On this week's show: Chancellor Angela Merkel and her election pledges / Future of MEADS in doubt / Visit from the White House / The East German uprising of 1953
With her re-election campaign is well underway, the German Chancellor has pledged to increase public spending, with proposals that include raising benefits for families and working mothers and capping rent increases. Even her junior coalition partners, the pro-business Free Democrats, are skeptical - let alone the opposition.
After German Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere announced the cancellation of Germany's drone project, the next debacle is looming. Development of the state-of-the art, multinational Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) program has already cost 950 million euros, but there are growing doubts about the system's performance.
Almost exactly 50 years to the day since John. F. Kennedy's legendary visit, US President Barack Obama will be making his first official visit to Berlin. But is the much-trumpeted trans-Atlantic alliance still alive and well?
Soviet tanks, burning houses, angry demonstrators - in 1953, images of the East German uprising that took place in Berlin circulated around the world. The unrest also spread to the rest of the country - in Görlitz, Saxony, the people even stormed the town hall, occupying it for several hours.
