Germany

Germany has spent three nights copying Taiwan. If Russia decides to invade it, it has had an idea: surprise them underground

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Last July, the Taiwan subway experienced an unusual day: Instead of passengers loaded with purses and suitcases, soldiers, soldiers and more soldiers armed with anti-tank missiles began to arrive at Taipei stations. The reason was twofold: to send a message inside and outside (China) of the country. That idea seduced Germany, and now that it has begun its rearmament it has launched in Berlin. A disturbing return. The exercise Bollwerk Bärlin III Last week, he returned to the German capital a scene that seemed banished to the memories of the 20th century: soldiers descending U-Bahn stairsjumping onto the tracks and advancing through smoke, simulated gunshots and cars taken over by “saboteurs.” For three nights, between 1 and 4 in the morning, about 250 members of the Wachbataillon (a unit known for its ceremonial role but with infantry functions) transformed stations like Jungfernheide into a real underground battlefield to practice assaults, close combat, evacuation of civilians and protection of critical infrastructure in a realistic environment in which nothing is altered or mocked up: the narrowness of the tunnels, limited visibility and changes in light are the same as they would find in a real war scenario. In the background: Russia. They remembered the TWZ analysts that this return to urban warfare in tunnels and stations, without embellishments or theatrical simulations, symbolizes a profound change in Germany’s strategic priorities and revealed the extent to which the shadow of a possible conflict with Russia has penetrated into the very heart of Germany. his military planning. The metamorphosis. The battalion in charge of displaying honors on state visits had been conceived for decades as a symbol of institutional stability, not as a combat force. However, its real operational mission (protecting the federal government and its facilities in the event of a crisis) today takes on an urgency that has not been seen for a long time. Hence the direct tone of his commanderlieutenant colonel Maik Teichgräber: Berlin is your area of ​​operations and they must prepare for “the worst case scenario,” which means training where you would really fight. The use of stations closed to the public allows practice quick entriesassaults on trains, neutralization of enemies and immediate removal of wounded, integrating snipers, perimeter security and coordination between units in a densely urbanized environment. The presence of additional scenarios (such as the former Rüdersdorf chemical plant or the Ruhleben police complex) underlines the desire to turn the capital’s defense into a multidimensional exercisecapable of absorbing everything from internal sabotage to coordinated incursions that seek to paralyze the political center of Germany. Global dimension of the trend. Which happens in Berlin It is also reflected in other regions of the world. How we countTaiwan uses its subway as a defensive artery during the Han Kuang exercises, aware that, in the event of a Chinese invasion, underground infrastructure they would be vital to move troops and supplies while the surface becomes a continuous target. In parallel, the United States has raised the underground war a priority for its special forces, responding to the proliferation of fortified tunnels, dense urban areas and the expansion of drone swarms that force troops to seek refuge underground. The growing autonomy of unmanned systems, already present in Ukraine, accelerates this trend: in a future where aerial surveillance will be almost constant, defending in depth will mean dominating not only streets and buildings, but subways, tunnels, pipelines and interconnected bunkers. The war of the future, according to these emerging doctrines, will be fought both upwards (against drones, sensors and loitering munitions) and downwards, in an underground network that takes on strategic value. Echoes of the Cold War. He training on the U-Bahn inevitably refers to a divided Berlinwhen the city was a western enclave surrounded by Warsaw Pact forces. At that time, the United States, the United Kingdom and France were rehearsing urban operations aimed at slowing down an invasion to gain political time, aware that holding the city indefinitely was unrealistic. Units like the (secret) Detachment A They practiced sabotage and unconventional warfare techniques from the shadows. Even stations, such as Pankstraße or Siemensdamm, were designed like nuclear shelters for more than 3,000 people for weeks, with armored doors and air filtering. The reunified Germany had left behind that architecture of fear, and today, faced with a panorama of uncertainty, it returns to study how to reactivate these civil protection capabilities. The contrast is evident: what in 1994 seemed unnecessary is once again considered a strategic necessity. Historical rearmament. we have been counting. The exercise is also part of a context transformation unprecedented german military apparatus. By 2029, Berlin plans spend 153,000 million euros per year in defense (around 3.5% of GDP), an enormous jump from the levels that for decades were a source of friction with Washington. It is a rearmament designed not only for modernize capabilitiesbut to adapt the country to threats that They are no longer theoretical: What happens 900 kilometers away, in Ukraine, conditions the entire strategy. This budget increase has led NATO to consider a symbolic turn that would have been unthinkable during the Cold War: that Germany would command the allied forces in Europe. Although that moment has not arrivedthe expectation underscores the pressure on Berlin to demonstrate that it can take on top responsibilities and is willing to prepare its military for complex scenariosfrom urban sabotage to large-scale conventional warfare. Strategic warning. Teichgräber put it clearly: Nobody can guarantee that the war that is currently devastating Ukraine will not one day reach German territory. That phrase sums up the background of Bollwerk Bärlin III. The Bundeswehr trains in the subway tunnels because it understands that contemporary conflicts do not respect borders or capitals. The hybrid warcoordinated attacks on critical infrastructure and the massive use of drones They make the interior of cities as vulnerable as their borders. If you like, what is at stake is not only the defense of Berlin, but Germany’s capacity to react facing a moment in which the strategic … Read more

Germany is trying to stop its electricity dependence on China. The question is whether that is even possible.

