The German government has decided it is time to change its approach of the threat of Islamism. In late April, the congressional faction of the conservative leading party, the Christian Democratic Union’s (CDU’s) unanimously adopted a position paper entitled “Preserving a free society, promoting social cohesion, and combating political Islamism”. Their main goal is to…
In many ways, German politics is notable for its lack of diversity. For instance, no minister in the current government is non-white; none of them possess what in Germany is referred to as a ‘migration background’ – a slippery term that in politico-administrative parlance refers to everyone with at least one parent born outside of…
The elite KSK brigade of the German Army is a notoriously secretive military unit: composed of 1,000 hand-picked soldiers, it is tasked with conducting covert operations, hostage rescue abroad, and counter-terrorism interventions. In recent weeks, however, the KSK – the abbreviation stands for Kommando Spezialkräfte – has been dragged into the spotlight: after two soldiers…
Germany’s early exit from the football World Cup was met with considerable surprise in the sports world. Having been expected to progress far in the tournament, the defending champions were knocked out already at the end of the group stage, after a string of poor performances against Mexico, Sweden, and South Korea. ‘There once was…
Since Friday, March 9, a number of Turkish-linked institutions in Germany have been attacked by arsonists. At least three mosques, a Turkish cultural centre, and a greengrocery were targeted.1 A string of arson attacks This series of incidents comes shortly after Germany’s Interior Ministry published new figures on Islamophobic hate crime: in 2017 alone, mosques,…
