Die Nazis, die Arbeit und das Geld | Doku | ARTE

Im Juni 1940 führte Hitler Feldzüge in ganz Europa, obwohl Deutschland kaum noch Geld, nur wenige Rohstoffe und keine Devisen mehr hatte. Wie konnten die Nationalsozialisten mit einer solch schwachen Wirtschaft die zerstörerische Maschinerie des Zweiten Weltkriegs in Gang setzen?

Der Dokumentarfilm basiert auf neueren wissenschaftlichen Forschungen der Professoren Adam Tooze von der Columbia University, Richard Overy von der University of Exeter, Frank Bajohr vom Institut für Zeitgeschichte in München und der Privatdozentin Marie-Bénédicte Vincent von der Universität von Angers. Sie zeigen in ihren Forschungen zur NS-Zeit, welch treibende Rolle wirtschaftliche Aspekte für das Familienleben, die Arbeitswelt und die Kriegsführung im Deutschen Reich gespielt haben. Animationen im Stil der Collage-Kunst der 30er Jahre veranschaulichen die außerordentlichen Währungsmanipulationen der Nationalsozialisten. Damit wird der Blick auf einen bisher wenig beachteten Kriegsschauplatz gelenkt, nämlich auf die Fabriken des Deutschen Reichs, auf die Sparbücher der deutschen Familien, die Planungsbüros der Manager und kaum bekannte Protagonisten, die agierten: der Generalfeldmarschall und Staatssekretär in Görings Reichsluftfahrt-Ministerium Erhard Milch(1892-1972) etwa, der die gesamte Flugzeugbau-Industrie umstrukturierte und bereits 1954 aus der lebenslänglichen Haft entlassen wurde, der NSDAP-Gauleiter von Thüringen Fritz Sauckel(1894-1946), der in seiner Funktion als Generalbevollmächtigter für den Arbeitseinsatz für die Zwangsarbeit von Millionen von Menschen verantwortlich war und in Nürnberg hingerichtet wurde, oder SS-General Herbert Backe(1896-1947), der als Reichsminister und Leiter des Ministeriums für Ernährung und Landwirtschaft die rigide kriegswirtschaftlich und rassenideologisch begründete Hungerpolitik in Osteuropa plante und organisierte und sich in Nürnberg durch Suizid der Verantwortung entzog.Der Dokumentarfilm zeigt, wie die Nationalsozialisten ihr rassistisches und antisemitisches Weltbild in allen Bereichen der Großindustrie, der Landwirtschaft und der Finanzwelt implementieren konnten. Sie schufen damit ein abscheuliches, auf Währungsmanipulation, Gewalt, Raub und Völkermord beruhendes Wirtschafts-„Modell“, das nur durch Krieg und Unterdrückung funktionierte und zur Zerstörung Europas führte.

Dokumentarfilm von Gil Rabier (F 2020, 90 Min)

Twitter Says Trump Ban Is Permanent – Even If He Runs for Office Again

THE GUARDIAN: Chief financial officer says ‘when you’re removed, you’re removed … our policies don’t allow people to come back’

Donald Trump’s ban from the social media platform Twitter is going to stick even if he runs for the White House again – and even if he won again, a senior executive said on Wednesday.

The former president’s permanent block from Twitter is permanent, Twitter chief financial officer Ned Segal said during an interview on CNBC when he was asked whether Trump’s tweeting privileges could be restored if he ever returns to power.

“The way our policies work, when you’re removed from the platform, you’re removed from the platform,” Segal said.

He added: “Whether you’re a commentator, you’re a CFO, or you are a former or current public official. Remember, our policies are designed to make sure that people are not inciting violence, and if anybody does that, we have to remove them from the service and our policies don’t allow people to come back.” » | Guardian staff | Wednesday, February 10, 2021

Queen's Consent Is a Constitutional Outrage – Parliament Must Abolish It

THE GUARDIAN: If an MP or peer sought to secretly influence a draft bill in this way, it could lead to a criminal charge

The practice of Queen’s consent, on which the Guardian has shone a welcome light in recent days, is a constitutional outrage. It gives an unelected person the opportunity to require changes to draft legislation in order to benefit herself financially, or to exempt herself from laws she does not like, and to do so in secret without any public accountability.

