this post was submitted on 08 Jan 2026
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Archived version

German prosecutors are investigating a failed attack on a substation near Düsseldorf, in the west of the country, days after a similar incident triggered a power blackout in Berlin.

Police started a probe after a letter accepting responsibility from the radical left-wing group known as Kommando Angry Birds was published on the Indymedia platform on Jan. 5, Attorney General Wolf-Tilman Baumert said.

It remains unclear when the attack took place, he said. Investigators said an incendiary device was deployed, but declined to give details.

Germany is on alert after Berlin suffered its longest power outage in decades, caused by an arson attack on a cable bridge, also claimed by a left-wing extremist group. Electricity was fully restored on Wednesday.

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[–] Telemachus93@slrpnk.net 19 points 1 day ago (2 children)

claimed by a left-wing extremist group.

"Claimed by someone saying they were a left-wing extremist group." - fify

Someone else claiming to be the same group distanced themselves from the attack and there are important clues pointing to the original post claiming the attack was written in Russian and machine-translated into German.

[–] Kornblumenratte@feddit.org 1 points 13 hours ago

You are aware that this article references a failed attack across the country in another city supposedly claimed by another group? Noone distanced themselves from this one.

[–] Ooops@feddit.org -3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

was written in Russian and machine-translated into German

Don't spread such easy to debunk desinformation when the full text is publically available.

It's a whole fucking manifest full of ideological anti-technology bullshit but actually well written phrasing- and grammatical-wise. And then there are a few single sentences between whole elaborate sections added in a very different writing style. One set of "we tried to add numbers and fact to give the rambling some additional legitimacy" and a few singular sentences and expressions that sound strange or wooden in native German, including misspellings.

Claiming the whole text is a translation (and why "machine-translated" even? Just because it's cool now to use AI?) is idiotic when every native can see instantly that it's not true. The main author definitely speaks/writes native level German. At times it's even written overly complex, trying to convey notions of high literature/education.

There are however also clues to suggest additional authors/editing... with at least one co-authors probably being non-native.

Oversimplifying facts to make your argument stick when those claims are really easy to debunk is just feeding the usual conspiracy theory morons.

[–] Telemachus93@slrpnk.net 7 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I referred to this thread (in German) where exactly what I said (excluding Russian as the original language) is presented as the most likely scenario in the eyes of that person ("Wenn ich mich festlegen müsste ..."): https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:y6oz4xihx2fmuqqfp65nj3c7/post/3mbmpvsevb22i

I don't know her but that thread was referenced in a lot of the media coverage calling her an expert on language and AI. It might be wrong but dismissing it as disinformation is disingeneous if you don't have insider knowledge.

[–] plyth@feddit.org 1 points 12 hours ago

Let AI translate the entire text into English. Then, are the three authors still recognizable?

If the text is of Russian origin then the final Russian version should have been translated. I would assume that a translation would blend all styles together.

[–] Ooops@feddit.org 1 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago)

The original post says "[...] I am quite certain that some of the wording was NOT originally written in German."

The "Wenn ich mich festlegen müsste..." part however answers the question if it's a singular or multiple authors. And it mentions one main author who got additional input from someone else which probably got translated via a translation tool. Then: "How do I come the this conclusion? The cumbersome, highly individual style runs through large parts of the text; however, individual sentences differ greatly in style." And: "What else is irritating? Sentences densely packed with numerical facts, alternating with entire paragraphs of abstract ideological argumentation, almost clichéd; but without clear reference to the facts, as if the facts had been added later."

So we have: multiple authors, very different wrting styles, no proper editing to make this one whole text; some expressions probably not originating in German; facts and numbers obviously added independently -again in another style- trying to give it more legitimacy.

Sorry, but where exactly is this all disagreeing with my comment? So yeah. Calling this whole text an AI translation because of singular sentences and expressions that are very obviously by another co-author, just like the also added paragraphs trying to justify the rest with numbers, is desinformation. That's what I said. And the very discussion you linked says the same.