2026-05-01 22:19:31
Trump orders US to pull thousands of troops out of Germany after row with Merz | The Independent
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/us-pulling-troops-germany-iran-war-eu-b2969237.html
Trump orders US to pull thousands of troops out of Germany after row with Merz | The Independent
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/us-pulling-troops-germany-iran-war-eu-b2969237.html
How Germany May Have Misjudged Trump's Anger on Iran (Jim Tankersley/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/02/world/europe/germany-trump-merz-troops-withdrawal.html
http://www.memeorandum.com/260502/p46#a260502p46
Love the reasons for the species name:
German museum to return rare Irritator dinosaur skull to Brazil
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/may/02/germany-brazil-irritator-dinosaur-skull-restitution?CMP=…
Love the reasons for the species name:
German museum to return rare Irritator dinosaur skull to Brazil
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/may/02/germany-brazil-irritator-dinosaur-skull-restitution?CMP=…
"Germany's coastal regions brace for change, fearing rising sea levels"
#Germany #Environment
https://
Neoliberalism is dead and there is an alternative. Not an alternative for Germany, not a reform nor restoration for the UK, not freedom for Austria, but an alternative, a way out for us all: socialism and liberation.
Trump administration to cut 5,000 U.S. troops from Germany (Jennifer Jacobs/CBS News)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-germany-5000-troops/
http://www.memeorandum.com/260501/p91#a260501p91
Honoured to share that my research on the destructive side of “creative destruction” keeps on rockin! 🎉 #Germany is about to give China the heat pump market. The solar panel story? On repeat. #Wärmepumpe.
A UK court orders Samsung to pay ZTE $392M for patents needed to enable phone network access; Samsung faces similar suits from ZTE in China, Germany, and Brazil (Sam Tobin/Reuters)
https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/u
Genocide denial and denial of war crimes is illegal in Germany*. Except if it’s Israel commiting them while enriching the German state through weapons sales**. Then it’s sacrosanct.
Isn’t it fascinating to learn about different cultures and what makes them so unique and exciting?
* https://www.
Bloomberg: Germany and Czech Republic Denied Lai Transit Request
In a last-ditch effort to save President Lai Ching-te's now canceled trip to Eswatini, Taiwan's diplomats approached Germany and the Czech Republic to ask if his charter jet could make a rerouted transit stop after his original flight plan ran into airspace issues but the requests were denied.
Trump tells Merz to
‘fix his broken country’
in new attack on German chancellor
US president’s latest outburst comes a day after he suggested a
‘possible reduction’ in US troops in Germany
https://www.…
How a surprise FaceTime led to 'dream' St. Brown homecoming in Germany https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/48360805/lions-amon-ra-st-brown-excited-play-germany-grow-nfl-abroad
Moon rising and #Venus und #Saturn setting from #Bochum, Germany, today: the 2nd image coincided with 1.0-mag.-Saturn just having become visible to the naked eye, at an elevation of 6 3/4° with a solar depression of 9 3/4°. More pictures in the album https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=dan.fischer.393&set=a.10233358390356655 from image 45.
Both my immigrant parents (Lithuania relocated to Germany during WWII, and India) were not citizens when I was born in the US. My spouse's parents (Iceland) also not. All of them became naturalized. I still remember the day my mom proudly came home from her ceremony.
Trump administration is pulling 5,000 troops from Germany (NBC News)
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/trump-administration-pulling-5000-troops-germany-rcna343147
http://www.memeorandum.com/260501/p96#a260501p96
A new data release from Eurostat shows just how much the public #EV charging network in Europe has improved in recent years. A single charging point doesn’t make spring, but a network certainly does. More and more Europeans now have five or more charging points within a relatively short distance.
In much of north-western Europe, even within 3 kilometres. Coverage with multiple charging points i…
I'm some hours behind the latest developments, but do I interpret it correctly that the German chancellor Merz, together with Macron and Starmer, offers to join Trump’s 4-week-or-shorter war in Iran? While Iran seems quite confident as they “studied how the West performed in the wars in Afghanistan and beyond”? While there is no energy shortage to fear in Germany as oil and gas come from—check notes—Belgium and The Netherlands, according to Reiche?
Reducing the presence of the US military in Germany would be a top ten failure of military, national security and international relations not only in US history, but quite possibly world history.
The US abandoning our German allies and Europe would be so catastrophic as to strain the meaning of the word.
potus is so clearly unfit to lead. potus endangers every American, and human on earth, even by posting this.
