To say goodbye, there was another strong kick: shortly before the end of the temporary German membership in the UN Security Council, the representatives of Russia and China clashed violently with the German UN ambassador Christoph Heusgen.
In a session on Syria, he criticized that Russia and China, with their blockade in the UN Security Council, would contribute to making important humanitarian aid deliveries to Syria more difficult.
Such finger-pointing did not go down well with either country.
The Russian UN Deputy Ambassador Dmitri Poljansky replied to Heusgen that if the Security Council drops the Syrian population, it is because of the “hypocritical behavior” of Germany and the West.
The Chinese representative Yao Shaojun put Berlin in its place even more clearly.
"Germany's appearance in the Security Council has not met the expectations of the world and the expectations of the Council," said the Chinese diplomat.
Therefore, the German way to permanent membership would be "difficult".
The German UN ambassador Heusgen is known for not always appearing particularly sensitive, but he has seldom caught such a clear rebuff on the open stage.
The background is a dispute that is almost as old as the Syrian civil war.