Starting with Süddeutsche and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, major German newspapers have published numerous specials on “The Forgotten War”, the 80th anniversary of the invasion of the Soviet Union.
“27 million have been killed. And this war of annihilation has remained a blind spot in German memory,” said the Süddeutsche. “It was not a war, but a campaign of extermination,” FAZ said. “The accounts that are now known show what this meant for the civilian population. “
But it was an article by Vladimir Putin in Die Zeit (above) that received the most attention. Entitled “Be Open Despite the Past”, it quotes 1941 and focuses on the recent post-Cold War retreat with NATO’s advance towards the Russian border – and European support for the “organized coup” by the United States ”in 2014 in Ukraine.
It resonated through FAZ, Die Welt, Der Spiegel and, more critically, with an attack on the very newspaper that published the article, by the right-wing tabloid Bild.
COLD WAR, NO
Becoming the favorite spot of German Chancellor Angela Merkel in September, Armin Laschet made the front page of the Financial Times for “warning against cold war with China”. Asked about American pressure, he said:
“The question is: will this lead to new conflict? Do we need a new adversary? The European response has been cautious because, yes, China is a systemic rival, it has a different model of society, but it is also a partner. “
In the lengthy interview, Laschet also advocated “establishing a reasonable relationship” with Russia. “Ignoring it has served neither our interests nor those of the United States.”
AMERICAN GREEN
AFP and others present US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s new trip to “strengthen Western unity” with Berlin. The agency notes that the environmental candidate Annalena Baerbock, just behind Laschet in the polls, “has promised to be tougher” with China.
Last month, the Washington Post ran a lengthy profile of Baerbock. Asked “in English” by the Atlantic Council, she said she was “in the same field” as Joe Biden on issues such as human rights, evoking a “new strategic struggle” with China. Baerbock “studied in London and the USA”.
LINK PRESENT: Did you like this column? The subscriber can release five free hits from any link per day. Just click on the blue F below.