Paul Hockenos

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With car manufacturers increasingly shifting to electric, the days of manual transmission are numbered. Anton Minin/iStockphoto/Getty Images

ReflexionesSocial

For old-school connoisseurs of the automobile — usually men — driving means operating a beloved vehicle by touch, with three pedals underfoot and a shift stick at hand.

In Europe, this clientele is responsible for a good deal of the moaning about manual transmission’s demise. And perhaps nowhere is it louder than in Germany, the home of Porsche, BMW, Volkswagen and Mercedes Benz.

Take for example the German automotive writer for the Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung who waxed melancholy in a heartfelt “homage to the good old days of the clutch and gear stick”.

“What could be a greater pleasure… than tooling along winding roads in a sports car at high speeds?…  Seguir leyendo »

More than 1,500 people demonstrate against the AfD and right-wing extremism in Schwerin, Germany, on January 16. Ulrich Perrey/picture-alliance/dpa/AP

EuropaUnión Europea,

Even though the hard right has come to power in many European countries in recent years – either ruling on their own like in Hungary, or in coalitions such as in Italy and Finland – Germans never thought it could happen to them.

After all, modern Germany is acutely conscious of the crimes that Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich committed in the name of, and with plenty of zeal from, the German people.

In the postwar decades, democratic-minded Germans bent over backwards to wring out the toxins that catapulted the Nazis to power and, ultimately, enabled the Holocaust.

But today, Germany is staring at a surging far right – and the country’s mainstream politicians and democratic citizens, still by far the lion’s share of the population, are understandably rattled.…  Seguir leyendo »

How to Stop the Biggest Threat to Europe’s Green Transition

ReflexionesNaturalezaEuropaUnión EuropeaUE a debate,

For years, the European Union has been laying the foundation for what may be the world’s most ambitious climate policy: the European Green Deal, which puts Europe out in front in the global fight against climate change. This formidable bundle of policies steers countries to build renewable energy resources, find ways to improve energy efficiency and significantly cut greenhouse gas emissions in the process.

But now, the Green Deal is in peril as a school of thought that frames the green transition as an elitist plot against ordinary people gains followers in Europe. It’s a political strategy that is potent in the moment but is bound to fail in the long run.…  Seguir leyendo »

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen speak after a joint press conference after talks in Kyiv on February 2, 2023. SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP via Getty Images

EuropaUnión EuropeaAmpliación,

On Nov. 8, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen officially recommended that Ukraine and Moldova open membership negotiations with Brussels soon, upon fulfilling certain criteria. The move is both an expression of commitment to Ukraine and a shot across Russia’s bow. Indeed, EU officials are betting that by anchoring Eastern Europeans—Ukraine and Moldova, as well as the Western Balkans and eventually Georgia, too—ever more solidly in the EU, it can lift them out of the precarious no-man’s-land between the EU and Russia, and thus stabilize the EU’s eastern borders. The best way to expand Europeans’ peace and prosperity, according to von der Leyen, is to lock all liberal-minded states from the Baltics to the Balkans into the institutions and structures of democratic Europe.…  Seguir leyendo »

Hundreds of climate demonstrators marched through Berlin during last September's Global Climate Strike. The next one will take place this Friday, September 15. Monika Skolimowska/dpa/picture alliance/Getty Images

ReflexionesNaturaleza,

My 12-year-old son is cutting school on September 15 — an act of non-violent civil disobedience that his mother and I approve of entirely.

In fact, we’re skipping work to go with him and about a third of his 7th grade to the Global Climate Strike in Berlin — one of hundreds of climate marches happening in cities around the world this Friday and over the weekend.

For five years now — since the 15-year-old Greta Thunberg sat out Friday classes in Stockholm, Sweden, setting in motion a worldwide mass movement — elementary and high school students have taken to the streets by the hundreds of thousands to call out politicos and the entire adult world for failing so egregiously to confront the climate crisis.…  Seguir leyendo »

A Hotter Climate Demands That We Clean Up Our Rivers for Swimming

ReflexionesNaturaleza,

The mesmerizing scene along the banks of Munich’s lime-green Isar River on a recent summer afternoon made me, an out-of-towner, quiver with envy. Clusters of students, off-duty office workers, families and nude sunbathers were sprawled out on blankets with bottled beer and light meals. Every so often, a swimmer or tuber passed by, carried by the swift current.

In 2000, before the climate crisis accelerated, turning summers into slogs punctuated by a slew of heat records, the city of Munich undertook a sweeping restoration of the Isar, which flows north from the Alps through downtown and into the Danube. The 11-year, $38 million endeavor involved purifying the Isar’s waters, expanding its floodplains and modifying its banks to accommodate the torrential spring snowmelt.…  Seguir leyendo »

Fans of Rammstein music band queue under portraits of band members prior to a concert at Wankdorf Stadium in Bern on June 17, 2023.

