Thuringia

The published facts about the situation in the German state of Thuringia are known to anyone who is interested in German politics. I will not repeat them.   

The main recipient of beatings in this matter has been the FDP, the party whose representative was elected as Prime-Minister of Thuringia. The FDP did indeed furnish the man, without whom this whole AfD ploy would not have been possible. But the FDP – which has form with its leanings – is a small party and with a bit of luck will not make it into the next Bundestag.

The real worry is CDU, which is so eager not to collaborate with the left wing Linke that it found itself in (an as yet unconsummated) bed with the AfD. In a curious notion of fairness, the CDU maintains equal-unacceptability of the left-wing Linke and the fascist AfD, some of whose leaders are considered to be neo-Nazis.

From their point of view, the CDU’s wish not to cooperate with the Linke may be understandable, but a balanced approach to both Linke and AfD is wrong and morally questionable. Historical comparisons must be sensitively employed and yet...

The woman who married Rabin’s assassin

Israel’s political system has over the years produced some politically truly unattractive parties. Some even disgusting. Occasionally you get ridiculous constructs, such as was the case of M. Flatto Sharon, a French embezzler, who took advantage of Israel’s Law of Return (that gives any Jew the right to move to Israel and get Israeli citizenship). In 1977, he established his own party and became a member of the Knesset, to avoid extradition to France, which had issued an international arrest warrant for him. Surprise, surprise, Flatto Sharon was later found guilt by an Israeli court of having bribed voters, in order to get their votes.

The latest “I wouldn’t touch with a barge-pole” is Ms. Larissa Trimbobler. I have no idea what caused this divorcee with four children, to marry the prisoner Ygal Amir, Yitzhak Rabin’s murderer. Amir was allowed to impregnate Trimbobler and in 2007, she gave birth to a son. 

There is no accounting for what makes people fall in love. And yet, wanting to marry that man, is quite something. Giving birth, producing a child with him – is at best irresponsible. The son of the murderer and the woman who chose to devote herself to him, will forever be known as the murderer’s son. 

There is, of course, the possibility that she is in it for the money, that she is being funded by Amir supporters.Taking her exciting life one step further, Trimbobler has established a political party, which demands Amir’s retrial. The next elections in Israel will take place on 2 March. 

Surveillance and Decency

Years ago, I felt that all those security cameras actually added to my security. But it has been creeping upon us. Not creeping, taking great leaps. More and more surveillance technology. And technological development (the word development used to have a positive connotation), has the tendency to find itself serving nasty masters.

Après moi le déluge. I say, hoping that nothing too dramatic will happen in my lifetime. The next generation needs to either revolt if that is at all possible or accept that they are totally transparent.

An interesting question is whether we become more decent, or just more law abiding, as we become more visible?

And then, the big what. What happens when our system changes and we become a China? It is, by the way, not what if but what when. Information is already being hacked by blackmailers. We will be at the mercy of private nasties and state nasties.