Ukraine war: The chain of German embarrassments just doesn't break

Written by Hans Heckel for Preußische Allgemeine Zeitung.

Shortly after the outbreak of the Ukraine war, Chancellor Scholz spoke of a "turning point in time", which was probably intended to express that he and his government had understood the signs of the change of era. Is that so? So far, at any rate, one faux pas has followed the other. This only allows the conclusion that the traffic light coalition is completely overwhelmed by the new reality. Worse still, the actors simply lack the intellectual stature and political overview to deal with a real historical challenge.

Most recently, it was Economics and Climate Protection Minister Robert Habeck who disgraced himself and his country - and his party, the Greens. In the Persian Gulf, he greeted the representative of Qatar with a submissive bow that could one day symbolize the helplessness of today's German leadership. Through his partnership with the despotic emirate, which he called "great", he exposed his party's moral pathos as fair-weather hypocrisy. "We Greens don't distinguish between good and bad dictators," Habeck's party friend, the current Federal Minister of Agriculture, Cem Özdemir, had recently toned. And if they do!

As is well known, the series of embarrassments began with the 5,000 helmets that Berlin wanted to deliver to Kyiv instead of weapons. In the meantime, it has almost gone unnoticed that at the same time Estonia was even forbidden to hand over field howitzers from NVA stocks to the Ukraine, which Germany had left to the Baltic ally.

Shameful Scenes
The climax of the embarrassment was undoubtedly the behavior of the Bundestag after the speech by the Ukrainian President Zelenskyj. The traffic light majority decided that the debate about compulsory vaccinations proceeded seamlessly. The historic moment turned into a farce. Why? Because "vaccination obligation" was on the agenda. Katrin Goering-Eckardt chaired the shameful session. The Green politician who likes to pretend to be the conscience of the nation.

When opposition leader Friedrich Merz still wanted to save the situation in the plenum, he was voted down by the traffic light and accused of partisan games. A telling accusation, as it shows the coin in which those people think who raise it at such a moment. Those responsible only expressed remorse for this blunder when they had perceived the indignation and contempt that was met with them for the misstep.

Where does this chain of failure come from? Apparently we are dealing with a generation of luxury politicians who only want to deal with problems that they have come up with themselves and which they therefore also enjoy "solving". For example, the supposedly imminent climate collapse, the fight against the "right" (or what they explain about it), for gender or ever more meticulous language regulations that are supposed to shape our thinking right down to everyday life according to their ideas.

Home Secretary Nancy Faeser has just inflated the danger from the "right" to the "greatest threat to democracy" without being able to provide any data. Why? Like her colleagues, she has long been used to being able to govern solely on the basis of allegations and without regard to facts. Like children who make their world the way they like it.

Reality has hardly penetrated their ideological cocoon for years. In this self-affirming circle, which was rounded off almost perfectly by the pro-government media, the “political elite” was safe from such impositions. If necessary, problems could be covered with money. But suddenly that's not enough. "Turning point"? There are strong doubts as to whether Scholz even understood what this word means.

Source: Preußische Allgemeine Zeitung