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Geopolitics

Henry Kissinger: The World's Love-And-Hate Adieu To The Machiavelli Of Washington

China shares praise, Cambodia throws shade, Germans show pride … and from Moscow?

PARIS — The death of Henry Kissinger at the age of 100 marks not only the end of a U.S. foreign policy legend, but the end of an era in geopolitical history. The controversial German-born architect of late 20th-century American power influenced statecraft around the world before, during and well after his years as U.S. secretary of state and national security advisor under two presidents.

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Whether considered the consummate “Machiavellian” operator, bloodstained Cold War puppet master or the embodiment of the American Dream, the entire world is marking the passing of this highly divisive and influential diplomat and power broker:

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Winnetou, The Immortal: Germany's Complicated Love Affair With Native American Lore

The latest season of Germany's largest festival celebrating the adventure writer Karl May ended with a record audience. Over 430,000 visitors watched the adventures of the Native American character Winnetou, despite criticism of the story's problematic legacy from some sections.

BAD SEGEBERG — "It's simply amazing! You're dropped off in the middle of the Wild West," gushes Markus after his visit to the Karl May Festival in Bad Segeberg. He is one of over 430,000 people who have seen a stage adaptation of German adventure writer Karl May's Winnetou I on the open-air stage in Schleswig-Holstein this year. That number has broken all records for attendance in a single season of the festival.

Much was written a year ago about how the Karl May classic had fallen out of time. The trigger was a series of books and fan articles about the movie The Little Chief Winnetou, forcing the publisher Ravensburger to withdraw the titles shortly before delivery.

The reason offered by the company was that it did not want to "repeat and spread any trivializing clichés." A debate ensued as to whether and how a story from the 19th century, whose depiction of Native Americans is primarily based on the author's imagination, could be too racist, sexist and dismissive for our time.

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The Demagogue's Biggest Lie: That We Don't Need Politics

Trashing politics and politicians is a classic tool of populists to seduce angry voters, and take countries into quagmires far worse than the worst years of democracy. It's a dynamic Argentina appears particularly vulnerable to.

-OpEd-

BUENOS AIRES — I was 45 years old when I became a politician in Argentina, and abandoned politics a while back now. In 1987, Raúl Alfonsín, the civilian president who succeeded the Argentine military junta in 1983, named me cabinet minister though I wasn't a member of his party, the Radicals, or any party for that matter. I was a historian, had worked as a lawyer, wrote newspapers articles and a book in 1985 on science and technology with chapters on cybernetics, artificial intelligence and genetic engineering.

That book led Alfonsín to ask me to join his government. My belated political career began in fact after I left the ministry and while it proved to be surprisingly lengthy, it is now over. I am currently writing a biography of a molecular biologist and developing a university course on technological perspectives (futurology).

Talking about myself is risky in a piece against 'anti-politics,' or the rejection of party politics. I do so only to make clear that I am writing without a personal interest. I am out of politics, and have never been a member of what Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni calls la casta, "the caste" — i.e., the political establishment.

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Nazi History, Muslim Immigrants, Social Media: Talking Gaza In Germany Is A Hot Mess

The debate over the war in Israel is raging on social media. In this divisive atmosphere, it is impossible to call out anti-Semitism in Muslim communities or on the right wing without being applauded by all the wrong people. What Germans are failing to acknowledge is how much the country’s own history has to do with this.

-Analysis-

BERLIN — These are dark times. The brutal Hamas attacks on Israel have crushed all hope of recovery, peace, freedom – of a victory for light over darkness. The global focus has shifted to the threat of political Islam rather than the horrors of the war in Ukraine, although this and other crises remain very much alive. Whichever way you turn, there is another threat looming: the economic crisis, the migrant crisis, climate change, the possible return of Donald Trump. There is no end in sight.

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However, since October 7, which is euphemistically being referred to in media reports as the day of "escalation" in the Middle East, there has been another form of escalation, this time around the tone of public debate in Germany. As the political boundaries are shifting, so are the limits of what is unsayable.

Admittedly, social media only represents a part of the public sphere, but nonetheless it has a profound influence on the debate. We can see this shift in all forms of online communication, which shape how we speak, what we share and what we see. The current discourse on social media reflects a wider breakdown of inhibitions and taboos, which makes it all the harder to find the one thing we need in order to have a reasoned discussion: objectivity.

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Germany
Carolina Drüten

How The West Is Leaning On The Gulf States For A Way Out In The Middle East

Can Europe play a role in the current conflict in the Middle East? During the recent visit to the region by German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, it appeared clear that Gulf States are in a much better position to negotiate a possible solution.