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Almost four years ago, Germany learned a painful lesson: your industry cannot depend on the energy of a geopolitical rival. The Russian gas crisis after the invasion of Ukraine forced the Germans to make more than one sacrifice while the country’s energy model was transformed. Now, at the gates of 2026, Friedrich Merz’s government faces a déjà vu disturbing. The same stone twice. Germany may have become independent of Gazprom’s gas pipelines, but its solar panels and grid technology bear, directly or indirectly, China’s stamp. Good: Berlin has just hit the brakes. The collapse of a seemingly innocuous financial operation last week has revealed that Germany is carefully reviewing every watt that enters its system to avoid repeating the historic Russian gas mistake. The trigger. The Italian company Snam SpA intended to acquire a minority stake in Open Grid Europe (OGE), one of the largest gas network operators in Germany. On paper, it was an investment between European partners. In practice, the German Economy Ministry saw the shadow of Beijing. The problem was not Snam, but its shareholders. The state-owned State Grid Corporation of China owns 35% of Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, which in turn owns a third of Snam. For the Merz government, that was risk enough. Given Berlin’s refusal to accept the proposed solutions, Snam withdrew its offer last week. A clear message. Berlin does not want companies with Chinese state participation to have access to the country’s energy arteries, even indirectly, which marks a change in doctrine compared to the era of Olaf Scholz, who at the time allowed the Chinese shipping company Cosco to enter the port of Hamburg. The current executive is much more defensive: national security takes precedence over capital. The question is… Too late? If blocking the purchase of a gas network is relatively simple, unraveling technological dependence on China is a logistical and economic nightmare. 95% of the photovoltaic cells installed in Germany come from Chinese manufacturers. And almost the entire wind industry, especially offshore, depends on rare earths controlled by China. The German energy transition is based on Asian hardware. Germany needs Chinese technology to meet its climate goals. And he doesn’t hide it. The German government has already raised this concern in international forums, denouncing the Chinese overcapacity in sectors such as electric mobility and solar energy. Technology that is needed but now considered a “systemic risk.” Is decoupling possible? In 2018, the German government already had to intervene so that the state bank KfW bought a stake in the network operator 50Hertz, preventing it from falling into the hands, again, of the Chinese State Grid. Seven years later, the strategy of “patching” individual acquisitions seems insufficient in the face of structural dependence. If the experience with Russia is any guide, Berlin seems to have decided that, this time, the price of security must be paid in advance, before anyone decides to turn off the tap. But today, the reality of the market is stubborn: replacing Chinese hardware means, almost invariably, paying more and taking longer to deploy renewables. Image | rawpixel In Xataka | If you were expecting cheap electricity this winter, we have bad news: Holland

Spain, France and Germany could not depend on the “button” of the F-35. So the future European fighter aims for something else

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In the month of September the future European fighter in which Spain participates began to disfigure publicly. Germany threatened to open FCAS to new partners if there was no agreement with France, while Spain joined Berlin with Indra and, on the opposite sidewalk, a continental bet appeared, the Global Combat Air Program (GCAP) that brought together Italy, the United Kingdom and Japan around a different philosophy. Now, in a new twist of the script, the European fighter is aiming for something else. An overflowing program. He Future Combat Air System (FCAS), conceived in 2017 as Europe’s great bet to build the combat air ecosystem of the second half of the 21st century and put aside the american dependencyis going through its crisis deeper. Germany and France, political and industrial drivers of the project, they study abandoning the most symbolic piece (the new generation fighter) to take refuge in its only still viable element: the combat clouda command and control network based on artificial intelligence capable of integrating manned aircraft, swarms of drones, radars, sensors and naval and land systems in the same operational environment. The shift does not seem like a simple technical reorientation, but rather a tacit recognition that the differences between Airbus and Dassault Aviation They have reached a point of no return. At a time when Europe wants to demonstrate strategic autonomy after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the largest military program of the continent is at risk of fracturing due to the inability of its two main contractors to share responsibilities, cede control and coordinate incompatible industrial visions. The Airbus-Dassault divorce. The conflict between Dassault and Airbus it’s not recentbut it has now reached an intensity that makes advancing the fighter impossible. Dassault, creator of the Rafale and a family-owned company, demands total authority on the design of the aircraft and selection of suppliers. For its part, Airbus (which represents Germany and part of Spain) considers that a European project of this magnitude should be governed by a balanced distribution of work. Negotiations have been stalled for years, with each party accusing the other of breaking agreements. While Dassault threatens to continue alone because “it has all the necessary experience”, the temptation to replace France grows in Berlin through the United Kingdom or Swedentwo partners who already participate in the rival Tempest program. The result is a vicious circle: without trust, there is no cooperation, without cooperation, there is no plane, and without plane, the FCAS becomes an empty shell supported only by the idea. from combat cloud. FCAS The German temptation and the French dilemma. The pressure is not symmetrical. Germany, which has relaxed its spending limit to rearm on a large scaledoes not want to be held hostage by a French company that is blocking progress. According to the Financial Timesin the environment of Chancellor Friedrich Merz an increasingly clear message is heard: if collaboration does not work, Berlin has the resources to continue without Paris. France, for its part, shows caution: its nuclear deterrent It depends on the replacement of the Rafale starting in the next decade, and an abrupt divorce could delay a key system for its strategic security. Although Macron hoped to rebuild trust after years of disagreements, even French voices admit that the project is “immobilized and almost dead,” and that the only real way out is through direct intervention by the president on Éric Trappier, the powerful CEO of Dassault. Combat Cloud The combat cloud as a strategic refuge. Just because the plane stalls doesn’t mean FCAS is meaningless. The most transformative piece of the program is not the fighter, but the AI-based distributed command and control system: a combat cloud european that allows any platform (Rafale, Eurofighter, long-range drones, naval sensors or ground radars) to share data in real time. This system, developed by Airbus (Germany), Thales (France) and Indra (Spain), is the only thing that everyone agrees on: Europe can (co)live with several planes, but not with incompatible networks that depend entirely on the American technological umbrella as was the case with the F-35. That is why it is proposed to accelerate the entry into service from the cloud to 2030a decade ahead of schedule, and armor it as a common pillar even if the joint fighter disappears. For many European countries, having their own cloud is the only way to guarantee that, if Washington one day looks the other way, the continent’s armies can operate in a cohesive and autonomous manner. Failure with implications. If he FCAS collapsesit will not just be an industrial setback, but a devastating geopolitical message. Europe has been proclaiming its desire for military autonomy for years, but every time it tries to create its own capabilities it runs into problems. same obstacles: competition between nations, political misgivings, absence of common governance and divergent priorities. This crisis also comes at a critical moment, when the war in Ukraine has demonstrated that technological superiority it is played onlinethat reaction time is vital and that Western systems must interoperate seamlessly. That the largest European defense project could collapse for corporate disputes shows the extent to which the dream of an integrated defense continues to depend on fragile foundations. What is played in a few weeks. The Financial Times recalled that the calendar is tight. Paris, Berlin and Madrid must decide before the end of the year whether to finance the airplane demonstration, an investment of several billion that no one wants to approve while the project remains blocked. The meetings between the French minister Catherine Vautrin, her German counterpart Boris Pistorius, Merz and Macron will be decisive: or the FCAS is redefined around to combat cloud or formally disintegrates. Everyone repeats that the Franco-German bilateral relationship should not be damaged, but the reality is that companies have carried out the program to the limit. The FCAS was born to symbolize defense Europe, but today only the combat cloud keeps that symbol alive as the last possible bridge between two industries that no longer … Read more

The most German museum in Germany laughs at its visitors. And it is triumphing

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Imagine booking a guided tour of a museum and the guide being an arrogant, resentful and rude know-it-all. It certainly sounds very unpleasant, but there is a museum in Germany where people are lining up and paying to live the experience. Grumpy guide. This is how the museum Kunstpalastlocated in Dusseldorf, advertises this curious guided tour format, which they describe on their website as a “highly unpleasant” experience. During the visit, which lasts 70 minutes, the guide challenges visitors to name works, and then ridicules their knowledge. He does not insult the visitors directly or comment on their physique, but he does ridicule them as a group. He also scolds them if they use their cell phones or sit down and criticizes artists who, in his opinion, should not be on the walls of the museum. Waiting list. They count in Guardian that the grumpy guide’s visits have been a complete success and the waiting list extends until 2026. It is true that this guided tour format only takes place twice a month, so it is not that there are many tickets, but the museum claims that they have managed to sell them all out since they launched it in May of this year. Tickets cost 7 euros. Pay to be insulted. The museum director admits that he was inspired by Karen’s Dineran Australian restaurant chain where the waiters are very unfriendly and unpleasant to customers. There are more restaurants of this type in which you pay for an experience beyond the food, like a kind of dinner-show in which the fun is being treated badly. There are even more extreme cases such as This Japanese restaurant where waitresses slap customers in exchange for 3 euros. There is a goal behind it. The visits with ‘grumpy guide’ have not been a mere occurrence, but are part of a European initiative to attract young audiences and look for fresher and less elitist formats. The Kunstpalast museum has its unfriendly guide, but there are other curious initiatives such as Stuggart History Museum Nudist Tours or the sock tours of the Vooorlinden museum in Holland. Image | Pexels, Unsplash In Xataka | No wonder the theft of jewels from the Louvre has been so easy: the museum’s security has been a disaster for more than a century

