Dr Seán Ketchem
@cskwriter.bsky.social
1.1K followers 2.1K following 5.9K posts
An American/German in Berlin. Berkeley alum (Go Bears!). Erstwhile Texan. Credo: “There are other forces at work than those of evil. And that is an encouraging thought.”
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cskwriter.bsky.social
If U.S. Brigadier General Frank L. Howley had gotten his way in the summer of 1945, I would never have been born.

I'll explain!
cskwriter.bsky.social
Reading "Berlin Command" by Frank L. Howley, the former commandant of the American Sector of West Berlin. He describes how there had been serious consideration to revise the London Protocols to allow the Western Allies to keep Thuringia, Saxony, and eastern Mecklenburg in exchange for their sectors.
In the London Protocol signed on 12 September 1944, the Allies of World War II (then without France) agreed on dividing Germany into three occupation zones after the war.

EAC planning of occupation zone borders in Germany, 1944
The first zone protocol was drawn up at the meeting of the European Advisory Commission (EAC) on 12 September 1944 and signed by John Gilbert Winant (USA), William Strang (UK) and Fedor Gusev (USSR) at Lancaster House in London,[2] and described the first notions of the boundary between the zones to be created: Eastern, Northwestern, and Southwestern zones in Germany, and the three parts of the area of Greater Berlin. The basis of the ideas were the borders of Germany from 31 December 1937 and Greater Berlin from 27 April 1920.

The north-western and south-western zones in Germany and Greater Berlin had not yet been assigned as British or American sub-areas. The relevant text passages provided for this were only documented with spaces, whereas the eastern zone and the north-eastern zone of Greater Berlin were already marked directly with "USSR".

In terms of borders, the western borders of Thuringia, Anhalt and the Prussian province of Saxony were referred to. This meant that the areas east of the Werra and west of the Elbe were not - as was often published - "exchanged for West Berlin", but the areas in the west of the Elbe were already intended to be part of the Eastern Zone.
cskwriter.bsky.social
Neutral Moresnet is a fun one also
cskwriter.bsky.social
This seems to be a thing on US BlueSky, so why not:

Union SPD Die Linke
cskwriter.bsky.social
Update on my Berlin rent reduction saga: Allright is moving fast. They told me today that the revised complaint with them as my representation will go out before the end of next week, and if my landlord blows it off (like he did with the ones from the tenants' union) it will immediately go to court.
cskwriter.bsky.social
And I always thought it meant, "whine and moan about the day"
cskwriter.bsky.social
And here it is folks, the radical left domestic terrorist insurgency taking over Portland that rightwing media is hyping and the President of the United States says requires him to invoke the Insurrection Act (you know, the guy who pardoned the January 6 attackers, same one).
cskwriter.bsky.social
OMG the dollar has plummeted since the start of the year. When I was in the States over Christmas it was still nearly parity. Now 1€ has climbed to over $1.16 (I noticed this when I transfer funds from my US account, what shows up in my German account is noticeably less than it was last year).
cskwriter.bsky.social
I mean, Hegseth just made that whole big speech about all the fatties in uniform, and *these* are the people Abbott sends to support Stephen Miller's propaganda stunt? The Ham Sandwich Brigade?

