Free Republic

W is considering axing as many as 30,000 jobs as it scrambles to save billions of euros amid a slowdown in the car market, German media has reported. The carmaker recently announced it could close some of its German factories for the first time in history as it struggles to reinvent itself for the electric era. Analysts at Jefferies said VW is considering closing two to three facilities, with as many as five German sites under threat, putting 15,000 jobs at risk. That job losses is feared to have doubled to 30,000, according to Manager Magazin, a leading German business...

The organic farm shop is a paradise for wealthy Germans. Behind the scenes, we pick and chop vegetables until we’re on the point of collapse ... they guaranteed work for at least 10 hours a day and that I would be paid €6.20 (£5.27) an hour. I would have to pay the agency a fee of €200 and a one-off sum of €105 for my bed. I would buy and cook my own food. They also told me to bring boots and rubber gloves. ... The contract I sign on about day three probably corresponds to the German labour code....

In the wake of yet another foiled ISIS-inspired terrorist plot, this one by a Canada-based Pakistani seeking to kill Jews in New York on the anniversary of last year’s Hamas attack in Israel, everyone is loudly proclaiming: “ISIS is back.”And yet, this analysis is wrong.For someone or something to “be back,” it has to have left in the first place. This return can be surprising or expected, but in the end it is of note. With respect to the ISIS terrorist group, it has not “resurged” because it never went away in the first place.The group has been around since...

Germany is set to impose stricter border controls with several neighbouring countries starting next week, following deadly migrant attacks that fueled far-right gains in recent state elections. Germany has announced that it will implement stricter controls along its land borders with France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and Luxembourg starting next week, with the measures set to remain in place for at least six months. These measures are being introduced as a "last resort" following a series of deadly knife attacks by migrants, which sparked public fury and has largely been seen as the catalyst to a far-right party securing the...

A bombshell report has found that Germany could have been more effective at reducing its carbon footprint while saving hundreds of billions of euros if it had invested in nuclear power rather than green energy projects. Leftist-run governments in Europe’s top economic powerhouse made a devastating error by transitioning away from nuclear power and focussing instead on so-called “renewable” sources of energy like wind and solar, industrial engineer Jan Emblemsvåg of the University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway has said according to German daily Welt. While nuclear energy accounted for around 30 per cent of Germany’s electricity in...

According to a report in The Independent, a 1,700-year-old grave was discovered in southern Germany during a construction project. The grave contained the remains of a 60-year-old man who was buried with pottery, glassware, and a small fine-toothed comb. He is thought to have belonged to the Alemanni Germanic tribes that lived along the frontier of the Roman Empire. The study also revealed that the grave was situated in a prominent location and was enclosed with a wooden chamber. To read about a 9,000-year-old burial in Germany that was filled with ritual objects, go to "The Shaman's Secrets."

Recent intelligence information revealing dramatic progress in Iraq's nuclear-weapons program has given a new urgency to U.S. and British efforts to build international support for war with Iraq, according to Iraqi opposition leaders interviewed by Insight in London. The information, from recent defectors and other sources working with the broad-based Iraqi National Congress (INC), indicates that Baghdad has made "a recent breakthrough" in production of the fissile material needed to produce the bomb. It was buttressed on Sept. 24 when the British government released an "unprecedented" white paper based in part on classified intelligence information on Iraq's weapons of mass...

Unlike German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Russia sees no basis for peace talks with Ukraine now, a top Kremlin official said on Monday.Dmirty Peskov, spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, flatly dismissed the suggestion Scholz made during an interview on Sunday that peace could end the conflict. "As far as a peaceful settlement of the conflict in Ukraine is concerned, no tangible contours have yet emerged," Peskov said in Moscow.Russia has heard chatter and statements about negotiations from various European leaders, "but we are not hearing anything from the country that is steering this process, that is directing the collective West,"...

Plenty of virtuous places (New York, California, UK, Australia) want to compete for the mantle of “climate leader.” But let’s face it, at least among places with significant population, nobody can top Germany. In Germany, they got started on a massive build-out of wind and solar electricity generation way back in the early 1990s. By year-end 2023, they had total wind and solar nameplate electricity generation capacity of 148 GW, which is about 2.5 times average demand (of about 60 GW) and about 1.5 times peak demand (of about 100 GW). So surely, the days of fossil fuels in Germany...

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Sunday he and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy agree that Russia should be included in a future peace conference aimed at ending Russia's war against Ukraine. He called for stepped up efforts to solve the conflict.A previous peace conference June 15-16 in Switzerland ended with 78 countries expressing support for Ukraine’s “territorial integrity” but otherwise left the path forward unclear. Russia did not participate.“I believe that now is the moment when we must discuss how we get out of this war situation faster than the current impression is,” Scholz said in an...

