What about the Nord Stream 2 pipeline?
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s harsh words, according to which the Russian state has answers to Alexei Navalny’s poisoning with a novice-type combat substance, continue in Germany. According to the local media, demands for a tough response are increasing in the Federal Republic, including the termination of the strategic and lucrative Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project.
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“The regime, which organizes poison killings, cannot be a partner for mutual cooperation projects, including the construction of gas pipelines,” he said on television. ARD head of opposition liberals Christian Lindner.
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But very similar voices are heard from the government camp. Nor does CDU foreign policy expert Norbert Röttgen think that the pipeline leading to the bottom of the Baltic Sea must not be completed.
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“If Nord Stream 2 were to be completed now, it would be a confirmation and encouragement for Vladimir Putin to continue with exactly this policy, because he will still be rewarded for it.” he thinks Röttgen, who chairs the Bundestag Foreign Affairs Committee.
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ARD recalls that Angela Merkel herself has always supported the controversial pipeline. Among other things, because these are jobs in its constituency in the federal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
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According to Spiegel, the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs has already summoned the Russian ambassador to Berlin, Sergei Nechayev. German diplomacy called for a full and transparent explanation of the poisoning of Russia’s main opposition politician. According to Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov, “Moscow will not respond in a qualified manner to Berlin’s request at the moment.”
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However, there is also a very strong lobby in Germany, which has long been striving for good relations with Russia, including easing or removing EU sanctions. Wolfgang Ischinger, the long-time head of the Munich Security Conference, can also be included in this camp. According to him, now “we cannot afford to build a wall between the West and Russia.”
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“We need Russia on climate issues, on Ukraine and in many other areas,” ARDing is quoting Ischinger. But even a foreign policy veteran and former diplomat acknowledges that “relations between Germany and Russia have reached a new lowest point.”
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Shock for Slovakia
Slovakia was shocked by the verdict against Marian Kočner and Alena Zsuzsová, who the prosecution describes as the architect of the murder of Ján Kuciak. Kuciak’s fiancée Martina Kušnírová was also murdered in February 2018.
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A specialized criminal court in Pezinok released Kočner and Zsuzsová on Thursday. Only Tomáš Szabó, who was the driver of the (already convicted) murderer Miroslav Marček, was sentenced and thus took part in the murder. According to the invalid judgment, he is to serve 25 years.
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We have been dealing with the process in detail since its beginning this January. We follow the reasoning of the verdict and the reaction to Kočner’s release in an online report.
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Polish Children’s Ombudsman: gender-changing pills
The statements of the Children’s Ombudsman Mikołaj Pawlak have been resonating with Poland for several days. Defender of children’s rights on television on Tuesday THE T.V He stated that in Poland there are cases where sex educators give “unbalanced, neglected children some pharmacological preparations to change their gender, without the knowledge and consent of parents and doctors.”
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Pawlak, who was elected to office in 2018 by the ruling Conservative Party Law and Justice, thus defended his approach to sex education. According to him, it should be provided by teachers, not special lecturers “from outside”, often from non-profit organizations.
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As a case of handing out “gender reassignment tablets”, Pawlak named schools in Poznan, referring to “the media”. On Wednesday, the children’s ombudsman alerted the prosecutor’s office on suspicion of illegal trade in funds intended to help minors with gender reassignment. The Poznań City Hall, which runs schools in the city, objected to the Ombudsman’s words.
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Polish Children’s Ombudsman Mikołaj Pawlak.
In Tuesday’s interview, Pawlak also spoke about the “ideology of LGBT” and LGBT activists, whose actions are said to be in conflict with Polish patriotism. He thus defended the policy of the government.
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The opposition demands Pawlak’s dismissal, allegedly ridiculed his office and serves the government’s ideological wars. “This is no longer cynical propaganda, but the beginning of pure madness,” commented left-wing MEP Wanda Nowická. Pawlak’s resignation was also called for by Wednesday’s comment diary Republic.
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According to a member of the ruling right-wing three-party coalition, Adam Bielany, which is close to Jarosław Kaczyński, one “inaccurate conversation” is not a reason to end Pawlak in office. The children’s ombudsman also found support at the far right.
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