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Ideas Society

Generation Z Is The First To Switch Off For Christmas

By Dec. 10, one third of German employees have already mentally switched off for the holidays — even though they still have to show up for work.

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Society

Subterranean Earthsick Clues: If Climate Change Forces Us Underground

Global warming may eventually force Homo sapiens to again seek cover from the elements. A global tour of the history of humans living underground.

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Future Ideas

Why The Sharing Economy Doesn’t Work: Human Nature

We can only solve our traffic problems if we stop idealizing car and bike sharing, and focus on how people behave and what they want.

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Geopolitics Migrant Lives

A German Critique Of Salvini’s ‘Double Dealing’ On Migration

Italy reached a preliminary agreement with other EU countries on rescuing migrants at sea. But Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has not shared the news at home, and has kept attacking his supposed partners, especially Germany.

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Ideas Society

Bauhaus In Britain: History Of London’s ‘Modern Living’ Experiment

A derivative of the Bauhaus revolution, the Isokon building brought modernity, and affordable rent, to conservative Britain — 85 years ago.

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Society

Skyscrapers, Turbines And The Problem Of ‘Horizon Pollution’

Skylines evolve over time, but that doesn’t mean cities like Bremen, Germany should let developers erect whatever kind of tower block they want.

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In The News

Short-Term Thinking, The Ruin Of Today’s Politics

Democratic systems offer little incentive for long-term thinking. But unless we can implement true, forward-looking policies, problems like climate change will only multiply.

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Society

German Youth: Running Low On Hope

Germany’s first post-War generation had cause for optimism. But their descendants have a different, darker outlook, poll numbers suggest.

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Geopolitics Ideas

70 Years On, Germans Find Pride In Their Constitution

Against a tide of right-wing nationalism, Germany’s Basic Law — with its emphasis on fundamental rights — is as relevant now as it was 70 years ago, when it first appeared.

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In The News

Why Does The Left Love Islam So Much?

Some leftists are screaming racism because of a conference on the pros and cons of the headscarf in Frankfurt. One can only wish these people that they never have to live in the society that they are rooting for.

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In The News

Game Of Thrones As Sport: ‘Historical Medieval Battle’ Is A Thing

In this martial arts where competitors are in knight armor, the athletes beat each other with axes and swords — until someone falls.

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Economy Geopolitics

Why Europe Needs To Embrace A Rising China

Rather than fear the so-called Middle Kingdom, European companies should recognize its rapid ascent as an opportunity.

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In The News

What We Learned From Austria’s Far-Right Experiment

Chancellor Kurz deserves credit for trying to work with the populist FPÖ. But he’s also right to end the relationship in the wake of the damning scandal

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In The News

Don’t Call It Suicide: What Words To Use In Right To Die Debate

Someone who is terminally ill and wants to die faster does not ‘commit suicide,’ says this German palliative medicine physician. Words matter.

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In The News

A Century Ago, Birth Of The Bauhaus

The Bauhaus movement came to life in Germany after the end of World War I. And it lives on today in many ways.

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Geopolitics Ideas

Blueprint For A Second European Renaissance

–OpEd– BERLIN — The late Chancellor Helmut Kohl, a great European who led Germany through its unification, was wrong. European integration is no longer “irreversible.” Today, in 2019, disintegration is the declared goal of many member states. It is dependency, not independence, that has until now made Europe strong. For the future, Europe does not […]

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Society

The Case Of The Cold War Hacker Found Dead In A German Forest

Thirty years after a young West German computer whiz working for the KGB was found dead, we return to an unsolved mystery from the final days before the Wall fell.

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Future Society

The Enduring Lessons And Legend Of Alexander Von Humboldt

Two and a half centuries after his birth, the famed German explorer and scientist is still remembered for his brilliant mind and boundary-testing taste for adventure.

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In The News

Is Kim Jong-un Exporting North Korean Slave Labor To Europe?

The accusation is serious: North Korea is sending forced laborers to Poland to be able to send money back to the regime. No one wants to take responsibility.

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Geopolitics Migrant Lives

Lagos Postcard: When EU Pushes Migrants To Go Back Home

Nigerian painter Isaac sold everything and left Lagos, in the hope to make it to Germany. After barely surviving in Libya, he gave up and went back.

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In The News

How Two Middle-Aged Dads Invented Germany’s Hottest Toy

Patric Fassbender​ and Marcus Stahl are struggling to keep up with demand for their ‘Toniebox’ devices, which are now set to break into the English-speaking market.

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Society

Karelia Postcard: Germany’s Forgotten Female Prisoners Of War

Towards the end of World War II, 800,000 German women and girls were deported to forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. A visit to the abandoned camps near the Russian-Finnish border.

