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Harris could win US election, says Scholz

Scholz said that Harris was “a competent and experienced politician who knows exactly what she’s doing.”…reports Asian Lite News

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Wednesday that it was “entirely possible” that US Vice-President Kamala Harris will win November’s presidential election, describing her as “competent and experienced”.

Following 81-year-old President Joe Biden’s stunning decision to exit the race for the White House on Sunday, Harris has emerged as the virtually unchallenged frontrunner for the nomination of their Democratic party.

Scholz told reporters at his annual summer press conference in Berlin that “I think it’s entirely possible that Kamala Harris wins the election but it will be American voters who decide”.

Scholz said that Harris was “a competent and experienced politician who knows exactly what she’s doing.”

He said his own exchanges with Harris had been “conversations where she put forward her views authentically” and was not simply “saying something prepared beforehand”.

He added that Harris had “clear ideas about the role of her country in the world and the challenges that confront us”.

The US presidential race is being keenly watched by Washington’s allies in Europe, particularly due to the possibility of victory for the combative and often isolationist Donald Trump.

“What happens there is of the greatest importance for all countries in the world and of course especially for the close allies of the US in Germany and in Europe,” Scholz said.

He made clear that the relationship “cannot depend on who the president is”, saying it was his job to work with whichever administration was elected.

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Climate activists paralyse air traffic at German airport

The government has just passed a tougher penalty for obstructing air traffic, which is pending parliamentary approval, with prison sentences of up to two years instead of a fine…reports Asian Lite News

Climate activists temporarily brought air traffic at Cologne/Bonn Airport in western Germany to a complete standstill on Wednesday.

Five members of the ‘Last Generation’ had entered the airport grounds through a fence and glued themselves to the runway. According to the airport operator, further delays and flight cancellations are to be expected during the course of the day despite the removal of the protesters.

The police have filed criminal charges for violation of the Assembly Act, dangerous interference with air traffic, and trespassing.

The government has just passed a tougher penalty for obstructing air traffic, which is pending parliamentary approval, with prison sentences of up to two years instead of a fine.

With the action, the climate activism group was trying to put pressure on the German government to sign a ‘Fossil Fuel Treaty’ with international partners, a joint agreement to phase out fossil fuels by 2030, the ‘Last Generation’ said on social media platform X.

As an election promise, the country’s governing parties in 2021 declared their intention to phase out coal by 2030. However, the plan has so far only been adopted for the most populous federal state, North Rhine-Westphalia, with experts doubting it is to be implemented in time.

At the international level, the Group of Seven (G7) countries, including Germany, agreed for the first time at the end of April on a common time frame for the complete phase-out of coal, aiming for implementation by the mid-2030s.

The ‘Last Generation’ has been polarising in recent years with road traffic blockades that caused much resentment among the population. At the beginning of 2024, they changed their strategy, shifting to “increasingly confront those responsible for climate destruction directly in future”.

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Pakistan Protests Attack on Frankfurt Consulate

The video being shared on social media depicts the protesters forcefully entering the Consulate, throwing stones, and removing the Pakistani flag….reports Asian Lite News

Pakistan on Sunday registered its strong protest with Germany, condemning the “failure” of the German authorities to protect the “sanctity and security” of the premises of its consulate in Frankfurt, after it was targeted by protesting Afghan nationals.

On Saturday, the Afghan nationals, who took out a protest rally in Frankfurt, attacked the Pakistani consulate, pelted stones and desecrated the Pakistani flag.

The video being shared on social media depicts the protesters forcefully entering the Consulate, throwing stones, and removing the Pakistani flag.

Reports also suggested that Afghan protesters also attempted to burn the Pakistani flag.

As per reports, at least 8 to 10 Afghan nationals were involved in the attack on the Pakistani consulate, who fled after removing the Pakistani flag.

According to the latest reports, German authorities have already made some arrests, while the German Foreign Office has assured of providing complete security, investigation, and cooperation to the Pakistani diplomats.

On the other hand, the German Consulate in Pakistan’s Karachi city has been temporarily closed amid security threats and suspected counterattacks by protesters in Pakistan.

Pakistan has stated that ensuring the security of foreign diplomatic missions is the responsibility of the German government, calling on the international community to take note of the issue.