ReflexionesSocialEuropaUnión Europea, , ,

It’s hard to overlook the way that the tumult and horror prompted by recent charges of sexual misconduct against German band Rammstein reflects the wild scenes that play out at its live performances. For nearly 30 years, the six-man industrial group hailing from East Germany has growled dark and ribald lyrics during stage shows of extravagant pyrotechnics, violent play-acting, and ear-splitting instrumentals. In light of the accusations, the giant dildos that launch fireballs and standards of its repertoire such as “Pussy” are finally being examined in a much more exacting light.

Over the past month, several women spoke up about the band’s practiced system of coercing young women into post-show sex with frontman Till Lindemann.…  Seguir leyendo »

Young protesters hold placards during a 'Fridays for climate' demonstration in Athens, in May 2019, ahead of EU elections. Fast forward to 2023 and Greek voters - some as young as 16 - will be heading to the polls in national elections this Sunday. Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty Images

Internacional,

When Greek citizens go to the polls on Sunday to elect a new parliament, an entirely new voting segment will weigh in. This year is the first that those between the ages of 17 and 21 will get a chance to vote in national elections, putting an estimated 430,000 more people on the rolls and in the thick of Greek politics.

Some could even be as young as 16 – provided they are turning 17 this election year.

Their ballots could tip the scales, depending on the overall turnout. But whether they are decisive or not, Greece, the birthplace of democracy, is the latest country to offer the youngest of Generation Z a voice – thereby giving representative democracy a welcome boost in an age when cynicism and complacency is sapping even longstanding democratic cultures.…  Seguir leyendo »

ReflexionesNaturaleza, ,

Germany’s exit from nuclear power on April 15 doesn’t single it out as a quirky anomaly or black sheep in a world otherwise enthusiastically embracing nuclear energy.

Rather, it situates Germany firmly within the global mainstream: ever more countries are abandoning or scaling back their nuclear power programs, including the US.

Since a highpoint in the early 2000s, the number of operational nuclear reactors worldwide has fallen – from 438 to 411, according to this year’s World Nuclear Industry Status Report. (And that was before Germany’s move this week).

Nuclear power’s share of global electricity generation has now slid to its lowest point in four decades.…  Seguir leyendo »

German drivers test out the new autobahn linking Frankfurt and Mannheim in the 1930s. Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

EuropaUnión Europea, ,

Horsepower-flush automobiles and the 7,200-mile highway system that accommodates them – called the autobahn – are part and parcel of national mythology in Germany.

But driving on the autobahn, long stretches of which forswear any speed limit at all, can be a chilling experience for the timid.

I’m not a slow driver – and indeed am a native of the US, a country that too mythologizes the open road.

But it’s utterly disconcerting when, ticking along at a brisk 75 miles per hour, somebody blows by me on the left and then disappears over the horizon as if I were driving a lawnmower.…  Seguir leyendo »

Unseasonably warm weather in Austria and much of the European Alps has led to a lack of snow at many of the region’s ski resorts. Philipp Guelland/Getty Images

ReflexionesNaturaleza,

When I saw news photos of the bare slopes of the Alps’ storied ski resorts a few weeks ago, I felt relief. The green and brown mountains of Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Bavaria, where my family has skied at the Garmisch Classic ski resort for years, were a dismal sight, yes. But the snowless scene also warmed my heart: I had an excuse not to take my 12-year-old son downhill skiing during his school break.

This winter, as accelerating climate breakdown collides with inflation and Europe’s worst energy crisis since the 1970s, a downhill skiing trip presents an acute moral quandary for parents.…  Seguir leyendo »

The broadcast tower at Berlin's Alexanderplatz stands without illumination on September 8, amid energy saving measures.

EuropaUnión Europea,

When I entered my neighborhood gym recently in the late afternoon, I couldn’t help but notice that the foyer and weight room were uncharacteristically darkened.

Usually, bright overhead fluorescent lights illuminate every nook and cranny of the place – including my own sweaty reflection in the full-length mirrors.

Upon inquiry, the trainer told me that the fitness center had undertaken more than a couple energy saving measures: switching to LED lighting, using just half of it at any given time, as well as turning down the thermostat to 18 degrees Celsius (64 degrees Fahrenheit) and slashing a few hours from the sauna schedule.…  Seguir leyendo »

Unprecedent flooding in Pakistan

ReflexionesNaturaleza, ,

August will be one to remember for all the worst reasons. From epic flooding in Pakistan and along the Mississippi, to drought in China and out-of-control fires in Europe, the climate crisis is wreaking havoc on planet Earth on a new scale.

