Berlin.
Germany is arming itself – at least a little bit. “Hard but fair” shows that some go too far, others not far enough.
This week’s “Hart aber fair” is about the usability the Bundeswehr. Because of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, moderator Louis Klamroth wants to know from his guests whether Germany “must be able to go to war” – or whether negotiation would be the better tactic.
“Hard but fair”: These guests were there on Monday
- Rüdiger Hesse, Bundeswehr veteran
- Michael Roth (SPD), Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee
- Franz Alt, publicist and peace activist
- Paul Ronzheimer, Deputy Editor-in-Chief “Bild”
- Mariya Maksymtsiv, Ukrainian living in Germany
- Ulrike Winkelmann, Editor-in-Chief of “taz”
Rüdiger Hesse was as Bundeswehr soldier several times in Afghanistan. Since the beginning of the war against Ukraine, the image of the soldier has changed. “It has finally arrived in society that we could also need an army,” he says.
“That Germany Krieg has experienced the world twice in a terrible way,” peace activist Franz Alt replies to the broadcast question. It is more important “that we can make peace”.
Michael Roth is an SPD politician and says: “Politics and citizens have understood that our own Security must be worth something.” However, the mistakes of the past 30 years cannot be corrected in one legislative period.
Ukraine Crisis – The most important news about the war
“Hard but fair”: too little invested in the Bundeswehr?
The editor-in-chief of the “taz”, Ulrike Winkelmann, says: “We have to talk a lot about peace. But we also have to talk about a defensive capability.” That was the lesson from the past year of war. “In the armed forces too little has been invested,” she says. Processes need to be optimized.
“Scholz has to step up,” demands the deputy editor-in-chief of “Bild”, Paul Ronzheimer, with a view to the promises made by Chancellor Olaf Scholz 100 billion euros for the Bundeswehr. The pressure under the current Defense Minister Boris Pistorius is greater than it was under the former Minister Christine Lambrecht.
Mariya Maksymtsiv is Ukrainian and lives in Germany. Her brother, who is ten years her junior, is fighting in the war. “We need arms shipmentsn to defend ourselves.” The people are not willing to compromise, for example in the form of an exchange of Ukrainian land for peace. In their opinion, negotiations on this would remain unsuccessful.
Activist Franz Alt, on the other hand, is of the opinion that one must try to Putin lead to peace negotiations. “For the sake of Ukraine, I would also negotiate with the devil,” he says.
Only when Putin accepts that he has “the dream of Great Russian Empire cannot force it on any other country”, says the SPD politician Michael Roth.
“Hard but fair”: Germans for stronger support of the Bundeswehr
Ulrike Winkelmann sees the exchange of prisoners and the export of wheat as indications that there is already negotiations give. “We will be the last to know about it,” said the “taz” editor-in-chief. Because if there were public negotiations, it would be doomed to fail.
According to a recent survey by R+V, 63 percent of Germansthat we cannot defend ourselves in an emergency. “We don’t want that at all,” says Michael Roth. That’s what the NATO defense alliance is for. In Germany one must promote more understanding for the Bundeswehr.
However, a non-representative survey at the end of the show shows that those surveyed would even be willing to go for the higher one security of the country give a holiday. That would lead to additional tax revenue of around 3.5 billion euros.
Ukraine war – background and explanations for the conflict
For the edition of “Hart aber fair” in the ARD media library.
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