If an MP or peer sought to secretly influence a draft bill to advantage themselves in this way, it would be called corruption. It could lead to a criminal charge.

The palace likes to pretend that the practice of Queen’s consent is all ceremonial, somehow rather quaint. “Any assertion that the sovereign has blocked legislation is simply incorrect,” they say. This is both accurate and entirely misleading. The Queen does not block legislation because she does not need to. The draft bill is sent to the palace and to her legal advisers. If they have objections, they will ring the Cabinet Office and relay these. Nothing is normally put in writing these days, to avoid a written record. The bill is then altered to meet the Queen’s wishes and the revised version is then sent back and gains her consent. You see? Nothing has been “blocked”. » | Norman Baker | Wednesday, February 10, 2021

What Did Ancient Rome Look Like? (Cinematic Animation)

What Did Ancient Rome Really Look Like? Ancient Rome reconstruction featuring realistic 3D animation.

What Did Ancient Greece Look Like? (Cinematic Animation)

What Did Ancient Greece Really Look Like? Watch this Ancient Greece recreation featuring realistic 3D animation to find out.

What Did Ancient Egypt Look Like? (Cinematic Animation)

Watch this Ancient Egypt recreation featuring realistic 3D animation to find out. Get Ancient Egypt

Reaching for That Pack of Smokes? You Aren’t the Only One

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Lots of people seem to be smoking again or more during the pandemic, if anecdotal evidence and preliminary sales figures for tobacco products are any measure.

“Good quality surveys operate at a lag,” said Vaughan W. Rees, the director of the Center for Global Tobacco Control at Harvard University, referring to reliable smoking studies from institutions like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “But we are seeing interesting blips. The decline in tobacco sales has slowed in the past 10 months.”

While tobacco sales in the United States have generally fallen in recent decades (14 percent of Americans smoked in 2019, compared with nearly 21 percent in 2005, according to an annual report from the C.D.C. that tracks smoking rates), the decline flattened last year.

“The total volume of cigarettes sold in the U.S. typically declines by 3 or 4 percent,” said Adam Spielman, a managing director at Citi who follows the tobacco industry. “But in 2020, volume is flat and that’s a significant change, driven mostly by the fact that people have less things to spend money on right now.” Smokers also cited stress as a reason for lighting up. » | Monica Corcoran Harel | Saturday, February 6, 2021

Fury at Gove as Exports to EU Slashed by 68% since Brexit

THE OBSERVER: Hauliers say Cabinet Office minister ignored warnings, amid fears that worse is to come with introduction of import checks in July

The volume of exports going through British ports to the EU fell by a staggering 68% last month compared with January last year, mostly as a result of problems caused by Brexit, the Observer can reveal.

The dramatic drop in the volume of traffic carried on ferries and through the Channel tunnel has been reported to Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove by the Road Haulage Association after a survey of its international members. In a letter to Gove dated 1 February, the RHA’s chief executive, Richard Burnett, also told the minister he and his officials had repeatedly warned over several months of problems and called for measures to lessen difficulties – but had been largely ignored.

In particular he had made clear throughout last year there was an urgent need to increase the number of customs agents to help firms with mountains of extra paperwork. The number now, around 10,000, is still about a fifth of what the RHA says is required to handle the massive increase in paperwork facing exporters. » | Toby Helm | Saturday, February 6, 2021

Muslim Revert Stories - From Jewish Atheist to Islam

1. A revert to Islam describes his early life born in a Jewish family but strongly atheist and his first encounters with Muslims. 2. Early encounters with Islam. Spiritual awakening and seeking proof Islam is the truth. 3. Born to a Jewish family but throughout life atheist in belief a Muslim revert describes how he finally accepts Islam and becomes Muslim. 4. Muslim revert born to a Jewish family gives advice to Muslims as well as Jews, Christians and other non-Muslims.

