The Monocle Minute

Germany cannot afford to wait until its election next year to oust Olaf Scholz. Last week the unpopular chancellor appeared to round on his allies by suggesting that France and the UK had secretly deployed troops in Ukraine to oppose Russia. Both deny this and the UK has accused Scholz of abusing military intelligence for his domestic agenda.

Scholz is completely against offering further military assistance to Ukraine. He has consistently refused to send the country German-made Taurus missiles, citing the risk of being dragged into a direct conflict with Russia. But his stance has gone beyond simply being uncomfortable for Germans – it is now a security risk for all of Europe.

At home, Scholz’s coalition government is historically unpopular among Germans. Recent polls find fewer than 20 per cent are satisfied with it and 46 per cent are “very dissatisfied”. Parliamentarians with the Greens and Free Democratic Party, which govern alongside Scholz’s Social Democratic Party of Germany, are becoming increasingly impatient – but talk has yet to turn into action.

It’s something that needs change but no-confidence votes are complicated. In Germany you can’t remove a sitting chancellor without proposing a successor. Only one has ever succeeded: in 1982 Helmut Kohl unseated Social Democrat Helmut Schmidt. Like today, the squabble centred on missiles (US ones stationed in Germany) and a tanking economy.

These are extraordinary times. German voters would thank his political partners for sending him packing, even if it creates some short-term uncertainty. There’s little doubt that Scholz will lose the 2025 elections. But Ukraine might not be able to wait that long.

Aaron Gasch Burnett is a freelance journalist based in Berlin. For more opinion, analysis and insight, subscribe to Monocle today.

Today teachers’ unions in Argentina are gearing up for nationwide strikes against the government’s proposed cuts in education. The move comes as the country struggles with staggering poverty rates and the world’s highest inflation. In his bid to fix the economy, president Javier Milei has proposed a series of cuts in public funding, including the National Teacher Incentive Fund (FONID), which was created in the 1990s to inject cash into the country’s provinces and help finance teachers’ salaries.

Milei has also refused to negotiate a minimum wage for teachers. The education walkout follows an aviation workers’ strike last week, which forced the cancellation of some 400 flights, as well as a rail workers’ strike. It remains to be seen whether Milei’s rigid stance will result in meaningful change.

Lagos’s new light-rail line opened last Thursday to connect travellers shuttling between the suburb of Agbado in the city’s north, the CBD and the coastal area of Oyingbo. The 37km Red Line built by China Civil Engineering Construction Corp comes hot on the heels of the 13km Blue Line, which opened last September to connect affluent Lagos Island with the mainland. Both are part of an effort to curb congestion, which is estimated to cost Africa’s most populous city some €2.3bn a year.

Some people, however, are sceptical of the new train lines. “An efficient road network and bus system capable of carrying thousands of people affordably should take precedence,” says Lagos-based journalist and Monocle contributor Ope Adetayo. “Not [investing in] more expensive and less extensive rail projects.” With its population expected to reach 40 million by 2050, Lagos needs to get moving on its transport fixes – and fast.

How do America’s first responders train for the worst natural – or manmade – disasters? Monocle pulls on a hazmat suit to find out.

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We meet Glenn Adamson, artistic director of Design Doha, and visit The Eames Archives in California. Plus: a reflection on this year’s Ralph Saltzman Prize.