Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is fighting like a lion for his country these days.
He does it brilliantly.
One day, when the brutal Russian invasion is over, his monument will stand on the Maidan in Kyiv.
I'm sure.
This fight for his people also includes the repeated demand for a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
And quite honestly: If I were President of Ukraine or its ambassador to Germany or just a Ukrainian family man who is afraid for his loved ones, I would ask them too.
Ten times a day if need be.
The demand is not only understandable, it is also clever.
The no-fly zone sounds somehow harmless, like a blue sky, like the chirping of birds.
Translated, however, the demand means: Dear NATO, finally send your soldiers into battle, become part of this war!
Because that is exactly what the establishment of a no-fly zone means: all Russian fighter jets, helicopters and drones in Ukraine would have to be destroyed, as well as air defense positions in Belarus or Russia itself, which would endanger a no-fly zone.
NATO would already be in a battle with Russia.
"Is that too much to ask?" Zelenskyj asks the West.
It sounds like a rhetorical question.
It is perfectly legitimate, indeed imperative, to reply, "Yes, that is too much to ask." It is hard to reply in this way, it tears one's heart and pushes one to the limits of one's own morality.
Watching Ukrainians die is terrible.
But actively intervening is far worse.
Because this could escalate the situation to the point of nuclear war.
The only question is how long the Western consensus to ignore Ukraine's request will continue.
When does the last taboo, according to which no NATO state actively intervenes in this war, fall?
For some, like Springer boss Matthias Döpfner, the pressure from the Ukrainians is already having an effect - and sparking a certain desire to go to war themselves, at least rhetorically.
"They must NOW move their troops and weapons to where our values and our future are STILL being defended," Döpfner fired at NATO from his own desk.
Behind this desire for escalation lies an ethic of conviction that has so far been more likely to be found among the Greens.
A rush of urgency, a missionary zeal along the lines of: Either we create the world NOW as we like it.
Or she'll just go down!
Whenever you get too mean about something, even if it's a good one, your ability to analyze suffers.
Then the cool head is missing.
Hard as it may be, there is a responsibility that extends beyond Ukraine.
It encompasses all of humanity.
And that would not be helped if the war escalated into a conflagration.