Free Republic

The German election is on September 22. And with 12 days remaining, things do not look good for a Grand Coalition headed by Merkel.  Via translation, the latest INSA poll looks like this: CDU/CSU - 39%SPD - 28%Grüne (Greens) - 11%Die Linke (Left) - 8%FDP - 4%AfD - 3%Pirate - 3% I believe AfD will make the 5% cut. I do not know if FDP will make the cut. If neither makes the cut, an unstable "Grand Coalition" is theoretically possible three ways. Possible Coalitions if Neither AfD Nor FDP Get 5% SPD + Grüne + Die LinkeCDU/CSU + SPD ("Grand Coalition"...

David Cameron sounds pretty excited about it too. Did Waffles bumble his way into a “solution” to the crisis? Here’s the presumptive Democratic nominee creating a little rhetorical space for her party to declare victory and walk away: “If the regime immediately surrendered its stockpiles to international control, as was suggested by Secretary [John] Kerry and the Russians, that would be an important step,” Clinton said. “But this cannot be another excuse for delay or obstruction. Russia has to support the international community’s efforts sincerely, or be held to account.”Clinton also defended Obama’s push for strikes as instrumental in making...

PARIS — France and Germany on Monday welcomed a Russian proposal that the Syrian regime hand control of its chemical weapons arsenal to international supervision as a way of staving off the threat of military action. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius insisted that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad "commit himself without delay" to the elimination of his country's chemical weapons arsenal. "The proposal of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov merits close examination," Fabius said, demanding that Assad "commit himself without delay to put his chemical arsenal under international control and to let all of it be destroyed". Fabius also demanded that...

A transgender man is the first in Europe to give birth to a baby after becoming pregnant through a sperm donor. The unidentified man, who was born a woman, delivered the baby boy at home with a midwife in the poor Neukoellin district of Berlin. He insisted on a home birth because he refused to be listed as the mother on any hospital documents - a legal requirement of in Germany. The case in Germany mirrors that of Thomas Beatie in the US, pictured, who has given birth to three children and was the first man to ever give birth...

A German rapper who converted to Islam and joined jihadist rebels fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad has been injured in an air strike, a jihadist group said on Monday. The jihadist, formerly known as Deso Dogg, was hiding at an anti-regime fighter's house that "was hit by an air strike and helicopter shelling", said a statement posted on Facebook by a group that identified itself as the People of Abraham. As a result of the strikes, Deso Dogg or "Abu Talha al-Almani and several other brothers were injured, while several Muslim children were killed", the statement said.

Obama is going on a whirlwind media blitz this week in an attempt to sell a very skeptical public on war with Syria. Yet the Washington Post notes: Obama’s top aide says the administration lacks “irrefutable, beyond-a-reasonable-doubt evidence” that skeptical Americans, including lawmakers who will start voting on military action this week, are seeking. Indeed, those who have seen the evidence say that it is incredibly weak. German intelligence also says that Assad didn’t order the attacks. Moreover, President Obama correctly noted in 2007: The President does not have the power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack...

... President Bashar al-Assad did not personally order last month's chemical weapons attack near Damascus that has triggered calls for US military intervention, and blocked numerous requests from his military commanders against opponents in recent months, a German newspaper has reported, citing unidentified, high-level national security sources. ...

Bild am Sonntag cites high-level German surveillance source suggesting Syrian president was not personally behind attacks President Bashar al-Assad did not personally order last month's chemical weapons attack near Damascus that has triggered calls for US military intervention, and blocked numerous requests from his military commanders to use chemical weapons against regime opponents in recent months, a German newspaper has reported , citing unidentified, high-level national security sources. The intelligence findings were based on phone calls intercepted by a German surveillance ship operated by the BND, the German intelligence service, and deployed off the Syrian coast, Bild am Sonntag said....

U.S. President Barack Obama resisted pressure on Friday to abandon plans for air strikes against Syria and enlisted the support of 10 fellow leaders for a "strong" response to a chemical weapons attack. Obama refused to blink after Russian President Vladimir Putin led a campaign to talk him out of military intervention at a two-day summit of the Group of Twenty developed and developing economies in St. Petersburg. He persuaded nine other G20 nations plus Spain to join the United States in signing a statement calling for a strong international response, although it fell short of supporting military strikes, underscoring...