The Guardian View on Republican Extremism: Trumpism Flourishes

THE GUARDIAN: Some of the party’s elite may be belatedly awakening to the costs of their cynical choices, but others are doubling down

That someone is ludicrous doesn’t stop them being dangerous, as Donald Trump and now Marjorie Taylor Greene have demonstrated. The new Georgia congresswoman has not only repeatedly spread racist and antisemitic statements; she has suggested a Jewish banking family might have been involved in starting wildfires with “space lasers”, repeatedly endorsed QAnon conspiracy theories and questioned whether the Pentagon was attacked on 9/11. Her views are no less poisonous and extremist for being so bizarre.

The most frightening and extraordinary thing about her, however, is that she is now welcome at the heart of the Republican party. Though Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, has described her “loony lies and conspiracy theories” as “a cancer for the Republican party”, his diagnosis comes much too late. Kevin McCarthy, his counterpart in the House, boasts of a “big tent” – so large that it now includes those who have supported the killing of political opponents. It took Democrats to strip Ms Greene of her committee positions via a House vote on Thursday, an unprecedented move that should never have been necessary. They are happy to seize the opportunity to portray the GOP as Ms Greene’s party. But they are not so wrong to do so. » | Editorial | Friday, February 5, 2021

Biden: Trump Should Not Receive Intelligence Briefings due to His 'Erratic Behavior'

THE GUARDIAN: Biden says predecessor shouldn’t have access to briefings, which are traditionally offered to presidents even after leaving office

Joe Biden has said that he doesn’t believe his predecessor, Donald Trump, should have access to any intelligence briefings due to his “erratic behavior”.

“I think not,” Biden said in a Friday evening interview, when asked by the CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell if Trump should get the briefings.

“Because of his erratic behavior unrelated to the insurrection,” Biden said, referring to the 6 January storming of the US Capitol by Trump’s supporters. Former US presidents traditionally receive some intelligence briefings even after they have left office. » | Reuters | Saturday, February 6, 2021

Fox News Cancels Lou Dobbs Tonight

THE GUARDIAN: Dobbs, who hosted Fox Business Network’s highest-rated show, was a key driver of baseless election fraud claims

Fox Business Network has canceled the show of Lou Dobbs, the ardent Donald Trump supporter with a history of espousing misinformation who promoted baseless conspiracy theories of voting fraud after the election.

Friday evening marked the final airing of Lou Dobbs Tonight, Dobbs’ regular weeknight program. The Fox host was a major contributor to the false narrative that the election was stolen and continued espousing those views on his program even after admitting that they lacked actual proof.

“Eight weeks from the election and we still don’t have verifiable, tangible support for the crimes that everyone knows were committed,” he said on air in January.

Dobbs, 75, has hosted the program since 2011. Trump considered it must-see TV and even reportedly patched the host through during key policy meetings. » | Gabrielle Canon and agency | Saturday, February 6, 2021

Good riddance! – Mark

Die Reise des Gläubigen | IMANTALK

Uns besuchte Martin der Leiter vom Projekt "Betreuung Neuer Muslime". Der Konvertit sprach über seine Shahada im Jahr 2006, warum er den Weg zum Islam gefunden hat und was ihm besonders als Neuer Muslim gefehlt hat. Deswegen betreut Martin jetzt neue Muslime bei IMAN und besucht mit die Reise des Gläubigen, wo neuen Muslime eine persönliche Betreuung angeboten wird. Wie das aussieht erzählt er uns bei #IMANTALK

Dies ist ein interessantes Gespräch mit einem Österreicher aus Wien, der sich vor etlichen Jahren zum Islam bekehrte. Er spricht über sein neues Leben und Glauben als Muslim. – ©Mark

UK Banks Given Six Months to Prepare for Negative Interest Rates

THE GUARDIAN: Bank of England’s monetary policy committee votes to keep rate at 0.1% but gives banks six-month deadline

The Bank of England took a step closer to introducing negative interest rates for the first time on Thursday, after it gave lenders six months to prepare for such a move.

