Tag: germany

Britain, France and Germany Say They Could Join Attacks on Iran Through ‘Necessary and Proportionate Defensive Action’

Britain, France and Germany have said they may be willing to join U.S. military action in Iran.

In a joint statement on Sunday, the three countries pledged to protect their interests and those of their Gulf allies, stating the possible need “defensive action” against Iran if required.

“E3 leaders are appalled by the indiscriminate and disproportionate missile attacks launched by Iran against countries in the region, including those who were not involved in initial US and Israeli military operations,” they wrote.

The statement continued:

Iran’s reckless attacks have targeted our close allies and are threatening our service personnel and our civilians across the region.We call on Iran to stop these reckless attacks immediately.

We will take steps to defend our interests and those of our allies in the region, potentially through enabling necessary and proportionate defensive action to destroy Iran’s capability to fire missiles and drones at their source.

We have agreed to work together with the US and allies in the region on this matter.

France has already deployed its Charles De Gaulle aircraft carrier from the Baltic Sea to the eastern Mediterranean in anticipation of joining the operation.

The joint statement came as the U.S. and Israel continued to pound targets across Iran on Sunday, with U.S. B-2 stealth bombers striking ballistic missile facilities using 2,000-pound bombs.

President Trump announced on social media that nine Iranian warships had been sunk and that Iran’s naval headquarters had been “largely destroyed.”

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Germany Approves Major Package of Attack Drones for the Bundeswehr, With a Half a Billion Euro Initial Purchase

Kamikaze drones are the name of the game.

Today, news has arisen that the German armed forces will purchase a large number of attack drones, and the unusual aspect is that these drones are NOT meant to be sent to Kyiv’s regime, but rather to be destined for units of the Bundeswehr, instead.

DPA International reported:

“The German parliament’s budgetary committee has approved an initial €540 million ($640 million) for the purchase of kamikaze drones from German manufacturers Helsing and Stark Defense, dpa learnt on Wednesday.

The committee also set a limit of €1 billion and instructed the Defense Ministry to report back on the purchases before parliament grants approval for further purchases.”

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Germany’s SPD Pushes Mandatory Government ID Verification for Social Media

The SPD of Germany wants to end anonymous social media access in Germany.

Tim Klüssendorf, Secretary General of the Social Democratic Party, confirmed this week that his party is pushing mandatory age verification for all social media platforms, tied directly to the EU Digital Identity Wallet, the bloc’s official government ID scheme.

He’s already in talks with coalition partner CDU, Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s party, which called for an end to online anonymity just last week. Both parties now want the same thing.

Naturally, Klüssendorf framed the proposal as child protection. “We are currently not meeting the state’s obligation to protect. I believe children and young people are particularly at risk there. That has been proven,” he said after an SPD leadership meeting in Berlin.

The platforms, he added, are currently “operating a business model that is simply not compatible with our democratic principles.”

The SPD’s formal position, adopted in an internal policy paper, breaks access into three tiers by age. Under-14s would face a complete ban from social media platforms. Under-16s could access only state-approved “youth versions,” stripped of algorithmic recommendation, infinite scroll, autoplay, and engagement reward systems. For everyone 16 and older, including adults, algorithmic content recommendations would be switched off by default. Want the algorithm? You’d have to actively opt in.

The proposal sounds measured. It isn’t. Mandatory EUDI Wallet verification means linking your social media account to a government-issued digital identity before you can post, scroll, or log in.

Every platform interaction becomes traceable to a verified real-world identity. Klüssendorf acknowledged the data tension, insisting the SPD wants “a very data-minimising solution that is also in the hands of state regulation” rather than handing platforms more user data to monetize.

The EUDI Wallet architecture, at least in theory, allows age confirmation without transmitting full identity details. Whether that promise survives contact with implementation is a different question.

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Jiminy Cricket, German Hurt #Feelingz Strike Again

This is your weekly reminder that just because the Europeans do wounded vanity, umbrage, and virtue-signaling lectures so much better than we do doesn’t necessarily mean that what is issuing forth from their sanctimonious streusel holes matches what their barely restrained authoritarian instincts are doing in actuality.

One of the best ways to highlight the dual nature of their conflicted existence is to pick some of the subjects that constitute their favorite defensive posturing. A couple that are really getting worn out in tussles against the Americans are ‘freedom’ and ‘democracy.’ These are often used interchangeably, or, even better, when they combine them for what Europeans perceive as a coup de grâce argument-ender.

This is all well and good posturing in the Never Never Land of diplomatic sword crossing for public effect. But in the trenches, streets, and homes of regular citizens, mayhap things look a little different than the rosy, beatific picture of pastoral freedoms and hives of honey-laden democracy painted by the Brussels Brahmins from their castles.

