Christian Frank

Media reports are contradictory, but it seems that Bakhmut fell to the Tsar for now. I hope all Ukrainians were able to leave and are safe – it would be a horrible fate to fall prey to Wagner’s mercenaries.

There’s movement on the issue of fighter planes; I hope we will be able to supply Ukraine with modern plans soon.

Our government is reneging on almost all climate goals and measures and doing all it can to ruin our children’s future. On September 15, there’s the next global climate strike, and it’s more needed than ever!

On a positive note, summer is finally here!

According to the WMO, it will probably be the last one we will be able to enjoy outdoors, though.

(Summer, Cologne, 5/21/23)

 

From what we can hear, it seems that Ukraine was able to push some of the Tsar’s forces back from parts of Bakhmut – hopefully, this signals the beginning of a complete liberation!

The president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is visiting Germany right now – I am happy that he came, even after our police released sensitive information about his visit to the press. We also pledged a significant amount of money, weapons, and ammunition.

Why is it so difficult to understand that burning coal (or any other fossil fuel) will foster the climate emergency and make our planet uninhabitable? Last weekend we were in Lusatia to make our voices heard and tell LEAG to stop burning more coal there.

On a side note, we made the last place in the Eurovision Song Contest. Again 🙂

(Opening act, Schleife, 5/7/23)

No change in the past couple of weeks: The Tsar continues his murderous spree, with recent allegations that he is using phosphorous bombs on the people of Bakhmut. Despicable!

And yet there are still Putin friends in Germany, carrying Soviet-area flags, talking about peace, and asking Ukraine to surrender to the Tsar’s terror.

In case you haven’t donated yet: https://u24.gov.ua/

Our social democrats and their neo-liberal coalition partner are trying to thwart any attempt at fighting the climate crisis. They are extending the life of the fossil fuel industry at the expense of our children’s future.

(May day street fair, Ottmar-Pohl-Platz, 5/1/23)

The Tsar is committing one atrocity after another and continues slaughtering innocent people.

And there are still people here who question our military aid to Ukraine.

Should we rather sit back and observe the killing? Like we watch people drown in the Mediterranean Sea and starve at our borders?

But not all is lost on the left of the political spectrum; some very reasonable people are still actively working to achieve justice for all. Quite to the contrary, though, on the right side of the political spectrum – we currently observe a strong push on both sides of the Atlantic trying to marginalize and punish everybody who’s not cis-gender, hetero-normative, and White.

On the issue of global heating, our current government last week ended all pretenses to work to minimize the upcoming catastrophic impacts actively.

(Police protecting the political party that must not be named, Cologne, 4/2/23)

Nothing new in the East: The Tsar is throwing waves and waves of mercenaries, convicts, and conscripts against the brave defenders of Bakhmut, killing most of his people. The death toll is already much higher than in World War II so he can have a place in the history books.

Although it is clear that he is killing people for fun and personal gains, he still has friends on the far Right and the far Left. Some wanted to rally in Cologne this weekend, but we were there to counter them; in the end, they didn’t show up.

I love my city!

(Köln gegen Rechts, Heumarkt, 3/11/23)

One year in, the Tsar is still indiscriminately terrorizing and murdering people in Ukraine.

I have deep contempt for our Left (and Right, of course), who condone the Tsar’s actions and belittle the horrors he’s inflicting on innocent civilians. He’s a fascist dictator and a terrorist.

Russian scholars do not believe that there will be peace while the current Tsar is ruling Russia; they say that his goal is a state of perpetual war against the West rather than winning. Some scholars suggest that he might stop once East Germany is back under Russian influence and control.

In any case, we have no other chance than to push back and defend our freedom.

To enjoy our freedom, we will need a livable planet, and there we face another enemy: Corporate greed and ignorant politicians.

Last weekend we had a powerful global strike with one of the largest unions in Germany – we will need to stop using fossil fuels now, including for personal transportation. Or, as we fondly say: Car is over.

(Early buildup for the bicycle rally, Global Climate Strike, Cologne, 3/3/23)

Next week it will be one year since the Tsar went and invaded neighboring Ukraine. The murder continues unabated, combined with a relentless assault on civilian infrastructure.

According to vice-president Kamala Harris, the US has formally concluded that the Tsar is committing crimes against humanity and that those involved will be held accountable.

Not so our far-left, who, out of an old allegiance to the former Soviet Union, are attempting to frame the Tsar’s murders as a peace effort. Same for the far-right, who will support any dictator to undermine our democracy.

You cannot call for negotiations if one side does not want to negotiate.

In Germany, after losing all state elections in a row, the market liberal party in the government is trying to block all measures to protect our climate that could displease their last remaining voters. Die-hard car lovers are rejoicing, but we will all suffer greatly.

On March 3, there will be the next global climate strike!

 

(Location scouting, Cologne, 2/4/23)

The war and the murders continue, and the Tsar prepares for a spring assault.

In Germany, the far Left (Sarah Wagenknecht), the far Right (unmentionable), and the TERFs (Alice Schwarzer) get together to spread the Tsar’s propaganda and condemn the people of Ukraine to a life of darkness and servitude.

In the US, the governor of Florida (Ron DeSantis) increasingly sounds like Putin in their war on western culture and a tolerant and open society. Banning books has never helped society to mend and grow.

Turkiye and Syria have been devastated by an earthquake – the only organization that I am aware of that can support the people in the north of Syria is the White Helmets.

Coming up: The next global climate strike is on March 3rd!

(Albertus-Magnus Platz, Cologne, 2/11/23)

 

Almost a year into the war, the Tsar is not relenting in his murderous assaults on Ukraine.

We have finally agreed to transfer Leopard-2 battle tanks and, more recently, Leopard-1. Now all that’s missing is the actual shipment. As usual, the US is first and has sent their Bradleys on their way.

In an exciting turn of events, China sent spy balloons to the Americas and was not happy when the US shot one of them down.

Elon has done it again and announced that access to the Twitter API would only be available for paying customers. It’s his property, and he’s free to do what he wants, but did he have to ruin Twitter for his vision of an ‘everything’ app?

GitHub has given Mastodon its seal of approval, and it’s now available in the GitHub profile section.

(Mastodon profile with GitHub verification, 2/2/23)

While the Tsar is still murdering people in Ukraine, there is some good news: The West will finally deliver battle tanks!

Given the general scholziness of our government, it will take some time for Leopard-2 tanks to arrive from Germany, but other more nimble countries are now free to send them faster. We have finally started training soldiers on using the light Marten tanks.

The deal between our Greens and RWE Power is even worse than we thought: According to German TV, it’s all about paying RWE to invest in new power plants and covering for potential losses.

Maybe the climate emergency does not exist for the Greens? Whatever their real reasons were, the Greens are no longer a partner to protect our planet with.

(Lützerath support rally, 1/20/23, Cologne)