“We condemn the reprehensible vandalising act on the Pakistan Embassy in Germany by miscreants. We are in contact with German authorities to ensure such a situation does not arise again and the miscreants face legal consequences. We appeal to our community to be patient and calm,” stated the Pakistan Embassy in Germany.

The incident highlights the anger that prevails in Afghanistan against Pakistan, especially with Islamabad issuing warnings to the Afghan Taliban-led regime to take action against terror groups operating from Afghan soil to spread chaos and unrest in Ismalabad.

Pakistan has accused the Afghan Taliban regime of facilitating, harbouring, funding and even supporting anti-Islamabad groups like the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) to spread terror across Pakistan.

Under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, 1963, it is the responsibility of the host government to protect the sanctity of the consular premises and ensure the security of diplomats, Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement

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US missiles in Germany signal Cold War, Kremlin says

Washington’s move has prompted criticism in Germany, even among members of Scholz’s Social Democrats…reports Asian Lite News

The United States’s decision to station long-range missiles in Germany could lead to a Cold War-style “direct confrontation”, Russia has warned, as Chancellor Olaf Scholz hailed the move.

The White House announced the decision on Wednesday during a NATO summit in Washington, arguing the stationing of long-range weapons, including Tomahawk cruise missiles, in Europe acts as a deterrent.

“We are taking steady steps towards the Cold War,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told a Russian state TV reporter on Thursday. “All the attributes of the Cold War with the direct confrontation are returning.”

Washington’s move has prompted criticism in Germany, even among members of Scholz’s Social Democrats.

Defending the decision, Scholz told reporters at a NATO summit in Washington it is “something of deterrence and it’s securing peace, and it is a necessary and important decision at the right time.”

The US on Wednesday said the “episodic deployments” of long-range missiles to Germany will begin in 2026. The White House said it would eventually look to permanently station them in Germany, and the missiles would “have significantly longer range” than current US systems in Europe.

“Exercising these advanced capabilities will demonstrate the United States’ commitment to NATO and its contributions to European integrated deterrence,” it said in a joint statement with the German government.

Russia’s ambassador to Germany warned the German government of a further deterioration in relations between Moscow and Berlin if the deployment goes ahead.

“It is to be hoped that the German political elites will reconsider whether such a destructive and dangerous step, which contributes neither to the security of the Federal Republic of Germany nor the European continent as a whole, is advisable,” Sergei Nechayev said.

“Not to mention the irreparable damage to German-Russian relations.”

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius told broadcaster Deutschlandfunk that the deployment decision addressed a “very serious gap” in the country’s capabilities.

The German army does not have long-range missiles that launch from the ground, only cruise missiles that can be fired by aircraft.

The announcement led to an outcry in Germany, where the deployment of US missiles brings back painful memories of the Cold War.

Ralf Stegner, a member of parliament for Scholz’s Social Democrats, told the Funke media group that the missile decision could signal the start of a new “arms race”.

“This will not make the world safer. On the contrary, we are entering a spiral in which the world is becoming increasingly dangerous,” warned Stegner.

Sahra Wagenknecht, a prominent far-left figure in Germany, told the Spiegel weekly that US missile deployment “increases the danger that Germany itself will become a theatre of war”.

The 1980s deployment of US Pershing II ballistic missiles in West Germany at the height of the Cold War prompted widespread demonstrations, with hundreds of thousands coming out in pacifist protest.

US missiles continued to be stationed through the reunification of Germany and into the 1990s.

But following the end of the Cold War, the US significantly reduced the number of missiles stationed in Europe as the threat from Moscow receded.

NATO countries – spearheaded by the US – are rushing to bolster their defences on the continent in the wake of Russia’s 2022 invasion of neighbouring Ukraine.

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Germany, France condemns Israeli strikes on Gaza schools

France also condemned Israel’s recent deadly air strikes on schools sheltering displaced Palestinians in Gaza, declaring such tactics “unacceptable.”…reports Asian Lite News

Germany said Wednesday that a deadly Israeli strike on a school in southern Gaza being used as a shelter was “unacceptable” and called for a rapid investigation into the incident.

“People seeking shelter in schools getting killed is unacceptable. Civilians, especially children, must not get caught in the crossfire,” the foreign ministry posted on X. “The repeated attacks on schools by the Israeli army must stop and an investigation must come quickly.”