Oha, @… ist in der BBC. Lesenswerter Artikel.
https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20260225-the-nostalgic-winter-drink-div…
It's Only 5,000 Troops, but America Will Come to Regret Its Rash Withdrawal From Germany (Linas Kojala/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/02/opinion/us-troops-germany-europe-trump.html
http://www.memeorandum.com/260502/p52#a260502p52
"Germany accused of ditching climate targets as it scraps renewables mandate"
#Germany #Climate #ClimateChange #Energy
This is as good a time as any for a thought experiment.
You're in Nazi Germany. You know about the camps, you know what they do, you see the ash fall, you smell it. People who resist alone are killed, some are sent to the camps too. You're afraid to even talk to people about it for fear that they'll turn you in.
You think back to when the camps were being built. You had all the warning signs, but you didn't know how to interpret them. You could believe it would happen. You thought you'd have a chance to vote him out. You thought there might be another way. You thought maybe things would turn out differently if you just sat tight, kept your head down, kept yourself safe.
You see a family being dragged from their home. You know they will be killed. You want to fight, not just for them but for yourself. You opposed Hitler, and at any point you know you could be on the list... Even if you do nothing.
You wish you could rise up, shoot the SS, open the gates, fight it all. You know you aren't alone, but you don't know how to connect with the people who want the same thing.
Using the knowledge we have now, what should you have done in the preceding months and years to connect, to build a community that would open up all paths of resistance?
There were people who resisted. We know it wasn't enough.
Gun laws in Nazi Germany were very similar to US laws in that Nazis were largely free to own guns and everyone else was not. Unlike the US, where "others" have historically controlled using the fear that they might be randomly executed, Germany did codify it. Red flag laws were one more step in the US towards that codification, and there will be more.
When Nazis were taking away those guns, the social networks didn't exist to make resistance possible for most folks. But some Jews were able to resist.
It wasn't the guns that made the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising possible, though they definitely helped. The Warsaw Ghetto uprising was made possible by labor organizing in the precessing years.
If there were more uprisings like that, the Holocaust could have been stopped if not prevented. Social networks make resistance possible. Guns are only useful tools to resist authoritarianism *after* you build a community able to support that resistance, and they are only one of many tools made useful by that community.
Getting guns is easy, and not always necessary. Building community is hard. Guns won't keep you safe. Community will.
Single acts of resistance may slow the machine down, but to actually bring down a monster you need to be able to attack more than once. You need a society of resistance. If you are afraid now, build that. Talk to people while it's still safe to do so. Ask them where their red line is. Talk to neighbors. Figure out your network.
Take the steps you need now to keep your neighbors safe, to keep yourself safe.
#USPol
This is an auspicious development - mandating ODF formats for all government generated documents: https://linuxiac.com/germany-mandates-odf-for-public-administration/ - the UK did this, too, quite a long time ago -
TIL legally accepted signatures are a legacy of the Roman Empire, at least in Germany. lol
Art and non-Latin scripts are no appreciated. 🫠
Forgive me but who began this war?
"Earlier, the PM released a joint statement with the leaders of France and Germany, calling for Iran to "refrain from indiscriminate military strikes"."
UK planes 'are in the sky' in Middle East, Starmer says - BBC News
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/ar…
Kennt ihr schon unsere Solawi-Karte? Dort können Verbraucherinnen und Verbraucher Solawis in ihrer Nähe finden.
Wir teilen nicht nur unsere Ernte, sondern auch unsere Software! 4 #Solawi-Dachorganisationen haben sich heute zur Frage der Finanzierung der Karte getroffen. Geeinigt haben wir uns auf eine #Beitragsrunde
RE: https://mastodon.energy/@CLEW/116158482062308724
This news comes in the same week that Volkswagen reached the milestone of 2 million electric cars produced. Of course, there are other brands producing in Germany, so EVs are clearly also an export product.…
In Germany, genocide denial is a crime.
Unless it’s genocide against Palestinians.
How can that be? Easy. Because they don’t see Palestinians as human beings.
Why? Because they are racist fucks.
(And because they profit from the genocide as the world’s #2 arms dealer to Israel after the US.)
Makes me sick to my stomach. Gotta love those “European values” eh?
#germany
So German parliament spent their time on this.
You'd hope they'd be laser-focused on accelerating the transition to cycling, public transport, and electric vehicles.
https://www.dw.com/en/germany-news-bundest
Es ist gegen meine Überzeugung, aber der immer noch anhaltende Wal-Rummel bringt mich glatt dazu, Appetit auf diese grönlandischen Delikatessen zu bekommen. (Ja, dass Walfleisch in Grönland auch Touristen angeboten wird, ist problematisch.)
https://
Germany is doing a real service here. Put this in a museum.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/germany-parade-floats-trump/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1771514189
A wolf has supposedly bitten a woman in Hamburg.
