He gets the rare “original twofer” on my avatar.
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Well said.
And really, they’re everywhere.
Here in Australia, around the time of a war remembrance holiday about 20 years ago, I read an article where the writer said something like “My father was a decorated Australian infantry soldier in north Africa in WWII. His observation about the enemy he won medals for shooting was: ‘If a bunch of people as smart and educated and civilized as the Germans can fall for this nonsense, the rest of us had better watch out.’”
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This article attempts to tie it to Qanon. Leave it to an American news outlet to interpret international intrigue for a domestic audience!
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Apparently the connection between QAnon and these guys is real but it is still a stretch to describe QAnon as the instigating force here.
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Yeah, Reichsbürger existed before Qanon. But woo attracts woo, so they did take on some of the mythology…
To use the Intelligencer’s metaphor, it’s a crossover episode rather than a spin-off.
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They do sound a bit like our Sovereign Citizens.
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Yeah, they and sovereign citizens and the Freemen of the Land in the UK are all inspired by each other.
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An aspiring Russian asset.
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Well, with one of their citizens (the would-be Kaiser) wanting to be a bit more sovereign than the others.
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Much like the Queen of Canada?
Anyway, the following ideas, taken from wikipedia
The Reichsbürger usually only cite the part that the German Reich survived the collapse. They remain silent on the Court’s statement that the Federal Republic is identical to it. Therefore, many members of the Reichsbürger movement typically conclude that the German Reich still “exists” and that the Federal Republic of Germany is not an actual sovereign state but a corporation created by Allied nations after World War II.
Consequently, many Reichsbürger groups claim that they have restored the governmental bodies of the German Reich and now act as the official German government (of the German Reich). In practice, a group of Reichsbürger had a meeting that ‘elected’ the office holders of the Reich (e.g., Reich chancellor, Reich President). As there are several of such groups, there are several people in Germany who claim to be Reich chancellor etc.
Some Reichsbürger groups maintain a different point of view. According to them, the Weimar constitution was not legitimate and therefore the older imperial constitution of 1871 is still in effect. These people claim to be Kaiser (emperor), leader of Prussia etc.
seem to be patterned along the same lines as the idea that the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1871 turned the US into a corporate entity that masquerades as the true government.
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Of course, the nukes help.
a well-known 71-year-old member of a minor German noble family
Ah, a pumpernickel prince.
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Also like the “Republic of Texas” from the '90s.
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… worst reality TV show ever 
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The ignition switch for QAnon’s spread in Germany was “Defender-Europe 20,” a large-scale NATO exercise, which was scaled back because of the pandemic. QAnon followers contended that the German government had used a “fake pandemic” to derail what they saw as a secret liberation plan led by President Donald J. Trump that would have restored the German Reich.
…
Germany had its own version of Jan. 6, albeit unsuccessful and much smaller in scope. In August 2020, dozens of Reichsbürger members and other far-right backers broke away from an anti-vaccine protest to try to force their way into the Reichstag, the historic Parliament building. The police stopped them.
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Richard Grenell made himself very unwelcome in Germany by consorting with the AfD and making comments that were considered to be interference in German domestic politics.
Perhaps Grenell’s meddling encouraged them.
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