Ukraine War: The Moral Corruption of Germany's Political Elite

by Soeren Kern
April 13, 2022 at 5:00 am

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18425/ukraine-germany-morals

Questions are being belatedly asked — and grudgingly answered — about many aspects of Merkel's failed Russia policy, including her decisions to block Ukraine's prospective membership of NATO, gut the German military, undermine the transatlantic alliance, and institutionalize Germany's overdependence on Russian energy supplies.
The responsibility for Germany's failed Russia policy goes far beyond Merkel: German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and a large cross section of Germany's business, media and political elite have supported — and continue to support — pro-Russia (as well as pro-China and pro-Iran) policies that sacrifice democracy, human rights, and the rule of law on the altar of financial gain.
"The president of Germany is not ready to admit any of his huge personal responsibility for the failure of Berlin's Russia policy mistake. Even in times of such a war he wants to build new bridges with Russia." — Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany Andriy Melnyk, interview with the Los Angeles Times.
"The modus operandi of German & EU politics is the indefinite postponement of conflicts. This seemed to have worked well in times of peace (though not in relation to Russia, obviously). The consequences of such an approach in times of war can be catastrophic." — Stefan Auer, Professor of European studies, University of Hong Kong.
"The problem in my view is one of mindset.... This Zeitenwende [turning point in German-Russian relations] will only succeed if it arrives in the heads of an entire complacent generation of boomer politicians in Germany who have to accept that their naïveté, egocentrism and smug self-righteous conviction in the supposed higher morality of their actions has directly contributed to the greatest catastrophe in European politics since 1945." — Georg Löfflmann, a German professor of Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick
"Germany's stubborn insistence on engaging with the Russian leader in the face of his sustained aggression (a catalog of misdeeds ranging from the invasion of Georgia to assassinations of enemies abroad and war crimes in Syria) was nothing short of a catastrophic blunder, one that will earn Merkel a place in the pantheon of political naiveté alongside Neville Chamberlain." — Matt Karnitschnig, Chief Europe Correspondent, Politico.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine is forcing a long-overdue reevaluation of former German Chancellor Angela Merkel's legacy of appeasing Russian President Vladimir Putin. Pictured: Merkel greets Putin at the G20 economic summit on July 7, 2017 in Hamburg, Germany. (Photo by Morris MacMatzen/Getty Images)

Russia's invasion of Ukraine is forcing a long-overdue reevaluation of former German Chancellor Angela Merkel's legacy of appeasing Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Questions are being belatedly asked — and grudgingly answered — about many aspects of Merkel's failed Russia policy, including her decisions to block Ukraine's prospective membership of NATO, gut the German military, undermine the transatlantic alliance, and institutionalize Germany's overdependence on Russian energy supplies.

A growing number of commentators in Germany and elsewhere are saying that Merkel's years-long deference to Putin made his invasion of Ukraine possible, and some are even accusing Germany of being complicit in the war.

The responsibility for Germany's failed Russia policy goes far beyond Merkel: German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and a large cross section of Germany's business, media and political elite have supported — and continue to support — pro-Russia (as well as pro-China and pro-Iran) policies that sacrifice democracy, human rights, and the rule of law on the altar of financial gain.

Some commentators worry that Germany's pro-Russia policies will be difficult to reverse in the post-Merkel era because, they say, it is ingrained in the worldview of an entire generation of contemporary German leaders.

Facing intense political pressure after Russia invaded Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz pledged to reverse Germany's pro-Putin policies. A month later, he is being accused of backtracking or backsliding on many of his promises. Especially disgraceful is the German government's repeated excuse-making to deliberately delay promised shipments of weapons to Ukraine.

Even with mounting evidence of Russian war crimes in Ukraine, German policy toward Russia remains hostage to naïve idealism and the energy dependency it created. More than half of the gas and coal that Germany imports comes from Russia, as does a third of its oil, according to the German Ministry of Economic Affairs.

Some analysts have postulated that Scholz is waiting for the war to end — regardless of who wins — so that Germany can return to the status quo.

Ukrainian Pressure

In recent weeks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany Andriy Melnyk repeatedly have called out the hypocrisy of the German government's Russia policy:

April 3. Zelenskyy rebuked Merkel for enabling Russia's invasion of Ukraine:

"Questions must be asked, not only about Russia, but also about the political behavior that actually allowed this evil to come to our land. Today is the fourteenth anniversary of the NATO Summit in Bucharest. At the time there was a chance to take Ukraine out of the 'grey zone' in Eastern Europe, out of the grey zone between NATO and Russia, out of the grey zone in which Moscow thinks it can do anything, even the most dreadful war crimes.

"Under optimistic diplomatic statements that Ukraine could become a member of NATO, then in 2008 the refusal to accept Ukraine into the alliance, was hidden, among some politicians, an absurd fear of Russia. They thought that by refusing Ukraine, they would be able to appease Russia, to convince it to respect Ukraine and live normally next to us.

"During the 14 years since that miscalculation, Ukraine has experienced a revolution and eight years of war in Donbas. And now we are fighting for life in the most horrific war in Europe since World War II.

"I invite Mrs. Merkel and Mr. [Nicolas] Sarkozy to visit Bucha and see what the policy of concessions to Russia has led to in 14 years, to see with their own eyes the tortured Ukrainian men and women.

"I want to be correctly understood. We do not blame the West. We do not blame anyone but the specific Russian military that did this to our people and those who gave them orders. But we have the right to talk about indecision, about the path to Bucha, to Hostomel, to Kharkiv, to Mariupol."
April 1. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Melnyk said: "The president of Germany is not ready to admit any of his huge personal responsibility for the failure of Berlin's Russia policy mistake. Even in times of such a war he wants to build new bridges with Russia. It clearly sends a clandestine signal to Moscow: Once the war is over we are still here. We keep the flag flying. We will restore the historic German-Russian ties."
April 2. Melnyk tweeted: "Dear German government, you can sleep on and worry about fuel prices, inflation, and recession. Only: by looking the other way, Russia is committing a genocide in the middle of Europe. And Germany is dutifully financing these massacres. Good night, German coalition government."
April 3. Melnyk tweeted: "German 'Never Again' is bullsh*t. Pure hypocrisy."
April 4. Melnyk, in an interview with Germany's ARD television, called for an urgent reappraisal of Germany's Russia policy: "If this German foreign policy catastrophe is not dealt with then there is a risk that something similar will happen again and that you will become dependent on Russia again."
April 4. Melnyk, in an interview with Tagesspiegel, said: "For Steinmeier, the relationship with Russia was and remains something fundamental, even sacred, no matter what happens. Even the war of aggression makes no difference."
April 5. Melnyk tweeted: "German economy. Economy. Über alles. German prosperity. Prosperity. Über alles. Morality? Decency? Historical responsibility? None. So much for the embargo of Russian gas, oil & coal — even after the massacre at Bucha. Dear German government, how much longer will you look on?"
April 8. In an interview with Reuters, Melnyk said:

"It's not just Russian gas, it's oil, coal, metals, diamonds and other raw materials. We (Ukraine) have become the biggest victim of this perverted relationship. Ukrainians are paying for this failed German policy with their lives.

