There have been penalties for those who looked the other way when Epstein was convicted of child sex offences and decided to maintain relationships with the financier — but not for the British ambassador to Washington, reveals SOLOMON HUGHES

THE gas pipeline Nord Stream 2 is stuck; one end near Vyborg in Russia, the other, after a thousand kilometres, under swirling Baltic Sea waters, stalled only 164km short of its safe goal, Sassnitz in eastern Germany.
Donald Trump offered his customary words of wisdom; blustering threats if Germany favours pipelines over ever greater military build-up. His buddies, far-right senators Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton, and Ron Johnson, warned little Sassnitz, population 9,186, of “crushing economic and legal sanctions” if it lets the pipeline land there.
Some German business and political leaders were outraged at this crude interference and consider it far wiser to do business with Russia, selling it cars, chemicals, machinery, and farm products, than kowtowing to arms manufacturers and other war hawks on both sides of the Atlantic.

In part two of May’s Berlin Bulletin, VICTOR GROSSMAN, having assessed the policies of the new government, looks at how the opposition is faring

In part one of his Berlin bulletin, VICTOR GROSSMAN assesses the economic and political difficulties facing the new Merz government — and a regrettable ruling-class consensus on the solutions