Germany wants to end the plug-in hybrid scam. Your industry is at stake

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We do not know how much plug-in hybrids consume and it is not very clear what they pollute. We do not know because it is very difficult to understand how the driver of a vehicle of this type behaves and, intrinsically, it is just as difficult to replicate these conditions in a laboratory test. That is why plug-in hybrids consumed just one liter of fuel according to official approvals. That’s why they now consume much more. And that is why for entities like Transport&Environment, they are cars that They consume seven times more than they say. All of this has put in the spotlight a technology that looks like the perfect bridge to jump from combustion car to electric. With plug-in hybrids that travel more than 100 kilometers in purely electric mode, the solution seems perfect for those clients who they do not dare to take the step to a pure electric car. With Europe determined to make the jump to the electric car and some clients who do not fully embrace this new paradigm, Germany has chosen to position them as the logical evolution. To convince the rest of Europe, he wants to put a stop to those who use the plug-in hybrid as a pure combustion vehicle. And why do you take this step? Because your industry is at stake. More combustion please Just a few days ago, Germany and Italy presented themselves to Europe as the guarantors of the combustion engines from 2035. In front they have Spain and France who have teamed up so that we forget about this type of mechanics from 2035 if they are not neutral in carbon emissions. This would leave out plug-in hybrids. The plan goes through a review of objectivesan analysis of how the European Union is adapting to the new regulations. A process that Germans and Italians want to take advantage of to modify the regulations already approved. Germany’s latest proposal has been launched from the VDA association (Verband der Automobilindustrie), which encompasses German industry manufacturers. These manufacturers, including those who said they would make the leap to electric cars even before 2035 (such as mercedes either Audi) are now committed to maintaining combustion engines. They assure that there is not enough demand of electric cars to guarantee production and anticipate massive layoffs if the jump to “neutral in carbon emissions” is made. What is now proposed is to keep plug-in hybrids alive in exchange for the driver being obliged to recharge the car in a specific kilometer cycle. Although it has not been specified how long that number of cycles would be, the punishment has been proposed: limiting the power of the car. Technically, the car would have a software that counts the number of kilometers that the vehicle has not been used in purely electric mode. At a certain point, if the car is not recharged, the vehicle’s power is limited as a clear reminder that the time has come to plug in the car. The obvious intention is to prevent someone from buying this type of car and never using the car in electric mode. Although from a purely economic point of view it doesn’t make much senseright now in Spain if you buy a plug-in hybrid you can receive a minimum of 2,500 euros discount with the MOVES III Plan (if the car does not exceed 45,000 euros before VAT is applied) but counts as an electric car if the range is greater than 90 kilometers, increasing the aid to 4,500 euros discount and 7,000 euros if a vehicle is scrapped. In addition, many cities have advantages such as free parking in zones with limited hours, entering the interior of the ZBE or using the lane Bus-HOV despite only having one passenger inside. In return for maintaining combustion engines, Germany wants to put a stop to traps that operate in a similar way to AdBlue, for example, which prevents starting a diesel car whose tank is completely empty. It is not the first proposal to arrive for plug-in hybrids either. On other occasions the possibility of fence cities using GPS so that this type of automobile can only operate in completely electric mode within the city or very specific places in it (schools, hospitals…). This is something that can already be done and German manufacturers such as BMW has been mounting it for years with options in the browser that allow you to move only in electric mode within the municipalities and they save battery (or even produce it by converting the car into an electric generator) if passing through a city is contemplated on the route. Photo | bmw In Xataka | That people don’t charge their plug-in hybrid cars is not good for Toyota: so they have decided to change our habits with an app

The most pacifist city in Germany lived off its legendary train factory. Now they will make it from a gigantic tank factory