"This kind of hypocrisy with Russia dates back to Nord Stream 1 (gas pipeline). Germany's huge dependence on Russia, at a time of the worst aggression since the Second World War, is shameful.

"Germany is as far away from giving us the support we need today as it was at the start of the war. More than 40 days later, the German political elite apparently still does not believe that Ukraine can win the war."
April 10. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, in an interview with the American television news program Meet the Press, said that Merkel's decision in 2008 to exclude Ukraine from NATO was a "strategic mistake." He added: "If we were a member of NATO, this war wouldn't be taking place."
April 12. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier abandoned plans to visit Ukraine after Zelenskyy refused to meet with him. A Ukrainian official in Kyiv told the German newspaper Bild: "We all know about Steinmeier's close ties to Russia. He is currently not welcome in Kyiv."

Sorry Not Sorry

On April 4, in a terse statement prepared by an aide, Merkel, who has remained conspicuously silent since the Ukraine war began on February 24, responded to Zelenskyy:

"Retired Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel stands by her decisions in connection with the 2008 NATO summit in Bucharest."

German journalist Rayk Anders commented:

"Merkel let it be known today 'that it was right not to accept Ukraine into NATO.' Even in the middle of the war and in front of the bloody shambles of her foreign policy, she can't see her own mistake. Incomprehensible."

A few hours later, Steinmeier, who was reelected to a second term as German president just over a week before the Ukraine war began, issued an apology (of sorts) for his many years of appeasing Putin. The German head of state, who appears to be extraordinarily close to the Russian government, said:

"My sticking to Nord Stream 2 was clearly a mistake. We held on to bridges that Russia no longer believed in and which our partners had warned us about.

"My assessment was that Vladimir Putin would not accept the complete economic, political, and moral ruin of his country for his imperial madness. Like others, I was wrong.

"The bitter balance sheet: We failed to establish a common European house (ein gemeinsames europäisches Haus) that includes Russia. We failed to integrate Russia into a common security architecture.

"With a Russia under Putin, there will be no return to the status quo as it existed before the war."

Nord Stream 2, a highly controversial energy pipeline, was designed to double shipments of Russian natural gas to Germany by transporting the gas under the Baltic Sea. Facing intense international pressure after Putin invaded Ukraine, Berlin reluctantly halted the pipeline.

Steinmeier, Merkel and others have long ignored concerns that Nord Stream 2 would effectively give Moscow a stranglehold over German gas supplies. The leaders of many countries in Eastern and Western Europe warned that the pipeline would subject the continent to Russian blackmail.

German commentators noted that Steinmeier's apology actually sounded like a non-apology: by using the words "we" and "like others," he was essentially saying that he is not really to blame because many other German officials also supported Berlin's disastrous Russia policy.

Jochen Bittner, who writes for the German newspaper Die Zeit, tweeted:

"This 'like others' from Steinmeier is a self-righteousness that is difficult to bear. First, others weren't chancellery chiefs and foreign ministers. And second, there were admonishers and warners. They were willingly defamed as 'warmongers' and 'swashbucklers.'"

Steinmeier, who has held many senior positions in the German government since 1999 — including the post of foreign minister between 2005 and 2009, and again between 2013 and 2017 — did not offer his resignation.

Hans-Jürgen Jakobs, a senior editor with Handelsblatt, a prestigious German business newspaper, wrote that Merkel and Steinmeier issued their statements only because they were under political pressure to do so:

"The grand coalition partners Angela Merkel and Frank-Walter Steinmeier worked together for a good seven years. She as chancellor, he as foreign minister. They received much applause. With Vladimir Putin turning a civilized country into a slaughterhouse, however, the duo's performance looks a lot worse than we thought when they left office. The interwoven energy policy and Ostpolitik (Russia policy) is literally blowing up in their faces.

"The two politicians were only really motivated to issue their current statements because of critical voices from Ukraine: Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany Andriy Melnyk and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The difference: the Social Democrat [Steinmeier] has regrets, the Christian Democrat [Merkel] has no regrets.

"If Steinmeier's re-election had been scheduled for April rather than February, eleven days before the invasion, he would have been more worried about getting a second term."

In an interview with Deutschlandfunk radio, Melnyk said that Steinmeier's admission of error was only a "first step" and called for the German president to back up his words with deeds:

"It is important for us that these statements are now followed by actions, but these actions are missing. Like many of my compatriots, I would like the German president not only to show his remorse, but also that, as head of state, he demands that Germany draw lessons from the Bucha massacre, and from other atrocities, that we in Ukraine are now experiencing day and night....

"We believe that what has happened here in Germany over the past two decades urgently needs to be dealt with, not only politically, but also at the level of society and the media. Everything really needs to be exposed and examined. How could it come to the point that Germany is almost completely dependent on the Russian state in terms of energy policy? And that Ukraine has become a hostage of these relations and has to pay for this suffering with civilian casualties?"

The chief foreign correspondent for Die Welt, Klaus Geiger, wrote:

"Olaf Scholz's change of course on February 27 was driven by fear — not courage. Ukraine was lied to, the closeness to Russia remained behind the scenes. This is one of the reasons why the Bucha massacre was possible."

