Highlighting many of the fault lines in Germany when it comes to deciding how to punish Vladimir Putin for ‘invading’ Crimea, Die Zeit, columnist Michael Thumann criticizes those who have sympathy for Putin’s position on Ukraine as people who love Russia, but don’t really understand it; love romantic old Russia – which no longer exists; are anti-American and anti-Europe, and see a chance to air their long-held views, and those who are too provincial to care about Berlin’s global responsibilities. He also takes aim at journalists, accusing them of ‘demonizing the United States over the surveillance affair’ and failing to ‘adequately explain the advantages of the West and our free Europe.’
For Die Zeit, Michael Thumann gets underway explaining who his column is about – and who it isn’t:
What do Alice Schwarzer, Gregor Gysi (Die Linke Party), and Alexander Gauland of Alternative for Deutschland have in common? They are all promoting a better understanding of Russia. In the debate about the proper European response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea, a strange coalition is emerging in Germany that if not finding Russia’s behavior perfectly correct, at least considers it understandable. What are the motivations for thinking that the first annexation in Europe since the Second World War is at all “OK?”
First of all: There are lots of Germans who find this new division in Europe a great cause of concern. They regret that the continent’s 25 good years have come to an end and fear the damage that “spiraling” sanctions would create for everyone. These are people who not only understand Russia, but know and love Russian language and culture. These are not the Germans we wish to discuss here.
This is about those who willingly turn a blind eye to the Europe-wide dangers of Russia’s actions. Last week, Gregor Gysi gave a speech in the Bundestag that illustrates the problem. Equating Kosovo with Crimea, which [German feminist] Alice Schwarzer is also doing, blurs the fundamental differences between these two interventions. In the case of Kosovo, NATO intervened only after long, unsuccessful struggle in the U.N. Security Council, when hundreds of thousands of Kosovars were already fleeing the country. No one annexed Kosovo.
At a time when there was no threat to a single Russian life or limb, Russian troops occupied Crimea. Moscow didn’t convene the Security Council – it annexed Crimea over the course of two weeks. Not out of a humanitarian emergency, but strategic calculation.
What Gysi’s speech was really oozing with was his anti-Americanism and contempt for Europe. That puts him in the same boat as the anti-European right-wing members of the Alternative for Deutschland and right-wing extremists. Together they form the first group of those promoting greater understanding for Putin.
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