-Analysis-

BERLIN — German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock's recent flight from Saudi Arabia to Israel hit a patch of modest turbulence. The seatbelt signs light up. The Arab peninsula, whose countries have only just moved closer to the Jewish state, is literally shaking.

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Ideas
Reinhard Mohr

From Nazism To Anti-Fascism To Pro-Hamas, Reflections Of A Post-War German

The post-War generation in Germany was shaped politically by one question: Why didn’t our parents prevent the Holocaust? Nowadays, as baby boomers are retiring, the inner political wrestling seems to have fallen out of time, because anti-fascism has long changed sides.

Updated Nov. 14, 2023 at 6 p.m.

-Essay-

BERLIN — These days, one experience keeps coming to mind which apparently has nothing to do with the Hamas massacre on October 7 and its terrible consequences. At the same time, it does — albeit via the winding paths of my biography, which was largely that of an entire generation: the so-called baby boomers, born roughly between 1950 and 1965.

We were the strongest cohort of the post-War period, until the "baby bust."

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Soon we will all be retired — we, the eternal young professionals, forever young. We were the ones who repeatedly confronted their parents with probing questions: What did you do? What did you know? Why didn’t you prevent it? How could this even happen? Aren't you ashamed of yourself?

No matter what the answers were — at that time we made an almost sacred commitment, indeed an inner vow, to fight all forms of anti-Semitism and hatred of Jews in the future, even if all the past could no longer be undone.

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Geopolitics
Carolina Drüten and Stefanie Bolzen

Has The Time Come To Take U.S. Nuclear Weapons Out Of Turkey?

It was a wakeup call for some: pro-Palestinian demonstrators in Turkey tried to storm the U.S. base Incirlik where nuclear weapons have long been stationed. There is more discussion than ever about whether the NATO partner is still a trustworthy military ally with such potent weapons within reach.

-Analysis-

BERLIN — They came with Turkish and Palestinian flags and tried to enter the grounds of one of the most important U.S. military bases in the Middle East: On November 5, thousands of demonstrators gathered in front of the Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey to protest Israel's offensive in Gaza. The police dispersed the crowd with tear gas and water cannons.

The American airbase is a singular symbol for the presence of both NATO and the U.S. on Turkish territory for one reason above all: U.S. nuclear weapons are stored there.

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Shortly after the demonstrators attempted to enter the site, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Ankara, though was not received by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. These coinciding events once again raise the question of whether the U.S. can still trust Turkey, a full-fledged NATO member, as a partner — and whether the Incirlik military base and its atomic arsenal is a wise choice.

According to estimates, the number of nuclear weapons stationed there had been around 50, accounting for one-third of the total of 150 U.S. nuclear bombs thought to be in Europe. In recent years, experts believe the U.S. is said to have reduced its arsenal at Incirlik to perhaps around 20.

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This Happened

This Happened—November 9: Fall Of The Berlin Wall

Updated Nov. 9, 2023 at 12:45

The beginning of the collapse of the Berlin Wall, which allowed East Germans to cross into the West, marked a new epoch in world history.

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Amid revolutions that led to the collapse of the Soviet-led communist bloc, the tearing down the wall on Nov. 9, 1989, is considered the symbolic end of the Cold War, culminating in the dissolution of the USSR in 1991.

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Geopolitics
Lucie Robequain

Oil Dependence: Three Wars, One Lesson

Ukraine, Israel, Azerbaijan: the three conflicts highlight energy vulnerability.

-Analysis-

PARISUkraine, Israel, Azerbaijan: the three conflicts brewing on Europe's borders confirm, each in a unique way, the risk we continue to face by depending so heavily on hydrocarbons and their producers, who have used them as a prime geopolitical tool.

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After suffering so much from renouncing Russian gas, Europe must now be concerned about the energy it is importing from Azerbaijan — a country which has just invaded part of Armenia — and the sharp price hikes caused by the recent terror and violence in the Middle East.

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This Happened

This Happened — October 15: Mata Hari Execution

The execution of Dutch exotic dancer Mara Hari, a World War I spy, happened on this day in 1917.

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In The News
Valeria Berghinz, Michelle Courtois and Anne-Sophie Goninet

Blinken In Israel, Surprise Ford Strike, Fining Greta Part II

👋 Avuxeni!*


Welcome to Thursday, where U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken lands in Tel Aviv, the death toll in Gaza climbs to 1,300 and Greta Thunberg gets fined for disobedience, again. Meanwhile, Worldcrunch’s Katarzyna Skiba looks at two recent historic electoral victories for women in both Poland and Mexico.

[*Tsonga, South Africa and Mozambique]

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This Happened

This Happened — September 30: The Treaty Of Munich Signed

On this day in 1938, the Treaty of Munich was signed by Hitler, Mussolini, Daladier and Chamberlain.

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