Intel chief Maassen turns in report to Seehofer, while far-left wants him sacked
Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (right) listens as his intel chief Hans-Georg Maassen speaks. Maassen turned in a report on Friday explaining his position on a controversial video used by Chancellor Merkel and the left parties to denounce "nazi violence" in the city of Chemnitz during the past two weeks.
UPDATE 9-12: Maassen survives grilling in Parliament; given vote of confidence by Interior Minister Seehofer. Maassen came under fire for not being tough enough against the so-called far-right during the anti-migration protests in the eastern German city of Chemnitz. At the hearing, the head of the domestic intellegence agency is reported to have aimed his criticism at the media, stating that terms like "hounding" should not be used lightly in writing because they can redefine reality. Seehofer praised Maassen for his work and stated that he had argued convincingly and with nuance. Naturally, the left and far-left were not satisfied, saying they had lost confidence in him.
by Carolyn Yeager
ACCORDING TO Der Spiegel and Deutsche Welle, the essence of Hans-Georg Maassen's report to Seehofer and Merkel is criticism of the too-rapid publication of a video to major media immediately after the murder of a German by migrants. Maassen deems that release as frivolous, because no one could have estimated the source or the genuineness of the recording at the time. Maassen no longer denies that the video is genuine, but that this could not have been known at the time it was released and commented upon. It could have been a forgery to distract from the murder of the German man by refugees, Maassen holds.
For this reason, he still criticizes the media and the government spokesman Steffan Seibert (and the Chancellor herself) to have too quickly made a public verdict on the incidents. And in fact, Angela Merkel still today is voicing anger against “Nazi chants” by “far-right” demonstrators in Köthen where another German national died at the hands of foreign migrants last week. "At the end of the day in Köthen, a video shows open Nazi chants – that must affect us and outrage us," said Seibert, Merkel's spokesman. The chant caught on film in Köthen was "national socialism, now, now now" ... hardly anything calling for violence.
The report is also said to contain the information that the Internet account by which the video was posted – by “tick bite” – was not known to the authorities, and was said to have been received from a “patriotic group”, a strange choice of words for the left-wing scene. In addition, Maassen thinks the video by itself was not proof of a “hunt”, a word used not only by the media but by the government spokesman and the Chancellor also. It showed an isolated incident, partly why Maassen at first deemed it untrustworthy.
Maassen does concede in the report that he should have expressed himself more precisely in the Bild newspaper interview – that he left too much room for interpretation.
As to Interior Minister Seehofer, he is the only one authorized to dismiss the head of the Protection of the Constitution department and he has expressed his confidence. Seehofer said that Maassen came to his office with his opinion before going public and Seehofer told him that it was his right “to go public at any time” with the information.
The report is expected to be made available on Wednesday to members of the Parliamentary Control Panel and the Interior Committee of the Bundestag.
Maassen and Federal Chief of Police Dieter Romann both believe that the decision of CDU leader Merkel, at the height of the refugee crisis in the summer of 2015 when hundreds of thousands of young men from crisis and war zones were welcomed into the country, worsened the security situation in Germany. They say there are not too few laws to master the situation, rather, it's that they are often not enforced. According to Der Spiegel, Maaßen sees himself as an enforcer of law, and hopes, in a CSU-led Home Office (under Seehofer), to have more backing for his law-and-order course than he's had in the past.
Of course, this must all be seen against the backdrop of the October elections in Bavaria – pitting the ruling CSU against the challenger AfD. Seehofer is embracing the opportunity to burnish his anti-immigrant credentials.
Situation in Germany similar to Charlottesville
The death of 22-year-old Markus B in Köthen is being blamed on “likely heart failure” that could not have been caused by the blows he had received in the fight with the two Afghans in custody. It sounds very much like they won't be charged with his death if that proves to be true. If so, the two will practically go free. The German media is making sure we know this – that it was not murder at all.
But compare this with the so-called murder of ultra-liberal, grossly obese Heather Heyer, 32, who died of heart failure in the street in Charlottesville, Virginia on that fateful day when a car driven by 20-year old James Fields rammed into another car in the midst of protesters in the streets – protestors of whom she was one. Fields' car did not touch her; he never even saw her. But Heyer succumbed then and there on that hot day; she could not be revived by paramedics and was transported by ambulance to a hospital where she was declared dead. Immediately, Fields was accused of being a murderer and found to be a youthful “neo-nazi.” He is now facing federal and state first degree murder charges, with the addition of more than 30 “hate crimes” in the indictment. Each hate crime adds a penalty of life in prison!
It was Heather Heyer's mother who let the cat out of the bag during an interview that Heather had died of a heart attack, apparently from all the excitement and her unaccustomed exertions that day. It is something the media would never have mentioned.
