This guy should start taking steroids or something. I just don’t even grasp what it is he’s going for in terms of an image. He’s like a man without a public face. Like a shade in the Asphodel Meadows, he is just lingering and loafing in space and time.
There is sort of a trap built into the Ukraine war. The West can in theory keep it going indefinitely, or at least as long as there are people left in the Ukraine (if they run out of men, the EU can start deporting men who fled to go fight). They can’t win, but they can just keep it going.
If, however, they decide they don’t want to deal with the consequences of this war forever, they pretty much have to agree to whatever Russia wants, because literally their only leverage is “we can just keep this going forever, you know.” They spent all leverage they might have had already when they threw the kitchen sink at Russia.
RT:
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has called for a renewed effort to bring an end to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.The leader made the remarks in a televised interview with state broadcaster ZDF aired on Sunday. “I believe that now is the time to discuss how to arrive at peace from this state of war, indeed at a faster pace,” he said.
Despite its initial reluctance to pour military aid into Ukraine, Berlin has become one of Kiev’s top backers amid the conflict. Germany has supplied the Ukrainian military with assorted hardware, including Leopard 1 and 2 main battle tanks, as well as Marder infantry fighting vehicles.
Scholz’s comments about achieving peace in Ukraine as soon as possible come as he continues to struggle with assorted domestic problems. According to a poll published by ZDF separately on Sunday, some 77% of Germans believe Scholz to be a weak leader, while only 17% speak favorably about his leadership qualities.
This war has completely wrecked the German economy and no one can explain how it benefits Germany. The whole narrative is that it’s a moral war, and people have to support it because it is morally correct, but hundreds of thousands of people have died. The moral thing is just “Vladimir Putin is a mean person so we have to hurt him,” and they say that as the bodies pile up.
The US might have “strategic interests” in harming Russia, depending on who you ask. It’s actually a complicated question. But no one can argue that Germany has any interest in harming Russia. On the contrary, Germany made a massive energy deal with Russia which was a primary pillar of their national strategy.
The problem for Germany is that their country is controlled by the United States government, which means that there is not really very much the leaders of the country can do, at least when it comes to geopolitics. The US told Germany to support the Ukraine so they did. I’m sure stupid screeching women want to beat the bad daddy Putin, but Germans generally don’t believe in this American gibberish, nor do they want to risk turning the war into something much bigger.
Basically, Scholz is saying this because everyone hates him. He’s not saying it because he actually has the authority to stop German support for the Ukraine. Germany won’t stop supporting the Ukraine until Uncle Sam tells them they’re allowed to.