Promoting Failure

German officials responsible for creating and implementing Merkel's failed Russia policy are now being promoted to positions of even more influence and responsibility:

Jens Plötner, a so-called Putinversteher (someone who "understands" Putin) who served as chief of staff to Foreign Minister Steinmeier, is now national security advisor to Chancellor Scholz. Plötner, a strong supporter of Nord Stream 2, bears considerable responsibility for the policies that led to Germany's energy dependence on Russia. He now says that he is leading a "policy change" to end that dependency.
Christoph Heusgen, Merkel's top foreign policy advisor who served as German Ambassador to the United Nations from 2017 to 2021 (he managed Germany's shameful two-year anti-Israel stint on the UN Security Council), has been named chairman of the Munich Security Conference, a high-profile annual conference on international security policy. The position will allow Heusgen to continue to have an outsized voice on German foreign policy and transatlantic relations.

Heusgen has downplayed German policy failures by portraying Merkel as a victim of Russia. In a recent appearance on German national television, he claimed that Germany had "misjudged" Putin. This misjudgment occurred despite years of warnings from Eastern and Western Europe and the United States.

On September 25, 2018, when U.S. President Donald J. Trump addressed the United Nations General Assembly, Heusgen, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and other members of the German delegation were filmed sneering when Trump warned:

"Reliance on a single foreign supplier can leave a nation vulnerable to extortion and intimidation. That is why we congratulate European states, such as Poland, for leading the construction of a Baltic pipeline [Baltic Pipe, a gas pipeline from Norway via Denmark to Poland] so that nations are not dependent on Russia to meet their energy needs. Germany will become totally dependent on Russian energy if it does not immediately change course."

Heusgen is now presenting himself as a Russia hawk, but not everyone is buying it. Meanwhile:

Thomas Bagger, a long-time senior foreign policy advisor to Steinmeier, has been appointed to the position of German Ambassador to Poland.
Steffen Seibert, Merkel's long-time spokesman, has been named German Ambassador to Israel. With a straight face, day in and day out for more than a decade, he sold Merkel's failed policies to the German public.

Seibert's promotion has been heavily criticized on social media: German author Alexander Wallasch tweeted: "Steffen Seibert goes to Israel as ambassador. Dear Israelis, sorry in advance!" Another commentator noted: "Merkel is infiltrating Israel. I feel sorry for them." Yet another tweeted: "Our former chief liar and denier falls up the career ladder." Paul-Anton Krüger, Berlin bureau chief for Süddeutsche Zeitung, reported that Seibert's promotion had been coordinated beforehand between Merkel and Scholz.

Twitter Takes

Many analysts and commentators from Germany and elsewhere have taken to Twitter to offer cogent and concise analyses of Germany's failed Russia policy.

German geopolitical analyst Ulrich Speck noted:

"For Germans who invested so much in the partnership with Russia it's hard to accept that they were wrong. They always thought they were 'rational,' smarter than the Central Europeans who were warning about Russian aggression, and who the Germans saw as irrational, 'traumatized.'"

In another tweet, Speck added:

"German Russia policy since 2005 was a co-production of [Germany's two main parties] the CDU [Christian Democrats] and the SPD [Social Democrats], which is why both parties do not really want to distance themselves from it, change of era or not."

Anders Östlund, a Swedish analyst with the Center for European Policy Analysis, tweeted:

"There is something fundamentally wrong with the value system in the German political establishment. The acceptance of wars and atrocities and the unwillingness to take action to stop the wars and atrocities will haunt Germany for a long time.

"The German leadership cannot claim to be against wars and atrocities when it passively stands by and watches such events unfold when the German government has had the power to stop them.

"The last twenty years Germany has acted like a corrupt and morally decadent policeman. It has looked on as crimes were committed despite having the powers to interfere and it has up until the last months always expressed more understanding for the perpetrator than the victim.

Stefan Auer, a professor of European studies at the University of Hong Kong, tweeted:

"The modus operandi of German & EU politics is the indefinite postponement of conflicts. This seemed to have worked well in times of peace (though not in relation to Russia, obviously). The consequences of such an approach in times of war can be catastrophic."

Bojan Pancevski, Germany correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, noted:

"During the eurocrisis [2009-2012], Germany helped impose austerity on ailing partners, demanding their immediate pain for a collective gain. Now, however, Germany is asking the EU for years to correct its policies that made it the world's biggest buyer of Russian gas."

Marcel Dirsus, a German analyst at the Institute for Security Policy at Kiel University, tweeted:

"If you're German, please stop saying that nobody could've seen this war coming. People warned us for years, but we chose to ignore them because doing so was better for business and we like to think of ourselves as more clever than everyone else. Turns out we aren't.

"This is not a moment for Germans to throw up their hands and pretend that everyone is totally surprised by Putin. We should be asking for forgiveness for our arrogance and try to learn from our allies because they got it right and we got it wrong."

Czech political analyst Monika Richter wrote:

"The emperor is naked. At the critical moment, Germany has shown itself to be a feckless, unreliable ally, more deeply corrupted & coopted by its 'commercial' authoritarian entanglements than many (esp in the US) realized. With friends like these, you don't need enemies.

"It's time for Biden to stop pussy-footing around Berlin in prostration for his predecessor's offenses and privileging the bilateral relationship over other allies and the imperatives of transatlantic security — which, indeed, Germany has been consistently sabotaging for years.

"Strategic corruption is a disease, and it has weakened the German state to such an extent that it now clearly jeopardizes the global democratic community. We need to respond with tough love and public exposure of the disease....

"The rot runs deep, and it has been allowed to fester for far too long. Enough is enough."

Mareike Ohlberg, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund, wrote:

"I am deeply unimpressed by all the figures on German TV currently telling us that they couldn't have seen coming what Putin would do, that Nordstream 2 would turn out to be a problem. I was in so many talks where German officials dismissed CEE [Central and Eastern Europe] warnings.

"The fact that the people who were so fundamentally wrong about everything and so nasty to their European neighbors are the people we're STILL turning for advice to now frankly offends me."

German Russia expert Janis Kluge tweeted:

"Personal view: Today, no country in the West should feel more responsibility for #Ukraine's security than #Germany. Consequently, Germany should do more than any other country to help Ukraine....

"–We worked hard to keep Ukraine out of NATO.

"–We denied Ukraine arms, even blocked others from doing so.

"–We cooperated directly with Russia's military until at least 2014.

"–We funded Russia's armament more than most.

"–We helped Russia bypass Ukraine's gas transit (NS1&2).

