Living Out Craziness?

Yesterday they marched again, the anti-vaxxers, Corona deniers (Coronaleugner), lateral thinkers (Querdenker), or was it rather a merry walk in glorious sunshine instead?

Since 2 p.m., about 1200 demonstrators against the Corona measures had gathered on the square of the old synagogue. Around 3 p.m., approximately 3000 people started marching. Last Saturday, there were still 4500 participants; at the peak of the demonstrations at the end of January, there were up to 6000.

©FreiSein Freiburg

The demonstration marched peacefully; right-wing symbols were not seen on the posters and banners. The most significant bone of contention for the demonstrators was compulsory vaccination and coming in, second the displeasure at the restrictions on fundamental rights imposed by the Corona measures. "For freedom, humanity and reason" was the inscription on the first banner of the demonstration.

©BZ

Occasionally, participants also carried the Canadian flag to express their solidarity with the truckers in North America who had blocked their capital Ottawa.

In a previous blog, Red Baron had posted that many of the participants of those Saturday marches were just poor little lambs who'd lost their way, but this was too short an argument.

German sociologist Jan Philipp Reemtsma confirmed my other ulterior thought in an interview. He cited the following arguments of anti-vaxxer demonstrators in Constance in times when public gatherings are rare, "When you can't go on vacation together, you go to demos together. There's something positive about getting back together," and "Here I meet people who say what I've always kind of meant."

©FreiSein Freiburg

Red heart-shaped balloons carried in Freiburg rounded up the impression of a friendly crowd happy to be together again.

Reemtsma's harsh comments on Corona marches, "It's about recreation and communing in excitement. Getting away from everyday life. Childlike happiness of irresponsibility."

"Social trust is the assumption that everything will continue as before. In the pandemic, people see their concept of normality shaken, i.e., their social confidence. Corona and the anti-Corona measures have thrown many people's everyday lives out of balance, although sometimes only in a little way. 

Now some people develop surprisingly great feelings of insecurity, and they compensate for them by finding roles for themselves in which they feel safe. Look at the demonstrations: You see people who are sure of themselves. They believe they are in the right and everyone else is in the wrong. That creates stability. Into the microphone, they shout 'lying press,' and among themselves, they are cheerful."

"These demonstrations offer all people to live out the craziness they have cultivated on a small scale, now as a considerable common experience. The microchip implanters are there, and those who believe a global elite is manipulating them. Everyone feels comfortable with each other; the main thing is to belong and tune into the same sound. Certain states of excitement unify mentalities: People quickly become eerily similar; they talk the same, they speak in the same way, they write the same sentences, and so on. Excited, even angry people begin to resemble each other. You can think of that as a bit creepy and eerie, and it is."

Views of a sociologist.
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On the Intimate German-Russian Relationship

Internationally, we Germans are accused of being dependent on Russia for energy, especially regarding gas supplies. The German-Russian relationship, however, is much older. It is characterized by admiration, mistrust, and fear. Germany exported Sophia of Anhalt-Zerbst as Catherine the Great to the Tsarina throne, and we enjoy borscht, Crimean (!?) sparkling wine, and caviar.

Even today, Russians bite into their бутерброд (Butterbrot, sandwich) with an appetite in front of a closed шлагбаум (Schlagbaum, barrier) while waiting for a train to pass.

After all, the cry of terror in Germany's east toward the end of World War II, "Die Russen kommen! (The Russians are coming!)," is at least as old as the year 1813, when Russian Cossacks marched into Hamburg and liberated the city from Napoleonic occupation. The Cossack winter of 1813/14 entered the people's collective consciousness of Northern Germany.

Don't tempt the Russian bear! Napoleon had underestimated the Tsarist empire, but another megalomaniac underrated Russia 140 years later.

On June 4, 1942, on the occasion of Carl Gustav Mannerheim's birthday, Hitler visited the Finnish General. A secret audio recording was made of the table talk or rather monolog of the Führer about Russia, "It is evident they have the most monstrous armament that is humanly conceivable. So if anybody had told me that one country could line up 35,000 tanks, I had said you have gone mad. If one general of mine had declared that the state here had 35,000 tanks, I had said, Mein Herr, you are seeing everything double or tenfold; this is crazy you see ghosts. I have not thought this possible."