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Görlitz was known for its neat historic center, its post-war memory and a practical inclination towards pacifism. For decades, the city on the eastern border fit on the German map as a haven of caution and resigned industrial melancholy, a place where work and tradition maneuvered away from military power. But that calm is beginning to show cracks that force its inhabitants to rethink what it means to maintain peace when the world seems to want just the opposite. From the steel of peace to that of war. For more than a century and a half, the town of Görlitz, on Germany’s eastern border, lived off the rhythmic sound of trains. The wagon and locomotive factories They provided work for entire generations and defined the identity of this working-class region of the former East. But that era is coming to an end. After 176 years of railway production, the historic Alstom industrial complex is being converted by the arms consortium KNDS to manufacture components Leopard II tanks and Puma armored vehicles. What was once a symbol of civil mobility and reconstruction, today is transformed in gear of the German military machine. This metamorphosis does not arise from nowhere, of course: it responds to the country’s strategic shift towards rearmamentmotivated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, fear of a withdrawal of American security guarantees and a economy in decline desperately looking for new sources of employment. Between pacifism and necessity. I was counting last week the new york times that, in Görlitz, industrial reconversion divide feelings. The population, aging and punished by decades of deindustrialization since reunification, sees the production of tanks as a lesser evil. In this area where the far-right AfD party (openly pro-Russian and opposed to helping Ukraine) concentrates almost half the voteseven its local leaders have accepted the change with resignation. “It is not a cause for celebration, but we cannot oppose having work either,” recognizeaware that the loss of employment would be even more devastating than the moral dilemma of manufacturing weapons. Reconversion. The factory, which once had more than 2,000 employeesbarely kept 700 before the sale, and KNDS agrees to keep half of them and plans to multiply it in the future. In fact, the unions, led by IG Metall, were the ones who promoted the idea of ​​reorienting the plant towards the defense sector to avoid its definitive closure. In a territory marked by youth exodus and economic frustration, the arms industry has ended up offering something similar to a second chance. German military reindustrialization. The Görlitz case reflects a broader phenomenon: German rearmament as a driver of a new industrial reconversion. Since 2020, Berlin’s defense spending has increased about 80%exceeding 90,000 million euros, and the demand for specialized labor has skyrocketed. Companies such as Rheinmetall, Diehl Defense, Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems or MBDA have added more than 16,000 workers since the start of the war of Ukraine and plan to hire 12,000 more before 2026. The sector’s profits are so high that its managers increase dividends while exploring the purchase of automobile plants in decline, as that of Volkswagen in Osnabrück. The “logic”. The message from its CEO, Armin Papperger, summarize the logic of the new defense economy: if taxpayers’ money finances national security, jobs must stay in Germany. In this context, the factory conversion like Görlitz, it is perceived as an industrial policy with a dual purpose: to sustain the productive fabric and strengthen the country’s strategic autonomy. The moral dilemma. Despite the economic relief that the renaissance of the arms sector represents, it persists in German society a deep tension between the pacifism inherited from the post-war and the need to guarantee European defense. For many East Germans, who already experienced a first deindustrialization after the fall of the Wall and now suffer the loss of energy and manufacturing jobs, manufacturing tanks is a bitter way of survival. Some fear that the weapons produced will end up on the Ukrainian front, others that the rise of the business depends on the continuity of the war. “Will it be sustainable to manufacture tanks? I hope not. I hope the wars end soon,” admitted to the Financial Times a union representative. However, the reality of the market and geopolitics point in another direction: defense has become the new industrial hub European, and Germany (due to history, technological capacity and allied pressure) leads that transition. Goodbye train, hello tank. Thus, the old Görlitz factory, with its warehouses blackened by decades of metallurgical work, symbolizes the change of era that crosses Europe. Where wagons were previously welded to transport passengers, steel shells will be assembled for combat vehicles. What began as a strategy to save jobs threatens to redefine the industrial soul of the country: from civil ingenuity to military power, from the steel that united continents to that which now armors them. And a profound paradox: in a fractured political landscape, where the fear of war coexists with the need to prosper, the workers of Eastern Germany are once again the involuntary protagonists of history. Its destiny, between nostalgia for trains and the pragmatic acceptance of tanks or battle tanks, summarizes the dilemma of a nation that tries to reconcile its pacifist past with a present that pushes it, once again, to manufacture weapons to ensure its future. Image | Norwegian Armed Forces, State Ministry for Economic Affairs, Labor, Energy and Climate Protection In Xataka | The US no longer has to worry about Spain or the rearmament bill in Europe. Germany had a plan B In Xataka | The “rearmament” of Europe has begun at a Volkswagen factory in Germany: instead of cars they will produce tanks

Europe has decided to take action against Moscow’s hybrid war. So Germany has started hunting for Russian drones

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Which started as a succession of technical incidents and contradictory testimonies did not take long to shake the governments of the old continent, mobilizing ships and planes, and forcing Berlin to rewrite the rules about when and how something floating above our heads can be knocked down. On that invisible chessboard there was a question that everyone avoided answering: who really presses the button that launches these devices, and for what purpose? Now, Germany and the rest of Europe seem to agree. The invisible front. we have been counting. Europe has entered an unprecedented phase of aerial vulnerability. In just a few months, a wave of incursions by unidentified drones (some over airports, industrial plants and strategic centers) has forced the closure of airspace, diverting flights and putting on alert to the forces navies of several countries. In Germany, air traffic disruptions have been multiplied by 33% in a single year, and what began as a succession of isolated incidents has become a continental phenomenon that many attribute to a hybrid offensive orchestrated by Russia. And more. These raids, without constituting a formal act of war, are part of a destabilization strategy broader that combines cyberattacks, sabotage and technological intimidation to gauge NATO’s reaction and test European response capacity without crossing the threshold of direct confrontation. Germany changes doctrine. Until recently, German authorities were limited to detecting drones, without being able to intervene on them. However, the magnitude of the raids (which forced even at closing of Munich airport and left thousands of passengers stranded) has forced a legal change of enormous significance. The Government of Friedrich Merz has approved a bill authorizing the federal police to shoot down drones that violate German airspace or represent an immediate danger, using everything from kinetic shots to laser weapons and electronic jamming systems. It is not a trivial topic. It is about the first modification of the police law since 1994, and its parliamentary approval will place Germany at the level from France, the United Kingdom, Lithuania and Romaniacountries that already allow the active neutralization of unmanned aircraft. The Executive has also announced the creation of a national anti-drone unit that will be in charge of neutralizing low-altitude devices, while those with greater power will remain under military jurisdiction. Between safety and climbing. The approval of this law reflects a dilemma that crosses all of Europe: how to respond to Russian hybrid aggression without provoking an escalation of war. Chancellor Merz himself has acknowledged that many of the intercepted aircraft appear to be carrying out reconnaissance flights, without weapons, but with clear strategic intentions. At the same time, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt has underlined that operations in urban environments must be governed by the principle of proportionality to avoid collateral damage. Fear that a misidentification could lead to a diplomatic or military incident keeps security forces on edge. a constant balance between firmness and prudence. Meanwhile, Germany modernizes its defense with systems such as the Rheinmetall Skyrangerdesigned to neutralize swarms of drones in the middle of a hybrid war, and strengthens its coordination with NATO in the face of the risk that the technological frontier will also become a political frontier. The risk of the “gray zone”. Recent incidents in Poland, Estonia and Romania (where Russian drones and MiG-31 fighters have violated allied airspace) have prompted NATO to review its rules of engagement. Countries bordering Russia, backed by France and the United Kingdom, have proposed more aggressive measures: allow pilots to open fire without visual confirmation, arm surveillance drones and carry out military exercises on the same border line. Although some allies advocate containment to avoid a direct clash with a nuclear power, others maintain that the only effective deterrence is the visible action. Washington has pushed to relax response rules and even has suggested that the Alliance should “shoot Russian planes” that enter its airspace. In other words, the debate has revealed the tension between European caution and the American desire to regain the initiative against Moscow, in a context in which the war in Ukraine and Russian aerial provocations threaten to overflow the limits of conventional war. Europe and the air shield. The idea we count recently. While NATO refines its protocols, the European Union is trying to strengthen its autonomous capacity against hybrid attacks. The president of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has proposed lifting that “drone wall”a network of sensors, radars and weapons that protects the eastern flank of the continent. Brussels is also preparing sanctions and restrictions to the movement of Russian diplomats suspected of directing sabotage operations, while allocating community funds to finance anti-drone systems in airports, ports and power plants. The initiative seeks not only to reinforce physical security, but also to respond politically to the Russian attempt to sow division within the EU. “Russia wants to divide us; we must respond with unity,” has warned von der Leyen, stressing that defense against gray war cannot be limited to reacting, but must focus on active deterrence. Europe in transformation. The drone challenge has forced Europe to recognize that 21st century war is not fought only with tanks and missiles, but also with algorithmsautonomous swarms and information saturation. The German law authorizes the demolition of unmanned aircraft, military coordination of NATO on the eastern flank and the new European strategy air defense They are part of the same response: that of a continent that adapts to an enemy that does not always show itself. In the diffuse space of the hybrid warwhere a civilian drone can become a strategic weapon and a cyber attack an act of war, the border between peace and conflict has become more blurred than ever. Germany, the industrial and political epicenter of the old continent, seems to have understood that security is no longer measured in battles, but in reaction seconds. And as the Ukraine war redefines the global balance of power, Europe rehearses its own defensive revival: a forced transition from pacifism to pragmatism, in which each downed … Read more

