Bundescancer Olaf Scholz (SPD) speaks most clearly when he translates himself. Just like a few days ago when he gave an interview to the American television station CNN. His English was good, but not as opaque as his chancellor’s German. His own people then joked that Scholz should only give interviews in English. But a few days later, it turns out that even when Scholz translates into normal German, namely in conversation with citizens, there is a lot to understand.
On Tuesday evening, the chancellor appeared in the town hall of Cottbus. There sat 150 Brandenburgers. Although they had to undergo a security check by the police, they were free to ask whatever came to mind. In this way, the chancellor wants to show that he is really open to the conversation, which he is conducting in all sixteen federal states; he has already completed some stages, others are yet to come. The idea was put to the test in Cottbus.
Because what do a man who governs Germany and a man who thinks Germany is controlled by others have to say to each other? That showed up after about forty minutes. Scholz had already answered a few questions about teachers, the shortage of doctors in Lusatia, and the production of ammunition and tanks. But then a man with white hair, a sweater over his shirt, spoke up and spoke politely (“Herr Bundeskanzler”), but firmly, which is also said by “Reichsbürger”: “Germany, that is, the FRG, is still there not a sovereign state”. It is “not difficult to see that we are a vassal state of the USA”. He was concerned with why it had to be like this.
Do not distract with counter-accusations
Scholz thanked for the question. “You can imagine that I am not convinced that you are right, but I will gladly answer your question.” The Chancellor’s answer was lengthy; she combined clear contradiction with arguments. “First, Germany is a sovereign state,” Scholz clarified, referring to the history of unification with the Allies after World War II. Claiming the opposite is a “false, absurd theory”. At this point, the people of Brandenburg applauded loudly in the town hall.
Scholz then explained how to tell that Germany was not receiving any orders from America – for example, that it did not take part in the Iraq war with the argument “The war is not well founded”. Scholz also seemed to want to use the Cottbuser’s question to counter a “very common form of speech”. This works in such a way that someone wants to distract from allegations with counter-allegations. “Russia is attacking Ukraine, and no matter how much you look through the history books, what the USA did wrong here and there, for example, it does not change the following fact: Russia is attacking Ukraine,” emphasized the Chancellor. Russia is waging an imperialist war of aggression that cannot be justified by any comparison.
At other points in the evening, too, Scholz took the opportunity to respond to accusations that were usually raised in the same calm tone that the citizens used here. Scholz replied to a woman who praised Sahra Wagenknecht’s “Manifesto for Peace” and advocated negotiations with Putin that there was definitely talk. He himself was one of the few who still spoke to the Russian President on the phone. However, Ukraine has the right to defend itself, including with the help of its friends.
In other contexts, the Federal Chancellor even placed aphorisms, for example about politicians like Trump, “who stands up and says: ‘I solve more or less all problems by being a moron'”. After an hour and a half it was over. Selfies as an encore.