In Europe, where the pandemic has killed more than 100,000 people and caused economic devastation on a scale not seen since the Second World War, political leaders have been deafeningly silent on demanding accountability from China.
Germany’s ban on Hezbollah is a compromise measure between German lawmakers who want to take a harder line against Iran and those who do not. The ban appears aimed at providing the German government with political cover that allows Germany to claim that it has fully banned the group even if it has not.
Chinese diplomats around the world are waging an aggressive disinformation campaign aimed at controlling the narrative about the origins of the coronavirus.
The German government has promoted a fake news story asserting that the United States is trying to gain exclusive access to a coronavirus vaccine being developed by a German biotech firm.
Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court has ruled that the constitutionally guaranteed religious freedoms of Muslims can be curtailed if public displays of religiosity endanger the ideological and religious neutrality of the state.
Britain, France and Germany, the three European signatories of the Iran nuclear deal, have activated the agreement’s dispute mechanism in an effort to force Tehran into compliance with its commitment to curb its nuclear program.
U.S. President Donald Trump has criticized German Chancellor Angela Merkel for her refusal to increase defense spending while at the same time supporting the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that will funnel billions of dollars to Russia.
The resolution allows Hezbollah’s 30-plus German-based mosques and cultural centers — where the group raises funds and spreads anti-Israel propaganda — to continue to operate. Moreover, not one of the 1,050 known Hezbollah operatives now in Germany would be deported.
The resolution falls short of a complete ban on Hezbollah and appears aimed at providing the German government with political cover that would allow Germany to claim that it has banned the group even if it has not.
German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has unveiled a new plan to reform the European asylum system. A leaked draft of the proposal shows that all member states of the EU would be required to take in illegal migrants.
The Islamic State may have been “defeated” in the Middle East, it remains a potent danger to Europe.
