BERLIN (own report) - Amnesty International has published a report that levels serious accusations at twenty-one European countries, not least Germany. The allegations concern restrictions being imposed on the right to protest. The report finds that peaceful protesters in Germany and other countries are increasingly being “stigmatised, criminalised and attacked”. Amnesty has documented cases of severe police violence. One example cited is the heavy-handed treatment of participants on a demonstration in Frankfurt am Main. Anyone who engages in civil disobedience in Germany can, according to the report, now expect to be defamed as a “terrorist” or even designated a “foreign agent”. It is often senior politicians who are quick to call for intolerance. Thus, Amnesty highlights the harsh repression to which anyone protesting against the Gaza war has been subjected. In creating an atmosphere of intimidaton, state authorities not only perpetuate “stigmatising and discriminatory stereotypes” for ethnic and religious minorities but also show through their actions an “institutionalised racism” that “targets Arabs and Muslims”. The Amnesty report is being published at a time when dissenting opinions are increasingly forced to the margins of German society. Critics are warning of a dangerous turn to authoritarianism. Read more

PARIS/BERLIN (own report) – Responding to the unexpected outcome of the French parliamentary elections, influential German politicians predict a weakening of France and the European Union. In the second round of elections, held yesterday and dominated by tactical voting, none of the three major blocs won an absolute majority. Shortly after the polling stations closed, leading politicians from the Conservatives and the liberal-conservative presidential bloc Ensemble were quick to speak out against forming a coalition government with the left wing of the Nouveau Front populaire (NFP). They are shocked by the strong showing of La France insoumise (LFI, France Unbowed). But without a leftist component, no governing coalition can be envisaged for the time being. German foreign policy experts are warning that France faces “paralysis and division”; it will be incapable of decisive action. Macron could, they fear, even drag “the whole of Europe into crisis”. Germany must, some claim, now take more “responsibility for leadership in Europe”. CDU leader Friedrich Merz had previously said Berlin should cooperate with a future French government even under the Marine Le Pen’s far-right Rassemblement national (RN, National Rally). The fact that the second round of voting leaves the RN without a mandate to form a government in Paris now renders such calls irrelevant. Yet this position taken by the opposition in Berlin does show how far politicians will go in declaring once shunned forces on the far right to be potential coalition partners. Read more

BERLIN/KABUL (own report) – Calls are being voiced in Berlin for a rethink on Germany’s Afghanistan policy. Should diplomats be redeployed to Kabul? The background to these discussions is the growing number of countries now engaging in limited cooperation with the ruling Taliban. Russia and China have engaged with Afghanistan for some time. Moscow invited Taliban representatives to the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on several occasions. Beijing, which is planning extensive extraction projects for raw materials in Afghanistan, accredited a Taliban ambassador at the beginning of the year. India has also shown some interest in cooperation, while Saudi Arabia plans to open an embassy in Kabul. The motivation for closer relations is not only security concerns but also geostrategic interests. Berlin now fears it approach may be too little, too late. Meanwhile, and in sharp contrast, notorious Afghan warlords have been approaching the West for help to overthrow the Taliban. At the weekend, militia leader Ahmad Massoud, whose National Resistance Front (NRF) is waging a guerrilla war against the Taliban, said that his fighters lacked the “resources and support” given to Ukraine. The Taliban could, he insists, be defeated. Read more

PARIS/BERLIN (own report) – Advisors to the German government have pointed to a link between Germany’s dominance in the EU and the rise of the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) in France. The RN has regularly warned that Germany wants to “achieve military dominance along with its economic dominance” and is therefore “deliberately weakening French positions.” This French response is highlighted in a policy paper by the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP). And the line of argument is catching on. Immediately before yesterday’s first round of voting in France’s snap parliamentary election, a leading RN strategist explained to the German public how his party would govern in the event of an election victory. A “break with the EU” should, he said, be avoided. The RN would strive for a “pragmatic” foreign policy and would not pursue a unilateral economic policy. However, the EU was, he argued, undergoing a wave of “nationalist revival”. The RN has now emerged as the strongest force in the first round of voting. The conservative Les Républicains expressly reject any election recommendations to stop the RN in the run-off. Meanwhile, the coalition around the presidential party Renaissance will, for its part, not enable candidates from the left-wing party La France insoumise (LFI, a key partner in the New Popular Front) to defeat the RN. Read more

BERLIN/WASHINGTON/SAIPAN (own report) - The specifics of Julian Assange’s release turn a spotlight not only on the state of media freedom in the West but also on the continuation of Western colonial rule in parts of the Global South. The condition for dropping the legal case against Assange is that the founder of WikiLeaks pleads guilty to a violation of the 1917 US Espionage Act. This arrangement is unprecedented insofar as it is the first time that this act has been applied to journalistic publication of confidential US information. Assange pleaded in person before a US court in Saipan, the capital of the Northern Mariana Islands. This group of Pacific islands form a US territory whose inhabitants do not have the right to vote in presidential elections. Nor do they have a political representative in Washington entitled to vote in Congress. The same lack of suffrage is found on Guam, the southernmost of the Mariana Islands. Historically, Guam has been administratively separated and is still listed by the United Nations as a “Non-Self-Governing Territory”. These islands remain colonies to this day. Guam is a key US military base for its strategic deployment against China. Base Guam is also used by the German Bundeswehr. Read more

BERLIN (own report) - Protests are ongoing against the Federal Ministry of Education’s efforts to discipline university staff it considers politically undesirable. Senior civil servants under Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger (FDP) attempted to have Berlin universities cancel the funding available for specified academics. The reason: they signed an open letter objecting to the violent eviction of a Gaza protest camp at the FU Berlin. The signatories were insisting on the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of assembly and opinion. The ministry’s attack on Berlin lecturers has now triggered widespread solidarity, along with calls for Bettina Stark-Watzinger to resign. From the very beginning of her time in office, Stark-Watzinger has sought ever more aggressively to align the German university landscape to the politics of the Federal Foreign Office. The first step was to cap all academic cooperation with Russia. Then came measures to restrict scientific cooperation with China, including the work of Chinese scientists in Germany. As the German government pursues its “Zeitenwende”, Stark-Watzinger declares this hawkish “turning point” to entail the “harmonisation” of the academic sphere “with our security policy interests”. Read more

BRUSSELS/BERLIN/BEIJING (own report) – Shortly before German Economy Minister Robert Habeck’s trip to South Korea and China, there is another twist in the downward spiral of a trade war between the EU and the People’s Republic of China. At the beginning of the week, Beijing launched an anti-dumping investigation into EU pork exports to China. Punitive tariffs are likely to follow. This product group has an annual value of 2.5 billion euros. It will be China’s response to the European Commission announcement that it will impose punitive tariffs ranging from 17.4 to 38.1 per cent on imports of Chinese-made electric vehicles from 4 July. These tariff hikes come on top of the regular import 10 per cent duties. This move by Brussels is highly controversial in Germany. While major car manufacturers vigorously oppose it, the German Economic Institute (IW) reports that a survey of around 900 companies – including lots of small and medium-sized enterprises – showed that some 80 per cent, often ones facing Chinese competition, are in favour of punitive tariffs. The new EU tariffs will also hurt European and US manufacturers that produce cars in China for export. Tesla and BMW are particularly vulnerable. Read more