"But most of all, we were [in World War 2] the last ones to invade, bomb and kill in Ukraine, and vowed 'never again.' It is painful to see that other countries are stepping up more than Germany at this historic time. I hope that we can still change course."

Georg Löfflmann, a German professor of Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick, concluded:

"The problem in my view is one of mindset.... This Zeitenwende [turning point in German-Russian relations] will only succeed if it arrives in the heads of an entire complacent generation of boomer politicians in Germany who have to accept that their naïveté, egocentrism and smug self-righteous conviction in the supposed higher morality of their actions has directly contributed to the greatest catastrophe in European politics since 1945."

Newspaper Commentary

The Chief Europe Correspondent of Politico, Matt Karnitschnig, in an essay — "Putin's Useful German Idiots" — wrote that Russia's invasion of Ukraine is a repudiation of a whole generation of German politicians from across the political spectrum:

"Germany's stubborn insistence on engaging with the Russian leader in the face of his sustained aggression (a catalog of misdeeds ranging from the invasion of Georgia to assassinations of enemies abroad and war crimes in Syria) was nothing short of a catastrophic blunder, one that will earn Merkel a place in the pantheon of political naiveté alongside Neville Chamberlain.

"Slowly but surely, it's begun to dawn on Germans that Merkel's soft-shoe approach to Russia — which reached its zenith with the 2015 decision to green light the Nord Stream 2 pipeline despite Russia's annexation of Crimea and its role in the separatist war in eastern Ukraine — didn't just open the door for Putin to go further, it effectively encouraged him to do so.

"Russia's invasion of Ukraine is not just a repudiation of Merkel's chancellorship, however, but of a whole generation of German politicians from across the spectrum blinded by nostalgia for Ostpolitik and Wandel durch Handel, the 1970s-era détente policies championed by Chancellor Willy Brandt that according to German legend led to the end of the Cold War.

"Germany's collective responsibility is why turning the page is easier said than done. There is no Churchill-like figure in German politics who has been warning for years of the perils of trusting Putin. While Merkel deserves most of the blame for falling into the Russian leader's trap, the truth is that Germany's entire political class is guilty....

"During the Cold War, the term 'useful idiot' became a label for moderates in the West who fell victim to the communists' credulous arguments.

"From Germany's veto of NATO membership for Ukraine and Georgia in 2008 to its pursuit of gas deals with Moscow to its resistance to send arms to Kyiv — the country's leaders have served as Putin's useful idiots.

"All the while, the so-called Russlandversteher, the smug Russian sympathizers who populate the country's political establishment, rejected criticism of their course, insisting they knew better while (literally) laughing in Washington's face.

"No one's laughing anymore."

In an opinion article — "A Failed Generation of Politicians" — Jasper von Altenbockum, an editor of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, wrote that it will be impossible for Germany to forge a new security policy as long as the existing generation of politicians remain in office:

"The expectation was to create peace without weapons from Lisbon to Vladivostok. Anyone who rebelled against this view, mostly Eastern Europeans, were considered hillbillies. The German debate was thought to be ahead of its time and hid behind German history. In truth, however, the doubters were the realists and German idealism was the product of provincial thinking. This was entirely in line with the West German tradition of having others pay for security, under whose umbrella it was easy to moralize....

"German idealism is now proving to be a historical error, a deception, the moral and material failure of a generation....

"It seems unlikely that a new start in German and European foreign and security policy is possible. It is not to be expected from Germany's governing coalition. A good start would be if German politicians used the word 'we' sparingly. Because we didn't fail; we didn't deceive ourselves: That was you."

Writing for Bloomberg Opinion, German commentator Andreas Kluth, in an article — "Germany's President Embodies the Past Sins of Its Russia Policy" — argued that Steinmeier is the embodiment of Germany's disastrous policy toward the Kremlin:

"With this and other outbursts of undiplomatic honesty, Andrij Melnyk, Ukraine's ambassador in Berlin, has come to embody Germany's guilty conscience. When not seated like a moral phantom in the gallery of the Bundestag and glowering down at parliament's speakers, he goes from one talk show to another, relentlessly reminding Germans how they're falling short of the historical responsibility they're constantly invoking — by not sending Ukraine enough weapons, continuing to buy Russian gas, or what have you.

"By aiming at Steinmeier, Melnyk has picked what is in some ways the most obvious and symbolic target....

"As a Social Democrat who's been chief of staff to one former chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder, and foreign minister to another, Angela Merkel, Steinmeier played a leading role in almost every misguided gesture Germany has made toward Putin in the last two decades....

"During all those Schroeder and Merkel years, Steinmeier was saying cheese for the photographers next to Putin and his cronies. Like other German politicians, especially Social Democrats, he became an oratorical robot spouting the German conventional wisdom: the only way to deal with Moscow is dialogue and more dialogue, as well as more economic and cultural exchange.

"Politely but obstinately, Steinmeier rebuffed the Poles, Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians — not to mention the Ukrainians — who worried that Germany was in hock to the Kremlin. He lectured them that energy dependence was instead interdependence and would make the Russian Bear cuddly rather than scary. In 2016, when NATO maneuvered near its eastern flank, Steinmeier theatrically decried this 'saber-rattling and warmongering' by his own country's defensive alliance. Hear any echoes?

"For Steinmeier, the 'relationship to Russia was and is something fundamental, even holy,' Melnyk told a German newspaper this week. For decades, he added, Steinmeier has 'woven a spider's web' of pro-Kremlin contacts. Melnyk then named some of them, including the current foreign-policy advisor of Chancellor Olaf Scholz....

"Germany's policy elites and intellectuals will have a lot of soul-searching to do for years to come. Few are doing so honestly."

The chief correspondent of Deutschlandradio, Stephan Detjen, in an article — "The Mistakes of the Previous Russia Policy are Deeply Rooted" — concluded:

"Frank-Walter Steinmeier represents the problematic aspects of German Russia policy over the past decades in three ways: as a social democrat, as a close companion and long-time confidant of Gerhard Schröder and finally as foreign minister in two of Angela Merkel's cabinets. This made Steinmeier a symbolic figure. The biting criticism, which was leveled against him, in particular by the Ukrainian ambassador Andriy Melnyk, was primarily aimed at the current German President. But it goes far beyond the person of Steinmeier. It applies to basic attitudes of German politics that have grown culturally and are superimposed economically. It's about interests, hopes and illusions....