Threadneedle Street’s monetary policy committee (MPC) voted unanimously to keep the official interest rate at historically low levels while it agreed to set the deadline for banks to prepare themselves after policymakers said they were ready to make negative lending rates part of their toolkit.

According to the minutes of the MPC meeting, officials were split over asking lenders to put in place the measures needed to facilitate negative rates on loans and mortgages, with some fearing it would signal to investors that the central bank planned to move ahead in the next few months. » | Phillip Inman | Thursday, February 4, 2021

The Caliph P1: Foundation | Featured Documentary

The Caliph - Part 1: Foundation - Featured Documentary

For almost 13 centuries, from the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 632 to the overthrow of the last Ottoman caliph in 1924, the Islamic world was ruled by a caliph.

Translated from the Arabic ‘Khalifa’, the word ‘caliph’ means successor or deputy. The caliph was considered the successor to the Prophet Muhammad.

It is a term that has, at times, been abused.

In June 2014, a militant group calling itself the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (known as ISIL or ISIS) declared the establishment of a caliphate and proclaimed its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, a caliph. This proclamation was rejected by the overwhelming majority of the world’s Muslims.

ISIL had attempted to appropriate a title imbued with religious and political significance – and in doing so had cast a dark shadow over a rich history.

This is the story of the caliph, a title that originated 1,400 years ago and that spanned one of the greatest empires the world has ever known.

In this episode of the Caliph, Al Jazeera tells the story of the caliphate, providing a fascinating insight into how the first caliphs of Islam built and expanded their empire.

Director: Husein Alrazzaz

Conway: We're Watching Moral Collapse of Republican Party

CNN's Anderson Cooper speaks with conservative lawyer George Conway about Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who has pushed continued claims of election fraud and conspiracy theories about school shootings and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Also, CNN's Ryan Nobles reports on what actions the Republican Party may take against Taylor Greene.

Canada Designates Proud Boys as Terrorist Organization beside Isis and Al-Qaida

THE GUARDIAN: Move follows allegations that the rightwing group played a role in the mob attack on the US Capitol in January

Canada has designated the far-right Proud Boys group as a terrorist organization alongside Isis and al-Qaida, amid growing concerns over the spread of white supremacist groups in the country.

On Wednesday Bill Blair, public safety minister, also announced the federal government would designate the white nationalist and neo-Nazi groups the Atomwaffen Division, the Base and the Russian Imperial Movement as terrorist entities. The federal government also added offshoots of al-Qaida, Isis and Hizbul Mujahedin to its list.

“Canada will not tolerate ideological, religious or politically motivated acts of violence,” Blair said. » | Leyland Cecco in Toronto | Wednesday, February 3, 2021

Jeff Bezos to Step Down as Amazon Chief Executive

BBC: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is to step down as chief executive of the e-commerce giant that he founded in his garage nearly 30 years ago.

He will become executive chairman, a move he said would give him "time and energy" to focus on his other ventures.

Mr Bezos, the world's richest man, will be replaced by Andy Jassy, who currently leads Amazon's cloud computing business.

The change will take place in the second half of 2021, the company said.

"Being the CEO of Amazon is a deep responsibility, and it's consuming. When you have a responsibility like that, it's hard to put attention on anything else," Mr Bezos said in an [sic] letter to Amazon staff on Tuesday.

"As Exec Chair I will stay engaged in important Amazon initiatives but also have the time and energy I need to focus on the Day 1 Fund, the Bezos Earth Fund, Blue Origin, The Washington Post, and my other passions."