France also condemned Israel’s recent deadly air strikes on schools sheltering displaced Palestinians in Gaza, declaring such tactics “unacceptable.”

“We call for these strikes to be fully investigated,” the foreign ministry said, highlighting a strike on Tuesday on a school near the southern city of Khan Younis.

Since Israeli forces returned to the northern Gaza area of Shejaya, where Hamas is trying to reestablish itself, troops have killed more than 150 terrorists and destroyed six “significant” tunnels, the Israel Defence Forces said on Wednesday.

Soldiers from the Paratroopers Brigade and Yahalom, an elite combat engineering unit, have been fighting above and below ground in Shejaya since June 27.

According to the army, soldiers have killed more than 150 terrorists in close-quarters combat, destroyed booby-trapped buildings, and seized weapons and intelligence documents.

Six significant tunnels running about six kilometers long have been destroyed and soldiers are continuing their searches. In some of the tunnel branches, hideouts, command and control centers, weapons and intelligence documents were found.

At least 1,200 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 116 remaining hostages, more than 30 are believed dead.

ALSO READ-US to deploy long-range weapons in Germany

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US to deploy long-range weapons in Germany

This deployment involves temporary placements that may culminate in the permanent stationing of systems such as SM-6, Tomahawk cruise missiles, and advanced hypersonic weapons, exceeding current European capabilities in range….reports Asian Lite News

The United States and Germany announced plans to deploy long-range fire capabilities in Germany starting in 2026, aiming to bolster NATO and European defence, according to a joint statement released on Wednesday.

This deployment includes episodic placements leading to the permanent stationing of systems like SM-6, Tomahawk cruise missiles, and advanced hypersonic weapons, surpassing current European capabilities in range.

Both the Tomahawk and SM-6 missiles are manufactured by RTX’s Raytheon division. Ground-based missiles exceeding 500 kilometers were prohibited until the 2019 termination of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, originally signed by Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan in 1987.

This landmark treaty marked the first major nuclear arms reduction agreement, eliminating an entire class of weapons.

In compliance, Germany, Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic dismantled their missiles in the 1990s, followed later by Slovakia and Bulgaria.

The US withdrew from the INF Treaty in 2019, citing Russia’s violations, particularly with the 9M729 ground-launched cruise missile (NATO designation SSC-8). Russia denied the allegations and subsequently halted development of banned INF-range missiles.

In June, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced plans to resume production of intermediate and shorter-range nuclear-capable missiles, citing US deployments in Europe and Asia.

Putin noted Russia’s earlier commitment not to deploy such missiles but criticized perceived US actions, including missile exercises in Denmark and their presence in the Philippines.

New NATO command in Germany

The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation will appoint a senior representative in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv “to deepen Ukraine’s institutional relationship with the alliance” and also announce a new military command in Germany for training Ukrainian troops, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said.

Speaking at the NATO Summit Defence Industry Forum in Washington on Tuesday, Sullivan said that the transatlantic alliance will launch four new joint projects with its Indo-Pacific partners- Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea its partners in the Indo-Pacific -relating to Ukraine, artificial intelligence, disinformation and cybersecurity.

He said that the ties between the United States, Europe, and the Indo-Pacific have “never been more important or more integrated than they are today.”

“Each initiative is different, but the main goal is the same- Harness the unique strengths of highly capable democracies to address shared global challenges,” Sullivan said at the event before the start of the three-day NATO summit to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the transatlantic alliance.

The US official noted that Russia’s defence industry is on a wartime footing and with help from Iran, China, North Korea, and is “attempting to undertake the most significant defence expansion since the height of the Cold War.”

“NATO can, NATO will, and NATO is rising to meet this challenge without disturbing, or distorting, our national economies the way Russia has. We are making robust investments in our defence industrial bases,” Sullivan said.

ALSO READ: China hits back at NATO

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Clashes, arrests mark start of German far-right AfD congress

A further seven officers were also slightly injured in the clashes near the Grugahalle hall. The perpetrators fled the scene…reports Asian Lite News

Two police officers have been hospitalised after clashes with hooded protesters outside the congress of Germany’s far-right AfD, as the party met weeks after its record European Union election result.

