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A few half-baked thoughts on Laschet and Syria and some such.

First off, it's revolting to see any mainstream politician spread what appear to be conspiracy theories about atrocities committed by the Assad regime in the Syrian war. In fact, to *volunteer* them. Unprompted. /1


I stopped counting the dozens of friends, colleagues, officials from around the world, but in particular, the Middle East, who have sent me his tweets over the past week. The common response from Berlin appears to be an uncomfortable "well, he's not a foreign policy guy..." /2

But he is! I think it's easy to underestimate the man and his jovial, slightly pudgy and self-deprecating persona. There's also a tendency in Berlin and outside to confuse regional politics (and accents!) for provincialism. But Laschet is from Aachen - in the heart of Europe. /3

His first job in politics was with Hans Stercken, then-chairman of the Bundestag's foreign affairs committee, in the tumultuous mid-late 80s. As a new member of Bundestag in 1994, he joined the committees for int development, EU affairs, and foreign affairs (as an alternate). /4

Some headlines refer to him as a "Merkel-loyalist". At least when I flipped thru his record from the 90s, I got a sense of a man with profound convictions: A passionate European. But also an early proponent of CDU-Greens rapprochement based on a shared moralistic worldview. /5
around 2:30pm today. Basically the same time or a whisker before the Commonwealth CMO fronted the microphone. After VIC and SA (and earlier, QLD and WA) made their announcements. He misleads at best, conflating Northern Beaches restrictions with the rest of Sydney. Also tROoPs.


wow now Palasczuzk is up. Btw Morrison took a few seconds of his 3-minute piece to camera, posted to the gram, to say that “everybody is doing their job” lol a deadset giveaway.

the QLD Premier is also putting restrictions in place on greater Sydney. Now is not the time to visit the Sunshine State thanks Sydneysiders, she says. Not dissimilar to VIC, she says.

Dr Young (Queensland CHO) says greater Sydney is a declared hot spot, which includes the extended south coast to central coast areas, from 1am tomorrow. Queenslanders returning home will have to quarantine.

Qld CHO says tougher border restrictions necessary because so many other restrictions around Qld have been lifted. Few exemptions will be granted, she predicts. Anyone who has come to Qld from greater Sydney asked to test and notify Qld health authorities.