Good morning, dear reader,
the Russian Federation has sunk into a pariah state. Although he still enjoys support in some places Wladimir Putin shot the country out of the community of peace-loving states with its war of aggression. At the beginning of the week, people in Ukraine were again suffering from Russian air raids: at least five people were injured in Kiev, and a food warehouse in Odessa caught fire. As “Orks” the Ukrainians curse the enemy soldiers and mercenaries, in reference to the vicious cripple fighters from Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings”. In fact, the secret service clique in the Kremlin pays little more attention to their own people than to their opponents. Tens of thousands of Russians in uniform are dying in the mud of the Donbass, lied to, mistreated and abused by their own leaders.
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Nevertheless, the tsar will again be honored at today’s military parade on Red Square in Moscow. Putin exploited the equally painful and glorious anniversary of the Soviet victory over Hitler’s Germany for his fascist propaganda and conjured up a fight against alleged “Nazis” in Ukraine. Does the majority of the population still believe him or are they just silent out of fear? You can guess the answer. The Russian authorities now send draft orders by e-mail. It is said that whoever gets upset will get their turn immediately. Russian recruiters are on the move in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and other neighboring Asian countries, recruiting migrants for military service. A monthly salary of 3,770 euros plus a bonus of 2,165 euros plus citizenship: bang, you’re already a soldier in Putin’s barbaric war and sent to the front. 400,000 “volunteers” The British secret service reports that the Kremlin wants to recruit them for deployment in Ukraine.
The methods are brutal, but they are not new. In this country, people didn’t want to admit it for a long time, but it had been obvious for years that Putin was building an aggressive gangster state. If you still don’t want to get it, you should read Giuliano da Empoli’s masterful novel The Magician in the Kremlin, perhaps the best book of the year. If you want to know more about it, read Catherine Belton’s equally fascinating work “Putin’s Net. How the KGB took back Russia and then set their sights on the West”.
Controlling the raw materials industry and shamelessly enriching their own clique, murdering dissidents, stirring up nationalism and Attack democracies: Putin seems to want to perfect the mechanisms of a mafia-like oppressive regime. The disgrace after the fall of the Soviet Union, the arrogance of Western heads of state and the feeling of inferiority in the face of America’s economic, political and cultural superiority may have contributed to this. As a justification for the mass murders in Chechnya, Syria and Ukraine, they are not good for a second. Instead of giving the country a stable perspective that goes beyond oil, gas and arms exports, Putin has driven it into an existential economic crisis and destroyed peace in Europe as well as the West’s trust in Russian politics.
Whether Putin will be in the Kremlin for a long time or someone else at some point: It will take years, if not decades, before Washington, Berlin, Paris and London are again ready to accept Russia as an equal partner at the table of civilized nations. Until then it will be upgraded. Maybe even the unscrupulous head of the Kremlin is beginning to realize that? “Putin is visibly nervous,” writes my colleague Patrick Diekmann.
It would also be different. It may sound naïve, but anyone who believes in the good in people should not let that hope be denied: a flourishing, democratic Russia would be possible. This impressive country with its high literary culture, its warm-hearted people, good universities and beautiful landscapes could be a peaceful mediator between the democratic EU states in the west and the up-and-coming China in the east. I am sure that the majority of Russians would also prefer such a perspective to the sanctioned pariah state, in which even a critical word is punished with camp imprisonment and in which the e-mail with the draft order for the father, son or husband can come at any minute.
Former empires tend to be arrogant and aggressive when elites cannot cope with the decline: European history provides ample evidence for this historical truism. This time it is Russia, which has allowed itself to be trapped by its ruler. At some point it has to find its way out of this trap – and Deutschland as the most powerful country in Europe, will play a central role. Then Berlin will again have to shake hands with the powerful in Moscow, that much is clear.
However, the prerequisite is just as clear: The Kremlin must withdraw its “orcs” from Ukraine, grant the invaded country full sovereignty including Crimea, and show its willingness to come to terms with its own war crimes. That will certainly not succeed with Putin.
Who is paying?
In the abyss
The Israeli government is maneuvering itself further and further into a political impasse. Now an EU delegation is having a diplomatic reception in Jerusalem to mark today Europatages canceled – because the extreme right-wing politician Itamar Ben-Gvir wanted to participate. The security minister, convicted of hate speech, wants to expand Israeli state territory at the expense of the Palestinian territories. prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu seems to have less and less control of the situation; every week there are mass demonstrations against his attacks on the separation of powers. It is shocking to see how a democracy disintegrates itself in such a short time.
