So you have to put up with resignation and unemployment for Ukraine…
Like Germany, of course we should try to cushion the effects of a delivery stop. Since the beginning of the war, we have paid more than 60 billion euros from Europe to Russia for energy supplies. And in the same period, we used between two and three billion euros to help Ukraine in this regard. On the one hand, we are funding the war in Russia. On the other hand, we try to soothe our guilty conscience with a tiny fraction of it.
In Germany, arms deliveries are controversial…
First of all: this letter from Alice Schwarzer is full of stupidity and false facts. Of course I’m in favor of handing over weapons. You have to get rid of this nonsense about defensive or offensive weapons. Today, a slingshot in the hands of the Russians is an offensive weapon and a missile in the hands of Ukraine is a defensive weapon because they are defending their country. So there are no offensive or defensive weapons, it’s always a question of who uses the weapon accordingly. Of course, it is necessary for us to support Ukraine in this regard, because they also defend Europe itself.
Russia threatens to use nuclear weapons. Do you trust the Russians?
A distinction must be made between strategic and tactical nuclear weapons. There will likely be the use of tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine. Putin does not decide this by pressing a red button, but by the task force commander in the war zone. The question then is how to proceed? Is that the red line that was crossed? During the war in Syria, US President Barack Obama spoke of a red line being crossed in the use of chemical weapons and then nothing happened.