This is infuriating! Is our country's education system this bad? After all, every primary school kid in Germany learns about that brass piece called "Peter and the Wolf"! Its core lesson is: you don't leave the backyard gate open when the wolf is around.
That's what happens when a country is reducing music & arts in favour of MINT classes. 🙄
The Last Time We Reduced Troops in Europe, a War Broke Out (Mark Hertling/The Bulwark)
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/the-last-time-we-reduced-troops-in-europe-war-germany-withdrawal-russia-ukraine-nato-trump-hegseth
http://www.memeorandum.com/260502/p15#a260502p15
Lions to play in Germany in 2026, fulfilling Amon-Ra St. Brown's dream https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7067698/2026/02/24/nfl-germany-game-2026-detroit-lions/
And here is my published dissertation @…, about quantifying the natural CO2 exhaust at the Starzach site in Southwest Germany (my result: ~10t/d):
http://hdl.handle.net/10900/176213…
Ukraine and Germany open their first joint plant to produce Ukrainian-designed AI drones, with 10,000 expected this: https://benborges.xyz/2026/02/13/ukraine-and-germany-open-their.html
Germany discovers a treasure trove beneath an old gas field: 43 million tons of lithium have been found beneath the Altmark region, bringing Europe closer to the great battery revolution
https://www.ecoticias.com/en/germany-discovers-a-treasure-trove-beneath-an-old-gas-field-43-million-tons-of-lithium-have-been-found-beneath-the-altmark-region-bringing-europe-closer-to-the-great-battery-revolution/31164/
@… yesterday you shared an article about a court finding the germany-Luxembourg broder control illegal.
I can confirm that the border control on the Luxembourg-Saarbrücken line is still happening.
Also, a luxtimes article mentions that germany will only "relax" its border controls and not stop them. And only on the A1 towards trier.
"Oh thi…
from my link log —
MMP at 25: how proportional representation changed New Zealand forever.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300426115/mmp-at-25-how-an-academic-dream-from-west-germany-changed-new…
Trump's call to reduce US troops in Germany shocks Pentagon (Politico)
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/30/trump-germany-troop-pullout-pentagon-shocked-00900619
http://www.memeorandum.com/260430/p135#a260430p135
Happy outcome of the #SolarEclipse 2026 dress rehearsal at the #planetarium in #Bochum, Germany, today: the whole event from beginning 14° high through maximum eclipse in 6° elevation down to 3° can be folllowed without obstruction from a specific - and covenient - zone on the premises. This picture was taken at the very 'moment' of maximum eclipse with the Sun in my back: whereever it's shining here, it could be seen. Not ideal for telescopes or big tripods, but many people with eclipse glasses and handheld cameras could be served. Only the weather on 12 August has to be as gorgeous as today ...
As part of the Cohere-Aleph Alpha deal, Aleph Alpha backer Schwarz Group plans to invest $600M in Cohere's Series E, which a source says is set to close in 2026 (Kai Nicol-Schwarz/CNBC)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/24/cohere-aleph-alpha-germany-ai-euro…
I finally did it: I now have a speaking page on my site. 🎤🎉
If you’re looking for someone to talk about design, the web, CSS, accessibility, or the independent web at your event, that’s where you’ll find what I do, what I’ve spoken about, and how to get in touch:
https://matthiasott.com/speaking
Poel, Baltic Sea, Germany, 2021 Evening Impressions
#meermittwoch
Swiss Link - Authentic Military Surplus and Quality Outdoor Goods
#bookmarks
On April 30, night of Saint Walburga (Walpurgisnacht), witches fly to Blocksberg mountain in Germany to catch up on their deeds throughout the year and dance around al fire. When I was there, the devil was also present, judging harshly the witches who didn't work enough evil magic.
#MythologyMonday
Germany, Israel Hold First Joint Cyberattack Exercises
https://www.thetrumpet.com/33554-germany-israel-hold-first-joint-cyberattack-exercises
I remember watching the 2022 documentary
"Aşk, Mark ve Ölüm"
(Love, Deutschmarks and Death) by Cem Kaya
with awe and shame at how much I had not known.
The film looks at the difficult lives of Turkish workers in Germany through the music they produced.
One widely popular song, sung by Yüksel Özkasap, included the lines:
“Germany, everything about you is a lie. You have stolen my life and taken my love.”
