DThree men agree: we must not jeopardize our prosperity. Absolutely no way. The economy needs to be prioritized, they really say that, “priority”. It’s storming and pouring outside, the most brutal European war of this century is raging outside, but here in the beautifully lit television studio the three men say in all seriousness: “We don’t have to do any more harm than necessary”.
Three men in prosperity mode: Friedrich Merz (CDU), Christian Dürr (FDP) and – particularly blatantly lobbying – Stefan Wolf, the employer president for all metal. They all agree that “more rigorous measures against Russia” would have unforeseeable consequences for German industry. They say words like “catastrophe”, “collapse” or “collapse”, but they don’t mean what is happening in Mariupol, Bucha or Luhansk, but what could happen to the German economy.
Sentences rarely sounded as wrong as they did that evening. Friedrich Merz’s superior smile matched this when he spoke at the beginning of the show, almost with an almost ironic overtone, “that our eyes are now all open”. Without hesitation, he gave an insight into his reasoning: If German politics ends oil and gas supplies from Russia, there will be protests from the population, but if Putin turns off the tap, then that will “weld us together as a society”. The leader of the opposition in his element: explaining the world, presenting his strategic thinking. All that’s really missing is a beer mat, on which he draws a few strokes of what the Ukrainians think is the smartest military defense tactic.
Know-it-all men’s club with practiced pathos
At times, the group at Maybrit Illner looked like a know-it-all gentlemen’s club. There was nothing right between the FDP parliamentary group leaders and the employer presidents when horrifying about possible energy bottlenecks: supply chains would break down, entire basic industries collapse, masses of people would fall into unemployment – and that means, Dürr said with practiced pathos in his voice, that “dialysis tubes are no longer available either can be made”. And not only that: The “entire pharmaceutical industry” would then go to the dogs – Merz shouted in high spirits and then formulated the motto “If we harm ourselves more than we harm Putin, nothing is gained”.
We militarily sobered Germans
The European Union in Brussels had just decided on far-reaching measures – an import ban on coal, caviar and vodka, a transaction ban for Russian banks, an entry ban for Russian ships. The European partners were largely in agreement, only Germany was once again on the brakes and enforced a “four-month transitional period”. The long-experienced leader of the opposition, Merz, smiled mischievously and recalled the 1973 oil crisis – the state should have intervened to regulate it, too. It is important to be prepared so as not to be caught off guard by an energy freeze by Putin. However, as an outsider, one wonders what exactly makes the qualitative difference when Putin stops deliveries than when we do it of our own accord.
The three strategists were able to quickly agree on one conviction in addition to the economic one: the people in Ukraine defend liberal democracy, and therefore defend “our freedom as well,” said both Merz and Dürr. But is that really true? Aren’t they primarily defending their lives? Your families? Their homeland? No, no, they are above all defending our freedom and that is why (not because of the unprecedented injustice that is happening to Ukraine) we must also supply them with arms. We, the peace-loving, the militarily sober, those whose prosperity should remain intact at all costs.
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