Who accuses the pro-Putin in Germany
Bomb on the web: Politico accuses pro-Putin people in Germany: with Merkel and Schroeder, leftist philosopher Jurgen Habermas. The article by Tino Oldani for Italy Today
Politico , an online newspaper owned by the Berlin-based Axel Springer group, has done what no other media has dared since Vladimir Putin's Russia invaded Ukraine: it compiled the list of leading pro-Putin Germans ( politicians, entrepreneurs and intellectuals), and published it on the home page, with a contemptuous title to say the least: "The dirty dozen". In first place, as was to be expected, is Angela Merkel, followed by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. Surprisingly, among the twelve pro-Putin philosophers, the philosopher Jurgen Habermas, 92, who has always been a pacifist, is also considered the most influential councilor of the Social Democratic party, for decades an obligatory point of reference for the German and European cultural world with sympathies on the left. .
To all the characters on the list, Politico , who does not hide his sympathies for Kiev, dedicates a card in which he summarizes their pro-Putinism with tones of unprecedented harshness. Here is the incipit of the card on Merkel: "No German is more responsible than her for the crisis in Ukraine". The same style and tone of condemnation also for Habermas, who on 29 April, in the Suddeutsche Zeitung, praised the prudence of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Spd, who was reluctant for weeks to send weapons to Ukraine.
Politico writes: «For the German pseudo-intellectual bobo (bobo stands for radical-chic, ed), no figure is more influential than Habermas, a man whom many consider the unofficial philosopher of the German state. Pragmatic and once a member of the Frankfurt School, he has been an oracle to the German mainstream left for decades. His last pearl of wisdom: Germany was right not to send weapons to Ukraine. In an editorial in the favorite newspaper of Germany's cosmopolitan elite, Habermas praised the federal government, arguing that Germany's cautious approach to Ukraine in times of need is not the problem, but the right answer. For this he urged readers not to pay attention to the shrill moral accusations of the moderates and not to be influenced by the wind of change (Zeitenwende), which is causing a historical change in the German mentality: the end of the dialogue for peace, which lasted for the entire postwar period ".
In his editorial, in essence, Habermas argued that yes, helping Ukraine is a duty, but wanting to beat Putin is a gamble. A risk to be avoided if the escalation of the war is to be avoided. But in the end even the prudent Scholz escaped this suggestion, "announcing a 180 degree turn, with the announcement of the short-term rearmament plan of 100 billion euros", plus the shipment of weapons heavy in Kiev.
As for the other characters included in the "dirty dozen", here are some flashes. On Merkel: «As Chancellor from 2005 to 2021, she was the driving force behind the refusal to grant Ukraine accession to NATO. Despite the Russian invasion of Georgia, the brutal bombing of Syria, the annexation of Crimea, the war in the Donbass, the downing of Flight MH-17, the murder of a Chechen rebel in central Berlin and the poisoning of Alexei Navalny, continued to defend Putin ». On Steinmeier: «Since the beginning, a supporter of the energy alliance of Germany with Russia through the Nord Stream gas pipelines, convinced that it would guarantee peace. Furthermore, he is the author of the Steinmaier Formula in Ukraine, a diplomatic solution that would have cemented the influence of Russia in that country ». On Schroeder: «The only positive thing that could be said about him is that he is eternally loyal. Unfortunately, the object of his loyalty is Putin ”.
Sandpaper-style judgments also for the managers of some large industrial groups, who have maintained friendly relations with Putin for years. On the list is Joe Kaeser, CEO of Siemens from 2013 to 2021: «After the annexation of Crimea in 2014, he was criticized for a visit to Putin in his private residence. In response, he cautioned critics that he would not allow 'temporary turmoil to have too much influence on our long-term plans.' Only after the invasion of Ukraine did she change her mind, saying that she believed in the Wandel durch Handel principle (change through trade), a slogan with which Merkel has always defended the Nord Stream gas pipelines.
Thumbs down also for Wolfgang Reitze, CEO of Linde, the industrial gas giant: «Few German executives, indeed none, have been as close to Putin as Reitze. Last year he was one step away from what seemed like his group's biggest coup: a $ 6 billion deal with Gazprom to build a massive gas hub. So far the German company has stuck to the project. The Linde group said they were concerned about the humanitarian situation in Ukraine. But not worried enough to stop doing business with Putin. "
Among the bad guys Politico also includes the leaders of the Ost-Ausschss lobby, which for decades have favored the relations of large groups with Russia (led by BMW, Wv and BASF), and the organizers of the Munich Security Conference, accused of having given too much credit to Putin ministers like Sergei Lavrov. Finally, Friedrich Merz, the new CDU leader, also rejected, who unlike Steinmeier was received by Zelensky. The faults? He too defended Nord Stream 2 and argued that excluding Russia from Swift would be like "setting off an atomic bomb". Except change your mind before going to Kiev.
Article published on italiaoggi.it
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/chi-accusa-i-filo-putin-in-germania/ on Sat, 07 May 2022 05:16:42 +0000.