"Maischberger" (ARD): No deal with Green Chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock

At “Maischberger. Die Woche “(ARD) comes under fire from Annalena Baerbock, then it comes to the forced plane landing in Belarus and Corona.

Cologne – There are three major topics that Sandra Maischberger is negotiating in her talk show on ARD and her guest commentators this time and which have been particularly talkative in the past few days. However, the current developments in the corona pandemic must first be left behind, before everything revolves around the plane landing in Minsk forced by the Belarusian regime and an intensive interview with Annalena Baerbock. With the latter, the moderator starts after the usual warm-up skirmish in an almost half-hour conversation and feels the Green Chancellor candidate on the tooth – or at least tries.

The guests on May 26th, 2021 at Maischberger (ARD)

“Maischberger. Die Woche “on ARD: Everything in butter with Annalena Baerbock?

Of course, Maischberger’s question about the late registration of three years of Christmas bonuses and a 2020 corona bonus comes right at the beginning. Baerbock answered them in detail, but in the end he wanted to brush them aside with a “one learns from mistakes” mantra. That doesn’t quite work and the bitter realization remains that the neighing of a high moral horse is much louder than continuous kunging in Union back rooms, especially when you have the BILD newspaper as your opponent.

On a strange, attention-seeking “We donate together for children” deal from ex “Die Höhle der Löwen” investor Frank Thelen, the Green boss happily confidently refuses to go into it – that’s a good thing, after all, the woman does not want to be a guest at the celebrity -Special of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” Baerbock proves that she has already mastered one of the parade disciplines of this office well in Maischberger’s staccato questionnaire, which includes statements on border controls, defensive weapons, mobility, energy supply, CO2 pricing, gender, Robert Habeck, Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden elicited: The moderator picks up the question, the politician answers adeptly, in an unassailable, hardly defining as well as attitude, including we-never-had-the-majority bonus. Whether Teflon-Merkel will be followed by Butter-Baerbock will be seen at the end of September.

“Maischberger. Die Woche “(ARD) on the events in Belarus

When the subject changes, all three commentators are visibly affected by the recorded images and sounds of the journalist Roman Protassewitsch. In the recordings, which were made after a recognizable violence, the young blogger declares in fear of death that he has been treated correctly and announces a confession that he organized illegal mass protests in Minsk.

On Sunday, the regime intercepted a Ryanair airline on its way from Athens to Vilnius via Belarus and diverted it to Minsk because of an alleged Hamas bomb threat. Protassewitsch and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega were taken from the plane and face long prison sentences or even death in the country of the dictator Alexander Lukashenko.

“Maischberger” (ARD): Cerstin Gammelin does not believe in a release of Roman Protassewitsch

ARD Russia specialist Udo Lielischkies calls the incident “creepy” and feels reminded of show trials under Stalin. Lukashenko’s doings are transparent and the journalist suspects complicity or approval from the Kremlin, where political opponents are treated just as arbitrarily. He is skeptical of the planned meeting between Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden in Geneva in mid-June and does not expect any changes from it – Russia’s president needs a demonization of the West in order to score domestically.

Cerstin Gammelin from the business editor of the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” hopes that there will be some willingness to talk, despite the difficult situation, which even a German cancellation of the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline project should change little. However, she describes the events in Belarus as a “horror for passengers”, does not believe in a release of Protasevich and is resigned: The EU reacted with exemplary speed, but no real leverage in hand because the Belarusian population must suffer enough – they should not be taken hostage by imposing excessive sanctions against the entire country.

“Maischberger. Die Woche “(ARD): Openings too late for children and culture?

There remains the all-dominant topic Covid-19 for fifteen months, with accompanying pictures from the Eurovision Song Contest from Rotterdam with 3500 completely happy, maskless fans. In addition to the three commentators, the star violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter from Munich and Germany’s pandemic weatherman (optionally also a scouting) Karl Lauterbach have their say.

Expectably, this part of the program does not go beyond a back and forth about too few and too late opening measures for children and culture between the violinist, the journalists and the entrepreneur on the one hand and a correction and explanation by the SPD doctor on the other. Had, would, should, should, could and “the incidences” and “the neighboring countries” – you just can’t hear it anymore.

At the very end, of course, Lauterbach also asked the question about his late-registered additional income from four lectures – forgotten and messed up, so his tenor, but at least UNICEF and the children’s corona aid in India now benefit from it, to which he has around 18,000 Donated euros. And truly: the absent-minded professor is not only taken from this man by a grinning Sandra Maischberger – and with the “night magazine” on the neck – shortly after midnight. (Peter Hoch)