Russia’s order has triggered anxiety in Europe. Germany and France are already preparing for the worst: 1,000 injured per day

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To the incursions of Russia in the European airspace that took place last week In Poland, Romania and Estoniaanother in Denmark has joined with chaotic consequences for airlines. NATO has raised the voice while Moscow seems to test the allied cohesion in the Baltic. In the background: a series of movements that indicate two things: anxiety has shot in Europe, and some begin to prepare for a war scenario. Denmark does not give credit. Denmark has described As an “unprecedented attack” the incursions of drones that have forced to close the airports of Copenhagen and Oslo for hours, leaving tens of thousands of stranded passengers, in an episode that encompasses the wave of aerial rapes and drones attacks in past days To Poland, Romania and Estonia. The aircraft appeared from multiple directions, alternating lights and then disappearing, and the Danish authorities attribute them to “a capable operator”, while the Kremlin denies it. Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen He talked about The “more serious” aggression against a critical infrastructure of Denmark and did not rule out any hypotheses, opinion supported by leaders such as Ukrainian President Zelenski and by EU spokesmen, who see a pattern of reckless actions by Russia. NATO celebrated meetings Under article 4condemned the violations and stressed that Rwill effort capabilities and deterrenceand some officials already contemplate the possibility of more forceful responses (even demolition) if these provocations are repeated. France and preparations. In France, the controversy has exploded after a Publication of Le Canard Enchaînéwhich revealed a letter sent in July by the Minister of Health, Catherine Vautrin, in which she asked French health agencies to prepare for a possible “major commitment” In March 2026. The document urged hospitals to be ready to serve several thousand soldiers during periods that could extend 10 to 180 dayswhich included both French and foreign troops. The news, despite proceeding from a satirical environment, generated accusations that Emmanuel Macron would be secretly planning the country to the war against Russia. The extreme right, represented by the Eurodiputa Thierry Mariani, It went further suggesting that a conflict would allow to suspend the presidential elections of 2027. The official clarification. The Ministry of Health He did not deny authenticity of the letter, but he clarified his goal: it was a Preventive Planning Faced with possible risks and threats that could affect the hospital system, including the arrival of a large number of victims of an international conflict. The measure, according to the Ministerial Crisis Center, sought to guarantee the capacity of the civil health system to absorb a massive flow of military patients in case France, as a member of NATO and ally of Ukraine, was indirectly involved in a war set. It was not, therefore, a war plan per sebut an exercise in advance of contingencies. Germany and preparations. It happens that Germany It has begun To explicitly plan how to face an eventual large -scale conflict between NATO and Russia, the scene that many alliance analysts place Around 2029. Reuters explained That the calculation that marks this preparation is as sober as disturbing: up to 1,000 soldiers Germans wounded per day may require medical care in case of an open confrontation, a figure that the inspector general of Health, Ralf Hoffmann, qualifies as realistic based on the intensity of the fighting and the units involved. Ukraine lessons. The war in Ukraine has radically changed the nature of the injuries. If the bullet wounds predominated before, today the panorama is dominated by the devastating drones effectsMERODERE AND EXPLOSIVE MORMERS, which generate amputations, burns and multiple trauma. Hoffmann Underline That the “death corridor” of ten kilometers on each side of the Ukrainian front, plagued by hostile UAVs, shows how immediate medical evacuations have become almost impossible: injured should often be stabilized for hours under constant fire before being able to be transferred. How to evacuate. With this horizon, Berlin is studying Expand your abilities of flexible medical transport, inspired by the Ukrainian experience with hospital trains. It is considered to incorporate trains, buses and a greater number of sanitary aircraft, with the aim of guaranteeing staggered evacuations: initial attention in the front, intermediate stabilization and final transfer to hospitals within the German territory. This medical logistics chain demands a robust, decentralized and capable system under air and electronic threat. The plan contemplates that the injured receive definitive care especially in civil hospitals, with an estimated volume of 15,000 reserved beds within a national total capacity of 440,000. The coordination between the military medical service and the civil health system will be essential, and the medical body of the Armed Forces, currently 15,000 troops, must be extended significantly to face the magnitude of the challenge. The Kremlin and article 5. Explained the Financial Times That all this climate of extreme anxiety in Europe possibly responds to a Moscow tactic: to demonstrate that the NATO collective defense clause, Article 5it lacks real value. A hesitant response to a provocation could open the door to Russia trying to “break down” small European states without facing the block as a whole. Scenarios such as a land incursion under the pretext of protecting Russian minorities in Baltic countries are part of the recurring fears of military planners. To do this, Moscow has uncertainty that surrounds Washingtonwhose contribution represents about 40 % of the military capacities of the Alliance in Europe. The unknowns Trump. The American factor is decisive. With units of Himars Artillery And tanks already deployed in the Baltic, the military presence is significant, but the key question is what Donald Trump would do in case of open aggression. Distrust is mutual: in Washington some see the Baltic as excessively ideological and aggressive against Moscow, while in Tallin the vote of the United States is remembered with Russia in the UN as An alert signal. The president’s volatility adds an unpredictable element: as well as surprising authorizing Attacks to IranI could react unexpectedly in a crisis in Eastern Europe. Between fear and dependence. The great European powers … Read more

