Discipline was even worse than feared on a German navy training ship at the center of a scandal that has put the defense minister under pressure, Der Spiegel magazine reported on Tuesday.
The new allegations reportedly include death threats and aggressive sexual harassment against cadets on the Gorch Fock, a vessel at the center of a spiraling scandal facing German Federal Minister of Defense Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg.
Trainers told one cadet they were members of the Aryan Brotherhood, an organized crime syndicate active in prisons in the US keen on Nazi symbols, Der Spiegel reported on its Web site.
The trainee was approached by several trainers in the showers while the Gorch Fock was in the port of Las Palmas and instructed to pick up a shampoo bottle, telling him “being on the ship is like being in prison.”
Trainers on the Gorch Fock also got “shamelessly drunk” during a stopover in an unnamed foreign port, set off fire alarms and forced a trainee to clear up vomit.
The captain of the ship, Commander Norbert Schatz, who has since been suspended, was “seen in swimming trunks particularly often” and only taking part in the absolute minimum of duties.
Der Spiegel said the comments were made by cadets to Hellmut Koenigshaus, the parliamentary commissioner who presented his annual report on abuses on the military on Tuesday.
Other cadets have said that chaotic conditions reigned on the vessel including rampant sexual innuendo and even cases of assault.
The Gorch Fock hit the headlines last week when it emerged that cadets had refused orders to climb rigging after a trainee plunged to her death in November.
Der Spiegel reported that the night before her death the trainers had a party, with one of them bursting drunk into the trainees’ quarters and threatening to kill them.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese