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Jens Thurau writes about a holiday trip to Fohr on the Wadden Sea on north German coast from Berlin by rail, on Deutsche Bahn, July 27 2025. Thurau writes about the travails of DB, the sudden announcements that the train is headed in another direction, having to get off and catch a regional train. On the return trip the train making a stop when sheep cause rail delays on the rail line further up, the train canceled an having to take aintercity regional express to Berlin. The employees struggle too as the conductor on the return trip offers vouchers from DB to passengers and his apologies. Many DB employees having to deal with customer complaints are planning to leave.  Next trip Jens plans to drive to Fohr.  DB has suffered for years with lack of investment on the 2800 mile rail network. Thanks to chancellor Merkel who never gave priority to such investment and who Jens says called the internet "uncharted territory" in 2013, the digital part of the German economy and DB, along with infrastructure has also suffered. The Scholz coalition promised but failed to deliver on infrastructure with opposition from FDP finance minister Lindner. Only in 2025 has the new coalition of Merz with SDP has the constitutional provision limiting infrastructure spending of Merkel been removed, and DB put on the way to modernizing German rail connections starting with the Berlin Hamburg line. ...

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NYT reporters Kantor, Abrams and Haberman describe the life of Ivanka Trump, and ways in which she has become the closest person to Trump. She has made an effort to study the issues relating to women and plans to act as a moderating influence on the Trump administration. This report cites aides who say the two have a special relationship and discuss thoughts from morning until late into the night. Ivanka Trump says she is perceived differently since the election campaign even though she is the same person. Even making a small influence on the president would be a great deal, says Ivanka Trump. At Trump's urging and the invitation from Merkel, she participated in a women's summit at the G-20 with Merkel and other leaders in Germany.

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The German government has taken notice of hate speech on social media and social bots. The Justice Ministry convened a task force on hate speech on internet. Justice Minister Heiko Maas promised legal action against social media like facebook and twitter if it violated laws of libel and inciting to violence. Chancellor Merkel is bringing in a data science expert Professor Simon Hegelich of the Technical University of Berlin for consultations in Dec. 2016. Only AfD of the main parties, with its anti-immigration stance, has not come out in favor of not using social bots or paid trolls in the 2017 elections. Hegelich in talk with DW.com says it is hard to legislate on this because the whole phenomenon has not been fully understood. Article 5 of the Constitution provides for free speech. Hegelich also says the state of technology moves faster than legislation, and being international sites like facebook, twitter and others pose additional issues. He does not say laws cannot be helpful but that its not clear how best to do this. Thomas Jarzombek is a CDU member of parliament and digital media expert. He says social bots are more likely controlled by foreign countries, and fake news sites are more of a domestic problem. Making this worse is the incentive for unemployed journalists to do blogging of the crude and aggressive type to make more money. Jarzombek sees the need for the press to do more in its role for the democratic process to function properly, by functioning in the role of "enlightenment" and "awareness."  Jenna Behrends, a law student and CDU local politician for Berlin-Mitte, says it is necessary for good bots to be used to fight bad bots, in an article in Der Spiegel. Major mainstream media would then have to launch social bots themselves to fulfill their role of providing the public with correct and fair information free of excessive bias and distortion of the bad bots. One example of this is shown explicitly here of German chancellor Merkel's picture with the words " Guilty of betraying the people," with links to "Drain the swamp," and "Brexit." A more complex question is one of how to let people vent out frustration about the mainstream media itself being biased in favor of the established views and not doing enough or giving enough space to reflect alternative views, so that these can be debated without inflammatory language and deliberate distortion. A whole range of tools and modifications of behaviour may be necessary ahead of next years elections in France and Germany, now that the phenomenon is better understood following a vote in the Anglo-Saxon countries.   ...

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The CDU takes 32% of the vote in Saxony down from 39% in 2014, 5 points ahead of the AfD, and he SPD wins in Brandenburg with a 3 point lead over the AfD. The federal government in Berlin is run by a coalition of the CDU and the SPD. The east west divide in Germany clearly shows with the AfD doing well in the former Communist East Germany. People in the east feel that they are "second class citizens" and this plus the migration policy of chancellor Merkel that alienated many including its partner in Bavaria, has given an opening to the AfD that has exploited these divisions. The AfD now has an ultra right wing and both the mainstream parties the CDU of Merkel and the SPD of Willy Brandt campaigned against it. The AfD or Alternative for Germany Party is basically a creation of chancellor Merkel's open migration policy which has affected Europe and may have provided the small margin to the pro-Brexit parties in Britain in the first referendum. The CDU and the SPD now look set to seek new leadership to tackle the problems of infrastructure neglect, the impact of the migration policies in fragmenting politics, increasing inequality, and the policy towards Britain and other states in the EU. ...

