The words of a German politician from Ukraine in Berlin “explode without comparing a bomb”

There were also fissures in the Green Party. And all this, in the pre-election fight.

One of the two Green Party leaders, Habeck, who has long been considered a candidate for chancellor, visited Ukraine earlier this week, where he met with President Volodymyr Zelensky and remained on the front line near Mariupol.

He got acquainted with the situation on the spot and, looking at it through the eyes of the Ukrainians, declared: The West has left Ukraine alone. Habeck could not remain indifferent to Russian snipers shooting at Ukrainian soldiers and Russian drones crossing the border dumping mines at residents’ kindergartens and injuring civilians.

“As I understand it, it is difficult to refuse to supply Ukraine with weapons for defense, self-defense and defensive weapons,” the leader of the Greens told Deutschlandfunk radio in Kiev on Tuesday. Oh, knowing his party’s position on this, he even highlighted the defensive nature of weapons three times.

But that didn’t help either. Habeck’s interview on Tuesday sparked rejection on a broad front, including harsh criticism from the Greens themselves.

What is Habeck doing again? Hasn’t the Greens done enough damage with their foundation of “firecrackers” in Ukraine already? https://t.co/cWMJweHeas pic.twitter.com/QzVrZUudUa

– Wolfgang Werner (@ramm_wolfgang) May 26, 2021

An icy reaction from a German government spokesman

The Social Democratic leader, Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz, accused Habeck of “wanting to raise his political profile” (it is no secret that the green politician aspires to the post of chancellor in the future government). However, the situation in eastern Ukraine is too dire to allow “attention to be paid by loud statements”.

More important than supplying arms is financial support for Ukraine and sanctions on Russia, other Social Democrats explained.

The response of Angela Merkel’s spokeswoman was icy, according to the Merkur newspaper: on Wednesday she only confirmed the clear “No” of the federal government.

“We have a restrictive and responsible arms export policy and we do not issue any permits for the supply of weapons of war to Ukraine,” he said. Nothing will change during this period, as he slashed with an ax.

And another green leader, chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock, reacted publicly Wednesday night. On the ARD talk show “Maischberger. In Die Woche, she stressed that the party rejects any supply of arms to regions of military conflict: “It is on our agenda, and that is the position that both of us, the party leaders, have,” she assured herself and Habeck.

The green-led political duo belongs to the so-called realist party wing, but in it, as political observers point out, members of the left and radical attitudes, including radical pacifists, surpass it. It is therefore understandable that Mr Baerbock was in a hurry to quell the waves of outrage in the party sparked by Mr Habeck’s statement from Kiev.

All those words sound like a mockery

Habeck himself, speaking from all sides, including his own, the criticisms circulating, explained the next day in an interview with Deutschlandfunk: “Embark on a journey.”

At the same time, he mentioned arguments why Ukraine should be supported by arms.

“In terms of security policy, Ukraine feels abandoned. Germany continues the construction of Nord Stream 2. The SPD and CDU prime ministers want the sanctions imposed on Russia by Ukraine to be lifted. The (Russian) troops are concentrating on the eastern (Ukrainian) border. Crimea was annexed. And Germany does not supply any night vision devices, or ammunition disposal facilities, and I have made that clear. After all, you have to do at least something, otherwise all those words sound like mockery, ”he said.

It is said that defensive weapons can also be used to attack and, say, the use of a demining submarine to lay mines is just a refusal to help Ukraine.
Habeck recalled that the German government “had refused to supply Ukraine with armored carriers that could transport wounded soldiers from the front line to prevent people from bleeding.”

After all, Ukraine not only protects its people, “Ukraine also protects European security,” said the leader of the Greens.

“If the country loses the conflict over Crimea, there is a risk that Russia could take similar measures in other regions,” reports the Deutschlandfunk portal.

It is time to be open to war and peace.

When a radio journalist recalled that the position of the party leader did not meet both the German export guidelines and the Greens’ electoral program, he replied: “It depends on how we look at the situation. If a country is attacked, there are opportunities to help it. “

“You know, the Greens are a party of the peace movement,” he admitted. – All conflict is suffering and it is bad when people die. However, once you become familiar with this conflict, you cannot refuse to help people, at least to the extent that they can help themselves and defend themselves, “he said.

Unfortunately, “no weapons have been supplied to Ukraine in recent years,” the Greens said.

Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany, Andrei Melnik, was disappointed by the reaction of German politicians. As for supplying arms to Ukraine, they should not pretend to be “moral apostles,” he said.

Greens tend to see and present themselves as such “moral apostles” with doves of peace on their heads. So it’s understandable that Habeck’s words hurt the “green soul of the party,” according to a visual statement in the commentary by Ralf Hanselles, editor of Cicero magazine.

From the same comment it is clear that the pacifism of the Greens is no longer so absolute. The publicist recalled how the Greens organized demonstrations and collected donations in the “Arms for El Salvador” campaign in the 1980s. The so-called “Nicaraguan Committees” then collected over three million marks for weapons. Apparently, when fighting for “human socialism”, pacifist principles no longer apply.

“Is this the same party that, according to Robert Habeck, ‘comes from pacifism’?” – asks the author of Cicero rhetorically. – Perhaps it is time for the Greens to finally open up to war and peace. Election year 2021 provides an excellent opportunity for this. Habeck’s attack is at least going in the right direction. “

Hanselle concludes her comment on Cicero’s portal by offering the Greens his favorite Che Guevara motto: “Let’s face it, let’s demand the impossible!”