"Germany must wake up from its slumber": Ukraine ambassador becomes clear with Anne Will

In the case of Anne Will (ARD), German politicians with convincing arguments advise prudence in the Ukraine conflict.

Like Maybrit Illner last Thursday (February 3rd, 2022), Anne Will (ARD) also addressed the Ukraine crisis. However, she was less fortunate with her guests. For the two advocates of the Ukrainian position turned out to be clumsy defenders of their cause for different reasons.

The round began with a problematic description of the situation by Anne Applebaum. Contrary to her assertion, the US-Polish historian and journalist revealed that she had not followed the German debate on arms deliveries closely enough. She was simply not up to date and seemed to have missed important political statements when she demanded “Olaf Scholz has to say that he doesn’t want war.”

Ukrainian Ambassador to Anne Will: “Help us change the course of the government”

Kevin Kühnert rightly pointed out to Anne Will (ARD) that the government’s positions were well known and that he could not see any uncertainty in the partner countries. Nor was Applebaum’s close private connection to Poland the excuse that she was quoted with the argument, which was as uncomplicated as it was brutally political, that those who did not want to supply weapons were for the war.

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One might have expected such hard-line positions from the Ukrainian ambassador Andriy Yaroslavovych Melnyk, but he expressed genuine concern for his fatherland when he asked: “Help us to change the course of the (German) government!” You have to wake up from the “sleeping beauty”. He doesn’t have the feeling that you can rely on Germany.

Anne Will (ARD): Germany’s fourth largest arms exporter – why not to Ukraine

It was then up to the German politicians to cool down the excitement a bit. Jürgen Trittin reminded that the federal government is Ukraine’s biggest donor and of course has an interest in it as a partner. But now the dissent has arisen over the question: what deters Putin more? The Green politician pleaded for negotiations and the scenario of possible sanctions. Because there is a basic decision in NATO: there will be no military solution. Besides, there is no military lever to prevent Putin from invading. And the USA and Great Britain would not become militarily active in this case either.

Dietmar Bartsch reminded Anne Will (ARD) that even Ukraine’s Defense Minister had said that he could not imagine an invasion by Russian troops. And what, according to leftists, would arms deliveries have ever done?

However, the clip from the editors at Anne Will (ARD) made the German problem visible: We, no: the federal governments, have made the country the fourth largest arms exporter and supply war equipment ourselves to dictators like Egypt’s Al-Sisi. So why not Ukraine? Trittin assured that the new government is preparing a law that will restrict the arms trade.

Anne Will (ARD) Putin “lost the hearts of Ukrainians”

The report by correspondent Ina Ruck, who was connected from Kiev, helped to make the conversation more objective: although the mood was heated and the Germans were resented for their refusal to deliver weapons, the fear of war there was not great. Putin will probably not attack Ukraine, perhaps also because he has to understand that he has “lost the hearts of Ukrainians”.

What Putin wants? Attention, said Ina Ruck, and it is well known that he does not want to see himself surrounded by NATO. While Melnyk wants to join the alliance immediately, the prospects are extremely poor. Anne Applebaum, however, praised NATO’s eastward expansion as “the most successful strategy in western foreign policy ever” – ideologically blind to the fact that this eastward expansion is precisely one of the reasons for the current crisis. (Daland sailors)