Map showing who won the direct mandates in Sachsen-Anhalt yesterday. #ltwsa21
More relevant though as this is a mixed system, not a first pass-the-post:
My *favourite* graph from yesterday’s election in Sachsen-Anhalt (small, east German Bundesland).
“The CDU should form a coalition with the AFF”
All: 67% no, 26% yes
AFD-voters: 5% no, 91% yes
CDU-voters: 87% no, 11% yes.
Bit of context from @FT
“Saxony-Anhalt is a state with a voting-age population of only 1.8m. German reunification plunged it into an economic depression …, and the population has shrunk by 24% since 1990 as young people drifted westwards in search of better jobs”
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Wow this is a damning assessment of #FCAS by the German MOD! According to @derspiegel there is a classified MOD report that basically said the French pulled the wool over the Germans’ eyes on this project. This is really bad for Franco-German relations.
I don’t quite get the argument about this leading to the use of “outdated technology”, given that nothing has been built yet, and everything is still being developed, so that part strikes me as odd.
But the narrative about the mean, not to be trusted French is terrible.
What’s also interesting in this report is the undertone of the Germans basically blaming the French for the fact that the German side didn’t defend its own interest enough. This is something I’ve often encountered myself and always struck me as odd.
“for 25 years, the US has opposed the federalization of European foreign & defense policy at the EU level. Instead of continuing on this path, this report argues that the US should spend the next 25y using its immense influence to support increasing federalization at EU level.”
Can I get a Hallelujah?
This fetishisation of “no EU-NATO duplication” has irked me for so long
So I finally read the UN report which allegedly claims the first use of a lethal autonomous weapon system to kill a person. ( undocs.org/S/2021/229)
I must admit, I am still unclear on why this is the news that has gotten so much traction. 🤔
The report states that a convoy in Libya was "hunted down and remotely engaged by the unmanned combat aerial vehicles or the lethal autonomous weapons systems such as the STM Kargu-2 and other loitering munitions."
This story has been picked up by many news outlets now, first (I think) by the New Scientist.
As I am still in bank holiday spirit, and The New Yorker published this #drone cartoon yesterday, here is a thread with my favourite drone and #AI cartoons, comics, memes etc.
Yesterday, the candidate for chancellor for the German Greens, Annalena Baerbock gave a long recorded interview *on foreign and security policy*.
You can watch it here: baks.bund.de/de/aktuelles/d…
Thread with some things I find noteworthy.
This interview is in and of itself really good news. We *need* to talk more about security and defence policy, and foreign policy in Germany.
Some thoughts on what Baerbock said & how she did (my take, obviously).
Overall, she appeared rather well informed on the relevant topics - though not very concrete in her proposals.
Massive reading recommendation for the German speakers. This article by @berndulrich @DIEZEIT is the best analysis I’ve read so far about Black-Green.
Spoiler: it’s not good.