While Hitler and Mussolini both expressed their opposition to and hatred of “Marxists,” they nevertheless embraced a leftism that was only marginally different from that embraced by Lenin and Stalin. In light of recent events and discussions attempting to rehabilitate the historical reputation of Germany’s Nazis, it might be worthwhile to re-examine the foundations of the ideology that underpinned National Socialism and its close cousin fascism. Those who embrace the revisionism that excuses the Nazis’ crimes appear to believe that by doing so, they are defending themselves and their ideological brethren from unfair and ahistorical attacks by the broader left....

According to research by the Rheinneckarblog, Emrah Ibrahimovic (18) is an Islamist Neo-Nazi from Austria with Bosnian roots. Apparently radicalized at least on the Internet with IS propaganda from the offshoot al-Nusra-Frint and another offshoot HTS. But the weapon, a Karabiner 98 with bayonets, and the clothing in red, black and white, probably identifies him as a Bosnian SS thug in the service of the National Socialists. A central figure here is Mohammed Amin al-Husseini, Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, who made a pact with Adolf Hitler in the joint fight against "world Jewry". Al-Husseini is considered the mentor and mastermind...

Although the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party secured a first-place finish in the Saxony elections on Sunday, the party is still launching an investigation into an alleged computer error that cost them a seat in parliament and is also calling for an end to mail-in votes, citing security concerns and shady practices.The first issue is the alleged software glitch that resulted in the AfD and the Christian Democrats (CDU) both losing a seat, while the Greens and Social Democrats (SPD) both gained one seat. The party says that it is launching an investigation into this.“We want to know exactly what...

Volkswagen is contemplating factory closures in Germany for the first time as it grapples with increasing pressure from cheaper Asian competitors. This development signifies a major conflict between Chief Executive Oliver Blume and influential company unions, which have a history of blocking management decisions.The company's works council has identified a large vehicle plant and a component factory as obsolete, vowing strong opposition to the executive board's plans. Lower Saxony, Volkswagen's second-largest shareholder, supports a review of potential closures, increasing tensions within the company.Facing decreased competitiveness, a challenging economic environment, and aggressive Chinese automakers entering Europe, Volkswagen plans to cut costs...

📝 Co-chairman of the Alternative for Germany Tino Chrupalla: We clearly state: stop supplying weapons to Ukraine! €30 billion - what madness!, We demand a broad mix of energy: coal, nuclear, gas from Russia. This ensured our prosperity. ▪️On Nord Stream: Germany was attacked, our infrastructure was destroyed. Ostashko reports

Could Finland´s next President be a foreigner? Finland´s current President Alexander Stubb speaking to the public. Finland´s President Alexander Stubb Credit: Alexander Stubb, Facebook Finland´s future President may be a foreigner, said current President Alexander Stubb during a recent presidential Q&A session on the local Yle Radio Suomi. The Finnish President emphasised that 10 per cent of residents in Finland have foreign backgrounds and argued that the future could see a foreign national leading the country. “Racism should not be politicised. Every nation has to go through this discussion,” emphasised Stubb. “In Finland, 10 per cent of people were not...

The September 1 regional elections German Chancellor Olaf Scholz didn't want to see coming hit him and his ruling coalition like a ton of bricks anyway."Crushed" was a commonly used adjective from Bloomberg to other major news organs routinely covering Europe.When it comes to Germany, I don’t think it’s “uncharted territory” pic.twitter.com/OONsFMYjse— nazir afzal (@nazirafzal) September 2, 2024The gloom about the populist party's rise is tangible through all the reports. The margin of the gains has to be an especially bitter pill with all the concerted demonization, vitriol, and hyperbole - not to mention flat-out politically based persecution - thrown...

Right-wingers and populists have devastated legacy left-wing parties in two state elections in Germany, even if a “software error” in one state was blamed for changing the initial official results, taking two seats away from the right. The right-populist anti-mass migration Alternative for Germany (AfD) has won a state election for the first time, taking 32.8 per cent of the vote in east Germany’s Thuringia. Counts in the AfD’s favour continued to roll in from the evening, building its lead from earlier declarations. The result gives the party 32 seats in the Free State’s 88-seat parliament, the Landtag, far short...

If you follow international politics, you've probably heard that the anti-immigration the Alliance for Deutchland (AfD) won the most votes in Thuringia, Germany and very nearly won in Saxony. Commentators have been suggesting that the Christian Democrats will have to choose between aligning with AfD, or once again throwing power to the leftists. Given that the Christian Democrats are basically establishment Republicans, you can guess the choice they keep making. But the mainstream Left has given the Christian Democrats an interesting problem: they don't have the votes. You see, another socialist party has emerged, and taken enough votes to prevent...

BERLIN ON THE BRINK: How criminal clans and extremists are taking over the German capital | WELT New Year's Eve: street fights with fireworks. Most of the rioters have a migrant background, and their hatred and violence reveal the widespread failure of Berlin's integration policy. Berlin is turning into a capital city of criminal parallel societies that skim from the welfare state and openly challenge the rule of law. A climate where criminal clans and Islamists can easily go about their business and schemes. Left-wing extremism/theme pictures Left-wing extremists are also combating the free and democratic system of values, with...