"The bloody landmarks that Putin left behind in his neo-imperial expansion were always recognizable without any special German thoughtfulness: Grozny, South Ossetia, Syria, Crimea, the Donbas. The question is why they were not properly perceived and interpreted in Germany.

"The search for answers forces one to confront a mentality that goes far beyond politics. It mixes ... anti-Americanism, unscrupulous lobbying Gerhard Schröder, the cold sense for German business interests and the hard-nosed rationalism of Angela Merkel, who was able to visit Alexei Navalny, who had been poisoned by Putin, in the Berlin Charité one day and dismiss the toxic Nord Stream pipeline project as a purely private business matter the next.

"The view of the reality of Putin's Russia was obscured not least by a questionable culture and dialogue policy. Shady sponsors, naïve idealists and tough ideologues, supported by the state, cultivated the mystically charged image of a German-Russian special relationship that coolly ignored the interests, freedom and independence of other Central and Eastern European countries.

"All of this is food for thought that cannot be left for discussion at some indefinite time after the war. It is the prerequisite for being able to provide better answers than in the past to the challenge from Putin now — and in the future to the challenges from the neo-imperial and autocratic powers in Beijing, Tehran, Pyongyang and elsewhere."

Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute.

© 2024 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Related Topics: Germany, Russia

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44 Reader Comments

Laura 1986 • Apr 17, 2022 at 02:09

People here are right to note the Merkel was an East German Communist doing what she was trained to do, ie. weaken Germany and Europe and enable Russia. Putin is also a KGB trained Communist revolutionary playing his part.

When you consider there were only 8 years between the fall of the Soviet Union (1991) and Putin's accession to power (1999), we should ask whether the Soviet Union really fell at all. Clearly the same FSB/KGB types are still in power behind (and in front of) the scene only now they are richer and more militarily advanced because the West invested in Russia (and they ally China) for the past 30 years... all because Communism supposedly fell in 1989-1991. Worse the West made itself economically dependent on Russia and China (gas, manufacturing, raw materials) due to misguided policies, some pushed by hard leftists/communists (eg. Green energy). After 2 years of Covid hysteria and decades of America/the West letting its militaries and nuclear deterrent slip away we are weaker than ever before. That's half the reason the brutal invasion of Ukraine is happening now. It is likely the new Communist bloc's first step toward ultimately crushing the West and establishing a new world order. This bloc includes North Korea, Iran, Cuba, Venezuela etc who can also stir up trouble in a multi-front conflict.

Jeff Nyquist, an expert Sovietologist and military strategist has written about this for decades. He correctly predicted the war in Ukraine in late 2021 when most experts believed no such thing would happen.

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LoneStar • Apr 15, 2022 at 12:28

The US doesn't even have a Southern Border. What kind of nation is that? Our country is the largest debtor nation in the history of the world. What kind of example do we present to the world? We have a government which appoints the most diverse but unhealthy people to positions of power so we can model diversity for the the world. How's that working out for us? Our interest in Ukraine appears to be self interest for our politicians and our oligarchs to launder their disgraceful monetary gains. Haven't we learned anything from our efforts to control the world? It's up to Europe to decide the Ukrainian question. We need to close our borders and guarantee the American citizens fair and fast elections can be conducted in this country. Bring home our manufacturing and medications. No one elected us policewoman of the world. Let us clean our house first. We are in no shape to win WW3.

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Jagdish N Singh • Apr 15, 2022 at 05:58

Clearly, Germany has, in Russia, economic interests too deep not to pursue a pro-Moscow policy . Clearly, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has no option but to continue his predecessor Angela Merkel' policy of establishing close ties with Russia . It is to be seen how Washington deals with Berlin and enlists its support to the US-led sanctions against Russia in the wake of Moscow's military operation in Ukraine.

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Bernard Couvreur • Apr 14, 2022 at 11:42

Let us not forget that the early years of Merkel's political career were in the communist party in the former DDR (ie. Eastern Germany before the fall of the Berlin wall). In a way she was then a colleague of one Vladimir V. Putin. How she managed to get away with that in the reunified Germany remains a mystery to me. Yet another blunder was to cave-in to demands of the Green party to abandon nuclear energy, resulting in increased greenhouse gases emission and increased dependency on Russian coal and gas.

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Daniel • Apr 13, 2022 at 22:08

We can grant Merkel wisdom in the ability to read the threatened mind of Russia. She could see the threat of a NATO empowered Ukraine consequently provoking Russia insecurity by a masked and belligerent American propaganda, influencing EU to march with it. We remember how Obama had tapped Merkel's phone...
The proof is that EU of today cries out "weapons, weapons and weapons" for Ukraine (EU crosses Rubicon as foreign ministers approve €450mn in funds for lethal aid to Kyiv)..."the money would be used to buy all sorts of equipment, including fighter jets — something the Ukrainians had asked for".
This translates into a foolish means of escalating a dangerous warring spirit. Aren't there enough dead bodies and broken people as to seek deescalation and peace? Do they care, while condemning Russian war machine? How foolish to escalate an already inflamed mind after long political provocation?
Who is in reality responsible for the war in Ukraine?? Are they not those who want to convince by reverse psychology who is the aggressor? Let's be mindful and not caught in a "sweet" delusion, indirectly and/or unconsciously promoting war.

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Duane Hayes

Daniel • Apr 14, 2022 at 11:24

Here we go again with, "A Ukraine in NATO" is a "threat" to Russia. Any thought of a 100% DEFENSIVE NATO being a threat to Russia is completely ludicrous. Anyone who would propose that tiny independent Ukraine, even as a NATO member, would attack and invade Russia is crazy. What would you have Ukraine do? Give up the fight, and surrender, then be exterminated by Russians? Or those who survive have to endure any existence of complete slavery to Russia? Merkel hasn't displayed one iota of "wisdom" during her entire reign.

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Daniel

Duane Hayes • Apr 15, 2022 at 06:01

It is not Ukraine the threat. It is the USA politics sneaking to entice EU to pressure Russia just as USA pressures successfully EU to their services whatsoever they are. See the French President Macron with McKinsey scandal as one example... EU is an American puppet compliant to help arm Ukraine against Russia. This is the basic reason for the war in Ukraine today apart from the original rift between west and east Russian speaking Ukrainians... So obvious USA and EU are not seeking peace but like to help remain antagonistic to Russia. But that is only crams... There is so much more about the whole scenario of world deconstruction... on a transatlantic-western politics point of view!

