This week our author went through several goodbyes. But not all of them are painful. For example, she doesn't cry airmail.
Also a farewell this week: after more than 62 years, Deutsche Post has suspended its domestic letter flights. Photo: Soeren Stache/dpa
Some things you only discover when they no longer exist. On Thursday I read that the era of German domestic airmail is over. Apparently, the last postal plane took off on the night of Wednesday to Thursday. For the benefit of climate protection. Almost no one will probably notice the loss: although six planes transport 1.5 million letters across the country every night, this represents only three percent of the total mail that the postal service transports nationally each day.
also with that Voice of Europe – the voice of Europe – is over again. The Internet portal, which wanted to present itself as a trusted news source, is offline. The Czech secret service BIS, which I had never heard of but will probably still operate, denounced it as a Russian troll factory that was supposed to influence the European elections. As a medium I was Voice of Europe never met. But it was not only the Czech Republic that considered him a threat to the security of its country. Several European secret services participated in the operation.
Not only pro-Russian and anti-Ukrainian propaganda is spread through the portal. It is also said to have served to covertly finance candidates in the European elections in Germany, France, Poland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Hungary.
Apparently, several AfD politicians have given interviews to the portal, including Maximilian Krah and Petr Bystron, numbers one and two on their party's European electoral list. They both denied it Mirrordonations from Voice of Europe have received. It would probably also be a waste of money: both have long been known for their proximity to Russia.
troll factory
The diversity of the press is a valuable asset. that the troll portal Voice of Europe Now it's down, but it's not a loss. There are already enough dubious web portals that spread unsubstantiated texts. In Germany alone, there are numerous online portals in the right-wing swamp that call themselves “alternative media” and which, rightly so, are completely unknown to the majority of people. Recently, the taz took a closer look at some of the major media outlets.
This week the conspiracy ideology portal made multipolar talk about it, although some reputable media simply did not mention the name of the blog at all. After a legal dispute with multipolar The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) had to publish the Corona crisis team protocols for 2020 and 2021.
The online magazine then tried to create a scandal, especially with the editorial staff. There was speculation that external parties, perhaps even members of the government, had ordered the RKI in March 2020 to raise the coronavirus risk assessment from “moderate” to “high.” This was intended to demonstrate that it was not a scientific decision, but rather a political one. The RKI rejected it. One crucial name crossed out is that of an employee of the institute.
multipolar By the way, it's still online. And now he believes that his criticism of the Corona measures, which he has presented in recent years with more and sometimes fewer facts, is confirmed.
Sink into conspiracy platforms
For this reason alone it is good that the debate on the protocols published by the RKI triggers a critical evaluation of the pandemic years: to look at the actions of the government and state institutions during the Corona period seriously and factually. The fact that the vaccine was administered by a political elite just to make people comply will certainly not be revealed. Such statements should remain buried in little-known conspiratorial ideological portals.
Perhaps more of them will come to light as being funded by Russia, briefly make headlines, and then disappear from the Internet. At Easter you can simply make a wish.