Former German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (CDU) said something sagacious the day before yesterday, "After the conflicts in Georgia, Crimea, and the Donbas, nothing was prepared that would have really deterred Putin. We've forgotten the lesson of former chancellors Helmut Schmidt and Helmut Kohl, that negotiations always take precedence, but you have to be so strong militarily that non-negotiation can't be an option for the other side." The Moscow pilgrims Macron, Baerbock, and Scholz have had to learn this bitterly, and further, "The Bundeswehr (Federal Armed Force) is not in good shape."

Have we been too naive? Yep, although you have to give us Germans credit: The defeat in 1945 taught us that war is the worst thing that can happen to a country: In war, there is neither fortune nor star, but what counts most, I mentioned in my recent blog, "The greatest evil in wars always falls on those who are least to blame for it, on peasants, widows, and orphans."

Bertold Brecht, a German writer, communist, and pacifist, wrote in 1951 at the time of the Korean war the poem "Bitten der Kinder:"

BITTEN DER KINDER  Die Häuser sollen nicht brennen,  Bomber sollt man nicht kennen.   Die Nacht soll für den Schlaf sein.   Leben soll keine Straf sein.   Die Mütter sollen nicht weinen.   Keiner sollt töten einen.   Alle sollen was bauen   Da kann man allen trauen.   Die Jungen sollen 's erreichen.   Die Alten desgleichen.

CHILDREN'S REQUESTS  The houses shall not burn,  Bombers shall not be known.   Let the night be for sleep.   Life shall not be punishment.   Mothers shall not cry.   No one shall kill anyone.   All shall build something   Then all can be trusted.   The young shall achieve this.   The old likewise.

Thank you, Berthold, for not forgetting the old. 

Is it so that we humans have learned nothing or do not want to learn?

Post Putin? (©dw)

Although Friedrich Schiller wrote in his "Lied von der Glocke," alluding to the horrors of the French Revolution, the following verses ...

Da werden Weiber zu Hyänen Und treiben mit Entsetzen Scherz, Noch zuckend, mit des Panthers Zähnen, Zerreißen sie des Feindes Herz.

Then women to hyenas growing Do make with horror jester's art, Still quivering, panther's teeth employing, They rip apart the enemy's heart.

... let me make a quick prayer, "O Lord, beware us of frustrated old white men. Instead, call mothers at the helm of governments."

I am seconded in my view by Meryl Streep when she writes, "I do honestly think that if women were running the world, there would be more investment in peace because basically, as women, we do not want to see our children killed. Maybe I am completely idealistic, but until we see women in equal positions of power globally, I just think that we are doomed."

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Where is Gerhard?

Putin did it, "Ukraine fired for the first time tonight on its own territory of the Luhansk and Donetsk People's Republics, with regular soldiers. We have now been firing back since 5:58 a.m." This is the slightly modified text Hitler pronounced on German radio on September 1, 1939, to justify his military invasion of Poland.
*Compared with the original text from 1939, Putin is 13 minutes late 

The official press release of this morning reads as follows:

"In the conflict with Ukraine, Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin officially ordered a foreign deployment of the Russian military in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions. This was announced by the Kremlin in Moscow at 5:58 a.m. Moscow Time. Putin is thus responding to a written request from the heads of the Luhansk and Donetsk People's Republics for assistance in fending off attacks by the Ukrainian army."

From now on, Red Baron will count Putin together with Louis XIV, Frederick the Great, Napoleon, and the above-cited Gröfaz (greatest commander of all times) among the great warmongers.

In my opus magnum "Freiburgs Geschichte in Zitaten," I wrote in the introduction:

"The historian Heinrich von Treitschke knew, 'Great men make history.' On closer inspection, one realizes that there are always ambitious and ultimately inhumane rulers who make great history … [But those] epochs of great men with great histories are usually followed by long periods of small histories in which the previously battered common man struggles in his and the many widowed women in their way to survive and to set things right again."

