Strack-Zimmermann: Appeasement policy "failed"

Created: 2022-03-27Updated: 2022-03-27 06:40

Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP) is Chairwoman of the Defense Committee in the Bundestag.

© Kay Nietfeld/dpa

The war in Ukraine is a "hard awakening," especially for Germany, says the chairwoman of the Defense Committee.

The fight for democracy and freedom should not be an empty phrase.

Berlin - The chairwoman of the Defense Committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, is calling for significantly more determination in security policy in response to the Ukraine war.

"Defensiveness, willingness to defend, ability to defend, these are mutually dependent.

If I make a country fit for military action, i.e. equip the Bundeswehr accordingly, there must also be the will to defend the country in an emergency," said the FDP politician to the German Press Agency.

"Are we mentally capable of doing that?

This discussion will reach Germany,” she said.

And: “I wish for a federal government that articulates this openly, even if 5 million out of 82 million German citizens hold their breath in the short term.

You'll recover."

The Russian war of aggression and the associated threats by Russian President Vladimir Putin against NATO countries are "a very hard awakening for Europe and especially for us".

“We just have to know that it takes a certain response.

And we lost that.

Words like "We fight for freedom" are then just empty phrases," she said.

"War of the Systems"

Europe is now in a phase in which such fundamental questions are at stake.

This is a war of the systems.

The question is whether a despot who has left every form of civilized coexistence and is shooting at hospitals can prevail.

"We find it incredibly difficult to deal with this breach of civilization, because not only did we all believe that such a breach of civilization would never happen again, but also because we cannot and, above all, do not want to respond adequately," she said.

"The question now is, do we accept this dramatic challenge, because now it's about the fundamentals, about democracy and freedom," said Strack-Zimmermann.

“It must finally stop that Germany tolerates intolerance.

Anyone who tolerates intolerance sooner or later destroys our canon of values ​​and thus ourselves.”

Of course you have to negotiate and keep trying to get along peacefully.

"But I think the policy of appeasement, that is, a policy of constant tolerance for destructive power politics, has completely failed," she said.

"I don't believe in it, neither in terms of internal security nor in terms of external security.

There are people and governments who only know clear announcements.

Only those who are strong will not be attacked.”

Questions as to whether arms deliveries to Ukraine would in some way prolong the war are cynical for people in Ukraine.

To endure an attack and not fight back, so that the war would end and more survive, would mean that the brutal attacker would always prevail.

“The right to self-defense is therefore enshrined in Article 51 of the United Nations Charter.

All despots, all Putins in this world, must be aware that their thirst for power comes at a high price,” she said.

Concessions to Putin are a "no go"

Only Ukraine can decide whether Putin can be offered a way out with concessions in view of his military difficulties and the effect of the sanctions.

"I think it's out of the question, even out of place, that we're discussing what could be offered to Putin so that there would be calm.

That's a no-go."

A new chapter will be opened for the Bundeswehr with the special fund of over 100 billion euros announced by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and increases in the defense budget.

"The Europeans and also NATO rubbed their eyes - in disbelief or full of enthusiasm.

It also led to other countries considering whether to increase their defense budget again.

Germany is more of a role model than we believe and possibly want to be.

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In Germany, it is important to always organize civil defense and infrastructure protection along with defense.

Sirens and shelters have been removed, high-rise bunkers have been converted into luxury apartments.

"If the heating stays cold on Friday, it's freezing outside, the power is off and all forms of communication are cut off, then even the most phlegmatic fellow citizen will have his nerves on Monday morning and grab everything in the nearest supermarket."

Strack-Zimmermann said she was very, very grateful to the US for now standing by Europe's side.

Germany must take a critical look at its own politics.

"Change through trade, this form of foreign policy, which Chancellor Angela Merkel pursued very strongly towards Russia and also China - was, in retrospect, naïve, even naïve," said Strack-Zimmermann.

Merkel will have done this out of inner conviction, not so much as an end in itself, but in her opinion to avert damage from the German people.

"And yet the historical classification of her achievements as chancellor is strongly influenced by Russia's attack on Ukraine, if not ruined." dpa