Germany (catch all, incl. terrorism)

[bourbon]

Incendiary Informants - Did German Intelligence Fuel Far-Right Extremism?, Spiegel Online, 11/06/2012.

A secret paper written by senior police officers paints a disastrous picture of Germany's domestic intelligence agency. It suggests that the service may have actually strengthened the country's far-right scene through its large network of far-right informants.

Very interesting, but painful to read.

[davidbfpo]

A superb FT article on the context for the neo-Nazi or extreme nationalist fringe in Germany and those who use violence:http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/dfda3010-3...44feabdc0.html

The article asks:

What does the case reveal about the rise of the far right in the former GDR?.....the affair has also revived an equally fundamental concern: why has far right ideology gained a foothold in the former GDR, attracting young people who emerged from the wreckage of communism?

Interesting angle in:

Bernd Wagner was an East German policeman who began hunting neo-Nazis in the East in 1964, long before unification, when he was based at Berlin’s infamous police headquarters in the Alex#an#d#er#platz.....now runs an organisation called Exit from a nondescript office in east Berlin, dedicated to helping young people escape from the far-right “scene”. “We are a contact group for people who want to break with their ideology,” he says. “We’re here to help them give up.” It is not an easy task. “Don’t think these are just young people. Today’s activists are 25 to 55. They have ‘recruiters’ in the music scene, the clubs and culture scene. It’s a spider’s web right across Germany.

[Fuchs]

Keep in mind that this far right is without actual political influence, a minority in just about everything (including at their own demonstrations, which are always outnumbered by counter-demonstrations) and are rarely taken seriously due to their let's say 'lack of intellectualism'.


The real risk of right extremist or authoritarian ideas exerting influence is to be found in the influence of closet right wingers in the conservative parties (especially in Bavaria) and in Schill's now-defunct Hamburg party in Hamburg.

The overt right extremist subculture (we have seemingly hundreds of subcultures in Germany!) is below marginalised in German society in all but a few rural areas of Saxony.

Just an example: This is the NPD's (their party) equivalent of the RNC/DNC:



So no matter how much is being told and written about their recruiting network and subculture; keep in mind it's being written because people are sensitive to the need to keep extremists marginalised at the far edge of society.

[davidbfpo]

Only a few months remain for a parliamentary inquiry into failures by German security agencies over a series of murders carried out by the NSU right-wing terrorists. But important evidence is still missing.

A short update and surprise, surprise:

Even in the agencies, there's a clear admission that the right hand did not know what the left hand was doing.

Link:http://www.dw.de/time-runs-out-for-f...iry/a-16529520

[davidbfpo]

A new book by a respected author; this is the publisher's website:http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-2...0/german-jihad

[davidbfpo]

An interesting report, although probably familiar to Germans. 'German neo-Nazi trial gives insight into secret life of Beate Zschpe', sub-titled:

To her neighbours in the quiet German town of Zwickau, she was the "friendly, sociable and generous" young woman who liked to drop by for a glass of prosecco. To her comrades on the German far Right, she was a smart, assertive and violent member of their secret terrorist militia.

Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...e-Zschape.html

[davidbfpo]

The group of neo-nazis responsible for racially motivated murders across Germany has appeared here before, last post is above, and then dropped out of sight. The BBC has two short reports and so I learmt:

Beate Zschaepe has been on trial for more than two years.

Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35039672 and http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35049586

Update: what did the lady say in court? See:http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...e-over-attacks