Russia is the Big Winner in the German Election / Trump Stumps for Democrats / New Mexico as the New America / Shontel Brown’s Legendary Harangue / No “War” Means No Death Benefits / Iran Nonproliferation Isn’t Even Mentioned Anymore
In German Regional Elections, Putin’s Strategy of Convergence of the Extremities Is a Brilliant Success
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Scott: Secret documents from the Russian intelligence service which leaked in 2023 detailed a long-term Russian influence operation in Germany, denominated the “convergence of the extremities.” Under this plan, two German political parties would be fueled and promoted by the Kremlin. One on the right, the Neo Nazi Alternative für Deutschland; the other on the left, Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht, named for the former co-chair of Die Linke (and wife of SPD grandee Oskar Lafontaine) who went on to found her own distinctly pro-Kremlin party. The two parties would unite to form governments after successfully contesting regional elections in states of the former GDR. This would provide a springboard for further destabilization campaigns in Germany and an effort to put an end to German support for Ukraine.
On Sunday, this strategy appears to have succeeded in a spectacular fashion as the AfD emerged as the strongest party in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, while BSW cleared the 5% hurdle. The two parties are therefore in a position to form a government, alternatively, BSW can sign a “toleration” agreement which would allow an AfD minority government.
The Kremlin’s major objective, however, is not a pro-Russia government in a minor central German state. It is to bring down the government of Friedrich Merz, now viewed as a major irritant. We will likely see this played out in the next few days.
For Sahra Wagenknecht, it was a make-or-break moment this time; election night turned into a nail-biter for her and her alliance, the Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW)—with moments where they seemed on the brink of disaster. After the polls closed, it was initially unclear whether the BSW would secure any parliamentary seats in the Saxony-Anhalt state election or fail to clear the five-percent threshold. Only after several hours did the picture become clear: according to projections, the BSW would make it into the state parliament—and likely play a decisive role in forming the government in Magdeburg. The looming demise of the party—and a personal fiasco for Wagenknecht—was averted; instead, a fresh start as a potential kingmaker could now be on the cards. Federal Chairwoman Amira Mohamed Ali spoke of a “very good result,” noting that the party had gained “momentum for the upcoming elections as well.”
However, BSW lead candidate Claudia Wittig made it clear that her parliamentary group did not intend to elect AfD lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund as Minister-President. The goal, she said, was to install a non-partisan head of government. Cooperation with the AfD on specific projects was possible, Wittig added, noting that the BSW would always decide on such collaborations based on policy substance: “We want to engage on the issues; the AfD will have to show its true colors there, too.” While AfD Chairwoman Alice Weidel welcomed the BSW’s stance and called for talks, Siegmund was more critical. Political change was not possible with the BSW, Siegmund said; “the BSW is part of the problem.”
Either way, Wagenknecht’s calculation paid off: she had attempted a series of bold maneuvers to turn things around following poor poll numbers. By adopting rhetoric similar to that of the AfD, the party founder sought to position the BSW as the potential kingmaker for a change of power in Magdeburg, thereby winning over dissatisfied voters who sympathize with the AfD but are put off by its ethno-nationalist undertones. In an interview with our editorial team just a few days ago, Wagenknecht stated: “The AfD is a legal party, and people vote for it. Many of its positions align more closely with the CDU—the party from which most of its leading figures come.”
Wagenknecht, in any event, is poised to be the kingmaker.
Trump Now Fighting To Elect Democrats to Congress
The Guardian
Charles: Recent polls show 75 percent of Americans oppose the construction of data centers near them. This has made opposition to them the single most powerful bipartisan issue of the current election cycle, with the potential of delivering control of both houses of Congress to the Democrats.
Thus there is almost nothing Trump could do that would be more helpful to Democrats than what he posted on Truth Social last week:
The only reason that communities throughout the U.S.A. should not want Data Centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor. If they want to be successful and rich, with far lower taxes and jobs all over the place, let Data Reign. The good news is that there are plenty of other places that want them. If we kill the Golden Goose, you will only have yourselves to blame. China could not be happier with this anti Data Center movement. Actually, they can’t believe it is happening!
A couple of days later Trump’s idiot Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick was equally helpful when he went on CNBC and declared, “One of my favorite things is when people talk about data centers using water. The No. 1 product in America that uses water is cattle. I mean, data centers don’t use water. This is propaganda by our adversaries to try to slow us down.”