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Morris Givner • Apr 13, 2022 at 14:49

It can be argued that Zelensky's policy of promoting Ukrainian membership in NATO was a major blunder which ignited Russia's invasion of the Ukraine. Russia does not want the powerful NATO military alliance spear headed by a remilitaried Germany on her borders. The last time Germany invaded Russia during WWII, she murdered 26 million Russians and with the collaboration of many Ukrainians. Her death squads murdered over 1.6 million Jewish men, women and children in the Ukraine for one reason only: they were Jews. Biden and his EU allies including the UK and Canada are totally hypocritical about the civilian casualties in the Russian-Ukrainian war as they conveniently forgot to mention their own countries's roles in the hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths in the Vietnam, two Iraq, Afghanistan and Syrian wars and in the coup d'etats they funded in the Ukraine, Libya etc. The reality is that the U.S., EU, UK and Canada have declared an unofficial war on Russia by their economic blockade and by sending billions of dollars of arms to the Ukraine, by training Ukrainians to kill Russians and by giving the Ukrainians billions of dollars .In fact, one can argue that their response to the Russian invasion of the Ukraine is an affirmation why Russia totally rejects a NATO presence on her borders.

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Steven • Apr 13, 2022 at 13:17

Face it, oligarchy has spread beyond Russia, infects the European Common Market, NATO, and even the US.
At least with Communism in Russia, there was some theoretical accountability to The Party, and theoretically the well being of the populace.
With the oligarchy, which has taken over Russia and was merrily marching in lockstep with the power brokers and oligarchs in Germany.
Is it any surprise, England (Boris), which made a forced breakout from the EU, is now at the forefront in support of Ukraine, even reached a decision to supply weapons beyond just personal equipment (Javelins, NLAW antitank weapons and Stinger anti-aircraft weapons), such as Harpoon anti-ship missiles.
Other countries such as Canada are very resistant, if not outright opposed to supplying such weapons.
The Biden doctrine adopted by the US at the beginning of the war was to share intelligence with China, apparently expecting the Chinese to restrain Russia, but apparently the opposite occurred with China sharing such intelligence with Russia.
Sanctions were avoided at all cost during the buildup to hostilities, and the Trump policy of sanctioning Nordstream 2 was immediately reversed.
The Biden initiative was that after defeat and occupation by Russia, the US would support an insurgency, likely a CIA advisement since CIA is famous if not notorious for supporting insurgencies around the world since it's inception and even included its predecessor, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in WWII.
It appears oligarchies, disguised as democracies and republics have largely taken over and are networking across borders and frontiers.
We have seen how parliamentary democracies and republics have been taken over by oligarchs, especially in Russia, but also the spread of oligarchy is involving other countries, such as in the EU, and countries beyond its borders in Asia, Africa and the Americas.
This has been referred to as Tweedism, Boss Tweed, who ran New York, NY, said he was happy with democracy as long as he controlled whoever was nominated as the candidate.
EU now is in process of developing a rapid response military capability, and doing so without the unanimous consent and complicity of all member states. It's uncertain if this military capability will be confined to acting beyond its borders, or will also have the authorization to act within the boundaries of the EU.
NATO is primarily authorized as a defensive organization, however it acted beyond its borders to overthrow the Libyan regime, however now its responses against Russian invasion of Ukraine are fearful of Russian notice and are primarily of a face saving nature, the primary concern being that any actual game changing intervention would bring Russian retaliation, possibly in the form of nuclear annihilating, which essentially is giving Russia the green light to do as it seems fit, and has become helpless in the face of actual Ukrainian commitment to battling Russia's invasion to a standstill in some cases, Russian retreat revealing horrible violence, including outright murder and pillaging by the Russians, certainly a terrible embarrassment to the EU and NATO countries which contributed too little and too late to forestall the Russian invasion of Ukraine which actually began with the invasion of Crimea and continued with the protracted, Russia sponsored take over of Donbas region.

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studly • Apr 13, 2022 at 11:41

Merkel will go down in history of destroying Europe by allowing and encouraging the Islamic invasion and then by usurping the democratic Germany. She could be called a red spy following her actions while she was head of Germany.

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Steven

studly • Apr 18, 2022 at 17:18

Expect Angela Merkel to be a peacemaker or negotiator to end the war in Ukraine. Putin might approve of her as a negotiator.

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studly

Steven • Apr 19, 2022 at 15:33

Good call Steven.

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Duane Hayes • Apr 13, 2022 at 10:54

A consensus of the comments all agree that Merkel was a complete disaster in every way. The German people need to wake up and realize they've been screwed.

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Daniel

Duane Hayes • Apr 16, 2022 at 00:49

A consensus of comments does not make a truth. However, Merkel is/has been in general a supporter of US politics to the detriments of Europe's economy and the majority of its population.

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Fullbladder • Apr 13, 2022 at 10:13

You need to have speech-bubble contest for that picture.

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Jonas Richter Fjeld • Apr 13, 2022 at 09:09

There is a read thread in all of Merkel's policies, and it is truly red. What she has done to Germany directly, and Europe indirectly, makes my own compatriot Vidkun Quisling seem like a naïve, kind uncle with just more than a tad poor judgement.

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cammo99 • Apr 13, 2022 at 09:04

I especially get grumpy when conservatives confuse Zelenskiy with Poroshenko and cast all Ukrainians as Nazis. Germany certainly has become more accepting onto its own neo Nazi underbelly. Are there neo Nazis in the Ukraine? Yes. Does Russia have skinheads in their military? Yes, but they don't have to shave their heads anymore. Was the Ukrainian experience under the Nazis better or worse than under Stalin, whose reforms and outright murderous rampages murdered 3-4 million Ukrainians? Could it be that nazi symbols are more about being anti-Russian than Nazis? How come there are more Jews and a growing population of them and they have fled Russia? Seems that there is a lot of pointless finger-pointing going on.

