Christian Frank

2025 will be a year of political struggle, not least because of the upcoming general election in February.

We will need to work hard to keep climate and gender justice on the map and prevent a further shift to the right. The conservatives present easy answers. Unfortunately, they won’t work.

We can do better!

(New Year, Bowling Green, 1/1/25)

What a week! First, there were elections in the US, and then there was the collapse of our government. Not to mention all the reports on global heating.

For the Ukraine, the elections in the US are pretty bad news. The incoming US president admires the tsar and will most likely force Ukraine to surrender, validating Putin’s killing spree.

For Israel, the elections in the US are pretty good news. The incoming US president has pledged full and unconditional support for Netanyahu’s killing spree.

According to his statements, he will also exit the Paris Agreement, dooming our planet and all of us while he retreats to his new buddy Elon’s island.

Amid all this chaos, the ruling coalition government broke apart due to the utter incompetence of our finance secretary. This will force the country into snap elections at a time when we would need stability and preparations for the US’s exit from the world stage.

Can we have some good news for Christmas, please?

(“Ne schön”, Berlin, 10/27/24)

What a whirlwind of weeks it was!

After Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race, the new Harris-Walz campaign hit the ground running and energized the whole country with a new sense of hope and joy.

Ukraine has started to invade Russia, and so far, it seems to be successful and bring relief. The Tsar has to redeploy troops and lessen the onslaught in the occupied territories.

In the Israeli-Arab war, the tensions are still running high, and we’re waiting every day for a retaliatory attack.

Our Liberals (FDP) have declared war on climate and our future by endorsing cars and making an attempt to hinder the deployment of solar panels. In 2024. Petro-masculinity at its best.

Similarly, a Dutch company, ONE-Dyas, wants to start exploring a new gas field in the Wadden Sea World Heritage site in 2024.

Why are there so many White males who want to destroy our future gleefully?

(Temperature display, Düsseldorf, 8/12/24)

The Tsar is still waging his horrible war against the people of Ukraine, and we still cannot understand why he is enjoying killing people so much and why nobody is stopping him. The first F-16s seem to be arriving in Ukraine. Hopefully, they will make a difference!

The other war is expanding to Lebanon and Yemen, and there’s still no hope for a peaceful resolution in sight. In recent developments, Hamas and Fatah have taken the first steps to overcome their differences.

Both wars heavily depend on the United States support and position, and there is a positive development for the next election! Joe Biden decided to leave the race and has endorsed Kamala Harris, who has a much higher chance of defending democracy against Donald Trump.

Cologne Pride was a huge success, with about 1.4 Million people attending and a very colorful parade – much needed with homophobia and transphobia on the rise worldwide!

(Progress Flag, 7/21/24, Cologne)

There is no significant change in Russia’s war against Ukraine; the new delivery of weapons and ammunition helps, and the promised F-16 fighters should arrive soon.

The EU presidency changed and is now with Hungary for six months. The Hungarian PM, Victor Orbán, visited Kyiv to ask Ukraine to stop defending itself against the invasion. Then, he went on to see the Tsar and pay his respects. After being criticized by his European peers, he canceled a meeting with the German foreign minister. What?

Looking at politics in the eastern countries and states, I sometimes wonder if people there would actually be happier if they aligned more closely with Russia. Maybe Western Europe has stretched too far to the East, and we should let people who prefer the Tsar and authoritarianism over Democracy live their lives as they want to.

The Arab-Israeli war continues unabated, with enormous civilian deaths and no avenue to peace in sight. There are way too many older men clinging to power.

The European elections do not bode well for the EU Green Deal; however, the UK elections might boost climate justice. And, in an exciting turn of events, the head of the conservative Christian Democrats in Germany has confessed his love for heat pumps!

(Road to Nowhere, 6/28/24, Fischenich)

The renewed military supplies from the US seem to enable Ukraine to halt and push back the Tsar’s advance in the invasion. Still, there’s a long way to push back the invaders and achieve peace.

In the eastern states of Germany, the right-wing political parties (CDU, BSW, noAfD) who support the Tsar’s agenda are starting a smear campaign against Ukrainian refugees. It gets pretty interesting in the case of the CDU, which is very much pro-Ukrainian in the western states; only in the eastern states do they peddle the hateful nationalist, pro-Putin rhetoric.

As much as there seems to be a silver lining on the horizon for Ukraine, there’s no progress in the Israeli-Arab war. Quite the contrary, every day brings new potential conflicts and border fights; even the Israeli military now concedes that Hamas cannot be beaten with military means. But, the Israeli prime minister has resolved the war cabinet and now rules without any moderate influence.

This week, the climate won a small victory: the EU parliament finally voted in favor of the Nature Restoration Law!

The European elections were a disaster. Not unexpectedly, people voted for right-wing parties in several countries, including Germany. Voter analysis reveals a significant gender gap—the percentage of (young) males voting right-wing is much higher than that of the rest of the population.

(Vantage point, Fischenich, 6/20/24)