As The Hill reported,
Data centers used an estimated 66 billion liters of water in 2023, most of which went to hyperscale data centers, according to a 2024 report from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Hyperscalers alone are expected to consume between 60 billion and 124 billion liters in 2028, the report projected.
In 2015, the total U.S. water use was estimated to be about 322 billion gallons per day, or more than 400 trillion liters per year. At that time, the government estimated that power plants were the nation’s largest water users, followed by irrigation.
The truth is Donald Trump and his cronies have always had terrible political judgement. The only thing he has ever offered his supporters is permission to behave as badly as they wanted to–to hate Blacks, women, trans people and the millions of hard-working immigrants who perform all the essential tasks that keep the American motor running.
Trump’s advocacy of data centers is crystallizing what has been so obvious for so long to the rest of us. The only people who have benefited from his policies are the billionaires who have purchased him by contributing billions of dollars to his campaigns, and by paying him off directly through his outrageous crypto schemes.
As Aaron Regunber wrote recently in The Guardian, “the movement against datacenters is uniting Americans because they perfectly illustrate how a few individuals hold all the power to control decisions that affect our lives.”
The good news is the billions those same billionaires are now planning to spend in this election cycle may be worthless. That is the most hopeful lesson of Abdul El-Sayed’s victory in the Democratic primary in Michigan, where he was outspent 9-to-1 by AIPAC and corporate Super PACs in the most expensive Senate Democratic primary of all time.
As Claire McCaskill explained on MS Now last week, you don’t need to spend the most money to win an election. You just need enough money to get your message across.
For his next disappearing act, Trump wants to erase New Mexico
The Independent
Scott: On Saturday, Trump repeatedly posted to his social media account his intention to change the name of “New Mexico” to “New America.” In response to inquiries, the White House only reinforced this message. New Mexico officials have suggested in response that Trump should be asked to pee into a cup and be tested for the presence of psychotropic substances.
But Trump has a long and difficult history with New Mexico. It’s not simply that the state has never voted for him, and under his presidency tilted from being a purple to being a solidly blue state. Even before Trump was in politics, he feuded with the New Mexicans, trying unsuccessfully to block Native American casino projects.
Trump seems not to know that New Mexico was called New Mexico before the first English-speaking settlers ever showed up in North America. That happened in the 16th century, when the first conquistadores, supported by porters from the valley of Mexico, pressed into the area. After trekking through a thousand kilometers of hostile territory from the valley of Mexico, the Nahuatl-speaking porters discovered to their shock that the peoples in the pueblos along the Rio Grande spoke a Nahuatl-like language they could understand. The Spanish therefore called the area “Nuevo México” after the Valley of Mexico. But since Trump is illiterate, he can’t be expected to know such things.
President Donald Trump has already changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Ontario, and now he’s targeting a US state for a rebrand.
Trump is spending the holiday weekend dreaming up his next demand to relabel America’s geography. He posted a map on Truth Social Sunday afternoon of New Mexico, but the word Mexico was crossed out and replaced with America.
The HKR Look Back: Shontel Brown on Trump and Law and Order
Charles: We are coming up on the first anniversary of Ohio Congresswoman Shontel Brown’s legendary attack on Donald Trump’s presidency. What she said remains one of the most potent five minute summaries ever given of all of Trump’s high crimes and misdemeanors:
President Trump’s only expertise on crime is committing it, not preventing it, enabling it, not ending it, and covering it up, not cleaning it up. He is a convicted felon who has illegally frozen federal funding, he has assaulted the rule of law at every turn, he has consistently violated constitutionally protected due process rights, and he has unleashed a corporate agenda to enrich himself and his wealthy donors.
Right now as we sit here Trump is bending over backwards to protect Ghislaine Maxwell a convicted sex trafficker who preyed on children..
In the last ten months he has pardoned countless white collar fraudsters who ripped off the American people, often conveniently after they cosy up to him. And let’s not forget he pardoned every single person charged and convicted in the January 6 insurrection including 172 people who pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement and at least 10 individuals who have already been convicted of new crimes.
So spare us this talk of law and order, because under Trump that only means lawlessness for his friends and punishment for everyone else.
Watch her whole harangue here:
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