"Hard but fair": Nuclear strike in Russia permanent topic?

"Whether Putin pushes the button doesn't depend on us"

Created: 04/26/2022, 12:32 p.m

The talk show at “Hart aber fair” on April 25th, 2022.

© WDR/Dirk Borm

Should Germany risk escalation?

The guests at "Hart aber Fair" were almost in agreement.

The warning from a Ukrainian stays in my head.

Berlin – “I want Ukraine️ to win.

I want our value-based order to win”: FDP defense expert Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann triggered a Twitter storm with a statement in the ARD talk “Hart aber fair”.

Hundreds of users commented in different directions, criticized, many agreed with the chair of the defense committee.

Strack-Zimmermann calls the Ukraine war a "proxy war" that affects Europe's democratic system of values.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will also use this word a little later.

"If Putin wins this war," the Liberal warns, "500 million Europeans" would no longer "be able to live safely."

Putin's war: Bundeswehr general demands "clear line"

In his political talk on the first, moderator Frank Plasberg put the demand for heavy weapons for Ukraine up for debate.

Where the trip should go was not only evident from the selection of guests - Plasberg also set the direction when formulating the title: "Ukraine is fighting, Germany is hesitating: are we paralyzed by our fear of Putin?"

"Hard but fair" - these guests discussed with:

• Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP)

  - Chairwoman of the Bundestag Defense Committee

• Egon Ramms

   - retired German NATO general

• Jan van Aken (Die Linke)

  - Associate of the Linke-affiliated Rosa Luxemburg Foundation

• Michael Thumann

   - foreign policy correspondent of Die

  Zeit

• Yevgenia Belorusets

   - Ukrainian artist, fled Kiev

In any case, the talk makes it clear that the debate, which was also conducted by the traffic light coalition, is not just about weapons, but about Germany's basic strategic orientation - and the question of whether Germany is committed to peace or a "victory" for Ukraine.

Former NATO general Egon Ramms has cited Winston Churchill as the cue for possible peace negotiations with Vladimir Putin.

The British Prime Minister had rejected negotiations with Adolf Hitler with the sentence: "Are you asking about our goal?

I can answer in one word: victory.

Victory at all costs, because without victory there is no survival.”

With Russia, Ramms predicts, we will “run into” the same situation.

There is "no more trust" in Putin, which makes peace negotiations per se useless.

The West must take a clear line to show Putin that "he cannot play with the West like he has in the last 20 years".

Ukraine Talk: Strack-Zimmermann compares Scholz with rabbits that "is afraid of the snake"

Strack-Zimmermann openly criticizes the federal government's hesitancy and chose a harsh comparison: "To sit like a rabbit in front of the queue and afraid of being eaten," said the FDP politician, "I think it's wrong".

Michael Thumann, foreign policy correspondent for Die

takes a similar view: Putin is acting “much less than we think”.

For the Russian ruler, the question of the “mood among the people” and whether the regime is “crumbling” is crucial.

As in 2014, a long phase of decline in "Putin's popularity" had preceded it, but after the invasion of Ukraine it was back to "80 percent".

The journalist's assessment: "The war will only end when Putin realizes: he's not getting anywhere, his army is gritting its teeth."

Strack-Zimmermann sees it this way: The "standard for when Putin uses something" will not be "controlled" by the West.

Putin knows what the word "nuclear" triggers in Europe and among NATO partners.

He uses it to "sow insecurity" and "reduce our clout".

Journalist Thumann also emphasizes that Russia has already clearly positioned itself here: "The ones with whom they are at war, that's us!" For Russia it has long been clear: "It's about dominance in Europe!"

Ukrainian explains Putin's propaganda - and standard of action: Nuclear strike in Russia has been an issue for a long time

Ukrainian artist Yevgenia Belorusets, who fled Kyiv to Germany to escape the invasion, recounts the Russian propaganda she has been pursuing since the 2014 annexation of Crimea.

There have been reports for a long time about the possible use of nuclear weapons - and about the fact that Europe has nothing to oppose from a Russian perspective: "Whether Putin pushes his head or not does not depend on us."

The Ukrainian sees no possibilities for a political solution: "Putin is against any form of peace agreement." But from the Ukrainian point of view, there is no room for negotiations either.

"What should Putin sell as a victory - new rapes in Bucha?" Should one give Putin "a city so that he can kill the children there," she asks.

Strack-Zimmermann agrees: "Putin only understands the clear language of weapons!"

Ukraine war on "Hard but Fair": Linker proposes speed limit as acceleration for Russia embargo

Moderator Plasberg had to crack down harshly when left-wing politician Jan van Aken never tired of mentioning “41.3 billion euros” that the European Union had “transferred to Moscow” “since the beginning of the war” from Russia for gas deliveries, “because no one is willing to discuss an oil embargo here."

"With a speed limit and a car-free Sunday alone, we would have paid 300 million euros less to Moscow's war machine!" says van Aken.

That gets Strack-Zimmermann on the scene.

The FDP rejects a speed limit: “I find it macabre to throw in the speed limit in this context, compared to what is happening in Ukraine.

It's all about people getting killed!" Plasberg spoke up: "We're going to cancel the speed limit now.

I actually find that too banal!”

Conclusion of the "hard but fair" talk

The Ukraine conflict is not easing, it is coming to a head.

This trend was also evident in “Hard but Fair”.

More Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine on the one hand, more arms shipments on the other.

Where does this lead?

The left-wing politician Jan van Aken, who called for the introduction of a speed limit in the show in order to limit gas supplies from Russia, and then also discredited NATO as a whole because of its partner Turkey, asked a question that was in fact not insignificant : We have to think 30 years ahead: What should be in Europe then?

But this debate does not seem to fit the time.

The program was not least about criticism of Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Plasberg summed it up smugly: "I notice that it has become a bit modern to pillory Scholz."