"During the Thirty Years War, Sebastian Franck noted in his Kriegsbüchlein (booklet of war), 'The greatest evil in wars always falls on those who are least to blame for it, on peasants, widows, and orphans. '" 

How gruesome and true.

©mdr

So let me ask again, "Wo ist Gerhard Schröder," former German chancellor, Putin's bosom buddy, and a boss at the Russian natural gas supplier Gazprom?

Well, at 3 p.m., Gerhard made the following statement:

"The war and the suffering it causes for the people of Ukraine must end as soon as possible. This is the responsibility of the Russian government." But then the Kremlin lobbyist warns, "Looking to the future, it is important that care is taken now with necessary sanctions not to completely cut the remaining political, economic and civil society ties that exist between Europe and Russia."

Did you expect anything else?

The helplessness of Western democracies (©Facebook)

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Going Back in History

During the negotiations on German unification in 1991, the future scope of NATO became relevant. Russian President Initially, President Mikhail Gorbachev demanded a non-aligned Germany, "A unified Germany must not join NATO, and that's that."

In the end, the two-plus-four* negotiations ended in a compromise. Germany remained a NATO member, but no Western soldiers were to be present in the former GDR, at least for a specific time.
*The two German states plus the four victorious powers

At every available opportunity, President Putin declares that the West betrayed Russia with NATO's eastward expansion. He claims that at the time of Germany's reunification, the Soviet Union had been assured that this would not happen.

In 1991 there was broad consensus among Western allies that NATO should not advance east any further regardless of whether such a guarantee was clearly stated or put in writing. A document from the British National Archives now evidences this. The paper discovered by American political scientist Joshua Shifrinson refers to a meeting of the political directors of the foreign ministries of the United States, Great Britain, France, and Germany in Bonn on March 6, 1991.

The German representative, Jürgen Chrobog, wrote:

©Der Spiegel

According to a memo, U.S. Representative Raymond Seitz agreed with Chrobog, "We have made it clear to the Soviet Union - at two-plus-four as well as other talks - that we will take no advantage of the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Eastern Europe ... NATO is not to expand eastward, either formally or informally."

It means that in 1991, the Americans probably also saw the situation as Putin does today. However, the West did not reach a binding agreement with the Kremlin that precluded NATO's expansion eastward under international law. Many politicians and officials involved on both sides instead acted in good faith.

Did you note that Bonn's representative Chrobog confused Elbe and Oder in his written statement? Was it simply a mistake, or did he mean to exclude the former GDR's territory between the two rivers? After all, according to the Two-plus-Four Treaty, a united Germany was to join NATO, which extended it to the Oder. German reunification was NATO's first eastward expansion but not the last one.
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If You're a Grandchild, It's a Curse!

Weh dir, dass du ein Enkel bist! is a verse from Goethe‘s drama Faust. This saying came to my mind when I read, "The Thirty Years' War left more profound traces in Germany than just physical destruction and demographic collapse. Literary testimonies of the war … are about the longer-term effects of the disaster that has come over the country and whether there is a divine meaning behind the events or at least an inner-worldly law that has something comforting to uncover."

"This construction, which was reassuring given the material and spiritual devastation, had a very high price for the German self-image, which was noticeable into the 20th century as a form of self-righteousness. This culminated in the fact that one always identified the others as the cause of the problems and rarely saw oneself as responsible. The foreigners maltreated one's own; one was the victim, and the others were the perpetrators. One merely defends oneself when they get on one's back. However, one's honesty and virtue do not fall by the wayside; they will endure despite all challenges."*
*The text is drawn from the book Der Dreißigjährige Krieg. Europäische Katastrophe und deutsches Trauma 1618-1648 by Herfried Münkler Red Baron is reading.

As far as the maltreatment by "foreigners" is concerned, we Germans also think of the devastating invasion by the troops of Louis XIV, culminating in the destruction of Heidelberg Castle and Napoleon's rule over Europe, crushing the superpowers Austria and Prussia. The culmination of blaming others was the beginning of the First World War.