Does he not get we are putting on a television show here? Please recast before production starts.
ronfilipkowski.bsky.social
Greg Abbott sends the elite Meal Team 6 from the Texas National Guard into Illinois.
cskwriter.bsky.social
(The ruling von Papen government that installed him was known as the "Monocle Cabinet" as it was almost entirely composed of Prussian nobles. They shared many more aims with the Nazis then they did with the democratic parties, a fact prominent aristrocrats immediately tried to whitewash after 1945.)
cskwriter.bsky.social
He has famously pointed out that even postwar luminaries like Marion Gräfin von Dönhoff intentionally left out her family's Nazi connections from her memoirs, and exaggerated thin to nonexistent connections with members of the Resistance. In fact the nobility was crucial in bringing Hitler to power.
cskwriter.bsky.social
Historian Stephan Malinowski argues that the many "vons" among the conspirators has more to with the fact that the nobility was hugely overrepresented in the officer corps, and had a built-in private communication network that made a conspiracy like that possible and to go undetected by the Gestapo.
cskwriter.bsky.social
Part of my family research in the archives here in Berlin involves the role of the nobility (my mom's family belonged to the lesser aristocracy) in the Third Reich. Interesting article from 2004 on how the postwar nobility attempted to hitch a ride on the 20 July plot.
www.spiegel.de/politik/beid...
»Beide Geschichten erzählen«
Der Historiker Stephan Malinowski über die Begeisterung im deutschen Adel für den Nationalsozialismus und die Rolle von Grafen und Baronen beim Attentat auf Hitler
www.spiegel.de
cskwriter.bsky.social
The winner of the 120 million Euro Jackpot (tax free even!) finally turned up in person at the lottery's offices here in Berlin. They will only identify him as a man between 30-60, as he has a right to anonymity. Winners of big prizes actually get a psychological consultation before the prize money.
cskwriter.bsky.social
The Trump admin is playing to an increasingly smaller audience of Fox News couch potato retirees and hyper-online far right podcasters, while scaring off the middle of the road kitchen table voter. I just don't see how that is going to be a winning midterms strategy.
cskwriter.bsky.social
I unlocked the article (for folks who read German). JobTurbo may well be the biggest workforce integration success ever. While other refugees have a job uptake of only 8%, Ukrainians are over 50%. Admittedly there are other factors at work here (as Europeans, they have comparable credentials, etc).
cskwriter.bsky.social
The German government's plan to take Ukrainian refugees off of the Bürgergeld social assistance program is a chimera:
-the overall cost will be likely higher once refugees start drawing asylum benefits
-it will end the "JobTurbo" program, a massive integration success.
www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/s...
(S+) Jobturbo-Studie: »Noch nie haben wir derartig große Effekte gesehen«
Der »Jobturbo« sollte Geflüchtete aus der Ukraine schneller in Arbeit bringen. Eine Studie internationaler Spitzenforscher belegt: Das funktioniert erstaunlich gut. Doch die Regierung ist gerade dabei...
www.spiegel.de
cskwriter.bsky.social
Connections
Puzzle #850
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🟦🟦🟦🟦
cskwriter.bsky.social
Berlin lost our Mini-Hippo to a French zoo (which has a specialization in the pygmy hippo species), but gained a Baby Hippo! Sadly, his twin brother did not survive the birth (hippo twins are extremely rare). Once he grows a bit, he can rejoin the public hippo enclosure.
www.rbb24.de/panorama/bei...
Berliner Zoo freut sich über Hippo-Baby
www.rbb24.de
cskwriter.bsky.social
They are this close to dusting off "maverick"
cskwriter.bsky.social
The annual Fall color show outside my windows begins. 🍁🍂🎃
cskwriter.bsky.social
It is amazing how nearly all U.S. news now is marked by endless bouts of crisis, confrontation, and standoffs, not imposed by any outside circumstances, but by the government of the United States itself: purposely in order to divide and weaken the country.
What a disastrous self-own by the voters.
cskwriter.bsky.social
"A fundamental problem is that the Fifth Republic has functioned either with a clear majority in Parliament supporting the president or a clear majority opposing. It doesn't work well with a fractured parliament. The crisis is not merely political but constitutional."
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/07/w...
As France Faces Political Turmoil, Macron Is Backed Into a Corner
www.nytimes.com
cskwriter.bsky.social
Perry was the judge that Biden nominated to be Federal attorney for Chicago, but whom Vance (they guy who stole Pee-Wee's bicycle) blocked while briefly a Senator as a stunt to get on the Presidential ticket. She was finally confirmed as a district judge.
abc7chicago.com/post/ohio-se...
Ohio Sen. JD Vance holding up installation of US Attorney nominee April Perry in Chicago
The United States Attorney position is gummed up by a partisan fight that has President's Biden's Chicago nominee blocked by a single U.S. senator seeking retribution for the legal troubles of former ...
abc7chicago.com
cskwriter.bsky.social
Regardless of Cruz's policy positions, the man has a face like two sagging ass cheeks. But if he wants to duke it out in the GOP primaries with the guy who stole Pee-Wee's bicycle, let the freak show battle begin.
cskwriter.bsky.social
So if an American citizen in another country has a medical emergency, the local health authorities should just let that person die? Further proof that wearing the cross is just phony performativity for this admin and the believe in not a word or syllable of the Christian message.
thetnholler.bsky.social
Christ follower enters the chat