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A decline in German manufacturing driven by the decline in its large auto sector. This in addition to Germany's large investments in China under Merkel and Chinese lockdowns will delay a post pandemic recovery, says this report in WSJ. Germany is now shifting its investments to the US as shown by the new investment in a VW Scout brand restarted in the US.

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Chancellor Merkel visits Latvia in August 2014 and calls for a "persistent NATO presence" in the Baltic states. Merkel also visits Ukraine for talks with Ukrainian leaders. Germany is also mediating in the crisis and helped to arrange a meeting between Russian president Putin and Ukraine president Poroshenko in Belarus.

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China's dependence on an export sector that is uncertain 14% growth (EV's electronics) vs. 0.2% growth in domestic spending April 2026. Costlier energy inputs are affecting China in the way that is affecting Germany's economy in 2026. The US has increased tariffs, Germany and the EU are likely to do the same as they see their economy erode with Chinese exports in German markets replacing German manufacturing. China has set 4.5% growth target much of it from ramping up exports and depends on cheaper inputs for energy as Germany has done for economic growth. This is being gradually eroded as US/EU want to reindustrialize and make things and products realizing the errors in industrial policy of previous administrations Bush and Obama in US and Schroeder/Merkel in Germany. At the same time India wants to be a manufacturing hub like China. When that happens by 2030 China's growth will be similar to the US of 2-3% a year as exports decrease. Eastern India is the New East and South China with 700 million people for the first time in 2025-2026 under double engine governments. Double engine meaning state, local and federal governments all under the same party (the BJP National party) so that industrial policy is conducted along the lines of a Master Plan tested in western Indian states of Gujarat and Maharashtra. This has been seen before. As Japan rapid rise of the 1960's and 1970's slowed by 1980, China's rapid rise of the 1990's and 2000's slowed by 2025 and India in 2025 is picking up from China in the way China picked up from Japan. This means an industrialized US and EU, rapidly industrializing India will face a slowing China and aging China by 2030. Knowing this pattern helps US and EU leaders, Indian leaders, look at the long term in their plans, having confidence in their investments in industrial progress for the next 5 years. ...

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Compared to chancellor Scholz Merz sets his goals and is clear about his goals. His active style is different from previous chancellors. His first meeting with Trump showed this personal style which is proving to be more effective than Merkel or Scholz. Merz had to wait for a long time in the private sector till Merkel retired to come back to politics. During Merkel's early years Merz challenged Merkel for leadership of the Christian Democrats party. Merkel's policy on migrants has proved to be a failure, and Merz is now in a position to take the CSU in a new direction closing the border and working closely with the US and Britain, Italy, on border enforcement. Merz is also unique and very different from the disinvestment period under Merkel which let German infrastructure deteriorate and fall apart, another failure of Merkel's years as chancellor. Merz's first action was to get close to a trillion dollars of new funding to rebuild defense and infrastructure over the next decade. Merz is head of a coalition with the SPD with SPD's leader Lars Klingbeil as finance minister. Scholz headed a coalition that was dysfunctional as the Free Democrats Lindner was opposed to investment in German economy from the outset. Under Merkel the Christian Democrats took no action to rebuild Germany, and were preoccupied with eurozone finances. ...

