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16 Apr, 4 tweets, 3 min read
Azerbaijan funds professorship on Azerbaijan at Berlin's @HumboldtUni.

Absurd that publicly funded German universities make themselves willing tools of reputation laundering of corrupt & repressive regimes. This has to stop, @RegBerlin @SteffenKrach.

zeit.de/2014/08/aserba…
Azerbaijan-Humboldt cooperation agreement has this this nugget: "Embassy can make suggestions for work of professorship".
For 75k EURO a year a university in a democracy with global reputation at stake sells out to kleptocratic regime. Stunningly shortsighted.
h/t @ilyas_saliba
Eva Maria Auch, holder of Azerbaijan funded @HumboldtUni chair, visited “park of trophies” propaganda exhibition & gave interview to state news agency. Certainly much to satisfaction of her chair’s funders.

azertag.az/de/xeber/Profe…

bild.de/politik/auslan… ImageImage
Source for Auch’s visit

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More from @thorstenbenner

Thorsten Benner Profile picture
29 Sep 20
Latest twist in Germany's neverending 5G saga: Handelsblatt reports government agreed on draft law that "does not formally ban Huawei from #5G but strongly restricts Huawei components, not just in core but also access network".
Details to follow. Bundestag to discuss draft law.
Handelsblatt reports that Huawei will not be formally excluded but will face high hurdles which amount to "quasi exclusion" in words of one observer. So what is reportedly in draft IT security law? Critical components from both 5G core & RAN face dual-track approval process. Image
First track is technical certification by @BSI_Bund (head is big Huawei fan, so that will likely not be a hurdle for high-risk vendors).
Second track will check on trustworthiness of suppliers. Here suppliers (e.g. Huawei) will provide "declaration of trustworthiness".
Read 12 tweets
Thorsten Benner Profile picture
28 Sep 20
"The worse Germany does, the better for us".
Therefore of more migrants good for AfD. "We can still shoot them later. Or gas them".

Former spokesman & close collaborator of AfD parliamentary leader Gauland in interview (secretly taped while he was still in official function).
"If everything went well (in Germany)... then AfD would be at 3%. We don't want that. That is why we need to come up with tactic between: how badly can Germany fare? and: How much can we provoke?".
En route to self-radicalization, @christianlueth represented German pro-democracy political foundation @FNFreiheit for two years in Honduras (where he justified coup).
zeit.de/politik/deutsc…
Read 4 tweets
Thorsten Benner Profile picture
26 Sep 20
Xi's carbon neutrality announcement is a "power move", as @adamtooze rightly pointly out. But I don't think it's "wrong-footing" EU in any meaningful way. And US under Biden has much more leeway & credibility to politically neutralize this with own actions than piece claims.
Xi's 2060 pledge won't change anything about EU concerns about unfair economic practices, dependence & aggression in HK, Xinjiang, Taiwan. Xi breaking basic & intl law in HK made many in EU wary about trusting Beijing on commitments. No fundamental change in EU China debate
It's not that there is a large European constituency promoting radical decoupling from China that could have indeed been "wrong-footed" by Xi move. Most want productive cooperation on global public goods. And expected that type of commitment as basis for good cooperation.
Read 5 tweets
Thorsten Benner Profile picture
21 Sep 20
I‘ll believe it when I see it. Article says neither criteria nor procedure (who decides) for trustworthiness review have been finalized in draft law by interior ministry.But draft seems to offer solid basis on which parliament can tighten screws to exclude #5G high-risk providers Image
That Merkel reportedly said her „critics will be mollified“ doesn’t signal real change of mind on Huawei. Remarkable in inter-ministerial drafting process on 5G clause it’s foreign ministry pushing for tighter security rules on high risk providers vis-à-vis interior ministry. Image
It seems to have been mostly Huawei skeptics from ministries who spoke to @manuelbewarder & @BrauseChristina for @welt article. Let’s see what pro-Huawei forces brief in coming days.

welt.de/politik/deutsc…
Read 4 tweets
Thorsten Benner Profile picture
8 Sep 20
Last remaining Australian China correspondents @billbirtles & @MikeSmithAFR pulled out for fears about their safety after state security staged after midnight visits to their homes, prompting 5 days of tense negotiations to ensure they wouldn't de detained
amp.abc.net.au/article/126387…
"China correspondents for AFR & Australian Broadcasting Corporation spent five days under protection in Australian diplomatic missions".
After Australian government urged both journalists to leave, Chinese officials initially banned them from leaving.
afr.com/politics/feder…
"The evacuation means for the first time since the mid-1970s there are no accredited Australian media journalists in China, with correspondent for The Australian Will Glasgow also out of the country."
Read 5 tweets
Thorsten Benner Profile picture
2 Sep 20
"Our prosperity & geopolitical influence in coming decades will depend on how we work together with countries of Indo-Pacific region".

"Aim must also be to avoid unilateral dependencies by diversifying partnerships".

Germany's new Indo-Pacific guidelines are major step forward.
New Indo-Pacific policy guidelines are also a major step forward in German China debate because it's now clear that any successful approach for dealing with party state & its regional and global role needs to focus on Indo-Pacific & partnerships with key countries in the region.
New guidelines will hopefully also provide momentum for deepening exchange & cooperation on policy front (among policy-makers, think tanks, academics, NGOs, businesses) with key countries in region such as India, Japan, Australia which have vibrant debates far ahead of ours.
Read 5 tweets

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