Spring is edging its way warily into the room, back against the wall so that winter motherfucker doesn't jump it from behind, as it has been known to do in the past…but this time spring's ready for it if it tries anything, shiv in hand and beady eyeballs peeled…
Meanwhile in other news
Local Elections
The CDU (like UK's Conservatives, remember?) have won big in Rheinland-Pfalz (deep West Germany, in case you don't know it). This has made them happy and helped them to recover from the Greens' (like UK's Greens haha) recent landslide win in Baden-Württemberg (deep south Germany in case you don't know it).
In case you hadn't noticed, Friedrich Merz - Germany's Bundeskanzler (chancellor; but basically like the presiden in the US and the Prime MInister in the UK)(actually there is a president in Germany, but he can't actually do anything) - looks really a lot like Mr. Burns in The Simpsons. Check him out when he's really happy. It's scary, the similarity.
Pistorius (with the SPD - Germany's Labour (UK) or the US's Democrats) who is our defence minister, is on a round of visiting Asian countries to check that they're still on side. Also reaffirming daily that we have nothing to do with any war in Iran thank you very much.
Price Fixing Semi-Scandal
One scandal (it's hard to keep up, don't you think?) is that the oil companies in Germany are suspected of fixing prices between them as prices rose due to the Iran war. In Germany there's a strong anti-cartel law called the Law Against Restraints of Competition (GWB) and an institution to enforce it (Bundeskartellamt or Federal Cartel Office).
"Such behaviour after the burdens that German consumers have to bear is outrageous."
Isabel Cademartori (SPD transport spokesperson)
What do you know? Oil companies may not be such good guys after all! Who'd have thunk it? Apparently not only have petrol prices in Germany gone up more than prices around Europe (theoretically because of the Iran war); they also tend to go up quickly and come down slowly, changes which don't necessarily reflect the prices that the oil companies have to buy the oil at.
Klingbeil (main representative of the SPD (labour, dems)) is talking about running a windfall tax on the oil companies since, again, they're making extra money out of the war and the attendant price rise. I'd rejoice but, hey, when did a windfall tax in Germany filter down to the people, amiright?
Data Centres and Digital Sovereignty
There's also a lot going on right now in the arena of AI, data centres and digital sovereignty right now.
First off a new law has been passed covering critical infrastructure (KRITIS - Umbrella Act for Critical Infrastructure) and how it should be protected; this comes in the fallout after most of south-west Berlin lost all power for up to a week in early January, after some radical left people from the so-called Vulcan group set a fire that burned through the power lines at a particularly vulnerable spot (a "cable bridge"). KRITIS establishes certain technologies and, well, infrastructure as critical and has also established ways in which it must be protected.
"We had successfully sabotaged a natural gas power plant... [targeting] the ruling class,"
Vulkangruppe statement
AI itself has not (yet) been deemed critical infrastructure, but since it controls/runs/influences (you choose) a lot of stuff that IS deemed as critical infrastructure, it's probably not long before that happens.
There's also a national data centre strategy being implemented, you'll be happy to know 🙂
This is part of the big push from both Europe and Germany to wean itself off especially US digital services and dependencies, ramped up mightily since The Orange One has been back in power. Weaved through this strategy is something known as the Energy Efficiency Act (Energieeffizienzgesetz, EnEfG) which puts strict rules on how energy is to be used - and most importantly reused - in these here data centres. There's something called PUE (yeah, I never heard of it either) which is defined as Power Usage Efficiency. You can probably guess what it is; and the ideal is apparently 1.0. Especially when it comes to data centres, they're pretty serious about this stuff.
I'm a Berliner - fast, loud, obnoxious, industrious, brutally open.
Hasso Plattner
Especially interesting for Berlin (and environs) is the AI hub and data centre talk around Potsdam, with the HPI (Hassno Plattner Institute) at its centre. Without boring you too much, Hasso Plattner is the guy who set up this business digital infrastructure setup that is used globally and turned him into a serious billionaire. Unlike most of the billionaires we know of though, he's used his fortune to a. help rebuild Potsdam, b. Buy tons of hugely expensive art and putting it in public galleries for people to enjoy and c. establish the above-mentioned Institute, which includes a frankly amazing education campus in Babelsberg/Potsdam, with help for startups thrown in for good measure. (Seriously, go check this guy out and what he's done - it warrants far more than these three lines about him and his works).
I believe that whoever is successful should help ensure that the next generation can be successful, too.
Hasso Plattner
Anyway, so there's talk of maybe setting up a data centre southwest of Berlin and turning Potsdam into the new Silicon Valley, but with older architecture. Would be cool (probably); we'll see what happens.
Meanwhile in other, other news
AI Cows
Peter Thiel has now moved on from financing Trump and his best mate JD Vance to financing AI, solar-powered collars for cows called Halter. Something to do with virtual fencing, apparently, but there's no need to let that ruin how abstract this is.
That's a wrap for this week - see you next week - same time, same place!
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