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In The News

Good COP, Bad COP? To Fix Climate Change, Cut The Summits

KATOWICE — As a member of Germany’s federal government, Gerd Müller knows what UN climate change conferences cost. The Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development spearheaded the organization of last year’s edition in Bonn. At that time, the COP23, which Germany hosted to help the financially troubled Fiji Islands, cost around 60 million euros. And […]

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Economy

Africa Awakens From Its China Naivety

The letter bearing the reference “MC/19/3” represents a novelty in Chinese-African relations. Kabineh Kallon, Sierra Leone’s Minister for Transport and Aviation, explains in sober tones that, after careful consideration, no new airport in the capital city of Freetown will be built. China had promised a loan and construction works worth $318 million. But Freetown already […]

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In The News

Brexit: Why Theresa May Never Stood A Chance

-OpEd- BERLIN — Theresa May can only lose. The British Prime Minister is fighting alone against a grand alliance of conspirators, poisoners, and wire-pullers, supported by opportunists, weather-vanes and underlings from her own Tory party — ready to tear each other apart wherever they feel they can gain power: on the one hand, ambivalent personalities […]

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Eyes on the U.S. Geopolitics Ideas Trump And The World

American Sanctions Are Back On Iran — Will It Work?

-OpEd- BERLIN — Thousands of students marched through Tehran last weekend, and state television broadcast the protest march live. The crowd burned U.S. flags and pictures of President Donald Trump in front of the building of the former U.S. embassy. And, yes, they chanted: “Death to America.” After the U.S. withdrawal from the nuclear treaty […]

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Eyes on the U.S. Trump And The World

Midterms, Trump And An Anxious World Looking On

-Analysis- BERLIN — Democracies are made of constant ups and downs. Sometimes one party is on top, the next it’s another. And what may look like a dramatic election result often is, in reality, nothing more than the natural ebb and flow that characterizes healthy democracies. Every now and then, however, comes a moment when […]

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In The News

The Next Middle East Trouble Spot: Jordan

The longstanding peace accord between Israel and Jordan ensures stability in the region, but King Abdullah II’s domestic troubles could change everything.

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Future

Boyan Slat, A (Nicer) Elon Musk To Save Our Oceans

The project ‘The Ocean Cleanup’ wants to use its system to rid the oceans from plastic waste. The founder thinks big about the planet and beyond. And he’s not a jerk.

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In The News

Strongmen Of The World Beware, Democratic Spirit Is Not Dead Yet

-Analysis- BERLIN — World politics is currently dominated by “strongmen,” those leaders who see themselves anointed to negotiate “deals’ among themselves to chart the world’s destiny. Vladimir Putin’s Russia, in alliance with the Islamic Republic of Iran, has stifled the Syrian people’s rebellion against Bashar al-Assad, allowing his Damascus regime to regain almost complete control […]

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Future Green Or Gone

Grimm Choices: How Energy Transition Threatens A Fairy Tale Forest

Wind power has its drawbacks, especially in central German region of Hesse, where developers want to erect generators in wooded areas like the Reinhardswald, of Brothers Grimm fame.

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In The News

A Progressive Manifesto For Europe To Protect Its Borders

The do-nothing approach to migration being taken by the new Spanish government and others in Europe is untenable, and plays right into the hands of racist far right.

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Ideas Trump And The World

With Italy’s Conte, Trump Forges New Alliance Against Germany

-OpEd- This must have been the moment he was waiting for: an energetic handshake with Donald Trump, with a smile and a deep look into his eyes to top it off. The two men seemed to be sealing a fresh pact. Cameras flashed, capturing the important moment for newspapers and history books — the five […]

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Ideas Migrant Lives

For Merkel, Migration Debate Is Bound To Strike Again

BERLIN — Angela Merkel has yielded. It was just this past Saturday that the chancellor’s sticking to her guns had brought her Interior Minister Horst Seehofer to the threat of resignation over the government’s migration policy, the issue that has created a deep wedge between the pair. For her relentlessly tough stance on the matter, […]

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In The News

Muharrem Ince, Can A Former Science Teacher Beat Erdogan?

Ince, a social democrat, is now the opposition’s leading presidential candidate. With support from Kurdish voters, he may even force a runoff.

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In The News

Rotten In Denmark? Europe’s Happy Bellwether Turns Dark

Crackdowns on immigration are one more sign that the small but influential northern European nation is now on the front edge of more sinister trends.

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In The News

Italy Is Closing The Borders, And Nobody Can Blame Them

Finger pointing isn’t going to help Italy solve its migration problems. What it needs is help, and for the EU to stop dilly-dallying. A view from Berlin.

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In The News

Austrian Wunderkind? Kurz Eyes Pivotal Role In Geopolitics

-OpEd- BERLIN — With his most recent visit to Vienna, made on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin has now met Austria’s 32-year-old Chancellor Sebastian Kurz for the second time this year. Meanwhile, Richard Grenell — U.S. ambassador to Berlin and a Donald Trump confidant — has called Kurz a “rock star” in a recent interview […]

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In The News

If Italy Crashes, Germany And The Whole EU Will Pay The Price

-Analysis- BERLIN — While Brussels is palavering over a plastic tax that will never materialize, dark clouds are gathering over Europe. Right now, in plain view, the European Union is sliding straight into the next (and potentially deeper) euro crisis. The chaos in Italy — which holds the world’s third-largest public debt, totaling 2.3 trillion […]

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In The News

Hungry Students? Postponed Exams? Ramadan In German Schools

BERLIN — This past week marked the beginning of a period of peace and quiet for Muslims around the world. It is Ramadan, a month dedicated to reflection, prayers, and fasting, where disputes are meant to be avoided wherever possible. But instead of harmony, conflicts around Ramadan itself have increasingly been coming to the fore […]

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