When those who are safe on the sofa offer advice to people whose everyday lives include air raids and rocket attacks, a debate can easily become imbalanced. A lot comes together: morality, anger and the fear of a nuclear war.
Is the Chancellor level-headed, or is he just hesitating? Is the Russian president an unpredictable imperialist with his finger on the nuclear button, or a coldly calculating ruler who cleverly plays on Western politicians’ fears of a third world war?
After weeks of rigid shock, Germany’s poets, thinkers, cabaret artists, authors, TV presenters, musicians and actors have been taking part in the debate about how the West in general and Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) in particular respond to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine should respond appropriately.
German debate
It is a German debate that does not exist in this form in other EU countries. Most of the spokesmen on the side of the admonishers belong to the over-70s generation. They are people who still have their own memories of the post-war period, some experienced the Second World War themselves, and the crises of the Cold War are still present in their minds. That doesn’t necessarily mean that they know better what weapons, ammunition and military training Germany should make available to the Ukrainians without provoking further escalation.
Katja Lange-Müller concedes that sometimes the fear fed by historical experiences, also in the family, can cloud the view. The author initially signed the open letter from the feminist Alice Schwarzer, the writer Martin Walser and other celebrities, in which they praised Scholz for his “prudence”. They appeal to the chancellor not to give Putin a “motive” for escalating the war. But does someone who instigates a war that violates international law need a motive at all?
“A compromise that both sides can accept”
The signatories to the letter call for efforts to reach a swift ceasefire and a “compromise that both sides can accept.” Lange-Müller later describes her signature as a mistake and asks: “Is the moral furor just supposed to cloak our fear, our well-founded and perhaps also selfish fear?”
The Berlin political scientist Hajo Funke sees parallels to the so-called Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. At that time, the world was on the brink of nuclear war. US President John F. Kennedy announced a nuclear retaliation should the Soviet Union launch nuclear missiles from Cuba. In the end, a compromise reached in secret diplomatic negotiations prevented that from happening.
Funke: No real “Armistice Initiative”
Funke believes that a ceasefire that could provide space for serious negotiations is essential. He writes: “Indeed, for some time now there has not been a ceasefire initiative in the world that deserves the name”. He finds the statement by US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin extremely dangerous, “We want to see Russia weakened to the extent that it can no longer do the kind of things it did with the invasion of Ukraine.”
The philosopher Jürgen Habermas (92) is one of the most prominent voices in the camp admonishing more prudence. At the end of April he wrote in a much-noticed guest article: “The West, which from the outset had no doubts about its factual Therefore, with every further step of military support, he must carefully weigh up whether he is not also crossing the indefinite limit of formal entry into the war, which depends on Putin’s power of definition.”
Heavy weapons – yes or no?
In the RTL/ntv trend barometer published this week, 46 percent of Germans are in favor of Germany supplying offensive weapons and heavy equipment. At the beginning of April it was still 55 percent. The data collected by the opinion research institute Forsa also shows that support for arms deliveries is greater in the West (48 percent) than in the East (39 percent). Men (54 percent) are more likely than women (40 percent) to advocate the delivery of heavy weapons.
Age may also play a role here. According to the survey, 52 percent of respondents aged between 30 and 44 and 49 percent of people aged 45 to 59 are in favor of the delivery of heavy equipment to defend Ukraine. Only 42 percent of the younger Germans (18-29 years) and the over-60s are in favor of it.
This week, young and old came together to come up with an alternative proposal. The open letter published in the “Zeit” is also addressed to the Federal Chancellor, but in fact it is also a replica of the view of the admonishers about Walser and Schwarzer.
«Reluctance would encourage Kremlin to further aggression»
The signatories, which include the writer Maxim Biller and the pianist Igor Levit, argue against fear. They write: «If the West were to shy away from supplying Ukraine with conventional arms and thereby bow to Russian threats, this would encourage further aggression by the Kremlin. The danger of a nuclear escalation must be countered by credible deterrence.”
Criticism of Schwarzer & Co.’s arguments also hails from other quarters, which gives some cause for lamentation about the tone of the debate. The cabaret artist Dieter Nuhr, who is one of the signers of the “Emma” letter, complains on his Facebook page: “Unfortunately, what was written in the open letter was all too often twisted beyond recognition. It is common today in public debate that those who think differently are devalued by labeling and defamation, and that outrage replaces deliberation.”
Source: Stern
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