Here's a theory I endorse from I believe it was Hannity yesterday: Biden's sanctions are making Putin rich. Even a clown would know that the pretense we are suffering banning fossil fuels would backfire and the radical Biden government blames the anti-nazi Putin? Putin owns one big corner of the world supply while Biden and the green-cats abandoned energy independence for inflationary trends, open borders and what appears an intent to destroy private businesses and personal freedoms. That is all we have gotten from Biden, Obama, Kerry, Pelosi, Schumer, and last week we found out the LT Gov of NY State was arrested. It seems like our government is on a crime spree and enlisting illegals and criminals to help out.

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Kenneth E. Smith • Apr 13, 2022 at 08:42

The tragedy of Putin's invasion of Ukraine, and the unspeakable suffering being inflicted on the Ukrainian people is a stain on humanity, and shows that we have not progressed, all that much from the horrors of WW2.

If we examine the breakup of the Soviet Union and the lost opportunity to engage with Russia and normalise relations between Russia and the West following on from the detente and agreement by George HW Bush with Mikhail Gorbachev not to allow the eastwards expansion of NATO and interfere in Russia's sphere of influence this tragedy may not have occurred, and Putin would possibly not have ever been in a position to threaten the peace of Europe.
President Clinton rejected the agreement because it had not been formalised by a treaty, and subsequently the US invested 5 Billion Dollars in bank rolling the opposition to the pro Soviet Azarov Government in conjunction with West Germany, leading to the 2014 overthrow of that Government.
The Ukrainian people wanted their freedom, and now 8 years later what have they got, Russian troops invading their country, death and destruction, while a hand wringing US government and EU wring their hands and impose sanctions that will not stop Putin, but will bring hardship on the Russian people.

There is a parallel between this situation and and the inter war years that saw the rise of Hitler, lost opportunity, the failure to positively engage when we were in a position of strength to influence political outcomes without resorting to war, followed by a failure of leadership and moral courage that emboldened Hitler to commit aggression against a succession countries, until Britain and France responded from a position of relative weakness leading to over 5 years of war.
The USA is the defacto leader of the Free World, and the USA is saddled with a president who frankly is not up to the job, and the so called leadership of the UK and EU is equally lacking. As much as Donald Trump was a less than desirable individual, I doubt Putin would have taken the chance of invading Ukraine if Trump was still in the White House.

As the EU and Biden are now obviously petrified with the thought of Putin's Ukrainian adventure spilling over and leading to a possible Nuclear confrontation with Russia, where does that leave us, we either stand up and be counted or Putin destroys Ukraine, a lose lose either way.

The sobering thought, is that the West's lack of courage and spine is not lost on Xi and CCP, and one can only pray that it doesn't embolden China to invade Taiwan.

What will future historians make of this? assuming there are any.
A failure to engage with Gorbachev and normalise relations with the Soviet Union when the opportunity was there, leading to the rise of Putin, and a decadent Europe and USA allowing Putin to put the peace of Europe and possibly the whole world at risk.

When will we ever learn.

I wonder how the Taiwanese people are feeling at present, do they feel happy with Biden's guarantees or are they feeling apprehensive that their island nation will be the next battlefield?

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mikee • Apr 13, 2022 at 07:58

When Merkel took office approximately 20% of hydrocarbon energy was sourced from Russia. When Merkel stepped down German hydrocarbon energy dependency from Russia had risen to 60%. Merkel, like Putin being KGB/Stasi trained has a lot of explaining to do.

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Jack Barron • Apr 13, 2022 at 07:48

Merkel and her student Obama -- two friends of criminals -- love Iran but no love for the west or western civilization.

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Rock Nixon

Jack Barron • Apr 13, 2022 at 21:54

I couldn't agree more with this statement. Trump had many faults but he wasn't wrong about NATO and Germany's lack of contribution to it.

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alan bennett • Apr 13, 2022 at 07:32

It is patently obvious, Merkel was a Russia security asset, it also seems certain Germany's political class has constructed a new Axis: China, Russia and junior partner Germany.
They will not change, history tells you it will be all out war in Europe, because that is what the stubborn German character leads to, they just cannot help themselves.
The last thing the world needs is for these brutal people to rearm, with their efficiency along with a sadist Russian military, directed by China. What could go wrong?

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Andrew • Apr 13, 2022 at 07:00

Not much to say, only that a picture tells a thousand words, but in this case much more, and look closely at the one above, just like love birds or love-smitten teenagers.

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w. a. carr • Apr 13, 2022 at 06:44

The election of Merkel who was a former communist aparatchik in E. Germany was a grave mistake for Germany and Europe. Her open door immigration policy was also a disaster for the German people and Europe. What is hard to understand is why they kept electing her.

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ismail yurdakok • Apr 13, 2022 at 06:11

Very useful statements for ascertainment of damage for future diplomats and statesmen, by Soeren Kern.

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John E Miller • Apr 13, 2022 at 05:59

Trump was right then! The stupid political and media will never admit. He had the sense and foresight to stand up to the corrupt E.U. of which Merkel was the "de facto leader". He saw the danger looming and they laughed in his face. Who is laughing now?
The unstable, divided E.U. has been left without a crutch.

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Stephen • Apr 13, 2022 at 05:59

There's an English expression that could have been written especially for all the useless and naive German politicians especially Frau Merkel. 'They are about as much use as a chocolate teapot'.

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Andrew

Stephen • Apr 13, 2022 at 18:23

Stephen,
We have one also down under, goes about as much use as a fly screen on a submarine.

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Solomon • Apr 13, 2022 at 05:59

Soeren Kern It is noble of you to expose the two-faced hypocrisy that ever led to disasters over ages past, Ukraine today and many more to come. Merkel, not unlike her greatest admirer Obama, is at heart a communist but tries to project a cleaner image to be more acceptable in an until most recently a free world. Courting Iran beds down another holocaust. Bedding with Putin is no accident of expediency but a conscious decision to cement alliance with a like communis.t Not a whole lot different from Obama acting by Susan Rice, who is Biden's puppeteer pulling strings, allowing Nord Stream 2 to continue whilst blocking the Keystone XL pipeline into the USA. The strange behaviour is indicative of a planned move to dominate with communist globalism that will destroy democracy

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Michael Hoffman • Apr 13, 2022 at 05:56

The one thing to remember is that former German Chancellor Angela Merkel was taken as an infant to the East German Communist Republic, by her Communist Card carrying Lutheran Pastor father. Merkel was educated in East German Communist schools that is why her policy was to support Russia.

