The private and the political
In the end it obviously didn't work anymore:
Anne Spiegel
, former environment minister of Rhineland-Palatinate and until yesterday Federal Minister for Family Affairs who was worried about her image during the flood disaster, resigned after all.
Although it was said shortly before that she continued to enjoy Chancellor Olaf Scholz' trust and that he was moved and affected by her statement.
From today on, Germany will not only be looking for a new family minister, maybe already has one, but possibly also (another) debate about the compatibility of family and career in general and that of top politicians in particular.
It will certainly also be about the issue of stress.
Maybe also about gender roles and error culture.
But the Spiegel affair is not about compatibility
or the most authentic admission of mistakes, but about the fact that a minister was on vacation when her compatriots were suffering and did not attend cabinet meetings (which she had told the untruth about).
She failed.
No meta level necessary.
If it's up to me, the following questions should no longer be on the table:
Can a woman who has four children be a top politician? Answer: Of course.
But she should tell her voters the truth if possible and fulfill her oath of office.
Most citizens are of age and have a reasonably well-functioning set of values.
Would many SPIEGEL Morgenlage authors or readers put up with the workload that most of our top politicians manage?
Certainly not.
Do politicians have a private life and also the odd package or two to carry,
just like other normal people who, say, work at the checkout at Edeka or get into the cab of a subway in the morning?
But yes.
Are politicians real people with real feelings?
For sure.
Only - I don't know about you, but I don't really want to see these private feelings, at least not the citizen and voter in me (the journalist does, different topic).
With all due respect: As a citizen of this country, I don't want to be burdened with this private side, I would almost like to say: bothered.
The feelings demonstrated by decision-makers don't have to, but they can lead to uncertainty that I don't need.
I want to be sure the store is running.
Or at least somewhat.
After all, it is part of professionalism to be able to assess when it is no longer possible, when the burden is too much, for you and your family.
Anyone who continues despite being overburdened or takes on even more is not making a sacrifice, but suffering from hubris.
"Political feelings" are something else.
Of course, every top politician does well to show or otherwise express dismay, horror, sympathy or joy in the face of extraordinary events.
When Robert Habeck, for example, only visibly wrestles with himself with an unshaven worried face and a crumpled shark collar when he explains to us why we cannot turn off the Russian gas tap immediately.
When EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen catches her breath at the sight of the mass graves in Butscha.
And yes, even if Anne Spiegel said about the victims of the flood disaster that her heart was heavy.
Resignation of family minister Spiegel: The fall
The Contradictions of War
The Russian war against Ukraine is many things, but above all it is a great lesson in creating, identifying and enduring contradictions.
It seems to me that this is particularly difficult for Germany.
I made a list:
A materially and spiritually completely demilitarized German society
and their policies are now having to contend with the fact that they are giving away a significant part of their stockpiles of weapons (at least the part that works) to another country.
Because this country was attacked by a previously close partner country of Germany.
Germany has traditionally struggled with everything military, which is probably also due to the fact that politics has not burdened it with it in recent years.
It was only when the Taliban took power in Afghanistan and the Western troops withdrew that the memory came back – wait a minute, there was something!
We have an army.
With the Russian war of aggression that has now completely changed.
In a survey after Chancellor Olaf Scholz's »Zeitenwende« speech, two-thirds of Germans wished that their country would become more involved in crises.
Holocaust survivors, who were once
freed from German murderers with the help of Russian soldiers, are now being threatened, shot at and killed by Russian soldiers, just like 96-year-old Boris Romanchenko, who lived in Kharkiv.
This is for Germany, which is grateful for the liberation of hardly thinking together.
Another contradiction:
Many Greens step on the gas (metaphorically) when it comes to arms deliveries to Ukraine or visits to Kiev
, while the turning point Social Democrats can't get their foot off the brake.
According to a report by Bild, the Greens are complaining about the pressure the Chancellor is putting on them not to go to Kyiv.
The Greens chairman of the Europe Committee, Anton Hofreiter, wants heavy weapons ("It's very difficult for me to demand something like that," he said in a recent interview with SPIEGEL).
The Green Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock now wants them too.
Robert Habeck wanted her last year after a visit to eastern Ukraine and got a good beating from his party for it.
The solidarity for refugees from Ukraine is immense, as are the numbers.
The willingness to accept in practically all European countries is great.
