George Austerfield
Fear is being instilled into the German population, paving the way for more state control and militarisation.
Germany at the moment is in a state of panic, of sorts. Thanks to a drone that a bus driver kicked out of the air at Leipzig Airport, airport security was able to discover it. The media got hold of the news somehow, as the media usually does, and it went nation-wide across all channels and talk-shows.
An aeroplane belonging to the poor Ukrainians - probably not loaded with military equipment - was being attacked in a despicably backhanded manner, and that on German soil.
As the official investigation is ongoing and no final result has yet been published, we can only concentrate on the media speculations, springing up like mushrooms after the rain.
The usual culprit was found, with a fig-leaf shadow of doubt: Russia.
The fact that the drone could not have flown from Russian territory was ignored in the discussions, because that would imply perpetrators nearer to home.
The idea that it could be a false flag created by the Ukrainians is also widely ignored.
The fact that Russia does not need to go to so much trouble to prevent donated goods reaching Ukraine is seemingly of no importance either. Waiting until the stuff is offloaded and then treating the cargo as per usual procedure - i.e., blowing it up with a professional drone - appears far easier and is a proven method, at least to an interested outsider.
So the real questions have to be asked and are presumably in the process of being asked, but at a higher and less public level.
I for one would, if in the right position, like to understand how such a flying instrument could reach that plane in the first place. Leipzig Airport is one of the major cargo hubs in Germany and one of the main centres shipping goods to Ukraine. So we have massive security problems.
Next on the list should be the problem of how to defend airports against drone infiltration, regardless of motive and ownership. Hundreds of such incidents, albeit without explosive material attached, are reported on a yearly basis. No functioning policy for how to cope with such incidents has been developed to date.
The fact that small terrorist cells inside Germany have been capable of disrupting railway connections by blowing up electronic cables and wiring along the lines, and causing a blackout in Berlin with a fire in cable ducts, makes one wonder how it is possible that Russia, with all the capabilities at its disposal, failed to blow up that plane - in addition to using such an amateur device in the first place. The apparent load of explosive, in an open area, would not have been as devastating as something hidden inside the cargo, but let's not forget the bus driver kicked the thing into touch before things could get nasty.
All we need now is to find a name card or passport from Russia stuck under the drone. It has happened before.
So at the end of the day, nothing is certain at the moment. Just the options of a Russian provocation, or a false flag by the Ukrainians, or an attack by some other terrorist cell. As the drone was stopped, one does not know for certain if it would have stopped under the Ukrainian plane or flown on further.
One thing is happening now that was to be expected: the call for more security and an increase in the powers of the intelligence agencies. Their activities are strictly curtailed by German law, a fact that many politicians want changed. Such a situation is helpful, to say the least.
The other thing happening is the creation of the next level of fear being instilled into the German population anyway, paving the way for more state control and militarisation.
So another option presents itself: a home-made affair to further the policies of some hardliners inside Germany, shaping the narrative and increasing public support for the political ideas of the warmongering clique inside the governmental corridors of power - particularly in the face of the upcoming elections in Sachsen-Anhalt, where, not to forget, an anti-war, pro-diplomatic posture vis-à-vis Russia could gain victory for a political party, due, amongst other ideas, to exactly this position.
Might have happened before. Could be happening again.