Yet, these disasters and their fallout are not evenly distributed. The Global South -- low or middle income countries in Africa, Asia, Oceania, Latin America and the Caribbean -- is suffering disproportionately, as climate scientists say it will for years to come.

If indeed it is global warming that is causing or even simply aggravating these extreme weather events, as scientists generally concur, then the South's ever angrier nations are completely justified in their demands that the world's wealthier regions -- those ultimately responsible for this made-in-the-developed-world crisis -- pay for its losses.…  Seguir leyendo »

EuropaUnión Europea,

Austria's first green-tinged government -- comprising the Austrian People's Party and the Austrian Green Party -- broke ground in the Alpine state earlier this month. Not only is the environmentalist Green Party in a national government for the first time, but the coalition's agenda will make Austria a trailblazer in climate protection. Germany's next general election, scheduled for 2021, however, might yield an even bigger bombshell: a Green chancellor for the first time in post-war continental Europe.

Indeed, the stars must line up for the party that embodies the environmental cause -- these days in the form of climate protection -- like no other in Germany.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOceanía, ,

Apocalyptic scenes are playing out across Australia as bushfires have burned millions of acres and ravaged more than 1,000 homes in New South Wales alone.

The bright orange haze may look like something out of a dystopic science fiction film -- or even Dante's Inferno -- but this is Australia's current reality. A total of 20 people have died, and the photographs of human suffering are foreboding: native Australians have poured out of smoke-shrouded towns as the flames creep nearer, while people along the coast have taken refuge on beaches.

These are scenes from an Earth that is becoming uninhabitable amid raging wildfires, severe hurricanes and floods, record droughts and rising sea levels that have already submerged islands.…  Seguir leyendo »

Right-wing activists shout slogans as they gather in Berlin before marching through the city center in 2016. Credit Carsten Koall/Getty Images

EuropaUnión Europea,

The reunification of Germany, in 1990, was a moment of exalted pride for the postwar federal republic. After decades of warning that a united country would resurrect the horrors of the 20th century, its neighbors and allies, many of them former battlefield foes, came around to accept and even welcome it. That’s in large part because, during those same decades, West Germany had undertaken a self-administered “Vergangenheitsbewältigung,” a mouthful of a German word that translates as something like “the overcoming of the past,” and refers to the country’s collective effort to grapple with the causes and legacies of the Nazi era.…  Seguir leyendo »

EuropaUnión EuropeaUE a debate,

The EU's straits have grown more dire, as polling shows Euroskeptic, far-right populist parties chalking up heady gains in the European Parliament elections, which take place in May.

The hard right's numbers won't be nearly enough to command the Brussels-based locus of European democracy, but its combined forces could throw another spanner into the Union's already challenged machinery.

Thus, all the more urgent is the EU's contorted mission to win back the trust of its citizens.

Obviously, its original narrative, one that powered it through the postwar decades -- namely of peace through cooperation and economic integration on a united continent -- no longer resonates with many Europeans, particularly the young.…  Seguir leyendo »

Europa

To hear it from politicians and political commentators, Germany is helpless in the face of a mounting refugee crisis — after accepting more than a million over the past few years, the country is bursting at the seams.

But that’s just a convenient — if dangerous — narrative for our immigration-wary times. In fact, Germany is moving at full speed with a plan to channel those refugees into its work force. Germany’s political class is doing the country an egregious disfavor by soft-pedaling its muscular, state-of-the-art efforts in labor market integration.

Germany does indeed face a demographic crisis, but it’s not from the influx of refugees.…  Seguir leyendo »

Staying on an official visit in Hungary new Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, right, and his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban inspect the honour guards during the welcoming ceremony in front of the parliament building in Budapest, Hungary, Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2018. (Tamas Kovacs/MTI via AP)

EuropaUnión EuropeaUE a debate

The original East bloc was the swath of countries cutting through Cold War Europe's middle -- from Poland to Bulgaria -- that endured four decades of Soviet-imposed communist rule.

The unloved labels of "East bloc" and "Eastern Europe" were demonstrably cast off when the velvet revolutions of 1989 swept across the region, upending the Moscow-loyal regimes and paving the way for free elections and multiparty democracy.

Europe's communist satellites -- and soon after the Baltics as well as Yugoslavia's northern states, reclaimed their identity as Central Europeans -- proudly asserting sovereignty and reconnecting to nationalist and democratic traditions dormant since 1945.…  Seguir leyendo »