"Embarrassing": Lanz guest cannot hold back video from CDU country chief and draws Selenskyj comparison

Created: 03/09/2022, 15:50

The guests at “Markus Lanz” on March 8th © Cornelia Lehmann/ZDF

What next for the dependency on Russia?

And: Poland wants to deliver fighter jets to Ukraine.

While the "Markus Lanz" group is discussing the initiative, a decision will be made in Washington.

Hamburg – On day 13 of the Ukraine war*, the “Markus Lanz” group at the beginning of the program discusses Poland’s intention to hand over its MiG-29 fighter jets to the USA.

The planes are said to come into the possession of the Ukrainian army via the detour of the US air force base in Rammstein.

The chairwoman of the defense committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP), states that she was not aware of this decision, but expresses cautious agreement.

The situation has changed.

Because Russia's army could not get any further in Ukraine, they attacked the civilian population from the air.

Talkmaster Lanz wants to understand why the planes are important for Ukraine.

Political scientist Claudia Major explains that the jets could help Ukraine regain air sovereignty.

This puts them in a better position to protect their ground forces and further attacks on the civilian population can be prevented.

The host is concerned and asks the politician if she isn't afraid that "this spiral will become more and more independent".

Strack-Zimmermann shares the moderator's concerns and believes: "Anyone who is confronted with this situation should be worried.

Anything else would be fatal.

You can't casually look at what's happening there."

FDP politician Strack-Zimmermann on "Markus Lanz": "We were too naive for a long time"

Strack-Zimmermann also thinks that political Berlin, including the FDP, has been too naïve towards Vladimir Putin* for too long.

She herself has never understood why Germany allows itself to "shut down the Bundeswehr completely" and to rely on NATO "taking the rap for us if something rattles."

Rather, she is convinced of the principle that whoever wants peace must prepare for war.

There were enough warning signs, Major explains: the war in Georgia, the Russian military intervention in Syria, the annexation of Crimea.

But she didn't think a "war of the magnitude we're seeing now" was possible either.

"We thought we could work cooperatively together - and we now have to acknowledge that with a Russia that is at war in Europe, it will no longer be cooperative," Major summarizes.

The West is confronted with a turning point and must consider how to deal with a Russia “that is so willing to escalate and war” in terms of the military, economy, energy and politics.

Oil, gas and coal from Russia?

"Markus Lanz" discusses Germany's dependence on Russian raw materials

The economist Karen Pittel describes the fact that Germany is still buying large volumes of raw materials from Russia as “the crazy thing” about the current situation.

Several important players had warned Germany about this dependence on raw materials, which Chancellor Gerhard Schröder (SPD) had once engineered with Putin.

Among them was America's ex-president Donald Trump *, who asked Germany to change course in a speech to the United Nations in 2018.

The journalist Robin Alexander then asks why the Russian energy projects have been continued from government to government.

Strack-Zimmermann attests Chancellor Angela Merkel* (CDU) "deepest conviction", which results from a personal connection to Russia.

According to model calculations, if Germany were to do without Russian raw materials, this would result in a contraction of the German economy of "approximately between 0.3 and 3 percent", explains Pittel.

That means 800 to 1000 euros per German citizen, but scenarios are currently being modeled that take Europe-wide distribution into account.

"Then we'll have a much better chance," says the economist, but she also expresses security concerns because Russia would have "its back against the wall" without income from raw materials.

However, that is exactly the point of sanctions, Alexander believes.

Although Strack-Zimmermann does not have an answer to the question of dependence on raw materials, he does agree: “We can no longer avoid this question.

We can no longer outrun her.”

"Markus Lanz" - these were his guests on March 8th:

• Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP*)

  – politician

• Claudia Major

  – Political Scientist

• Karen Pittel

  - Economist

• Robin Alexander

  – Journalist

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Saarland Prime Minister Tobias Hans (CDU*) also spoke on the subject of rising energy costs on Tuesday.

Strack-Zimmermann sharply condemned his appeal for a fuel price brake.

Heavily sighing, she groans: "Whoa, that's embarrassing." Although she doesn't want to be "too bold", she assumes that Hans wants to create associations with the selfie videos of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj*.

"This is exactly the method he uses to denounce the price of gas?

people, people, people!

That's a quality that's hard to hide," complains the FDP politician.

The group only goes into the content of Hans' video in the person of Robin Alexander, but takes it as an opportunity to talk about the Bundeswehr special fund and the NATO two percent target.

"Money alone will not solve it, you also have to spend the money wisely," warns Major, Germany has failed too often in investing wisely.

The security expert is therefore calling for changes to the structures of procurement and procurement law.

She receives a nod of approval from Strack-Zimmermann.

MiG-29 fighter jets from Poland for Ukraine?

Strack-Zimmermann on "Markus Lanz": "First check the sources"

At the end of the show, talk show host Lanz sends his guests into the night with fresh news that shows that a war for information is also taking place: the Americans say the Polish plan to bring MiG-29 jets to the Ukraine via Rammstein been surprised.

The State Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced this, explains Lanz.

"Which means that you first have to check the sources before discussing them," says Strack-Zimmermann with folded hands.

Major also points out that “this entire conflict is eerily happening in the information space.

That everyone is trying to control the narrative, to control the images.” Information should therefore be handled carefully, as should one's own choice of words.

Strack-Zimmermann heard the closing words: "And to react prudently - that's exactly why." In the "Heute Journal Update" that follows "Markus Lanz", ZDF viewers hear the first message: America has rejected Poland's proposal.

"Markus Lanz" - The conclusion of the show

In the "Markus Lanz" talk show on Tuesday evening (March 8), the Ukraine war is appropriately serious - for the most part: During the discussion about rising fuel prices, the politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP) can't stop laughing past.

The journalist Robin Alexander had asked whether her party would not also criticize tax policy from the opposition in times of rising fuel prices.

Talk show host Markus Lanz also smirked: "I have no idea what you're talking about." The economist Karen Pittel, on the other hand, calculates the costs that would result from an abrupt end to Germany's dependence on Russia for raw materials;

and security expert Claudia Major keeps showing viewers the scope of the conflict with Putin.