The language textbook
"Türk…
Germany is set to introduce an investment commitment obliging streaming services and TV broadcasters to spend 8% of their German revenue on local content (Leo Barraclough/Variety)
https://variety.com/2026/digital/global/germany-investm…
"In Germany, climate-related television content reaches engaged viewers but misses skeptical groups"
#Germany #Climate #ClimateChange
Lions will head to Munich for international game https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/48021933/lions-return-international-play-2026-game-germany
The AfD is flirting with Nazi history – but moral outrage alone won’t stop the far right | Katja Hoyer
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/23/afd-nazi-history-far-right-germany
> Coincidence or not, the party has tim…
"Help improve support for Diamond open access journals in Germany"
https://blog.doaj.org/2026/03/05/help-improve-support-for-diamond-open-access-journals-in-germany/
@… that’s the most German thing I’ve heard all year and I live in Germany
Google Maps in Germany now publishes how many reviews of restaurants etc were removed due to “defamation”, i.e. legal action from the owners of the criticized businesses. There’s now a Chrome extension that adds 0 ratings for every removed rating and then averages that with the provided rating.
https://github.com/Ennui92/…
He refused to fight for Putin. Germany says it’s safe for him to go back.
https://www.politico.eu/article/georgy-avaliani-russia-ukraine-war-germany-return-vladimir-putin…
@… Fun fact: Espresso House has been expanding to Germany in recent years. I don't like it. I remember that I always found it a quality coffee chain in Denmark Sweden. I think they're doing something different here, or I'm hallucinating.
In any case: Espresso House in Sweden is, as far as I remember, also quite expensive, I guess you could say they…
Spring has arrived in central and western Europe, as shown by the sun-shaped hole in the electricity prices for the day.
https://data.nordpoolgroup.com/auction/day-ahead/price…
"Germany adds record 1 GWh of battery storage in March"
#Germany #Batteries #Energy
Germany U-turns, Won't Intervene on Israel's Behalf in ICJ Gaza Genocide Case - @…
https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/europe/2026-03-19/ty-article/germany-u-turns-wont-intervene-on-israels-behalf-in-icj-gaza-genocide-case/0000019d-05c2-d65b-abfd-95deeaff0000
Archive https://archive.ph/P3UBr
This marks a shift from Germany's January 2024 stance, when it backed Israel in the case. Berlin says its decision not to intervene stems from its own ICJ defense in a case accusing it of violating international law by supporting Israel's war in Gaza
In Germany, Ukrainian veteran's role in Nord Stream attack tests wartime law: https://benborges.xyz/2026/02/16/in-germany-ukrainian-veterans-role.html
Trump says US considering reducing troops in Germany (Politico)
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/29/trump-us-reducing-troops-germany-00899352
http://www.memeorandum.com/260429/p148#a260429p148
In many European countries, including Britain, Germany and France,
far-right parties seem ascendant.
And Donald Trump is doing what he can to undermine democracy in the United States.
Yet a closer analysis shows that autocrats are often running scared of their people.
And surprisingly, democracy these days seems sometimes to be held in higher esteem in the global south than in the democratic heartland of the west.
These trends show there is nothing inevitable ab…
'Advocates of a “progressive alliance” on an anyone-but-Reform basis should look to the experience in France or Germany, where these alliances have shown diminishing returns.
'Sometimes we need to vote tactically to block a far-right win.
'We should still think strategically about the bigger problem, that the far right is competitive at all...'
Three-horse races like Gorton and Denton show electoral tactics alone won’t beat the far right | Morning Star
Trump Threatens to Pull Troops From Germany as He Lashes Out at Merz (David E. Sanger/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/29/us/politics/trump-germany-us-troops.html
http://www.memeorandum.com/260429/p144#a260429p144
"TectoTalks" focus on Fold-and-thrust belts and orogens in seismic reflection data #geophysics #geology
A look at VW's robotaxi unit MOIA, which has 100 test vehicles across Germany, Norway, and the US, and plans to launch its robotaxis this year in LA with Uber (Financial Times)
https://www.ft.com/content/8ee5c17c-1eb2-41d6-9a7f-288ea9e66a45
Hike on Immenstädter Horn, Bavaria, Germany 2020 by me
#silentsunday
"Germany’s coal mines are now Europe’s largest lake district"
#Germany #Environment
https://ww…
Germany public broadcaster Deutsche Welle's 2026 budget shrinks by €21M, prompting the closure of its Greek-language service, cuts to 160 positions, and more (Deutsche Welle)
https://corporate.dw.…
Germany seeks to buy Polish Piorun MANPADS for Ukraine, Tusk says: https://benborges.xyz/2026/02/14/germany-seeks-to-buy-polish.html
RE: #germany
Yay, in spite of #Mercury having dropped to 1.25 mag. and more clouds than yesterday here it is again, together with low #Venus, 1/2 hour ago this evening from #Bochum, Germany: two images 3 minutes apart, with solar depressions of 8°40' and 9°10', resp., Mercury at 5.3 and 4.8 and Venus at 1.3 and 0.9 degrees elevation, both 1/4 second at f/2.8 and ISO 800. Saturn was also detected again, much higher and way out of the frame.
