The Wire - May 2, 2025

//The Wire//2200Z May 2, 2025//
//ROUTINE//
//BLUF: UNITED STATES TO REDUCE DIPLOMATIC EFFORTS REGARDING UKRAINE PEACE TALKS. GERMANY DESIGNATES AFD PARTY AS AN EXTREMIST ORG.//

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-International Events-

Germany: Yesterday Germany's main domestic spying agency publicly classified the entire Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party as a far-right extremist organization. This prompted the United States to issue statements of condemnation, as German authorities crack down on growing dissent via the open use of domestic intelligence agencies.

Germany: This afternoon a vehicle ramming incident was reported in Stuttgart after a vehicle collided with a group of people waiting at a bus stop. A total of 11x people were wounded and at least one victim has succumbed to their wounds. The driver of the vehicle was arrested at the scene.

AC: It's not immediately clear as to if this was a legitimate and deliberate terror attack, or if it was more of a tragic motor vehicle accident. Local authorities claim that the incident was merely a traffic accident, however German police have been known to openly lie about terrorist attacks being terror attacks, so this is an unreliable source for determining causation. In any case, the driver being arrested for questioning after the incident could indicate that it was a more deliberate attack.

 -HomeFront-

Washington D.C. - This morning the White House announced that the USA will take a reduced role in the continuation of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. Spokeswoman Tammy Bruce stated that “It is now between the two parties, and now — now is the time that they need to present and develop concrete ideas about how this conflict is going to end. It’s going to be up to them".

AC: The United States will probably not walk away from this war as much as one might be inclined to think based on this statement. This sentiment is probably intended to force both Russia and Ukraine back to the table and to get serious about a peace deal.

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Analyst Comments: The classification of the AfD party in Germany as an extremist group is completely unsurprising, especially as the latest polling data suggests the AfD might actually be the largest support base in the country. Interestingly enough, the agency that issued this label is the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfD), or Germany's main domestic intelligence service. While most other nations frame their intelligence services as being foreign in nature (at least on paper), Germany does indeed have a modern day domestic equivalent to the STASI, the infamous intelligence service of the Cold War. What's perhaps most interesting is that the AfD party isn't really a right-wing or conservative party...even by European standards. It's generally described as a centrist party, at most. Even by American standards, most of the AfD's political platform is in alignment with the American Democratic party.

Germany using their domestic spying agencies to crack down on this group and open up a wealth of tools to not just spy on, but actually kinetically target members of this party, is a very interesting development that points out just how far to the political left the federal institutions are in Germany.

Analyst: S2A1
Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground
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