We can ask: If one of the Afghans had died of heart failure after a fight with Markus B, would the coverage be the same? Would the center-left and far-left politicians be pointing it out, or would they only be calling for the strongest punishment for this bad German, along with a crackdown on all anti-immigrant speech and political parties?
Tags
Chemnitz, Köthen, CharlottesvilleCategory
Germany, Immigration, Law & Government, Race- 365 reads
Comments
From Alan
Alan Donson sent me this comment in an email:
Thank you Carolyn for the heartful highly rational commentary. We who formerly lived in Munchen and Berlin will never forget the Beauty of the Old and new German folk. It is time for mutti merkel to go.---- germany does not have to be jewish or muslim. Take Europe Back .
Sweden election boosts anti-migrant party
https://www.dw.com/en/swedens-general-election-results-in-stalemate-as-far-right-support-surges/a-45423940
"Sweden Democrats" take 17.6% of the national vote on Sunday, making them the largest single party in Sweden today, changing the political landscape.
Something I notice is the way parties are described as to their place on the right-left spectrum by the powers that be. As shown by the large chart included in the linked article, the far left is called the "Center-left bloc". It includes the center-left Social Democrats and the Greens and the Left Party, which are both very far left. The Left Party is the former Communist Party.
What is called the "Alliance bloc" is made up of center or moderate and Christian parties -- four of them.
But there is no Right, or Conservative. There is only the Far-right, currently only the Sweden Democrats. No parties are ever called Far-left, not even the Communists! If you want to enforce your borders, you are called far-right.
This world is crazy. Sad
This world is crazy. Sad times to be german, they are not defended even by their own politicians.
Sad is right.
Further developments in this story: Maassen is now accused of passing on information from his yearly report to the far-right populist party ahead of its publication. From DW:
Maassen quickly rejected any wrongdoing. In a statement to DW, the BfV press office said he had received "express instructions" from the Interior Ministry, which is responsible for the BfV, to speak to parliamentarians from all political parties, and to inform them regularly about potential national security threats.
"The [ARD report] gives the impression that information or documents were passed on without a legal foundation," the statement said. "This is of course not the case." The BfV press office would not comment on the exact content of the conversation with Brandner [of the AfD], on the grounds that these conversations are confidential.
The DPA news agency reported on Thursday that Maassen had had all of 237 personal conversations with politicians since he took over the post in 2012, only five of which had been with members of the AfD.
The left are completely unpatriotic, fanatical ideologues.
Merkel is antifa mouthpiece
If you want to follow up on the latest developments in the Chemnitz "manhunt" fake news, read this:
http://freewestmedia.com/2018/09/16/merkel-is-an-antifa-mouthpiece/
Fields "Murder" of Heyer
Amazing the 30 hate crime charges and 1st degree murder against Fields, especially when you consider he had never known, spoken to, or even seen her before. That's a completely bogus misuse (not that the whole hate crime theory isn't bogus on its own) of the law, probably used to keep him in jail. I'm out of patience with the liars and they're at it like never before. Any perceived cause is seen as justification for them to lie.
Another update - 11/5/18
Interior Minister Seehofer relieves Maassen of his position as special counselor "after Maassen made 'unacceptable remarks' in a farewell speech to representatives of international intelligence agencies."
According to DW News, Maassen had remarked that "radical left-wing elements" in the Social Democratic Party (SPD- the junior partner in the ruling coalition) seized on his remarks to provoke divisions in the government.
He also criticized Germany's current policies on refugees and security as "naive" and "leftist."
Seehofer said that a "cooperation based on mutual trust" was no longer possible after such remarks from the intelligence expert.
Seehofer has run out of political capital to use, so must cave.
In the wake of this, the AfD party welcomed Maassen into their ranks. Chairman Joerg Meuthen said:
"He would fit well into a democratic, constitutional party like the AfD."
AfD Federal Board member Andreas Kalbitz further commented today, saying: "In the final phase of Merkel, the lie has priority over the internal security." He quotes Maassen's speech: "I have already experienced a lot of German media manipulation and Russian disinformation. But that politicians and media freely invent or at least spread this misinformation unchecked was for me a new quality of false reporting in Germany."
Maassen also said: "My being known in Germany as a critic of an idealistic, naïve and left-wing foreigner and security policy, this was also a reason for my political opponents and for some media to push me out of my office."
In the meantime, Merkel's party will elect a new chairman in December and a survey showed that only 29% want the party to mover further to the right, and 63% say it shouldn't change. If that's the way it turns out, it will actually be good for the AfD. They should be celebrating.