Spiegel online International: The Isolated Chancellor: What Is Driving Angela Merkel? By Markus Feldenkirchen and René Pfister.
“Chancellor Angela Merkel spent a decade amassing political capital. Now, with the refugee crisis showing no signs of abating, she has decided to spend it. With her legacy in the balance, she has finally found an issue to fight for. But why now?”
Discussion about this article on MetaFilter: “And when you let them in, you don’t grimace”.
Inquiring Minds Podcast: The Science of Gun Violence.
I listened to this podcast episode today (it aired on October 16,2015) and found it had much food for thought. They interviewed Brad J. Bushman, who is a professor of communication and psychology and has studied the causes, consequences, and solutions to the problem of human aggression and violence. He also is a member of President Obama’s committee on gun violence.
Unfortunately I didn’t find a transcript of the podcast, but you can take a quick look at Bushman’s research results in this set of presentation slides: Understanding Potential Linkages of Gun Violence to Media Violence.
Deutsche Welle:
Update:
Cologne New Year’s Eve complaints rise sharply.
“Police say more than 500 complaints have now been filed in connection with the New Year’s Eve attacks, with about 40 percent involving sexual offenses. Germany’s justice minister said the violence appeared orchestrated.”
516 so far – yikes. I wonder how high this number will rise over the next few days.
German Justice Minister: Cologne attacks planned in advance.
“Minister of Justice Heiko Maas has said he believes the sexual assaults in Cologne were ‘coordinated and prepared’ ahead of time. He also accused xenophobic groups of using the crimes to stir up hatred.”
Cologne New Year assault reports more than double in number.
“Cologne police have said the number of women coming forward with complaints that they were assaulted on New Year’s Eve has risen to 379. A large minority of the reported crimes were said to be of a sexual nature.”
New York Times: Germany’s Post-Cologne Hysteria by Anna Sauerbrey.
I posted some links about this two days ago, but have decided to find some reports in English since there seem to be reports on this in other countries. Garret asks on his weblog: “Is this true, German friends?”
MetaFilter: Cologne Police Chief Forced to Resign. “After more than 100 women and girls came forward with reports of sexual assault and robbery by gangs of men in the German city of Cologne on New Year’s Eve, Cologne’s police chief has been removed from his post.”
The discussion is ongoing, and there are more links in the front page post and the discussion.
Cologne Assaults: Police Report Outlines ‘Chaotic and Shameful’ New Year’s Eve.
“Law enforcement officials lost control of the situation in Cologne on New Year’s Eve, according to an internal report by Germany’s national police, the Bundespolizei, obtained by DER SPIEGEL. The author of the report, dated Jan. 4, is a senior official. He writes: “Women, accompanied or not, literally ran a ‘gauntlet’ through masses of heavily intoxicated men that words cannot describe.” The horde in front of and inside the train station was unmoved by the presence of police.”
Chaos and Violence: How New Year’s Eve in Cologne Has Changed Germany.
Mobs and Counter-Mobs: Pitfalls, Prejudice and the Cologne Sexual Assaults. A Commentary by Sascha Lobo (official homepage).
Protests: Police deploy in force at Cologne demos. “Police in the German city of Cologne have turned out in force at demonstrations by far-right groups and their opponents. The protests come in the wake of the attacks on women on New Year’s Eve.”
Refugees: Germany mulls deporting asylum seekers following Cologne attacks. “At a party meeting, Angela Merkel’s CDU party will address heightening security and lowering barriers to deporting migrants convicted of crimes. It comes on the back of the attacks on women in Cologne on New Year’s Eve.”
Germany: Reports: asylum seekers among Cologne attacks suspects. “Police identified some suspects who harassed women in Cologne on New Year’s Eve as asylum seekers, media reports say. City police reportedly did not want to publicize this because of its “politically awkward” nature.”
Germany: Merkel says Cologne NYE assaults will have far-reaching consequences. “German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that the harassment of women at Cologne’s central train station on New Year’s Eve will have a far-reaching impact. She said such criminal acts were unacceptable in Germany.”
Unfortunately Zeit online in English hasn’t published/translated any articles on this yet, but I’ll add more links from other reputable sources other than Spiegel online if and when I find them.
Some German news media seem to have exaggerated the events in their reports, for example Focus, who report:
“In der Silvesternacht versammelten sich auf dem Kölner Bahnhofsvorplatz laut Polizei etwa 1000 Männer, die Frauen umzingelt, bedrängt und ausgeraubt haben sollen. Polizeipräsident Wolfgang Albers sprach am Montag von Sexualdelikten “in sehr massiver Form” und einer Vergewaltigung.”
(My translation:) “During the night of New Year’s Eve around 1,000 men congregated at the square in front of the main train station in Cologne and surrounded, hassled and robbed women. Police superintendent Wolfgang Albers spoke of massive sex offences and one rape.”
They don’t distinguish between a gathering of 1,000 people and the men among them who committed the crimes, which were, according to other media, smaller groups of men.
Zeit online:
Übergriffe an Silvester: Was geschah in Köln? “Nach den Übergriffen in Köln hat die Polizei 16 Verdächtige ausgemacht. Ihnen müssen Ermittler nun konkrete Straftaten nachweisen. Ein Polizeibericht legt Probleme offen.” Von Ana Maria Michel, Valerie Schönian, Frida Thurm und Tilman Steffen.
Übergriffe in Köln: “Die Stimmung wurde immer aggressiver”. “Hat die Kölner Polizei in der Silvesternacht richtig gehandelt? Ja, sagt ein erfahrener Beamter der Bereitschaftspolizei, der dabei war. Trotzdem ist er wütend.” Von Christoph Herwartz.
Übergriffe in Köln: “Der Mut zur Anzeige ist gestiegen”. “Silvester gab es nur drei Notrufe am Kölner Hauptbahnhof, nun zeigen viele Frauen sexuelle Übergriffe an. Sie überwinden ihre Scham, sagt Rainer Bruckert vom Weißen Ring.” Interview: Valerie Schönian.
Köln: Kölner Polizisten weichen von offizieller Darstellung ab. “Es soll Kontrollen und mögliche Täter-Hinweise gegeben haben: Polizisten haben die Kölner Silvesternacht aus ihrer Sicht geschildert. Die widerspricht der ihrer Chefs.” Quelle: Zeit Online, dpa, AFP, sk.
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