Ich kämpfte nicht, um anzugreifen, sondern um zu verteidigen

An inscription on a monument in Weimar reads, "I did not fight to attack but to defend." It is the ultimate claim that the surrounding countries struck Germany in 1914.

In the nation's capital
"Weh dir, dass du ein Enkel bist!"

The collective trauma of the German nation, the victim, enshrined in the Treaty of Versailles, eventually led to the atrocities and holocaust in the Second World War. German honesty and virtue emphasized in Münklers's text did not endure.

Adults develop traumas from unresolved events and experiences in their youth. Are there national collective traumas too?

Think of the Poles. Starting as a significant European power in the middle of the 16th century, Poland ceased to exist due to its third division* at the end of the 18th century. The country was cut up between the Soviet Union and Germany during the Second World War. Consequently, Poland's national anthem sounds "Poland is not lost yet." No wonder the Poles still fear the Russian bear.
*Eaten up by Russia, Austria, and Prussia.

France hasn't forgotten the grandeur it displayed until the beginning of the 20th century when French culture and language were influential on the European continent. Today's colorful ceremonies in Paris just remind the people of the former significance of la France, while the nuclear force de frappe is more than a symbol of military strength.

In their collective memory, the Brits still cherish "Britannia rule the waves," although their domination of large parts of the world is history. Was the Brexit preprogrammed? Do they still pray "Thy mercy on thy people, Lord," imagining they are the chosen people?

The Americans feel that they do not dominate the world order any more. Times have passed since the US exported democracy successfully to Europe. The traumas of Vietnam, 9/11, and Afghanistan reach deep. The slogan "Make America Great Again" is thriving as an antidote.

And Russia? Since the awakening of nationalism in the 19th century, Russia has suffered from an inferiority complex and now feels humiliated. Its European neighbors need Russia's raw materials, but President Putin frequently remarked, "They always regard us as a second-class nation. Economic sanctions imposed by the Western countries mean to prevent Russia's strengthening."

Wouldn't you think such an attitude is dangerous? Is Putin going to war?

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My Inner Endemicity

Sascha Lobo impressed me again, coining a new German term: Innere Endemie, although this time it is not Lobo's neologism but my insight that I am in such a state too.

©mdr

Sascha's inner endemicity "is a mixture of indifference, ruthlessness, and resignation. That may sound more negative from the outside than it feels from the inside."

My state of inner endemicity is somewhat different and only based on what knowledgeable scientists have learned about the Corona epidemic so far.

Masks

Aerosols transmit the Covid-19 virus. Therefore the wearing of a mask is the primary protection against infection. FFP2 masks do not protect 100% but prevent the spread of droplets and reduce the speed of finer aerosols so that the Corona-contaminated cloud remains in the immediate neighborhood of the exhaling and infected person. Thus distance remains the second most important measure to reduce the risk of infection.

In open spaces with air circulation and moving people, aerosol clouds with high virus concentrations will not form, so masks are rarely required.

The situation differs in confined spaces like public transport, concert halls, and lecture theaters. Here forced ventilation measures with required air exchanges may not be sufficient to keep the concentration of Corona-contaminated aerosols low. In these places, Red Baron will always wear an FFP2 mask. This is not possible when dining with friends in a restaurant. Sitting at a table in the same seat for extended periods and talking increases the risk of stationary aerosol clouds. I am willing to take this risk, relying on all participants' a priori personal responsibility.

Hand Washing

Washing your hands is good practice whenever you come home from outside. With the advent of Corona, Red Baron is fixed on that practice, supported by his Apple Watch, requiring a minimum of 20 seconds of washing time. I didn't catch a cold during this winter or even had a clogged or running nose. Washing your hands avoids trapping bacteria and viruses, but it has little impact as a protection measure against a Corona infection.

I'm not too fond of those disinfecting dispensers mostly placed on shop entrances. I don't like alcohol on my hands, and gels are the absolute horror.