About 1,000 police were deployed in the western city of Essen on Saturday, where demonstration organisers said 50,000 protestors marched towards the congress. The police have not yet provided figures.

Police said two officers, a man and a woman, who had been escorting a politician were seriously injured when protesters kicked them in the head after they fell to the ground and that they had to be hospitalised.

Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany: view down a wide street of historic buildings in the old town to the statue of the medieval knight Roland von Brandenburg outside the red-brick old town hall, a tall late Gothic building with arched doorways and windows and a tall, square clock tower.

A further seven officers were also slightly injured in the clashes near the Grugahalle hall. The perpetrators fled the scene.

“Several disruptive violent actions occurred in the Rüttenscheid quarter. Demonstrators, some of them hooded, attacked security forces. Several arrests were made,” police in the North Rhine-Westphalia region, where Essen is located, said on X.

A top regional official had warned that “potentially violent far-left troublemakers” could be among the protesters.

“We are here and we will stay,” said the AfD co-president, Alice Weidel, opening the two-day congress – which started half an hour late due to street blockades – and drawing sustained applause.

“We have the right, like all political parties, to hold a congress.”

Both Weidel and her co-president, Tino Chrupalla, were re-elected to lead the party for another two years.

“We want to govern, first in the east [of Germany], then in the west, then at federal level,” Chrupalla told the about 600 delegates.

Chrupalla said party membership had grown by 60% to 46,881 members since January last year. Some 22,000 people had joined while 4,000 had left.

“Despite all the harassment you have to endure as a member of the AfD, this is an absolutely sensational figure,” Chrupalla told the convention.

In early June, the AfD had its best EU election result since the party’s creation in 2013, winning 16% of the vote to take second place.

It was behind the main conservative CDU-CSU opposition bloc but ahead of the Social Democrats (SPD) – the party of the chancellor, Olaf Scholz – which is in power at the head of a troubled three-party coalition.

Buoyed up by a surge in immigration and a weak performance by Europe’s top economy, the party hit as high as 22% in opinion polls in January.

However, its support faltered amid a welter of scandals that mainly implicated its top EU election candidate, Maximilian Krah.

“I believe that the party has learned a lot in recent months and will be very careful when we put forward leading candidates in the future,” Weidel, who is standing for re-election, told the Politico news outlet on Thursday.

Krah initially faced allegations of suspicious links to Russia and China. He then sparked widespread anger by telling an Italian newspaper that not every member of the Nazis’ notorious SS was “automatically a criminal”.

The comments prompted the AfD to be expelled from the far-right European parliament group Identity and Democracy (ID), in which France’s National Rally and Italy’s League had been its partners.

While the AfD has sought to shift the blame for its recent woes on to Krah, there were signs of problems before. The National Rally had already distanced itself from the AfD after reports emerged in January that the German party had discussed the expulsion of immigrants and “non-assimilated” citizens at a meeting with extremists.

The reports caused shock in Germany and triggered weeks of mass protests. After the EU polls, the AfD ejected Krah from the delegation it sends to Brussels, but the ID group does not seem ready to readmit the party, leaving it searching for new partners. The congress comes before three key elections in September in states that once formed part of communist East Germany, and where the AfD has been topping opinion polls.

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Open letter to Germany Chancellor decries outsourcing asylum

According to the authors, current debate about the plan in both Germany and other EU countries is already having an impact…reports Asian Lite News

More than 300 advocacy groups and international organizations have written an open letter to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz opposing the possibility of holding asylum seekers in third countries for processing.

“Please issue a clear rejection of plans to outsource asylum procedures,” the authors demand in the letter published on Wednesday. The signatories include Amnesty International Germany, Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) and the migrant advocacy group Pro Asyl.

The open letter was released ahead of Scholz’s meeting with the the leaders of Germany’s 16 states on Thursday in Berlin, where the issue is expected to be a major topic.

Germany’s Interior Ministry is currently examining the possibility of outsourcing asylum proceedings to third countries outside the European Union.

State-level interior ministers also begin convening on Wednesday evening for three days of talks which are expected to be dominated with talk of migration policy, asylum and deportations. They are meeting in Potsdam, a Berlin suburb.

