It takes a lot of courage and self-reflection to admit errors from the past.
…and here we can see that these two are rare traits.
Merkel’s side of the story never made much sense to me.
Uncharitably you can say she didn’t give a shit about Ukraine/anybody else and knowingly let Russia do as they like, so long as Germany got their gas deliveries.
It was particularly annoying how she’d dismiss the UK/Poland/others as being misguided or Russophobic when they warned about Russia. As if Russia hadn’t invaded Ukraine in 2014 and used chemical weapons in the UK to assassinate someone.
Charitably you can say she was living in a fantasy land where she believed being nice to Russia, trying to integrate them into the west, and give them a platform would be an effective way to transform them into a progressive, democratic society. I can accept that in the 90s, but by the late 2000s it was clear that wasn’t happening.
Neither of those are a good look.
Thank you for writing this. You help me focus my own thoughts about her. I’ve been angry at her for 10 years now - since her official reaction to the invasion of Ukraine.
I’ve mentioned something similar in the Ukraine community discussions on Merkel, but if she knew that putin would invade and wanted to help Ukraine prepare, why was there no attempt to provide military (covert aid if needed)?
Her story never adds up, it’s like she is grasping at straws to try and somehow explain away her support for russian genocidal imperialism.
Why can’t she be honest and just openly say that she supports russian imperialism and believes it is right for russians to eliminate other nations. Schroder does it, with zero consequences.
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