The ARD talk with Frank Plasberg offers daring kitchen psychology, long-distance diagnoses and quite factual classifications. The TV review of “Hart aber Fair”.
“Is it only the law of the strongest? How helpless is the West against Vladimir Putin?” asks moderator Frank Plasberg at the beginning of the latest edition of the ARD talk format “Hart aber fair”. He discusses with the former NATO General Hans-Lothar Dormröse, with Sabine Fischer, the Eastern Europe and Russia expert at the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) and the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Bundestag, Michael Roth (SPD). Also present in the studio are the former head of the ARD Studios Moscow Udo Lielischkies and the journalist Gabor Steingart.
The Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany Andriy Melnyk, who in his first statement of the evening initially praised the German government’s about-face on the sanctions against Russia and Putin and the delivery of weapons to the Ukrainian army, also commented in the round of talks are concerned that this “comes much too late, but hopefully this decision can be turned around for the better”.
Tough but fair (ARD): Putin wants to reunite Ukraine and Belarus with Russia
As befits a real Plasberg talk on Monday evening, this issue of “Hart aber fair” should not be without steep theses and non-specialist speculations. At the epicenter of the kitchen psychological hypotheses and long-distance diagnoses are the two journalists Steingart and Lielischkies, who speculate and argue about the mental state and motivation of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
| Hard but fair (ARD) from February 28th, 2022 | The guests of the show |
|---|---|
| Michael Roth | SPD politician |
| Udo Lielischkies | journalist |
| Sabine Fischer | Eastern Europe and Russia expert |
| Hans Lothar Domrose | former German NATO general |
| Gabor Steingart | journalist |
| Andriy Melnyk | Ukrainian Ambassador in Germany |
For the former Moscow correspondent Lielischkies, it is clear that Putin has created the narrative of the aggressive West over the years as a necessary phenomenon in order to be able to benefit domestically. “Then came a development of isolation, in which Putin became an amateur historian, who let go of government business and no longer bothered with domestic politics. Since then he has been reading history books and developing historical visions,” reports Lielischkies and asks: “Are there still fragments of rationality in Putin? Or is he at a point where he just wants to go down in the history books.” What does that mean for Putin? The former ARD correspondent is certain: “For Putin, this includes the reunification of the three states of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.”
Speculation about Putin’s state of mind on “Hard but fair” (ARD): “Is he really a madman?”
If the image of the Russian president of unsound mind is initially drawn, the long-serving former editor-in-chief of the Handelsblatt Gabor Steingart tries to develop a counter-thesis and reports on a personal encounter with the Russian president in 2013: “Putin is a very educated person. But is he really a madman who would go very, very far in the Adolf Hitler style?” Steingart answers the question he asked himself in a rather unoriginal way, saying that in this case a different approach is necessary than when you talk to Putin could still proceed from existing rationality.
Udo Lielischkies responds to Steingart’s vague statements with a somewhat more specific question as to how a way out of the situation can be found: “How does Putin get down from the tree? A way has to be found for him to get down from the tree while saving his face.” – Gabor Steingart has this ready immediately: “It’s very simple” – the journalist earns astonished looks – “The autonomous regions become independent or Russian-supported states and the Ukraine will be a kind of buffer state, just as Putin and the West envisioned until recently.” In Steingart’s view, the lifting of all sanctions could also be a topic of discussion with the Russian President. Hobby psychologist Steingart once again digs deep into the box with oblique comparisons: “When it comes to animal training, one speaks of positive reinforcement: one could speak of the free trade zone. – Because what is the opposite of war? These are economic relations and dialogue.”
Ukraine’s ambassador to “Hard but fair” (ARD): “Putin miscalculated”
The Ukrainian ambassador Andriy Melnyk replies in a much sharper manner with a well-chosen image and determination: “You wouldn’t talk to the victim of a criminal who has put a knife to his victim’s neck and ask him what he can do with it the criminal could save face?” the ambassador accuses the journalist. “We are for dialogue. But not a single issue that has been raised from Moscow so far has been negotiable. The people in Ukraine are also ready for their freedom, their values, their homeland and their statehood.” For Melnyk and Ukraine, one thing is certain: “Putin miscalculated and overestimated. He will be even more brutal.”
To the broadcast
“Hart aber fair” (ARD) from February 28, 2022 on the war in Ukraine. The show in the ARD media library.
At this point, the Monday talk is much more factual than the speculation about Russian President Vladimir Putin. Former NATO General Hans-Lothar Domröse sums up the events of the war: “Putin seems to have gotten stuck.” When asked whether this is good news, he replies: “I don’t know exactly.” On the open battlefield The Ukrainian army is in any case inferior to the Russian “high-tech army”: “They have to execute partisan-like stabs,” judges the former NATO general.
Michael Roth (SPD): “We are witnessing Putin’s moral bankruptcy declaration”
Sabine Fischer, the Eastern Europe expert at the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, doubts the seriousness of the peace talks on the border with Belarus: “Two of the Russian negotiators are hardcore nationalists”. Nevertheless, she sees the possibility of starting ceasefire talks. ARD man Lielischkies agrees: He doesn’t see that Putin really wants to negotiate either. However, the Ukrainians knew that they would not be able to withstand the Russian army for long. “And Putin doesn’t shy away from crushing the resistance by leveling a city.”
For example, Michael Roth, the politician in the group, relies on the forces of civil society in Russia: “We are witnessing Putin’s moral bankruptcy declaration,” says Roth (SPD), according to which support for the war in Russia is low and the Russian President’s determination and unity of the West underestimated. “Putin is dealing with a President of Ukraine who behaves so responsibly that Putin’s face is even more chilling. Putin himself spoke of the brother people in Ukraine. One does not wage such a war against brothers and sisters.”
“Hard but fair” (ARD) – political scientist sees justification propaganda in Russia
The political scientist Fischer agrees with Roth on this point: “It is currently not about mobilization propaganda, but justification propaganda in Russia, because the war is not supported by a large majority of the population.” strengthened over the past two years. Fischer assumes that the repressions in Russia will increase drastically again. A gloomy outlook in warlike days. (Moritz Post)