There are 225 hours from Oktoberfest, but only 222 beer. The remaining three hours are an agonizing wait for Germany

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September 20 was the largest public festival pistolt. Held in Theresienwiese, Munich, all in The oktoberfest is hyperbolicand the liters of alcohol and the size of the beers that are going to be dispatched will not be less. However, few moments better define those party desires As I wait that has taken place before the start of this Bacchanalia German that will total 225 hours. It’s just three hours, 180 minutes, but for most they are an eternity. The ritual wait. There is something almost liturgical in those first hours without beer from the Oktoberfest, a collective voltage Remembering the early morning prior to a great family party, when the last details are refined and the house seems to contain your breathing. In Munich, in the Prado de Theresienwiese, that pause is Puebla de Pretzels, soft drinks and board games, and thousands of crowded bodies that have run, camped or paid by a hole to ensure a place under the canvases of the great lying. The ceremony It is simple and strict: The doors open at nine, the enclosure is filled with expectation and tiredness in equal parts, and it is not until the mayor wields the shooter and nailed the first tap at twelve o’clock when the crowd exhales and the drink, literally and symbolically, begins to flow. Those minutes (three exact hours In which beer is still promise) they distil a delicious anxiety, attendees occupy their place not because of the drink itself, but because of the experience that the jug makes possible: band music, dance on tables, the conversation that becomes collective anthem. The social mechanics of the first third. The history I remembered this weekend The New York Times on the occasion of the start of the massive festival. The waiting ritual also reveals a unwritten economy and a complex social choreography: groups that keep hours in the tail, young people who transform their patience into income selling accesses, families that play cards to spend time and waitresses who, before becoming Athletes Of the napkin and the jug, they are the guardians of that temporal border between emotion and ethyl catharsis. The seats within the historical tents They rarely reserve For the general public. Most are first arrivals, and competition for a good table can involve entire nights on the street. Inside, stories are shared, instant fellowship networks are woven, it is purchased A great pretzel To simulate composure and You drink prosecco In somewhat shy sips that are, in reality, the prologue. And when the countdown reaches its end, the explosion It is ordered ” of Festbier On the wooden tables. The Oktoberfest numbers. The truth is that the Oktoberfest is not just a party: it is An economic engine and a cultural scenario that moves millions of visitors. The price of a jug It may seem high For those who measure it in liters and cents, but the real value of the experience combines tradition, gastronomy and show. Young people who repeat the visit year after year are part of a generation that sees at the festival A seasonal rite: A place to measure resistance and find community. At the same time, demand Create microeconomies: Plazas Belings In the row, improvised services, street vendors that capitalize on the wait with pins or memories and the hotel industry that collapses and reconstructs around the dates. The emotional and physical cost also weighs: the posterior euphoria is accompanied by fatigue and the inevitable account count and, of course, hangover. Rituals and practices. The tentseach with Your personality and clientele (The historical ones where tradition weighs, preferred by young people, which attract everyone …) are microcosm with their own codes. There it is sung, dance on the tables, gigantic bread is shared and liters are consumed in a choreography that requires skill: measured gestures not to overwhelm the jug, deployment of synchronized toasts, greetings that cross languages. The role of the waitresses is central; As we said, they are the invisible army that maintains the rhythm, joining physical strength and memory of usual faces. And that First “O’Zapft is!” (It is already open!) Not only frees beer, releases social permissiveness: for a few hours, the unwritten rule of the decorum softens and the city is allowed to dance on tables with the solemnity of a carnival. Youth, businesses and limits. As in every great local event, he is accompanied by the same endemic evils: young people who monetize their patience, resellers that make early entrance into business, and a tension between the tourist who wants the rite and the place that lives it as a mass consumption. If you want, the phenomenon remembers how traditions, when They become globalThey acquire New layers: they become show, they are marketed and sometimes They disfigure. However, they also guarantee a continuity: the people who return every year, the families that transmit outfits and songs, the employees who see their most intense season in October. It is a fragile balance between authenticity and the fair, between cultural heritage and global market. Euphoria and memory. Oktoberfest Live from that transition (from tense calm to the runaway euphoria), and in that march it may summarize its charm: it is not the intake itself that defines the event, but the social fabric that is assembled Around waiting. It is the collective experience where the expected gesture of the mayor, the first tap and the first jar make of catalysts of a temporary communion. Sensation of sharing something that transcends the glass and stays like memory. And while some counting liters, others keep anecdotes, small evidence that a festival can be simultaneously industry, tradition and catharsis, although yes, always starting (as every year) with the same expectant calm of three hours that announces, inevitable, beers. Image | Tammy lo, RB Photo In Xataka | You can now party with shoes that guarantee be repellent to beer and vomit In Xataka | It is not that Germany is promoting the working day of four days, … Read more

