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Police secures the area in Berlin after 25 suspected members and supporters of a far-right group were detained during raids across Germany.

REUTERS/Christian Mang

What We’re Watching: German coup plotters, Peru’s self-coup, Xi’s Saudi visit, TSMC’s big investment

A thwarted German Jan. 6?

Is there a single German word for "narrowly averted right-wing coup attempt"? We aren't sure, but on Wednesday German authorities arrested 25 people accused of belonging to a domestic terror organization with plans to overthrow the government and replace it with German nobility in a throwback to pre-Weimar times. Some 3,000 police conducted raids in several German states as well as in Austria and Italy, detaining people associated with the Reichsbürger, a right-wing German conspiracy group, the far-right Alternativ für Deutschland party, and at least one Russian citizen. You’ll likely remember that a member of the AfD – a euroskeptic party that has capitalized on anti-immigrant sentiment in recent years to grow its base – tweeted after the Jan. 6 riot at the US Capitol that "Trump is fighting the same political fight — you have to call it a culture war." Harboring beliefs that Germany is being run by a “deep state'' (sound familiar?), the group reportedly planned to launch an armed attack on the Reichstag, Germany’s parliament. This is just the most recent reflection of a far-right extremist problem in Deutschland. Last year, the German government placed the AfD under surveillance for its far-right extremist affiliations, and early this year the government found that more than 300 employees in Germany's security apparatus harbored far-right views.

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Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman immune from US civil case, US State Dept. says.

Balkis Press/ABACA via Reuters Connect

US: MBS immune from Khashoggi lawsuit

The fiancée of murdered journalist and Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi has been waiting four years for justice after he was killed at a Saudi consulate in Istanbul — a murder US intelligence says was likely ordered by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

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Rishi Sunak Doesn’t Want To Hear It | PUPPET REGIME | GZERO Media

Rishi Sunak doesn’t want to hear it

With friends like these, the new UK Prime Minister hardly needs enemies.

Watch more PUPPET REGIME!

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Vladimir Putin, Lifeguard (?!) | PUPPET REGIME | GZERO Media

Vladimir Putin, lifeguard (?!)

With the US suffering a massive lifeguard shortage this summer, America's beaches and pools will take just about anyone for the job now.

Watch more PUPPET REGIME!

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Ian Explains: From Biden’s Pariah to Core Partner | US Saudi Visit a Win for MBS | GZERO World

From Biden’s pariah to core partner: US Saudi visit a win for MBS

In October 2018, Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered in Istanbul. The CIA says de-facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, aka MBS, gave the order.

That led US President Joe Biden to ghost MBS, and even label him a "pariah."

But after Biden's recent Middle East trip, the Saudi crown prince now looks less like a pariah and more like a partner, Ian Bremmer explains on GZERO World.

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Podcast: Crown Prince MBS’s power & Saudi Arabia’s contradictions

Listen: US President Joe Biden didn't get much out of his recent controversial trip to Saudi Arabia, says Princeton University Bernard Haykel, who frames it as a "big win" for the Saudis and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman himself. On the GZERO World podcast, Ian Bremmer speaks with Haykel, an expert on all things Saudi and an MBS confidante. He explains how MBS consolidated power over the kingdom and its strategic value to the US in the Middle East. They also discuss MBS's strategy to modernize his country, the prospects for future warmer ties with Israel, and why the crown prince will avoid situations like the Khashoggi murder in the future.

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PUPPET REGIME | GZERO Media

Putin signs up for MBS' Masterclass

How do you launch a destructive war, violate human rights, and still manage to be friends with the "West"? One man knows, and Russia's president wants answers.

Watch more PUPPET REGIME!

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Opinion: Why Biden is right to go to Saudi Arabia

Opinion: Why Biden is right to go to Saudi Arabia

U.S. President Biden arrived in Saudi Arabia today as part of his first trip to the Middle East as president, a four-day regional tour that also included stops in Israel and the West Bank. While in Saudi Arabia, Biden is meeting with King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in addition to the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and those of Jordan, Egypt, and Iraq.

But it is his encounter with ‘MBS,’ as the Saudi crown prince and de facto ruler is known, that has sparked the most controversy. You will remember that during the 2020 presidential campaign Biden vowed to make MBS a “pariah,” largely in response to the 2018 brutal murder of dissident Saudi journalist and American resident Jamal Khashoggi. The U.S. intelligence community found the crown prince was directly responsible for ordering the killing.

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