The killing of a policeman by a knife-wielding migrant in late May in the German city of Mannheim has prompted renewed debate about whether Germany should deport people convicted of serious crimes to countries like Syria and Afghanistan.

The authors of the open letter warn that serious human rights abuses are foreseeable if asylum proceedings are outsourced to countries outside the EU. They argue that receiving asylum-seekers and integrating them into society can work smoothly with greater cooperation.

“Plans to deport refugees to non-European third countries or to carry out asylum procedures outside the EU, on the other hand, do not work in practice, are extremely expensive and pose a threat to the rule of law,” the letters states.

According to the authors, current debate about the plan in both Germany and other EU countries is already having an impact.

“Such plans often cause great fear among refugees and increase the risk of self-harm and suicide,” according to the letter.

Scholz announced plans to resume deportations to those countries after the Mannheim attack, despite concerns from advocates about the human rights abuses there. Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, a Green, spoke out in favour of that on Wednesday as well.

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Germany Crushes Scotland 5-1 in Euro 2024 Opener

A double change in the second half saw the introduction of Niclas Fullkrug and Leroy Sane to replace Kai Havertz and Florian Wirtz…reports Asian Lite News

The host country is off to a flying start at the 2024 European Championship as Germany stomp Scotland 5-1 at the Allianz Arena at the opening game of the tournament.

Deutschland looked dominant from the opening minute and got their first goal in the 10th minute when Joshua Kimmich whipped in a ball from the flank which was slotted in the back of the net by Florian Wirtz.

Germany continued their constant pressure and doubled their lead in the 19th minute. Captain Ikay Gundogan beat the Scottish press with a smooth turn and slid the ball through the opposition defense to find Kai Havertz. The Arsenal forward pulled it back for young star Jamal Musiala who made no mistake in converting the chance.

Things went from bad to worse for Scotland when a rash tackle by Ryan Porteous on Gundogan saw him receive a red card and award the hosts a penalty on the cusp of halftime.

Havertz was called up to take the responsibility and the 25-year-old added the third to the tally in the 45th minute of the game.

A double change in the second half saw the introduction of Niclas Fullkrug and Leroy Sane to replace Kai Havertz and Florian Wirtz.

Fullkrug showed instant impact as he hammered the ball with a thumping volley that rocketed into the top corner giving the keeper no chance to take the score to four. He also scored his second minutes later but the goal was ruled as offside.

The Scottish side got their consolation goal in the 87th minute when a set-piece saw Rudiger put the ball in his own net to take the score to 4-1.

Substitute Emre Can put the icing on the cake with a goal from outside the box to finish off their opposition in the 93rd minute.

Germany could not have asked for a better start to their home Euros as they will look to build on this performance and hope to pick up all nine points from the Group Stage. Scotland on the other hand will have to brush off this defeat and aim to be better against Hungary and Switzerland if they aim to make it past the stage for the first time in their history.

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German far-right, far-left MPs boycott Zelensky’s speech

The coalition government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been a staunch backer of Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in February 2022 and has supplied Kyiv with a wide range of weapons…reports Asian Lite News

Far-right and far-left parties in the German parliament on Tuesday failed to show up for a speech by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was in Berlin to plead for more support.

The far-left Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) was completely absent from the event, while the leaders of the far-right AfD said in a statement that “we refuse to listen to a speaker wearing camouflage fatigues.”

“Ukraine does not need a war president now, it needs a peace president who is willing to negotiate so that the dying stops and the country has a future,” the AfD said.

The coalition government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been a staunch backer of Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in February 2022 and has supplied Kyiv with a wide range of weapons.

But public opinion remains split over the approach. Some Germans fear the backing could risk dragging Germany into war, while others resent the amount of money being spent on Ukraine.

The AfD has long been highly critical of Germany’s stance on the war, calling for “peace negotiations” and criticizing Berlin’s delivery of weapons to Kyiv.

The far-right party scored around 16 percent of the vote in Sunday’s EU elections in Germany, finishing in second place behind only the main opposition conservatives, according to preliminary results.

Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD) scored their worst result ever, coming in third at 14 percent.

The far-left BSW alliance, a new party that campaigned to halt weapons deliveries to Ukraine from the West, garnered a stunning six percent.

Katja Mast, a lawmaker for Scholz’s SPD, called the BSW boycott “embarrassing and disrespectful” in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

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