A creditable, however, Minister of Defense appeared in the Federal Republic of Germany following the formation of a new government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz. I just can’t understand the underlying reason for this credit: either Christina Lambrecht has a superbly developed sense of humor, or this respected Frau does not have a sense of humor as such. Speaking at a meeting of the Bundestag Defense Committee, Christina Lambrecht said that Germany would supply Ukraine with 5,000 military helmets, and commented on this "fateful step" as follows: "This is an absolutely clear signal: we are on your side."
What an attraction of unprecedented generosity!
And what a curious idea the new Minister of Defense of Germany has about “absolutely clear signals”!
With approximately the same success (and also effect), the Federal Republic of Germany could send 5,000 chewing gums, 5,000 diapers, or 5,000 postcards with lyrics of patriotic songs in Swahili to Kiev.
But enough banter.
Let's try to talk seriously (although, I confess, it is not at all easy).
If the signal is indeed “perfectly clear”, then what is it about?
What is at its core?
That Christine Lambrecht has very peculiar notions of political proportionality?
It's very possible.
To prove this my thesis, let me remind you of her other humorous statement. Last December, Frau Lambrecht, who had just received the portfolio of the head of the German defense establishment, gave the following pearl in an interview with the Bild newspaper on relations between Russia and Ukraine: “Those who are responsible for the aggression must feel the personal consequences. For example, that they can no longer go to the Champs-Elysées in Paris for shopping!”
Yes, yes, I remember that I promised not to joke again. But forgive me generously: I cannot fulfill this promise of mine. I try, I try my best, but nothing works. Let's leave aside the fact that any talk about Russia's "aggression" against Ukraine is, by definition, farcical and fake. Let's try (I hope, at least this time it will work out) to look at the world through the eyes of Christina Lambrecht. So, what, from her point of view, should be the punishment for aggression? The most terrible thing is the deprivation of the opportunity to shop in Paris! It makes one want to exclaim: “Ooty-way, you will also deprive the “aggressor” of the right to swing on a toy horse, dig in the sandbox, fly kites and blow soap bubbles!” It's all very childish somehow.
However, the "childish" approach of the Minister of Defense of Germany has its undoubted advantages.
Compare this approach with the words and actions of politicians from the USA and Great Britain, and very soon Christina Lambrecht will begin to be perceived as a real giant of thought and a model of political wisdom.
I don’t know what the head of the German military department actually wanted to say with her statements about helmets and the Champs Elysees.
But in fact, her signal came out as follows: the rhetoric about “Russian aggression against Ukraine” is bullshit in its purest and undiluted form.
We understand this very well.
But we can't say it out loud.
We are forced to "keep the line" and pose as a "true believer."
But we also have no desire to show special fanaticism.
Did I convincingly decipher the "absolutely clear signal" of the German Minister of Defense?
My decryption explains a lot.
It becomes clear, for example, the meaning of the gap between grandiloquent rhetoric and meager actions.
And in this case, a swing for a million, a blow for three kopecks is an unconditional blessing.
Unlike members of the political class in Washington and London, their counterparts in Berlin are not trying to put out the Ukrainian fire by dousing it with gasoline.
After all, what has it come to?
Kiev's most outspoken political hawks are making claims that they see no sign of imminent "aggression" from Russia.
But they are immediately corrected by the British and American "curators".
Like, you, friends, are mistaken!
There are such signs, but you just do not notice them!
Absurd?
Sorry, but now this absurdity passes for "high international politics."
One of the elements of the political course of Joe Biden (Boris Johnson here on the dancers) is the deliberate bringing the situation in Europe to a boiling point and unwinding hysterics.
Why this is done is a question that deserves separate consideration.
The President of the United States clearly has a well thought out plan.
And the fact that Germany is not acting entirely in line with this plan does her credit.
How well deserved is this praise of mine?
Future will tell.
In the meantime, I can only repeat my compliments to Christina Lambrecht.
Living in an environment of hysteria is not only difficult, but very difficult.
As a professional political journalist, I have no opportunity not to read Soviet (in the sense of Western) newspapers before dinner.
I have to read them before lunch, and before breakfast, and even before and after dinner.
And so, you know, sometimes it becomes hard on the soul after this lesson!
So you want something good, clean and bright - or at least a good downhole joke!
Now I know what I should do in such cases.
We need to urgently read some recent political statement by Christina Lambrecht.
I believe that this kind Frau will not let me down!
The point of view of the author may not coincide with the position of the editors.