1. Free speech undesirable

If you are sufficiently sober around lunchtime on Ash Wednesday (or, like me, you live in Berlin, where, as is well known, no one is ever intoxicated and carnival and/or Mardi Gras are considered strange dressing up, rocking and drinking rituals of strange provincial residents), you have regular opportunities to be political Formation of will: At the political Ash Wednesday events in southern Germany, the top people of the parties take the podium - and to the amusement of their supporters who have traveled and the TV audience tuned in, they criticize their political opponents.

This is mostly rough rhetorical fare, but at best it is more meaningful and entertaining than any Bundestag debate. The atmosphere in the hall is boiling, people celebrate themselves - and like to keep to themselves: Many years ago, when researching by the CSU in Passau, I, as a long-haired man, was mistaken for a potential troublemaker and searched by the police, but I didn't have a Molotov cocktail in my pocket, but just an apple spritzer. (You can read what happened at the CSU today here.)

In Biberach, Swabia, police protection was comparatively ineffective today: due to sometimes aggressive protests and blockades by farmers and hauliers, the Greens decided to cancel their political Ash Wednesday. Not fighting your political opponent with words but using violence to silence them not only destroys the political tradition. It is, I say this very matter-of-factly: dangerously undemocratic.

  • Read more here: “Methods that are beyond the limit”

2. Hostage over gummy bears

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The airport in Saint Petersburg, a German was arrested here

Photo:

Marcus Brandt/dpa

The case is somewhat puzzling: Would you travel to Russia, of all places, at a time of highest tension and confrontation? And what’s more, to meet up with a woman you only know from the internet? And would you dream of packing gummy bears laced with THC, the intoxicating active ingredient in the cannabis plant?

Everything we know about the strange story of a 38-year-old German citizen comes from the Russian authorities: The man was arrested at St. Petersburg airport upon entry and is now facing up to seven years in prison. According to SPIEGEL information, German diplomats are denied direct consular access.

Unfortunately, there are fears that Russia will not treat the six gummy bears as a triviality, but will use the Germans as a means of pressure - similar to US basketball player Brittney Griner, who was caught by Russian customs in 2022 with a small amount of cannabis oil. She was only released after tough negotiations in exchange for a Russian arms dealer imprisoned in the USA (the full story here). The Russian secret service agent Vadim Krassikov, known as the Tiergarten murderer, is in prison in Germany. It's no secret that Putin wants him released.

  • Read more here: What is known about the arrest of a German in Saint Petersburg


3. Absolutely not defensive

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US F-35 fighter jet during an exercise

Photo: Cornelius Poppe / NTB / IMAGO

Should Donald Trump become US President again, and should he then carry out his recently expressed threat to no longer want to support all those NATO states that invest less than two percent of their annual economic output in defense - what would happen then? if, for example, Vladimir Putin comes up with the idea of ​​wanting to incorporate Eastern European NATO states? How powerful would NATO be without North America?

"Without the participation of the USA, the alliance founded in 1949 would, at least according to current understanding, be over," analyzes my colleague Jörg Römer. NATO owes roughly 50 percent of its military strength to the USA. On land, at sea and in the air: the US armed forces are the decisive power everywhere; without them, NATO hardly has any deterrent potential.

The Europeans will therefore have no choice but to invest more in their own defense capabilities in the future. Anyone who doesn't want that can only hope for Trump's election defeat. And on the US Congress, because it would have to approve a withdrawal from NATO.

  • Read the full story here: Hopefully Allianz insured 

What else is important today?

  • Winterkorn claims to have only found out about the problems late and incompletely:

    Former VW boss Martin Winterkorn spoke out about the diesel affair in court for the first time as a witness and rejected allegations. He was not involved in decisions regarding the shutdown device.

  • Palestinian President Abbas calls on Hamas to “quickly” conclude agreements with Israel:

    Fierce fighting continues in the south of the Gaza Strip. The result: many dead and injured. Now Palestinian President Abbas is stepping in - and calling on his rivals from Hamas to negotiate a deal with Israel.

  • The federal government only expects Germany to grow by 0.2 percent:

    the economic prospects in Germany are significantly worse than previously assumed. In its annual economic report, the government only expects minimal growth.

My favorite story today...

...made me laugh heartily for a moment, a pleasant change in these hard times. And I'm grateful that humor doesn't run dry even in the highest offices of state, that even in the Chancellery you're still allowed to spin and dream. The story comes across as dry news, and yet it has the potential to make its readers giggle in disbelief.

  • Read more here: Scholz believes SPD victory in the next federal election is possible

What we recommend today at SPIEGEL+

  • Why is this man still misunderstood?

    Lazio striker Ciro Immobile scored his 200th goal in the Italian league. He is a legend for his club, but in Germany they still remember a messed up year.

  • This is how you get the most expensive shares in the world:

    A Lindt & Sprüngli share costs almost 117,000 euros, and Berkshire Hathaway's shares cost around 550,000 euros. The high prices are intended to deter small investors. But there are still ways to invest.

  • Volkswagen is examining a possible exit from Xinjiang:

    BASF has announced its withdrawal, and pressure is now growing for VW to also say goodbye to Xinjiang in China. According to SPIEGEL information, the car company is already examining possible exit scenarios.

Which is less important today

Red-yellow-kale

: In rare harmony for the traffic light coalition, Finance Minister

Christian Lindner

, 45, and his defense colleague

Boris Pistorius

, 63, appeared in Oldenburg. There the FDP man handed over his office as “Kale King” to his Social Democratic successor. Its government program has already been decided; it contradicts all austerity dictates and possibly also the taste of a large part of the population: “More kale for everyone!”

Mini concave mirror

You can find the entire concave mirror here.

Cartoon of the day

And tonight?

I'm listening to the new album by US rapper Kanye West. The man is fundamentally unsympathetic to me because of his anti-Semitic tirades, his obvious megalomania and in general. But when my colleague Andreas Borcholte writes that the new album "Vultures 1" is good, then it can't be anything other than: good.

I wish you a nice evening!

Yours, Stefan Kuzmany Author of the editor-in-chief