As the Far Right Gains in Germany, Merkel Weakens

[steve2470]

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/19/world/europe/merkel-germany-far-right.html

BERLIN — For nearly two weeks Chancellor Angela Merkel tried to find a way to fire her own domestic intelligence chief, a man who had publicly contradicted her and become the darling of the far right for questioning the authenticity of a video showing angry white men chasing an immigrant.

But she couldn’t — not without risking the collapse of her fragile government.

Hans-Georg Maassen, the rebellious spy, has powerful friends, among them his immediate boss, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, the leader of the Bavarian conservatives and one of Ms. Merkel’s pricklier coalition partners.

Instead of firing Mr. Maassen, Ms. Merkel had to allow Mr. Seehofer to promote him. Mr. Maassen will get a pay raise of about 2,500 euros a month.

[blm]

1. Putin and Bannon tactics are working.

.

[saidsimplesimon]

2. I am seeing red.

Best to keep my thoughts to myself when angry.

I will say, Putin and Bannon are red birds of a feather. No wonder that Russian tool in our WH keeps dissing our FBI and the entire intelligence community.

[Fred Sanders]

3. The fascists can be bought for 2500 Euros a month? Good to know!

Also the article mentions, in one line only...regarding the comments of the "faked video"...

"He later walked back on his claims, saying he had been “misunderstood.”" So no longer the darling of the far right?? Mr. Article Writer? Why jut one line on that and a one word quote??

As with Sweden the political ascension of the far right to anyl political power has been widely over rated.

[dalton99a]

4. The Hidden Russian Hand Behind Germany's Violent Right-Wing Riots

https://observer.com/2018/08/is-vladimir-putin-behind-right-wing-riots-in-chemnitz-germany/

Russian intelligence has connections to right-wing hooligans in several European countries, Germany included. As I reported two years ago, there are detectable connections between Kremlin military intelligence, known as GRU, and football hooligans in Western Europe. Russia has forged ties to right-wing hooligans under the guise of sport solidarity, while some of Moscow’s violence-prone professional superfans, called ultras, are known GRU operatives.

Moreover, GRU, which has formed links with far-right activists across Europe, has been busy in Germany doing the same thing, as uncovered by the journalist Boris Reitschuster, who two years ago warned that Moscow was building secret cadres of German agents under the cover of sport. As Reitschuster explained, GRU employs Russian martial arts clubs to spot and assess potential recruits, to be used for future espionage and even attacks on German targets.

Is this what’s happening in Chemnitz this week? Gunter Pilz, a German academic specializing in the intersection of sport and extremism, explains that there is a real and growing problem here. “The new hooligan scene is quite clearly oriented to the right wing,” he stated regarding the Chemnitz debacle. “Unlike the hooligan scene in the 1980s, groups today are very well organized and networked,” Pilz explained, adding, “The scene is heavily dominated by Russian hooligans who organize martial arts events.” Some of them are proud of their part in the mayhem. Russian nationals have boasted about traveling to Chemnitz from Bavaria, arriving with baseball bats to help the right-wing protestors.

My friends in German intelligence have confirmed this, and they are concerned that GRU has stoked the right wing in their country and that Moscow is poisoning German politics with violence-prone extremists, some of whom are directly controlled by the Kremlin. “We can see links between Russia and some of the rioters this week,” a German security official told me, adding that the security services are concerned that the Merkel government does not take this threat seriously enough.