Leaving capitalization, grammar, sophomoric partisan language and blatant dishonesty aside, what strikes one about the message here is the closing sentence. „Retribution“ seems something quite different from „deportations“.

Ω Ω Ω

Berliner Zeitung:

Auch der Historiker Peter Brandt unterschrieb den Appell. Markus Wächter

Baud wird weder die Fälschung von Belegen noch der Aufruf zu Gewalt vorgeworfen – sondern eine politische Deutung, die von der vorherrschenden Interpretation abweicht.

…

Die Folgen sind gravierend: Konten werden gesperrt, Vermögen eingefroren, Bewegungsfreiheit eingeschränkt. Baud will juristisch dagegen vorgehen. Zugleich beschreibt er die praktische Lage in drastischen Worten. In einem Gespräch mit seinem Verleger Karsten beklagt er, er sei „im Grunde genommen gefangen in einem Lager, das Belgien heißt“.

Gegen ihn gelte in der EU ein Reiseverbot, somit könne er nicht in sein Heimatland, die Schweiz, zurückkehren. In Belgien wiederum könne er seine Konten nicht nutzen, da sie gesperrt seien. Wer weder reisen noch über eigenes Geld verfügen kann, ist nicht verhaftet, aber faktisch handlungsunfähig. Ohne verfügbare Mittel kein Anwalt, ohne Bewegungsfreiheit kaum Zugang zu Gerichten. Der Rechtsstaat existiert formal weiter – praktisch wird der Betroffene ausgeschaltet. Es ist kein Verfahren, das zu einem Urteil führt. Es ist ein Ausschluss, der vollzogen wurde, bevor ein Gericht gesprochen hat.

What really jumps out of course is the dissatisfaction both with the government in general and Merz specifically, however I think the polarization is also significant – fewer people feel they are unsure what they think.

Guardian:

Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German president, said the erosion of the world order had already reached an advanced stage. Photograph: Hannibal Hanschke/EPA

Steinmeier, speaking on Wednesday night at a symposium in Berlin to mark his 70th birthday, said global democracy was at risk. The former German foreign minister said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a watershed, but subsequent US behaviour marked a second “epochal rupture”.There had been a “breakdown of values by our most important partner, the US, which helped build this world order”, said the president, whose role is largely ceremonial. “It is about preventing the world from turning into a robber’s den, where the most unscrupulous take whatever they want.”

Steinmeier said the erosion of the world order had already reached an advanced stage. Smaller, weaker states risked becoming “completely defenceless”, and entire regions could be treated “as the property of a few great powers”.

There’s really nothing to offer by way of response. Hand-wringing, injured protests of betrayal? Macron and Steinmeier both mouth phrases about „Europe“ becoming a military power, but Germany was unwilling to transport trucks of helmets into Ukraine four years ago, and to this day is unwilling to recognize the US destruction of Nord Stream II. How can Steinmeier possibly imagine Europe being any sort of counter to the US? This is very much how I see German society as a whole: posturing about ethical behavior and international law while saying Netanyahu is welcome to come visit, noises about monitoring Russian ships as if the Baltic is a NATO lake, happy to have Russia as a created enemy because that allows Germany to continue seeing the US as a back up in the good fight, rather than have to look at the US as „the most unscrupulous take whatever they want“.