“I don’t have anything against Christians or Buddhists or Jews,” Kathrin Oertel said. “They don’t demand I observe certain rules so as not to offend them.”
Germany
Putin Wins Again
Vladimir Putin determines who and what crosses the border into Ukraine until he is satisfied the Kiev government has genuflected deeply enough.
Signs of Desperation in West’s Latest Moves to Halt Ukraine Crisis
The European Union, with Germany at its head, sleepwalked into the Ukraine crisis.
Ukraine’s Ceasefire Has Become a Farce, with Vladimir Putin the Author
Russia isn’t formally a party to the conflict but a concerned neighbor. The de facto double role of warmonger and peacemaker puts all the cards in Putin’s hands.
25 Years After Its Fall, Vladimir Putin Puts Berlin Wall’s Lessons Front and Center
Putin punished Ukrainians by dismembering their country not only because he saw a threat to his power. It was late revenge for the world he lost in 1989.
Khodorkovsky and Me
It was a very strange feeling to find out that Mikhail Khodorkovsky had landed in Berlin. I’d moved to the German capital in part to kick the adrenaline addiction of reporting from Russia. I was tired of the news always coming to me.
Don’t Tear Down This Wall
A quarter of a century after Ronald Reagan called on Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall, a new generation of Berliners is taking to the streets to preserve it.
Bobos in Berlin
I paid for my first apartment with beer money, and my second pad didn’t cost more than $100. Since then the neighborhoods have been filled with the organic food shops and yoga studios that are the stamp of hipsterdom.
Barbarians at the Gate
There’s a refugee camp in the center of Berlin filled with people who have fled conflicts around the world. They sleep in tents and eat donated food. Almost all of them are breaking German law just by being here.
Germany and Drones
Military experience gained in the Balkans, the Horn of Africa and Afghanistan has made Germany more, not less, assertive. One of the clearest signs is Angela Merkel’s pursuit of weaponized drones.
