2024-02-22 01:24:51
CDU politician Kiesewetter caused a stir with an interview about the war in Ukraine. Objection immediately arises. But the external expert ups the ante again.
The CDU foreign policy expert Roderich Kiesewetter has been a sharp critic of Kremlin ruler Vladimir Putin since the beginning of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, which violates international law. Now he caused a stir with an interview he gave to “Deutsche Welle” during a visit to the Ukrainian capital.
On the one hand, he urgently warns of the danger that the election of Donald Trump as US President would mean for Ukraine and Europe. “We cannot become dependent on a would-be dictator, which Trump likes to play, on a tool of Putin, which is Trump.”
On the other hand, the CDU politician is also calling for more drastic measures against Russia. He calls for greater cohesion in the West in order to stop “Dictator Putin”. “The war must be brought to Russia. Russian military facilities and headquarters must be destroyed. We must do everything to enable Ukraine to destroy not only oil refineries in Russia, but ministries, command posts, command posts,” Kiesewetter said in demanded in the conversation on Friday.
The 60-year-old retired colonel in the Bundeswehr was attacked for his demand, particularly in right-wing accounts. The AfD politician Beatrix von Storch used Kiesewetter’s statement to launch an all-round attack on the “cartel parties” that are attacking “our peace,” as she wrote on X. Other right-wing accounts accuse the CDU member of the Bundestag of calling for a war of aggression and calling for Kiesewetter to be reported or even arrested.
Call for the Bundeswehr’s special funds to be tripled
The former left-wing MP Sahra Wagenknecht was also outraged. “Mr Kiesewetter doesn’t seem to have all his cups in the closet anymore,” she told the “Berliner Zeitung”. “Anyone who wants to bring the war to Russia by destroying Russian military facilities and ministries with German weapons will bring the war to Germany.”
Now Kiesewetter upped the ante again. In an interview with the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” he called for the Bundeswehr’s special assets to be tripled so that Germany could fulfill its NATO assistance obligation in the future even without possible support from the USA. This could soon be the case if Donald Trump moves back into the White House.
“I wouldn’t rule out an increase in the special fund for the Bundeswehr. It’s completely clear that we need 300 billion instead of 100 billion so that the Bundeswehr becomes combat-ready,” said Kiesewetter. However, misuse of the money to plug budget holes must be ruled out. In addition, a permanent defense budget of at least two percent of economic power must be achieved in parallel. However, this can only be achieved “with re-prioritisation and clear structural reforms”.
Trump defends himself against criticism
The majority of Germans would overwhelmingly support the expansion of military structures. According to a study by the management consultancy PwC, 68 percent of Germans support this project, but 63 percent also think that the “turning point” announced by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) in March 2022 has not yet reached the Bundeswehr. The majority consider the necessary investments to be necessary: 57 percent support the intention to invest two percent or more of the gross domestic product in defense. Only 31 percent see this critically.
Meanwhile, Trump defended himself against criticism of his statement that he would no longer provide military protection to defaulting NATO allies if he were re-elected as US President. “I made NATO strong,” the 77-year-old wrote in the online service he founded, Truth Social. “When I told the 20 countries that hadn’t paid their (…) share that they had to pay because otherwise they wouldn’t receive military protection from the US, the money started flowing,” the Republican explained.
After the US had been “paying the bill” for so many years, this was “a beautiful sight.” “But now that I’m no longer there to say ‘You have to pay,’ they’re starting again,” the former president continued.