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Phil Copson • Apr 13, 2022 at 05:44

"a catastrophic blunder, one that will earn Merkel a place in the pantheon of political naiveté alongside Neville Chamberlain." — Matt Karnitschnig, Chief Europe Correspondent, Politico."

Neville Chamberlain should be remembered as the one European leader who rebuilt his country's armed forces and declared war on Nazism. If that's being naive - then please can we have more of it?

As for Merkel, I have always told my friends: "There is no such thing as an "ex-East German Communist": She and her kind are instinctively attracted to tyranny, and - provided that there's a job in it for them - they won't much mind if Putin re-takes control of much of Europe.

Tyrannies such as Russia, China, Iran, Venezuela, North Korea, Cuba etc hold the same attraction to Marxists and bureaucrats as tigers in a zoo have to children. They have no time for the herbivores such as Western democracies or Israel, but instead rush to ogle and prostrate themselves before the dangerous and violent.

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Hamish MacDonald • Apr 13, 2022 at 05:41

Extensive article. Merkel's blocking Ukraine's entry into NATO is particularly relevant. The other factor is the Biden dealing with Nord stream 2 pipeline which effectively caused the war in the Ukraine.
Biden won't lift a finger to fix the problem, unless he has to. Afghanistan was a washout, and the war with Ukraine follows. On top of that Biden has put the future of the next generation (even that which is yet to be born) into mortgage.
Cognitive decline and all, he represents the weakest link in the chain.

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Michael Stevens • Apr 13, 2022 at 05:38

The Germans have a history of barbaric conduct during the second world war. Their politicians seek moral redemption by leaning far to the left. Former Chancellor Merkel allowed her country to be flooded with a million Moslem males (and then tried to force the rest of Europe to take them in). She cancelled the energy independence of her nation by closing nuclear power stations and entering into a deal with Russia to import that dictatorship's oil and gas. The Germans need leaders motivated by common sense rather than pretend bleeding hearts.

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Jeff Page

Michael Stevens • Apr 13, 2022 at 06:49

Much of what you say can also be attributed to Britain, Michael. Our governments have ignored energy independence until recently. Before, there was no thought or consideration, that there would come a time when we were held to ransom over supplies. And we are also inundated with mainly Muslim illegal immigrants landing on our shores daily. They will add to the already 40,000 suspected Islamist Muslims that pose a threat to us all. Our government seem to think that all will be well and integration and assimilation will happen. It's a pipe dream and nothing more. Islam will never change, terror will be a constant. All courtesy of politicians.

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Michael Stevens

Jeff Page • Apr 14, 2022 at 18:42

I agree with your comments about the Moslem invasion of the Western world. In a few generations they will constitute a majority of the population. They will not integrate or accept our values and will bring Europe down. The Australian government has a system that works. Take the illegal "migrants" to a holding camp far away from their intended destination and leave them there.New Guinea is one place. The Falkland Islands might work for the UK.

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Daniel

Michael Stevens • Apr 15, 2022 at 06:15

Illegal migrants, especially Muslims, are a tool among others of the globalist box, to destabilize and bring chaos to the world before the "great reset"!

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Michael Stevens

Daniel • Apr 17, 2022 at 20:58

I see in the news this morning that the UK government has made an arrangement to send illegal immigrants to Rwanda for "processing" The Danish are about to do the same. A wise move.

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Terry Taylor • Apr 13, 2022 at 05:31

When I worked in Berlin 15 years I remarked to friends that I was astounded to see a bust of Marx in some park. They rebuked me, "Marx was a great man". On the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, I watched German TV while living in Bonn, and never saw one mention of Reagan. It was all Germany and the commie Gorbachev.

Any time East Germans would claim there was something good about life in East Germany, I would openly mock them and challenge them to mention one thing. Merkel was their champion, an Ossie that had good things to say about the East.

The Germans are dealing with Putin the way they dealt with Hitler. Nothing matters in Germany except that the German deep state, with its army of gov officials, most who do nothing of any value, remain well fed. Many of those gov offcials, like Merkel, grew up in East Germany. They are all compromised.

When working in Germany during the 2016 POTUS campaign, I never heard one bad word about Clinton or even the Marxist Sanders. And never a good word about Trump. Not once, in the media or in person. Americans drastically misunderstand the German industrial state, that its not America's ally. American troops need to be moved to Poland -- anywhere but Germany.

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Phillip Irving Rosslee • Apr 13, 2022 at 05:26

Let us not all forget that those on the left when Trump was president considered Angela Merkel leader of the free world. Just goes to show how screwed up each and every political figure is in Europe and beyond seems to me they all favour a Marxist future for us all. Those on the left in conjunction with their globalist friends in Big Tech and the corporate world if they get their way will destroy humanity and Western Civilization or what remains of the Judaeo Christian culture.

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Jeff Page • Apr 13, 2022 at 05:25

I cheered when Merkel was ousted from power. I never liked or trusted her and often wondered what the hell the German people saw in her. She was only concerned with her own popularity and put Germany before all others in the EU fold. Every leader cares for their country, but Merkel bankrupted some countries in order to keep control of what she saw as being her Empire! Germany has always been in it for itself and hasn't cared who suffered as a result. Maybe it's time they felt some hard knocks as others have done.

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Carole Chapman • Apr 13, 2022 at 05:25

Is it any wonder that Germany is unpopular across much of continental Europe with the possible exception of France. Never forget large parts of France supported Germany during WW2.
Merkel was supposedly in a communist youth party in East Germany and wasn't it the Jesuits who said 'give me a child till it is seven and I will give you the man'?
Germany has a lot to answer for but so far it doesn't seem to be facing up to the consequences of its actions.

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victor cowen • Apr 13, 2022 at 05:24

For me Germany has made itself an enemy of democracy and the West against Putin & Co. But what's new? German is a horrible place always has been unless you are of a 'certain type'.

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Jeff Page

victor cowen • Apr 13, 2022 at 06:41

I can't agree with all you have said, Victor. I lived in Germany for 3 years and it was a beautiful country and the people friendly. Unfortunately, their leaders have a lot to answer for. It's people that make a country what it is, it's leaders and politicians who destroy those countries.

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VictorMc

Jeff Page • Apr 14, 2022 at 11:27

Yes Jeff but that is exactly what makes or breaks a country the long term quality of their leaders.
I am sure your local cafes etc. were excellent.

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