Despite special assets, the Bundeswehr is on its last legs – and that in times of war.
This causes problems for Anne Will.
A colonel was now evident.
Berlin - The time of peace and prosperity in Europe is over.
Peace researcher Prof. Nicole Deitelhoff is pretty sure of that on Sunday evening in Anne Will's ARD talk.
SPD MP Ralf Stegner, who is considered the spokesman for the left wing of his party, had just started to justify the government policy with the preservation of these values for future generations when the scientist put a spanner in the works.
It is the truth that we "have to tell our children and grandchildren now: Things have changed!" In terms of a safe, stable world, Deitelhoff is certain: "They won't grow up like this!"
Anne Will: In the ARD talk at the turn of the century, Bundeswehr Colonel Wüstner turns things up a notch
The chairman of the Bundeswehr Association, Colonel André Wüstner, agrees with complete conviction.
In the course of the ARD program, Wüstner accuses the government and parliamentarians of lacking political will in view of the turning point in the Bundeswehr.
With the agreement of the other guests at Anne Will, Wüstner asked why politicians “didn't go more aggressively into communication”, prepare people better and clearly state in which political field things would be difficult in the future.
Stegner looks amazed at first, then in disbelief: "It's not enough to just talk," he finally decides.
The situation is also a "challenge" for politicians, the AfD is already "Eastern Germany's strongest force," said Stegner.
One must ensure that parts of society do not feel "left behind" and also warn of the political change in the USA, which cannot be ruled out if Donald Trump is re-elected.
"Anne Will" - these guests discussed with:
Ralf Stegner (SPD) -
MdB and member of the Foreign Affairs Committee
Gerhart Baum (FDP) -
former Federal Minister of the Interior
D
André Wüstner -
Chairman of the Bundeswehr Association and colonel
Prof. Nicole Deitelhoff -
Head of the program area for international politics at the Leibniz Institute Hessian Foundation for Peace and Conflict Research
Prof. Hedwig Richter -
historian for modern and recent history at the University of the Federal Armed Forces in Munich
FDP politician Gerhart Baum sees freedom threatened in ARD: "The world is out of joint!"
Anne Will is actually about the defense capability of the Bundeswehr.
The title of the political talk show on the first is: "Preparing for peace - what lessons has Germany learned from the turning point?" But in the sometimes heated discussion, it quickly becomes clear that the problems lie deeper.
"The world has gotten out of joint," says the 90-year-old FDP political veteran Gerhart Baum, who witnessed the bombing of Dresden as a 12-year-old - or as Anne Will puts it - "knows what war feels like".
Baum, who is politically active despite his old age, is also experiencing the current global political change as the "most intense epochal break" since 1945. "The sum of all these challenges," says Baum, endangers the free world order and Western democracy like never before.
With Putin's attack on European soil and the strengthened role of China, there is a direct attack on "our value system" for the first time.
Baum criticizes that it is a shortcoming that Europe has so far failed to formulate a uniform foreign policy.
"The role of Europe" in the new world power order, with the two major powers USA and China, is unclear.
Baum: "Where is a Europe policy to carry the weight of the continent into the world?"
SPD man Stegner attests a "disputed" Europe "problem in his own shop"
Stegner first tries to pass the question on to Green Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, but then also admits: "We're trying, but Europe is divided," you have "problems in your own shop".
The former Western superpower USA has also been hit internationally: "You couldn't have imagined that Trump would storm the Capitol," said Stegner.
Therefore, one can no longer simply “come with western values”.
Deitelhoff sees the reasons for the credibility of the West, which is now crumbling internationally, in the policy of intervention over the last few decades, which has pretty much destroyed the “credibility” of a “liberal West”.
According to the expert, the partial reticence of third countries in relation to Russia can also be explained with this: "Because they say: What Russia is doing there is not right, but what the West has been doing over the last three decades is just as wrong! Many states therefore “actually wanted nothing to do with either of them”.
The major challenge for the West is now to offer partnerships "that are so attractive to the global South that they are turning back to the West".
Colonel criticizes politicians about the Bundeswehr: "Everyone talks about special assets like the blind about color!"
With regard to the Ukraine war, Colonel Wüstner makes it clear how slowly the wheels of German politics are turning: Back in 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea, it was pointed out that the Bundeswehr needed support, according to Wüst, but instead it was business remained as usual: "People didn't want to see it." Even now, ignorance and disinterest prevail in large parts: "Everyone talks about special assets like the blind about color," said the colonel.
The procedures took too long.
For example, the purchase of the self-propelled howitzers, whose delivery to Ukraine had already been decided last year, is only now to be decided in the budget committee.
What drives him "insane" is how many he "has to explain in Parliament what they themselves agreed to".
According to Wüstner, many politicians “do not even understand” exactly what the money is being used for.
Deitelhoff and Baum also confirmed the problem.
Baum attributes this to the typical German mentality after the experiences of Hitler's Germany: "Keeping out, that's the German special way," said Baum.
Deitelhoff explains in a more differentiated way that in the prosperous years of the West, defense was defined as something “subordinate”, one would have interpreted it as a civil power.
Deitelhoff estimates that it will still take a while before this attitude changes.
Conclusion of the "Anne Will" talk on ARD
When Bundeswehr Colonel Wüstner criticized the lack of political communication regarding the crises and problems of the time, Anne Will reacted with surprise: "Just about every Sunday," says the presenter, "here with her, these problems are discussed and debated.
Anne Will lives up to this resolution with the current show.
In fact, what is going wrong is openly addressed.
The show is startling.
What is missing is a positive outlook.
It gives the impression of a hopeless situation in which there is hardly anything to be done.
If the show is supposed to shake things up, the shot misses the mark.
(Verena Schulemann)
