Crisis in Germany: Checking out claims of economic collapse, deindustrialization and rising unemployment

On October 5, 2024, the ATN channel aired a segment with the sensational title “Collapse of the German Economy: Where Do Sanctions Lead? Mendeleyev’s Table. Panorama,” which stated:

Without Russian blue fuel, the German economy cannot run. Spiegel reports that the Federal Statistical Office has calculated the rise in prices for certain food products. For example, the price increase in some cases exceeds 100%. In July, Germans had to pay twice as much for a bottle of olive oil as they did four years ago. The cost of sugar has risen by 83%. Looking at the situation individually, this is alarming. Globally, German giants are in crisis. The state of the automotive sector is, to put it mildly, far from ideal. Reliability and quality have been replaced by mass factory closures and layoffs. Since the beginning of the year, Volkswagen, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz have been forced to revise their profit forecasts downward several times, losing tens of billions on the stock market, according to Italian media. German car manufacturers are becoming uncompetitive. Countries such as France, Germany, and Japan are essentially falling behind in the electric vehicle race.

Our verdict based on analysis:

Verdict: Incorrect

Reasons:

• The thesis or statement is entirely false: information from multiple sources or opinions of several experts in the field contradicts it.
• The claimed causal relationships do not exist as stated.
• Key parts of quotes are omitted, rearranged, altered, or mistranslated, fundamentally changing the meaning.
• The event occurred significantly differently than stated.

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Analysis of disinformation narratives and semantic analysis.