That's gratifying, as it shows that Vladimir Putin's strategy of using refugee movements to destabilize Europe isn't working.
At least this time.
It was different about half a year ago, the occident practically went under.
At that time, there were a few thousand half-frozen people seeking protection in the border area between Poland and Belarus, transported there by the Belarusian Putin vassal Alexander Lukashenko.
Some people died.
Today, war refugees from the Ukraine who are not Ukrainians but come from the Congo or Algeria and have studied or worked in Kyiv or Kharkiv have to stand in "extra queues" at the border with Poland.
Some contradictions hurt, some are interesting.
I'll keep collecting.
What contradictions bother you?
Write to me if you like: oezlem.topcu@spiegel.de
You can find more news and background information on the war in Ukraine here:
That happened on Tuesday night:
Did Russian forces drop an unknown chemical substance on Mariupol?
Several civilians were killed in Kharkiv.
And: Reports of rape in Ukraine are increasing.
The overview
The general who is supposed to turn Putin around:
Russian General Alexander Dwornikov is notorious for his ruthless warfare in Syria.
Now Putin puts him at the head of his army in Ukraine - with what aim?
The EU puts 21 airlines licensed in Russia
on a blacklist:
However, this is not another sanction, the EU Commission announced.
Belarus summons German ambassador:
Because of their country's role in the war against Ukraine, Belarusian representatives were not welcome at a commemoration of the Buchenwald concentration camp.
Minsk has now reacted.
Ukraine is demanding “arms, arms, arms” – and Berlin is checking and checking and checking:
no gas embargo and only slow deliveries of arms – the horrors of Bucha are putting the federal government's policies under increasing pressure.
How much longer can Berlin hold its hesitant course?
A journey nobody understands
A whole country shakes its head at the Chancellor's trip... no, not what you think.
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer was in Moscow yesterday for talks with President Vladimir Putin.
While many political observers in Vienna are still trying to understand what is going on, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had already "welcomed" his colleague's trip.
The surprising visit of the ÖVP politician in the Austrian homeland and on Twitter (which is practically also a kind of home for many people) was obviously not
so well received – so that the Chancellery hurried to issue a written statement after the 75-minute meeting .
"The Chancellor's most important message to the Russian President was that this war must stop, because in a war there are only losers on both sides," it says.
So that there are no misunderstandings.
Or also: »The war crimes, of which horrific images have reached us from Bucha and other Ukrainian cities in the last few days, were very clearly addressed by the Federal Chancellor in talks with President Putin, as was the need for an international investigation.« Unfortunately, there was none Camera with you to record this clearly, a wish of the Chancellery.
A press conference by the Federal Chancellor, which was supposed to take place after the meeting, quickly became a "virtual background discussion"
from which journalists are generally not allowed to quote.
That was then taken back and there was a live stream with Chancellor.
There is no worse way to conceal the uncertainty.
"You have to give Karl Nehammer credit for breaking with Vienna's political coziness with Putin from his predecessor Sebastian Kurz," says my colleague Oliver Das Gupta, who reports for us from Vienna.
He also considers the accusation that Nehammer is doing his own PR to be exaggerated – who should currently be well received by PR with the help of Putin?
But the question now is whether the Federal Chancellor of "neutral" Austria has overdone himself with his trip to Moscow.
Austria's Chancellor with Putin: "I have no optimistic impression of this conversation"
The latest news from the night
Biden is tightening measures against ghost weapons:
the individual parts can be ordered online and assembled quickly: the use of so-called ghost weapons has skyrocketed in the USA.
President Biden wants to take action
WHO updates vaccination recommendation for protection against cervical cancer:
According to the World Health Organization, more girls and women worldwide can be vaccinated against cervical cancer in the future.
According to new data, a simple vaccination is enough for under 21-year-olds
Federal states accuse justice ministers of blocking the fight against rent extortion:
because he does not want to punish rent extortion more severely, leading state politicians accuse FDP justice minister Buschmann of protecting landlords.
Higher fines for exorbitant rents would be prevented
The SPIEGEL + recommendations for today
Dispute over boycott of energy supplies:
Which sanctions really harm Putin
Diagnosis »Persistent mourning disorder«:
How long is one allowed to mourn, Ms. Rosner?
Literary settlements with an idealized role model:
Mama can no longer
External and self-protection:
This is how the booster slows down the infection
I wish you a good start into this Tuesday!
Yours Özlem Topcu