Germany has discovered that a teacher saved a million euros. And what did he do as he was on 16 years

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The OECD He placed Germany in front of a mirror: that of the country developed where less hours work a year. Behind the figures (just 1,331 hours per year) There was a culture broth marked by economic deterioration and a nation that moves between two poles: lengthening the days or valuing life more outside of work. And in between, scandals that have reinforced the perception that labor laxity is unsustainable. The case of a low teacher since 2009 has lit the debate. An unusual case. In Wesel, North-Westphalia Rhine Since 2009sixteen years without reincorporating his post, but fully charging his salary, which over 16 years added around one million euros (between 5,000 and 6,000 euros per month). During all that time he presented monthly medical certificates, although he was never required an official recognition to accredit his status. The anomaly came to light when, after years of bureaucratic inertia, a new official detected irregularity In 2024 and ordered the medical review. When he was finally asked to undergo a medical examination, the teacher responded demanding her employer, claiming violation of rights, as she had done before in front of an attempt to transfer in 2017, but this time she lost the litigation. The Ministry of Education of Renania del Norte-Westfalia has described The issue of “serious failure within the Bezirksregierung of Düsseldorf” and has promised a “concessions” review of all internal procedures. Implications The teacher’s official granted her Extraordinary protectionincluding the right to leave indefinite with full salary, provided that it was properly accredited. However, local reports suggest that during their prolonged absence he reached Found a company Medical and exercising as a naturopath, activities that, if confirmed, would violate the obligations of prior notification and prohibition of parallel works during a decline. Not just that. He came to participate in entrepreneurship competitions, getting to obtain A 5,000 euros award for a cream of your invention. According to the labor lawyer Ralf DelgmannNot only infringed the regulations that require prior authorization for any secondary work, but would have done it while perceiving a medical leave, which feeds the suspicion that he was never really incapacitated. This could cost his pension, salary and even the condition of official. Even so, jurists warn That retrospectively demonstrating the absence of disease is practically impossible, so the recovery of wages already perceived is unlikely. A symptom of a major problem. The scandal, airy by the German presshas raised a debate about the rigidity and at the same time the vulnerability of the official statute. While private employees go on to collect reduced benefits After six weeks, officials keep the salary even for years, provided there is effective control. The case demonstrates how a Supervision vacuum prolonged allowed an anomaly to be consolidated for almost two decades. Although the Ministry insists that it is not a systemic problem, but about punctual negligence, public opinion perceive that confidence in the public function is committed by episodes of abuse like this. A long process. The media in Germany tell that the newly opened disciplinary procedure can Extend three or four yearstime during which both the actions of the teacher and the omissions of her administrative superiors will be investigated. Beyond its individual outcome, the case has become a symbol of control deficiencies in German administration, evidencing how a single poorly managed file can erode the credibility of an entire system. Plus: Beyond the judicial outcome, what remains in evidence is the urgency of rethink a casualty model That, in his eagerness to shield officials, he opens the door to abuses that end up being paid by society as a whole. Image | Pxhere In Xataka | The myth says that Germans work more than the Spaniards. The data tell a different thing In Xataka | Some researchers have analyzed the working day in Spain: the same thing that 40 years ago is worked, but in worse jobs

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