And yet she didn’t bother to take his words seriously and maybe consider whether de facto backing russia (e.g. thinking moving forward with Nord Stream 2 after the annexation of Crimea was a good idea).
I’m going to get down voted, but it’s a bit more complicated than that. Granted, in hindsight the “economic binding” strategy was clearly wrong and a bad call, but at the time “we” believed Putin that he will honor agreements and be a trustworthy partner. And that he will honor Russian economy over territorial things, that do not matter at all for the standing of russia - hell, even back then the consensus was that Russia will utterly fail if they try something stupid, because they “needed” the gas money more, than we needed their gas. And while that downfall will take a few more years, it is inevitable. I admit though, I could not have been more wrong about some things…
I will have to disagree.
I don’t think she intended to be malicious per se (that would be Schroder), but Merkel definitely had a deep respect for russian imperial ambitions if not a roundabout show of support for russia’s land expansion.
Something along the lines of "well, what they are doing is wrong, but we’ll just have to keep supporting russia in hope that they will become normal in 30 years. The ends justify the means so to speak, except there are no ends in the case, it’s just Merkel enabling russia.
Reading through her comments after the full scale invasion, I get the impression she hasn’t changed her view and on an outcome basis supports the annexation of Ukrainian territories. Sure, she’ll say it’s wrong, but she will always oppose any real actions to kick russia out of Ukraine.
peace for our time*!
::: spoiler read time as while I’m in office :::
Removed by mod
I see where you are coming from, but I think this is not comparable.
Imagine if russia invaded Germany. Took over Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (renaming it to Putlergrad oblast), banned German and forced everyone to speak russian and get russian citizenship. In the mean-time Ukraine and Poland would build a pipeline to the newly annexed Putlergrad oblast. How would you feel then?
Removed by mod
So you would be OK with Ukraine and Poland building a Russian pipeline if didn’t go directly to the newly annexed Putlergrad oblast? If the pipeline went to Austria or Czechia following the annexation of Putlergrad oblast, would this fundamentally change how you would view Ukraine/Poland’s involvement in the construction of the said pipeline?
I am not necessarily arguing you’re wrong or trying to convince you of anything. I am just trying to show you how it looks from the other side.
Removed by mod
No I don’t support torturing russian POWs. I agree with you that bombing NS was a bad idea. I disagree with you that it was “EU infrastructure”, it was owned by the russians I believe and Germany explicitly told other EU members to “bugger off” with their concerns.
What bothers me is your moralizing attitude. The last two German leader were some of the biggest enablers of russian genocidal imperialism in the last ~30 years. There is nothing to discuss with Schroeder. Merkel as a bit sneaky. Nominally she said she opposed it, but all her actions de facto always supported russian imperialism.
And then you come along saying “Poland and Ukraine” shouldn’t be in the EU because they don’t uphold moral standards. You don’t see how this could be seen as hypocritical!?
Removed by mod
What’s with the 'tude on the napoleonic wars soldier?