The European Union (EU) is seeking to reassure Israelis who are concerned about the economic harm caused by the EU’s decision to forbid its member states from cooperating, transferring funds, or giving scholarships or research grants to bodies in Judea and Samaria, eastern Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. A senior delegation from the European Union will arrive in Israel early this week to examine ways of preventing damage to Israeli entities operating beyond the 1949 Armistice Lines. …

John Kerry Careful Not To Rule Out Return To UN For Syria Resolution Secretary of state says 'the president and all of us are listening carefully to all our friends' after ally France hints at UN route 8 September 2013 The United States said on Sunday it did not rule out returning to the United Nations security council to secure a Syria resolution once UN inspectors complete a report on a chemical weapons attack, but also indicated that Arab countries were seeking a tough response. Speaking at a news conference in Paris after meeting key Arab foreign ministers, secretary of...

Thousands took to the streets in Berlin Saturday in protests against Internet surveillance activities by the US National Security Agency and other intelligence agencies, and the German government’s perceived lax reaction to them. … The protest was organized under the slogan “Freedom Rather Than Fear” and demonstrators carried banners saying: “Stop spying on us” and, more sarcastically: “Thanks to PRISM (the US government’s vast data collection programs), the government finally knows what the people want”. …

Citing German intelligence Syrian forces may have used gas without Assad's permission, says German daily. Commanders had been urging Assad for authorization to use chemical weapons for more than four months but hadn't received it, Bild reports based on intercepted radio messages... This could mean that Assad may not have approved the attack close to Damascus on August 21... Bild said the radio transmission was intercepted by a German naval reconnaissance vessel, the Oker, sailing close to the Syrian coast The chief of staff of Germany's armed forces General Volker Wieker...told lawmakers the influence of al-Qaida linked forces within the...

yrian soldiers may have used chemical weapons in a recent lethal attack without receiving permission from President Bashar Assad, the German paper Bild am Sonntag reported Sunday as the US pushed on with efforts to rally support for a military strike against Syria. The paper said that Germany’s intelligence services had intercepted a number of radio transmissions over the past four months, in which officers had asked Assad for permission to use gas — and had always been turned down. It said the requests had come from brigade and division commanders, and that most of the communications were intercepted by...

The White House asserted Sunday that a "common-sense test" rather than "irrefutable, beyond-a-reasonable-doubt evidence" makes the Syrian government responsible for a chemical weapons attack that President Barack Obama says demands a U.S. military response. At the same time, chief of staff Denis McDonough acknowledged the risks that military action could drag the U.S. into the middle of a brutal civil war and endanger allies such as Israel with a retaliatory attack.

Syrian government forces may have carried out a chemical weapons attack close to Damascus without the personal permission of President Bashar al-Assad, Germany's Bild am Sonntag paper reported on Sunday, citing German intelligence. Syrian brigade and division commanders had been asking the Presidential Palace to allow them to use chemical weapons for the last four-and-a-half months, according to radio messages intercepted by German spies, but permission had always been denied, the paper said.

HEIDELBERG, Germany — For Germans and Americans who had long imagined a dramatic coda to the cold war, it came instead in a few solemn, quiet moments. After both national anthems were played, seven American and five German soldiers lowered their national colors, marched at the edge of a bedraggled parade ground and carefully folded the flags for the last time. The ceremony on Friday afternoon, before about 300 onlookers, marked the closing of Campbell Barracks, which, as the headquarters of the United States Army in Europe, issued the orders for the millions of American soldiers — 15 million in...

Germany's agressive and reckless expansion of wind and solar power has come with a hefty pricetag for consumers, and the costs often fall disproportionately on the poor. Government advisors are calling for a completely new start. If you want to do something big, you have to start small. That's something German Environment Minister Peter Altmaier knows all too well. The politician, a member of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), has put together a manual of practical tips on how everyone can make small, everyday contributions to the shift away from nuclear power and toward green energy. The so-called Energiewende,...

BERLIN (AP) — He was Adolf Hitler's devoted bodyguard for most of World War II and the last remaining witness to the Nazi leader's final hours in his Berlin bunker. To the very end, SS Staff Sgt. Rochus Misch was proud of it all. For years, he accompanied Hitler nearly everywhere he went, sticking by the man he affectionately called "boss" until the dictator and his wife, Eva Braun, killed themselves as defeat at the hands of the Allies drew nearer. The loyal SS officer remained in what he called the "coffin of concrete" for days after Hitler's death, finally...

There have been lots of arguments about this case: A muslim boy wanted to attend a catholic primary school, but skip religious education. The principal refused, the parents sued. Now an appeals court has reached a verdict. Does a muslim boy have to attend religious education at a catholic school? And if he refuses: Does the school have to accept him anyway? Those questions caused great controversy in Paderborn. Now the OVG (Oberverwaltungsgericht) court in Muenster has decided: The catholic Bonifazius school in Paderborn, Northrine-Westfalia is allowed to refuse the student. No further appeals are possible. When the parents wanted...