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"Every time Scholz calls Putin...": Will-Runde settles accounts with the Chancellor

2022-05-23T09:58:58.962Z


"Every time Scholz calls Putin...": Will-Runde settles accounts with the Chancellor Created: 05/23/2022, 11:50 am The guests at "Anne Will" (ARD) on May 22nd, 2022. © NDR/Wolfgang Borrs In the case of Anne Will, the rift between the opposition and the federal government in relation to the attitude to the war in Ukraine becomes clear. The foreign policy goal is disputed.  Berlin – "I'm afraid t


"Every time Scholz calls Putin...": Will-Runde settles accounts with the Chancellor

Created: 05/23/2022, 11:50 am

The guests at "Anne Will" (ARD) on May 22nd, 2022.

© NDR/Wolfgang Borrs

In the case of Anne Will, the rift between the opposition and the federal government in relation to the attitude to the war in Ukraine becomes clear.

The foreign policy goal is disputed. 

Berlin – "I'm afraid that the chancellor doesn't want Ukraine to win this war!" CDU foreign affairs expert Roderich Kiesewetter shoots sharply at Anne Will from the opposition corner.

The point of contention is the attitude of the federal government in the Ukraine conflict.

"I don't see the problems in the government, but in the Chancellery," says Kiesewetter and accuses Scholz of "playing for time": The chancellor is "not empathetically on the side of Ukraine."

Publicist Marina Weisband, who has meanwhile become the voice of Ukraine in Germany, agrees: In Ukraine this attitude is already "taken for granted".

"Anne Will" - these guests discussed with:

  • Michael Roth (SPD) -

    Member of the Bundestag and Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs

  • Roderich Kiesewetter (CDU) -

    Member of the Bundestag and former colonel

  • Jan van Aken (Die Linke) -

    works at the Rosa-Luxemburg-Foundation on international crisis and conflict areas

  • Marina Weisband (Die Grünen) - 

    German-Ukrainian publicist

  • Prof. Carlo Masala -

    Professor of International Politics at the University of the Federal Armed Forces in Munich

War talk at "Anne Will": German-Ukrainian Weisband reprimands "German defeatism"

Weisband vents her disappointment, speaks of "German defeatism" that lacks a "clear direction from the government" and complains: "I would have liked to hear from the Federal Chancellor: Ukraine must win, Russian troops must withdraw!"

Asked by Will about the reasons for this attitude, Weisband speculates that it might be old "Russian entanglements" that played a role and states: "Every time Scholz and Macron talk to Putin on the phone, their line softens - they also observe that all abroad.” Kiesewetter later agreed with this attitude, criticizing: “No system change in Russia, no change of power in Russia” is currently possible with the German government.

Roderich Kiesewetter (CDU) - member of the Bundestag and former colonel - guest at "Anne Will" (ARD).

© NDR/Wolfgang Borrs

"Now it's out," Anne Will reacts to Kiesewetter's harsh words and turns to the other political camp in her show.

The chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, SPD politician Michael Roth, is supposed to answer the question: “Does the federal government want Ukraine to win?” Will shows in a clip that Scholz has difficulty using the word, preferring to say that Ukraine “exists”. speaks.

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The SPD MP is also struggling.

He is not an insider of the Chancellery, he clarifies.

However, Roth tries to interpret the Chancellor's position: "Ukraine must exist as a free, sovereign, democratic country while maintaining its territorial integrity," says Roth, stating: "That's how I would define a win for Ukraine."

"Anne Will": Ukraine as a "neutral zone"?

Professor finds thoughts "absurd"

The military expert Carlo Masala is still too vague: "If Scholz says that Ukraine will remain, that could also mean that Russia will keep Crimea and Donbass." Will follows up on Roth: "Including Donbass and Crimea?" Roth evades: "I find it difficult to give Ukraine advice from the outside.

The Ukrainians must decide for themselves how the war will be ended.”

white band

makes it clear what that could mean in the end: "That would mean that areas conquered by Russia remained Russian areas".

That is not only a wrong signal for the world, but also a worsening of the starting point for possible negotiations.

Masala also sees it that way: once land has been won, Putin will not give it back.

And Roth adds: "Talking to Putin only makes sense from a position of strength and deterrence." can be done.”

Scholz criticized in Will's Ukraine talk: Federal government "decided to fear"

Masala speculates: "We decided to fear according to the German soul" - out of the panic of a nuclear escalation, so Masala.

Weisband straightens the picture: "I understand all the people who are afraid out there," she says.

But the best antidote to fear isn't giving everything to "an aggressor," it's "resilience."

Permitting injustice is “the greatest spiral of escalation”.

Roth agrees: “We have already achieved a lot, but a lot still needs to be done.” Because: “We will see in Mariupol where it leads when the Ukrainian army is poorly equipped.

More weapons would certainly have helped." The SPD man is: "I am in favor of Ukraine getting everything the country needs to defend itself and reconquer areas".

Masala points out that there is also a danger in this: The "successful" battles in Ukraine could develop into a "protracted war of attrition and position" in the course of which there could be less and less interest: "The longer it lasts, the more public attention goes away, and the more difficult it becomes for politicians to maintain support at a high level.”

Weisband disagrees: Putin's troops are currently exhausted.

With more weapons and clout from the West, it could be possible to push back the Russian troops.

“It depends on us!” says Weisband.

With enough cooperation, "the war need not last long". 

Conclusion of the "Anne Will" talk

"There has not yet been a serious discussion among the allies about what war goals are actually being pursued in Ukraine," says expert Carlo Masala on the show.

Anne Will tries to fill this gap in her talk.

CDU man Kiesewetter obviously uses the discussion in a party-political manner and goes wide when he realizes that the mood on the show is going in his direction.

It resonates that - against the background of the election results in Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia, which brought profits above all for the CDU and Greens - the war in Ukraine could also spread to an inner-German government crisis for Scholz.

(Verena Schulemann)

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-05-23

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