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Published 13 December 2022

··German ‘Coup’ Prompts Push to Purge Extremism in Police and Military
Right-wing extremists could be sacked from German police ranks more quickly

··Inside the Far Right QAnon Plot to Overthrow the German Government
The Reichsbürger group was inspired by QAnon ideology

··The Autocrat in Your iPhone
How mercenary spyware threatens democracy

··Can the French Nuclear Industry Avoid Meltdown?
France should be basking in the warm glow of controlled fission reactions, but it does not

··The United States Couldn’t Stop Being Stupid if It Wanted To
For Washington, self-imposed restraint will always be a contradiction in terms

German ‘Coup’ Prompts Push to Purge Extremism in Police and Military  (Tim Stickings, The National News)
Right-wing extremists could be sacked from German police ranks more quickly after the discovery of an alleged armed coup plot. Prosecutors said they uncovered a terrorist cell including ex-soldiers that hoped to recruit from the police and military. It was the latest in a series of alarming incidents involving alleged far-right sympathies in the German security forces. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser wants to reform disciplinary rules for public servants after last week’s raids. It would allow police to sack suspected far-right sympathizers without going through a lengthy court procedure. But her plans face resistance from police unions and critics who accuse her of presuming guilt. A union representing federal police posted a cartoon of Faeser suggesting she was pursuing a witch hunt. It shows a police officer being burnt at the stake and being told by Faeser to prove they are not a witch. “Reversing the burden of proof would be the real putsch,” said Georg Pazderski, a former soldier and far-right politician in Berlin. Faeser denied throwing a blanket of suspicion on police, and said the majority of officers were loyal to the constitution. But she said “enemies of the constitution” should be removed from public service as quickly as possible.

Inside the Far Right QAnon Plot to Overthrow the German Government  (David Gilbert, Vice)
German investigators sent shockwaves across the country, and the world, when they unmasked a suspected far-right terror network on Wednesday that includes a minor aristocrat, special forces soldiers, and a former lawmaker, who had drawn up plans to violently overthrow the German government. For anyone who has paid any attention to the rising far-right extremist problem in Germany in recent years, it came as no surprise when the prosecutors revealed that the members of the network they uncovered subscribed to the radical Reichsbürger or “Citizens of the Reich” movement, a decades-old sovereign citizen group that believes the modern German state is illegitimate. It may have come as a surprise, however, when prosecutors stated that the group was inspired by “QAnon ideology.” (Cont.)