his PTSD even before returning home.
Other than that, the gun rampage is not really a surprise, is it? In the USA, it seems to be something they like to do and elsewhere, the world also begins to imitate it. - An interesting item of news of this morning in the business sector of the Süddeutsche (paper version) was that it seems like the Greece support program will now become a CDS case, after all. On March, 1st, they had still rigorously declared it impossible (Handelsblatt), on March, 10th, they considered it a real possibility (even with catastrophic consequences) (FAZ) and today, it says in the SZ that now the time has come but that it can also be controlled.
For me, this also signifies that all rationality has long been abandoned. - Yesterday’s Handelsblatt information that the “bad bank HRE will swallow up more tax billions” fits perfectly with all this.
Is anybody at all really surprised? - This morning, I also again heard something about Asse. While his boss is in Afghanistan, Federal Environmental Minister Norbert Röttgen has to visit the ailing nuclear waste deposit near Wolfenbüttel (this is the first time for him as a Federal Environmental Minister). Since the year 1978, this deposit has been the resting place for around 126,000 barrels of radio-active nuclear waste. The mining site threatens to cave in and is running full of water. They have no idea how to retrieve the barrels. But they know that, according Federal Environmental Ministry estimates, it will take around 40 years and will cost many billions of Euros.
I am glad to see that this item of news has now reached our Federal Environmental Minister. - Similarly, I read at the top of the SZ front page that the radiance of nuclear energy will remain our legacy for longer and the deconstruction of German Nuclear Power Plants will cost more (- than they had planned?). Well, the uppermost question would be: where to dispose of the radio-active waste?
So here is another one of those items of news that do not come as a surprise at all. But it is good to hear it said out loud and clear for once.
After that, I prefer to close both my eyes and ears, because I do not wish to hear any more. This is too much financial and nuclear waste for me early in the morning.
Mind you, there are also some good news:
- on Saturday, Haching (SpVgg) had not problems at all winning against VfB Stuttgart (report) – even if we are talking the second team – and
- yesterday, I saw “Der Kaktus” in the Volkstheater. Another outstanding debut performance – the premiere was on November, 5th, 2009.
So wasn’t this a nice weekend, after all?
RMD
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