Vaccination

The news about mRNA vaccines' efficiency against new Coronavirus strains is disturbing. Breakthrough infections with the Omicron variant are now countless. Vaccines optimized for the Covid-19 wild-type virus were expected to partly fail against differently "spiked" mutations.

Following worldwide studies, virologists still conclude that the three-shot vaccination is the second-best protection against a severe Corona illness. Still, nothing beats the boost of antibodies with an additional Covid-19 infection on top. Nevertheless, both an infection and vaccinations increase the number of T cells, the ultimate defense line of our bodies against intruders.

Only those who categorically refuse any vaccination will have a high risk of a severe illness.

Sasha tells the story of a gym where he did a trial workout. Everyone was gasping, panting, and sweating. Out of about fifty people, he was the only one with a mask. He writes, "If someone doesn't have a mask on where it would be necessary, I don't care at all if the person gets infected. Anyone who can't even muster the minimal means of getting infected deserves it. How much can you wish for a fucking self-inflicted Omicron infection? Zero sympathy."

When at Kieser for my muscle training, I always wear an FFP2 mask, although it is not required while doing an exercise. Because you exhale the maximum amount of aerosols during that phase, this rule is crazy.

Here I should add that the Kieser gym is well-ventilated. Most windows are wide open even at freezing temperatures, and distances are always kept.

In Conclusion 

Red Baron is an old man. I will certainly look for a fourth vaccination to boost my antigen level. Even when masks will no longer be compulsory, I'll wear an FFP2 protection when I consider the aeration situation critical.

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Wahlanalyse

Germany's federal election took place on September 26 last year. The outcome resulted in a three-party coalition, the so-called Ampelregierung (traffic light government).

A couple of days ago, the Bundeswahlleiter (Federal Election Commissioner) published a demoscopic analysis of the results. Here are some of the graphical presentations.

A new record (©Der Spiegel)

Not so surprising is the increase in absentee votes. People filled out their ballots at home and sent them by mail, fearing a Corona infection when going to the poll station. For Red Baron, it is always a pleasure to personally put his ballot into the box.

©Bundeswahlleiter

Looking into the type of voters who preferred to walk to the polling station, it's interesting to note that the right-wing AfD - many of its members are Corona deniers - refrain from ballots sent by mail. Strangely enough, it was the Greens who over-proportionally cast absentee ballots. By the way, nobody in Germany questions the validity of ballots sent by mail.

©Bundeswahlleiter

The map shows the election turnout for Germany's federal states. While the high voter participation in Bavaria is explained by the support for their governor Markus Söder, the high turnout in Schleswig-Holstein is somewhat unexpected. Note the low number for Sachsen-Anhalt, the federal state with the most significant political disenchantment, and the highest percentages for the right-wing AfD.

©Der Spiegel

The most exciting bar graph shows party preference as a function of age. The tendency is impressive. The more senior people prefer our grand old parties, while the Greens and the Liberals are most attractive to the younger generation.

©Bundeswahlleiter

What this means, in the long run, has to be seen. Germany's electorate is aging, and will the young carry through their today's preferences to an older age? Red Baron is too old to follow this development.

©Bundeswahlleiter

Still, there is a difference in voting behavior for these "younger" parties. While young men prefer liberals, girls tend to vote green.

©Bundeswahlleiter

Otherwise, women of all ages voted more traditional and "greener" than men and despised the AfD.

©Der Spiegel

Analyzing the votes according to gender in previous federal elections shows that female voters supported Angela Merkel's governments in voting for Christian Democrats, although the gender gap is closing.

©Bundeswahlleiter

There is still a big difference between the old and the new federal states in voting behavior, i.e., the wall still exists between the east and the west. Following the reunification, traditionally, Die Linke (The Left) was the voice of the people of the former German Democratic Republic. But disillusionment soon set in. The left was unable to live up to expectations. 

©Der Spiegel

But there was the other, the right-wing party, that caught the dissatisfied ones. More than 30% of the male votes in the age group from 35 to 59 in the "new" federal states went to the AfD. It hurts.

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