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This report in The Economist magazine shows that Germany no longer runs the European Union in the way it has previously. During the austerity crisis with bank bailouts in many countries in southern Europe Germany played a key role. Merkel was perceived as the dominant partner in the relationships with French presidents Sarkozy and Hollande. Britain perceived Germany's increased dominance during that period as a threat. Brexit Leave campaign played on these fears and a diminished British role. Merkel's handling of the migration crisis also played into the hands of Brexit Leave campaigners with poster pictures of migrants crossing European borders in large numbers on British buses. Merkel changed course on migration policies and gradually reversed it to where Germany no longer welcomes economic migrants preferring that they stay in their home countries with German aid to these countries. Merkel's CDU is now facing challenges from a fragmented electorate with many parties and its own diminished role. Gradually the perception of Germany's role is now also reversing. Even though the new president of the European Commission is Ursula Leyen from Germany, there are more Spaniards, French, Italians and Belgians, work in the commission and parliament than Germans, More Director General roles are held by Italy. Germans in Brussels also do not take directions from Berlin, and are actually more Francophile and federalist in their thinking. Germans opinion is more diverse and plural than the idea of a dominant German view. Greens in Germany are coming first in polls showing how much is changing. These multilayers and different strands of thinking make Germany introverted as it is at present. Leyen is seen as more European in outlook and a more European Germany may be the result than a German Europe.  This may play a part in any new elections in Britain or a second referendum on Brexit as polls suggest there is a shift in opinion in Britain underway. ...

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Krugman sees Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and her Finance Minister Peer Steinbruck stalling an overall stimulus plan for the whole of the EU. Merkel told a political party meeting that Germany "wasn't going to participate in this senseless race for billions." And Steinbruck said Britian was engaging in "crass Keynesianism". True Germany has not been on the debt financed consumption binge that the UK has been in and does not have a housing bubble bursting like the UK, but says Krugman Germany is also facing a crisis like the rest of Europe. Ifo, German Research Insttitute points to the worsening crisis in Germany as the worst since the 1940's. Part of the reason is that Germany is abig exporter and its medium sized companies are big exporters and a large part of the economy. With the slowdown in China and the rest of Asia these exports have been hit hard. See the links to this. What happens without acoordinated response in the EU? Krugman warns that it would lead to leakages in which the advantages of the stimulus by the rest of the EU would not be as effective as with a coordinated response including Germany the biggest EU nation. He expects Merkel to wake up to the need for this once she sees the new numbers. ...

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"Sooner or later our NHS hospitals would be full. Not just administratively at full stretch, but physically overwhelmed." Here a leading cabinet member talks about the lockdown decision in Britain by government ministers and how it went against their instincts about individual liberties held for a lifetime, and how in the end they arrived at the same decision reached by Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron.

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Macron gets a well deserved boost in France as his popularity grows after he worked hard with Germany's Merkel at his side in long drawn out negotiations with the Dutch and Swedes to get the $390 billion non repayable aid for the European Recovery Fund. The money goes to hard hit Spain, Italy, Greece and other nations who had great difficulty borrowing to support recovery.

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A behind the scenes account of the chain of events after the meeting of French President Sarkozy and German Chancellor Merkel at the seaside resort of Deauville, France, on October 18, 2010. Based on interviews with EU officials this account shows how these events are leading to closer union of the 16 nations of the European Union. At the seaside meeting Sarkozy met privately with Merkel. Merkel offered to take back the German demand for automatic penalties for nations failing debt guidelines. She insisted that bondholders should bear losses if a member nation of the EU defaults. The French president agreed to accept the German condition knowing that Germany was reluctant to support the bailout fund beyond 2013, and German public opinion was souring on the bailout. The European Central Bank president, Trichet, was furious that the two leaders were undercutting his efforts to create confidence in the euro. Trichet told Sarkozy, he must not understand how serious the situation was. Sarkozy told Trichet, "you must be talking to the bankers," "we are responsible to the citizens." Weeks of negotiating between the ECB and the Irish government followed, leading to the bailout of Ireland. The contagion effects on Portugal and Spain created more tensions for the euro. Merkel softened the German position and the EU leaders meeting in December 2010 moved in the direction of a closer union. Bondholders would still take losses but only if one of the EU member states were to become insolvent. And after months of discussion and debate the EU leaders realized that the only way forward for the European experiment was to build a closer financial union. Germany's future, Merkel told the German parliament, was in Europe....

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The conservatives are hoping to do what Angela Merkel has done in Germany developing policies that support social protections to undercut the centre-Left parties, and working for ideas that support personal responsibility and fiscal responsibility in public finances. As Britain faces increasing national debt, polls show austerity measures are supported by 60% of the public.