One of the great things about the city of #Hamburg, Germany, is that there is always something interesting going on, at least when I'm visiting 🥰
Tonight at 5:30pm there is a protest against sexualised violence at the town hall and a newcomer film festival at Zeise Kinos. I want to try and do both but I'll likely just catch the tail-end of the film festival if I go to the protest.…
Fossil fuel supply crisis?
Germany's Economy Minister Reiche, speaking at a US oil and gas conference, has the answer:
Keep using more fossil fuels longer!
https://www.politico.eu/article/german-energy-minister-kather…
"Germany narrowly meets climate targets as emissions barely fall in 2025"
#Germany #Climate #ClimateChange
Germany's population is estimated to decline by 10% by 2070, from 83.5 to 74.7 million. One of the reasons is emigration; over 250,000 people per year leave #Deutschland.
https://www.
No, there is no magnificent 'planetary parade' in the evening right now as the internet shouts from everywhere but on the other hand there is also more to see than just Jupiter high in the sky - as I could confirm Wednesday from Bochum, Germany, at 51.5°N, #Venus is already a bright if rather low evening star while #Saturn and #Mercury could still be spotted above her: see https://www.facebook.com/dan.fischer.393/posts/pfbid027a6qUBbjXPf96BtzV89HNTcEA8Z2y9gorSCns8sTzS3nTFUpngTXwagopfUAw6Ngl for more pictures and hard numbers!
Canada's Cohere and Germany's Aleph Alpha agree to a merger deal valuing the combined group at ~$20B to work on sovereign AI; both governments support the deal (Financial Times)
https://www.ft.com/content/4492c0d6-855b-4164-9ae5-f4d855a95f1e
“When Karen Newton left home in late July 2025, she knew that international travellers were being locked up in immigration detention centres in the US. ‘I was aware,’ she nods. ‘But I never thought it would have any impact on my holiday.’”
***
Huge “I planned a holiday in Nazi Germany because they were only persecuting Jews and I’m not Jewish” vibes.
It’s amazing to see privileged white people learn the leopards eating people’s faces lesson over and over again.
New Arsenal of Europe: How the Russian–Ukrainian War Is Changing Germany: https://benborges.xyz/2026/02/23/new-arsenal-of-europe-how.html
🚨Job Alert🚨 ‼️ "Curate Rock and Mineral Collection—one of #Germany ’s largest, with ~35,000 samples across minerals, rocks, meteorites, fossils, and ores ...strategic collection development and independent research projects."
Ruhr University Bochum ⚒️🧪
"World’s First Vertical Floating Solar Technology Plant Begins Operation in Germany"
#Germany #SolarPower #Energy
In case you want to report this Zionist hasbara account that posted this reply and blocked me, please feel free to.
(This is their new tactic. The anonymous cowards.)
PS. Be careful, they’re on a German instance, they might block you instead if the admins are pro-genocide also (it’s a very common thing in Germany).
#zionism
RE: https://mastodon.scot/@kim_harding/116458516999245541
“How Nazi Germany’s history has shaped the way it wages war. Why has Nazi Germany chosen such brutal military aggression?”
Are we even serious right now?
Germany's Merz says Iran is humiliating US as talks stall (Reuters)
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/germanys-merz-says-iran-is-humiliating-us-talks-stall-2026-04-27/
http://www.memeorandum.com/260427/p35#a260427p35
Joint statement from the leaders of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Japan on the Strait of Hormuz: 19 March 2026 (GOV.UK)
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/joint-statement-from-the-leaders-of-the-united-kingdom-france-germany-italy-the-netherlands-and-japan-on-the-strait-of-hormuz-19-march-2026
http://www.memeorandum.com/260319/p65#a260319p65
Germany's foreign minister warns Iran war could plunge 'entire world into major crisis' (Nette Nöstlinger/Politico)
https://www.politico.eu/article/germany-foreign-minister-warns-iran-war-potential-major-world-crisis/
http://www.memeorandum.com/260318/p63#a260318p63
Merz's conservatives on course to win key state vote despite far-right surge (Nette Nöstlinger/Politico)
https://www.politico.eu/article/friedrich-merz-cdu-rhineland-palatinate-germany-election-afd/
http://www.memeorandum.com/260322/p40#a260322p40