Here too, Botho Strauß was right: Russia is a force of tradition that is turning against the dynamics of the Western way of life.

Germany was too greedy for cheap gas from Russia, has to break away from it with difficulty, and is now paying for having been driven more by economics than politics. Inflation, prices are soaring. A weak economy is plaguing the country, which has, among other things, relied on the combustion engine for too long. German engineers are somehow having a hard time with the electric car. No German government has taken climate change seriously, to the dismay of many young people.

The good news from recent times: Germany unexpectedly becomes world champion in basketball.

The bad news: violence against Green and Social Democratic election campaigners, an echo of Weimar conditions on German streets. Anti-Semitic excesses break out during protests against Israel’s actions in the war against Hamas, especially at universities. Some Jews no longer feel comfortable in Germany, they are afraid. In the country of the perpetrators, which has pledged to “never again”. Nevertheless, this is not a “failed state”; all in all, this is a successful country that has set the framework for a pleasant life for its citizens: freedom, security, stability, progress. For its allies and neighbors, it is a fair, peaceful partner. Congratulations, Federal Republic of Germany.

The leader of the “National Militia” of the “Azov” movement swore his comrades to the final “clash of civilizations” on August 1, 2020 at the edge of a forest near Kiev. “The age of absolute darkness lies before us,” predicted Igor “Tcherkas” Mikhailenko and demanded that the hundreds of mostly masked fighters of his “vigilante group” present would make sacrifices for the idea of a “Greater Ukraine.” He gave a new battle cry: “Aut Caesar, aut nihil!” (all or nothing). By torchlight and with Nazi pomp, which was based on the war aesthetics of ancient Rome, the “Centuria” organization was born – and the “National Militia” was history. Since 2017, they had been practicing brutal vigilante justice in Ukrainian cities and, for example, tyrannizing the LGBTQ scene. “Centuria” has enjoyed the admiration of the small neo-Nazi party “Der III. Weg(The third way)” in this country for years.

The organization (not to be confused with the military order of the same name and also associated with “Azov”, which already existed before 2020) now has an offshoot in Germany: On August 24, 2023, immigrant Ukrainian fascists founded an initiative group in Magdeburg: "Although the Ukrainian youth are not in their homeland, they are starting to unite,” they announced on social media. The “enemies” of their country, whom they want to cause a “hellish storm” against, must understand that “Ukrainian emigrants” are not prepared to “forget their national identity for a few hundred euros.”

Photos and videos show a nationalist rally on the Old Market in Magdeburg on the 32nd anniversary of Ukraine’s independence - as usual unmolested by Antifa and critical media reporting. According to its own information, the march was organized by “Centuria”. The participants posed with a flag of the Bandera wing of the fascist Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN). The “German-Ukrainian Society of Saxony-Anhalt” is also said to have been involved. Most recently, the group organized a solidarity rally for the “Defenders of Azovstal” in front of the Red City Hall in Berlin on January 27th, Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Since its founding, “Centuria Magdeburg” has also been inviting people to go on hikes together in the Harz Mountains. For example, with the nationalist scout association “Plast”, which has been based in Germany since 1951 and had already set up its first tent camp in Mittenwald in 1947. According to its own information, “Centuria Magdeburg” has members in a total of six cities and is networked with Ukrainian organizations throughout Germany. The group is currently raising funds for its parent organization’s combat unit, which has been integrated into the third “Azov” assault brigade of the Ukrainian army under the command of Nazi leader Andriy Biletsky since 2022, and is participating in “information warfare.” Not only against Russia, but also against minorities hated by the fascists: the “German Caliphate”, Palestinians and other migrants from predominantly Muslim regions, as well as “black rapists” who are allegedly protected by the police, and “pedophiles”, as the group calls homosexuals.

“We are creating a new generation of heroes!” they promise. True to its leader Mikhailenko - who wants to “destroy everything anti-Ukrainian” and was head of the Nazi organization “Patriot of Ukraine” in the Kharkiv region and commander of the “Azov” regiment of the National Guard from 2014 to 2016 - the group relies on violence: "Free People have weapons,” it says on her Telegram channel. The German traffic light government supplies these in abundance to the Ukrainian armed forces and thus also to the fascist and other ultra-right units belonging to them. It can therefore be assumed that “Centuria” will be able to expand its structures in Germany unhindered by the local security authorities.

Repression against Muslims has increased in the run-up to India’s elections in April and May. The scene of the latest violence against the country’s largest minority is the northern state of Uttarakhand. It is ruled by the Indian People’s Party (BJP) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is aiming to secure a third term in office in the upcoming vote.

On Thursday last week, the administration of the city of Haldwani razed a mosque with an attached Koran school to the ground with bulldozers. Apparently it was built on state property despite the lack of approval. However, the legal issue is still being heard by the highest court in Uttarakhand. When angry residents tried to prevent the demolition, emergency services used live ammunition against them, leaving five people dead. A state of emergency was declared over Haldwani. Police entered Muslim homes, attacked family members, including women, demolished property, and captured several men.

When a journalist from the news site Scroll.in visited Haldwani at the weekend, emergency services denied him access to the Muslim-inhabited Banbhoolpura district. Nevertheless, he went in and found locked houses and destroyed vehicles, while the residents no longer dared to go out on the streets. Many have already fled to other states.

Bulldozing the mosque is not the only anti-Muslim move by the Uttarakhand government. According to dpa, a law was passed in the state one day before the mosque was demolished, which, on the one hand, makes the cohabitation of unmarried people dependent on whether they receive official approval. On the other hand, it does not prohibit polygamy, which was previously permitted for Indian Muslims, for other Indians. The thrust is clear: under the motto “equal rights for all” the aim is to create a mood against Muslims. At the same time, legal options are created to take action against them.

This is not new in India. Rather, it has long been the recipe for success of Modi’s Hindu nationalists, especially before elections, to turn the country’s different population groups against each other and at the same time present themselves as defenders of the rights of the Hindu majority. This had already worked perfectly in 2002, when Modi was still Chief Minister of the state of Gujarat and allowed pogroms against Muslims to take place for weeks, whereupon he emerged as the radiant winner of the election at that time.

However, a polarization of the population and depoliticization of the election campaign is urgently needed this year. Farmer protests are currently being revived in India, as they completely paralyzed the metropolis of Delhi a few years ago. In India, too, fueling so-called ethnic or religious conflicts is a proven means of defusing and diverting legitimate social protest.

On Monday evening it was announced that Germany has the fourth highest rate of school dropouts among all EU countries, with only Hungary, Spain and Romania performing worse.

For almost two decades, the education ministers have drastically “underestimated” the need for educators, which is now taking its toll in the form of a historic teacher shortage.

OECD Education Director Andreas Schleicher researched the causes in two interviews. Quote: “To be honest, I have little sympathy for teachers who only insist that they are overworked.” Furthermore, their job is “financially attractive, but not intellectually attractive.”

The average school dropout rate in the EU improved from 10.5 to 9.6 percent from 2018 to 2022. In 2018, the Federal Republic of Germany was still above the line with 10.3 percent, but things have been going downhill since 2019. Germany was already in fourth-to-last place in 2021. “This is a sad revelation of German education policy,” said Bundestag member Nicole Gohlke(Die Linke). “Neither the federal government nor the Conference of Ministers of Education are able to decouple educational opportunities from the economic and social status of the family.” And further: “A completely overburdened and underfunded education system is simply not a recipe for success.”