A prime example has surfaced.

I’ve often written of the skeletal, scarecrowish, bespectacled creature who clings with bony fingers to visions of wielding outsized international influence even as he reigns over the meltdown of his own once prosperous and mighty economy as Chancellor of Germany. From the very beginning, from the day after his election, in fact, I dubbed the risible Friedrich Merz ‘Master of the Old Magoo‘ in reference to his chameleon-like ability to change his colors – and dump his promises – at a moment’s notice.

This conscience-free, unscrupulous, ethically unconcerned style of governance has not gone unnoticed or is much appreciated by Germans themselves, and imagine that. It’s kind of like being a dewy-eyed Spanberger or Mamdani voter right about now, only Germany is more of a police state trying to deal with it.

Did I say that?

*checks notes*

Why, yes. Yes, I did.

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Scientists discover oldest form of writing in mysterious Stone Age engravings

The origins of writing aren’t set in stone.

The ancient cave peoples weren’t as illiterate as portrayed in popular media. Archaeologists have discovered Paleolithic glyphs in a German cave that could potentially push back the history of written communication by over 30,000 years, per a rock-solid study in the journal Proceedings Of The National Academy of Sciences.

According to the researchers, the symbols were engraved on artifacts that dated back some 40,000 years to the Stone Age, when early humans arrived in Europe from Africa and encountered the Neanderthals.

Despite their age, these ancient etchings boasted a complexity comparable to the early stages of the world’s oldest writing system, cuneiform, which originated around 5,000 years ago, the New Scientist reported.

“The artifacts date back to tens of thousands of years before the first writing systems,” exclaimed study co-author Ewa Dutkiewicz, an archaeologist at Berlin’s Museum of Prehistory and Early History, Popular Science reported.

Dutkiewicz and her team had came upon this writing revelation while investigating 260 relics discovered in cave repositories in the Swabian Jura, a mountainous region in Southwest Germany. This archaeological treasure trove included flutes, carvings of animals like mammoths, and figurines of animal-human hybrids.

They were etched with a total of 22 different recurring symbols, including a V-shaped notch and lines, crosses and dots.

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Berlin Court Orders X to Hand Over Hungarian Election Data to Researchers

A Berlin court has ordered X to hand over data on Hungarian election activity to researchers, ruling in favor of Democracy Reporting International after the platform refused the group’s access requests in November.

The ruling turns on the EU’s censorship law, the Digital Services Act, which requires large platforms to give external researchers access to data for scrutiny of election interference risks. X ignored that obligation. The European Commission fined it €40 ($47) million for that refusal, as part of a broader €120 ($141) million levy, in December.

X’s position throughout has been straightforward: don’t share the data. No response to press inquiries, no compliance, no engagement.

Hungary votes in April in what amounts to a test of Viktor Orbán’s power as he faces his rival Péter Magyar.

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A Triggered AOC Lashes Out in Phone Call with The New York Times Regarding Coverage of Her Embarrassing Gaffes in Munich

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is not taking coverage of her epic debacle in Germany well at all.

As The Gateway Pundit reported, AOC delivered one of the most humiliating performances by a U.S. politician in modern history at the Munich Security Conference. She made a host of mind-boggling gaffes in response to simple questions while botching basic geography.

In one instance, a moderator at the event asked AOC if the US should commit troops to defend against China, and she turned into a stuttering mess.

“Um, you know, I think that, uh, this is such a, uh, you know, I — I think that this is a, umm, this is of course a, uh, a very longstanding, um, policy of the United States – uh and I think what we are hoping for is we want to make sure that we never get to that point,” AOC said.

“And we want to make sure that we are moving all of our economic research and global positions to avoid any such confrontation and for that question to even arise,” she said.

In addition to the ugly episode, AOC also incorrectly stated that Venezuela was below the equator and called Secretary of State Marco Rubio racist for saying cowboys came from Spain.

On Monday night, AOC called The New York Times and vented her fury over the coverage of her gaffes and the questions she was asked.

“This reporter came up to me and was like, ‘Is Munich the new New Hampshire?’ And I cannot say enough how out of touch and missing the point, genuinely, that is,” AOC whined during the interview with the Times.

“Global democracies are on fire the world over, and established parties are falling to right-wing populist movements.”

AOC continued to complain about the media clips that went viral, saying, “Any five-to-10-second thing” only serves to “distract from the substance of what I am saying.”

The New York Democrat later felt compelled to claim that her attendance at the event was not about preparing for a 2028 Presidential run. As if anyone believes her.

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AOC Falls Apart on the World Stage When Asked a Simple Foreign Policy Question at Munich Security Conference

This was painful to watch.

Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez completely fell apart on the world stage when asked a simple question about foreign policy at the Munich Security Conference on Friday.

Many speculated that AOC’s decision to speak on foreign policy at the Munich Security Conference was her way to signal a possible 2028 run.

AOC spoke on two different panels on Friday: “Vox Populi? Responding to the Rise of Populism” and “Breaking (With) the Past: Seismic Shifts in US Foreign Policy.”

The moderator asked AOC if the US should commit troops to defend against China and she turned into a stuttering mess.

Of course, AOC would hang Taiwan out to dry, but she could not string together a sentence.

“Would and should the US actually commit US troops to defend Taiwan if China were to move?” the moderator asked AOC.

“Um, you know, I think that, uh, this is such a, uh, you know, I — I think that this is a, umm, this is of course a, uh, a very longstanding, um, policy of the United States – uh and I think what we are hoping for is we want to make sure that we never get to that point,” AOC said.

“And we want to make sure that we are moving all of our economic research and global positions to avoid any such confrontation and for that question to even arise,” she said.

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AOC to Give Talk on Foreign Policy at the Munich Security Conference for Some Reason

Far left New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is set to give a pair of talks on foreign policy at the Munich Security Conference this weekend.

Do you think she might be prepping a run for president? Why else would she be working on her foreign policy chops? What does this have to do with her job in New York?

The field of Democrats running for president in 2028 is going to be massive and she is likely to be in it.

Just the News reports:

AOC to share foreign policy vision at Munich summit this weekend

Squad member and Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is expected to share her thoughts on American foreign policy with a global audience at the Munich Security Conference this weekend, her office said.

The Democrat is expected to speak on two panels at the German conference, her office told NBC News, one about the “rise of populism,” and another about the “future of U.S. foreign policy.”

The lawmaker, who is considered a potential presidential contender in 2028, is expected to present a contrasting vision of American foreign policy to that of President Donald Trump.

“It’s very important that they see the full spectrum of representation, leadership and thought of the United States,” Ocasio-Cortez told NBC News.

Ocasio-Cortez’s foreign policy advisor, Matt Duss, told the outlet that the lawmaker was invited to speak at the summit, where she will provide a “working class perspective” on foreign policy.

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Top Democrat fundraising boss shared picture honoring her NAZI grandfather on Veterans Day

A top Democrat fundraising boss in Michigan shared a picture honoring her grandfather, a German who fought for the Nazis, on Veterans Day. 

Kelly Neumann, a fundraising co-chair for several Democratic candidates, shared images of her late grandfather, Albert Neumann, on Facebook in 2024. 

The unearthed post was a tribute to all of her family and friends who served in the miliary, including Albert, who she said was on the ‘German side in WWI & WWII.’ 

Historically, Nazis, also known as members of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP), was a totalitarian political party under the rule of German dictator Adolf Hitler during World War I and II. 

The Nazis were responsible for the murder of six million Jewish people, and millions more, during the Holocaust. 

Veterans Day is a national holiday that honors allied military members who sacrificed their lives for the country during their time in the Armed Forces. 

In her post, Neumann, who is also a principal attorney at Neumann Law Group, shared images of her grandfather wearing Nazi regalia. 

He also appeared to be donning an officer’s uniform – and she said that he ‘escaped’ to Brazil after 1945, which was a route many top-ranking Nazis took to evade justice in Europe during the Nuremberg trials. 

‘Happy Veterans Day to all my family and friends who serve/served! Without you, America would not be here today,’ she said. 

‘Interesting story, I do not talk much about but my Grandfather, Albert Neumann was on the German side in WWI & WWII. 

‘He escaped to Brazil with my Father after Germany lost in WWII and then made their way to Detroit where they spoke no English and worked their way up to provide a stable life for their family,’ Neumann added before stating her grandfather was one of her ‘best friends’ who accepted her as a gay woman. 

‘My grandfather was one of my best friends. He was one of the first people in my life that accepted me as gay when I was nervous and scared. I’ll never forget him embracing me and loving me for who I am. His story is a true testament that people can change and love indeed can win,’ she continued. 

Her post from two years ago was first reported by Jewish Insider, and quickly attracted criticism online. 

David Wolpe, a prominent American Rabbi, shared the outlet’s article on her post to X and captioned it: ‘This is so outrageous I had to double check it wasn’t a hoax.’ 

Another was left just as flabbergasted as Wolpe, adding that it seemed so unreal it could be something mentioned in an episode of The Office. 

It was often implied that the sitcom’s character, Dwight Schrute, played by actor Rainn Wilson, had German relatives who were Nazis.

‘This feels like something Dwight Schrute would say,’ the user posted on X. 

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