"I've never had more energy, and this isn't about retiring. I'm super passionate about the impact I think these organizations can have," he added. » | BBC | Tuesday, February 2, 2021

Russland: Kreml-Kritiker Nawalny zu mehr als zwei Jahren Straflager verurteilt | WELT Analyse

Der Kreml-Kritiker Alexej Nawalny ist in Russland zu mehr als zwei Jahren Haft in einem Straflager verurteilt worden. Das zuständige Gericht in Moskau entschied am Dienstag, dass der 44-Jährige eine bereits verhängte dreieinhalbjährige Bewährungsstrafe nun in einer Strafkolonie ableisten müsse. Allerdings werde ein früherer Hausarrest von der Zeit abgezogen.

Die im Hausarrest verbrachte Zeit gelte als abgeleistete Haftstrafe, sagte Richterin Natalja Repnikowa. Nach Angaben von Nawalnys Team würde dies etwa zweieinhalb Jahre Haft im Straflager für ihn bedeuten. Das Gericht machte zur genauen Zeitspanne zunächst keine Angaben.

Unmittelbar nach Bekanntgabe des Urteils riefen Anhänger des wichtigsten Widersachers von Präsident Wladimir Putin zu einer sofortigen Demonstration in Moskau auf. "Wir ziehen ins Zentrum von Moskau", schrieben sie im Online-Dienst Twitter und riefen die Menschen auf, sich ihnen anzuschließen.

Nawalny hatte sich in der Anhörung vehement gegen eine drohende Gefängnisstrafe gewehrt und die Russen zum weiteren Widerstand aufgerufen. Hauptziel des juristischen Vorgehens gegen ihn sei es, "Millionen Menschen Angst einzujagen", sagte der 44-Jährige vor Gericht.

Nawalny war 2014 wegen des Vorwurfs der Unterschlagung zu dreieinhalb Jahren Haft verurteilt worden, die Strafe wurde aber zur Bewährung ausgesetzt. Diese Aussetzung auf Bewährung wurde nun zurückgezogen, weil Nawalny gegen Bewährungsauflagen verstoßen haben soll.

Nawalny war direkt nach seiner Rückkehr aus Deutschland in sein Heimatland am 17. Januar am Flughafen in Moskau festgenommen und im Eilverfahren zu 30 Tagen Haft verurteilt worden. Es war eine von bereits mehreren kürzeren Haftstrafen gegen Nawalny, lange Zeitstrecken wie die nun drohenden zweieinhalb Jahre war er aber noch nie in Haft.

Die Festnahme am Moskauer Flughafen hatten die russischen Behörden bereits mit Verstößen gegen Bewährungsauflagen begründet: Nawalny sei unter anderem während seines Aufenthalts in Deutschland seiner Pflicht nicht nachgekommen, sich zweimal monatlich bei den Behörden zu melden. In Deutschland war der 44-Jährige nach einem Giftanschlag in Sibirien behandelt worden, durch den er beinahe getötet worden wäre und für den er den Kreml verantwortlich macht.

Russian Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny Jailed for Two Years and Eight Months

THE GUARDIAN: Court locks up Putin’s foe despite threat of protests and international condemnation

A Moscow court has sentenced Alexei Navalny to two years and eight months in a prison colony in a landmark decision for Vladimir Putin’s crackdown on the country’s leading opposition figure.

Navalny, who has accused the Russian president and his allies of stealing billions, was jailed for violating parole from a 2014 sentence for embezzlement in a case he has said was politically motivated.

The court’s decision makes Navalny the most prominent political prisoner in Russia and may be the most important verdict against a foe of Putin’s since the 2005 jailing of the oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

After a judge read the verdict, subtracting the 10 months he had spent under house arrest from his original three-and-a-half-year sentence, Navalny and his wife Yulia stared at each other across the court room. She took off her mask, smiled, waved, and then shrugged. “Don’t be sad! Everything’s going to be alright!” he yelled to her. She declined to comment as she walked out of the courtroom, looking straight ahead.

Minutes before he had drawn a heart on the glass surrounding the dock as a message to her. » | Andrew Roth in Moscow | Tuesday, February 2, 2021