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Britain's prime minister Boris Johnson and his negotiating team meet EU president Ursula Leyen for dinner in Brussels on December 8, 2020, to get over fundamental differences for a Brexit deal. This report in The Guardian describes the details of that dinner meeting.  Boris Johnson told parliament that the European Union was asking Britain to be the only country in the world not to have sovereign control over its own fishing waters. He said the EU was also asking that if the EU were to pass a new law that Britain does not comply with they would have the right to  automatically punish Britain or retaliate. On the issue of environmental and other laws that relate to the EU and Britain they are both at the same level today. The EU is worried that in future competition between Britain and the EU in trade and business Britain could relax environmental or other laws to gain an unfair advantage. Boris Johnson and his Conservative party back benchers insist that Britain should have sole right to make its own laws. France's Macron introduced the idea of automatic retaliation as a way to get Britain to keep a level playing field. Both sides see this as a negotiating tactic, hence the dinner meeting as a way to let top negotiators including the leaders to set an informal tone to the final stage of tough negotiating. Merkel made her own remarks to the German parliament saying she was willing to let the negotiations collapse if Britain rejected the EU approach. Merkel stated that if Britain insisted on certain conditions EU could not accept she was willing to let Britain leave without an exit agreement. This way if something went wrong Merkel would not take the blame.   ...

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The German Constitutional Court established the legality of the eurozone bailouts under German law. It also stipulated that future bailouts would require the approval of a parliamentary committee. The Court ruled out any proposal that would pool Germany's debt with that of other countries in the eurozone. This rules out the issuance of eurobonds that are supported by the pooled resources of all EU countries. With no mechanism for firm budgetary discipline in place under the current structure of the EU, this is seen as an absolute no in Germany, and is opposed by all German political parties including Chancellor Merkel's Christian Democrats. ECB president, Jean Claude Trichet, is a strong supporter of the European Union, who actively participated in its creation over three decades. He insisted on budgetary discipline for all EU member states in his recent speech at a conference in Lake Cuomo resort in northern Italy. By leaving open other solutions over time that would still move forward the idea of a united Europe, the Court's view on this point coincides with that of Merkel and the ECB's current and future presidents, Trichet and Draghi. Merkel told the German parliament on Sept. 7, 2011: "Europe must come out of this crisis stronger than it went in, just as Germay came out of the crisis stronger." Merkel compared the difficulties today with the difficulties Germany faced as it tried to rebuild after World War II. Others have compared the difficulties to that of reuniting East and West Germany with their disparate and different ecoomic structures, attitudes and demographics....

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Public opinion in Germany now senses that politicians including Angela Merkel are reluctant to tell Germans that debt reduction has to be part of the solution for Greece, that some of the billions are lost and never coming back. They sense that Merkel and the Christian Democrats are waiting till after the elections in 2013 to bring this up directly. Even people on the street in Berlin know that Greece can never get back on its feet on the basis of spending cuts without debt reduction. The loan instalment approved in Nov. 2012 reflects the new approach of debt reduction but the German government is reluctant to talk about it. Opposition parliamentary leader Frank-Walter Steinmeier of the Social Democrats told ZDF German television: "The debt cut has not been avoided, it has been postponed to a time after the parliamentary elections. We are realistic and try to tell the people honestly and sincerely whats going on. Schauble and the present government try once more to finagle their way around the truth." Greece's debt has already reached 170% of GDP and can only go up as the economy shrinks further in year after year of recession. Norbert Barthle, a senior Christian Democrat, says if the debt reduction takes place today it sends the wrong signal to all the program countries, reducing the pressure for reforms and changes....

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Faces of migrants to Germany as Germany sees the migrants as what German chancellor Merkel calls- "A huge national challenge, not only for days or months, but for a long period of time." German civil society shows openness, and German educational institutions offer support. About 800,000 refugees will be accepted in Germany in 2015, says Merkel. An adult migrant is given 143 euros a month for pocket money and 216 euros for basic needs, medical costs are covered. Children are taken care of or attend school while their parents applications are reviewed. Registered migrants are given housing and food. The system works like nowhere else in the world, as most migrants focus on getting to Germany. The condition of the migrants is desperate- one child had not eaten for 4 days. And local doctors examine migrants, with some referred to local hospitals.

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Finally after prolonged dithering Angela Merkel had her cabinet approve 22.4 billion euros of loans to Greece over 3 years, with parliamentary approval the next step. And the ECB followed this with its announcement that it would accept Greek debt as collateral regardless of downgrades. This follows the approval of a $110 billion rescue plan for Greece from the IMF and other European nations announced over the weekend. That ECB decision comes in the wake of Standard and Poors decision to downgrade Greek debt to junk status.