How to make Eastern Europe just disappear
“This is naked demagogy and this ambassador is harming his country”
“It’s not the first time that the Ukrainian ambassador has said something outrageous,” criticizes “Emma” editor Alice Schwarzer Ambassador Melnyk’s reaction to her open letter to Chancellor Scholz. She and other celebrities had previously warned against the delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine.
In an open letter to Olaf Scholz, celebrities such as Dieter Nuhr, Alice Schwarzer and Juli Zeh called for more prudence in supporting Ukraine. They have a blind spot as big as Eastern Europe.
Whe thinks he has to sign or even write an appeal against German arms deliveries to the Ukraine, obviously has no idea about Eastern Europe, let alone the situation in Ukraine since the Russian invasion. The signers of an open letter to Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz in the magazine “Emma” provided the proof of this today. There, 28 intellectuals and artists praised Scholz’s level-headedness and warned of a possible Third World War.
They forget about Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania or Poland: these Eastern European countries have been worried about their territorial integrity – and thus their sovereignty – for some time. It is the fear of Russia and its aggressive expansion policy that prevails in these countries. What these sovereign states certainly do not need are prominent or semi-prominent Germans who once again give the explanation bear.
It’s a very German problem: as soon as it comes to German-Russian relations, all lands between Germany and Russia often magically disappear from view. What is being overlooked today is the raison d’être of a sovereign state. The raison d’être of Ukraine.
No Eastern European is asked
After all, how can there be a ceasefire, as the signers of the open letter would like, if the conditions can only be Russia’s conditions and must therefore violate Ukraine’s sovereignty? And how should Chancellor Scholz actually influence peace if he hasn’t prevented war?
Didn’t those who signed the “Emma” letter – the number is growing every hour – see the pictures from Bucha, Irpin or Mariupol? Have they forgotten Babyn Jar and Holodomor? It seems so. Otherwise they would demand to support Ukraine in its self-defense instead of leaving it alone with the Russian aggressor. Because that is our historical responsibility. The signers of the letter trade history for cowardice.
It’s the old saying: No Eastern European is asked. No Ukrainian intellectual is asked. Because Dieter Nuhr, Lars Eidinger, Alice Schwarzer or Juli Zeh have a better overview? Out of a peaceful Germany? They are putting the lives of Ukrainian people at risk.
Experts should speak up in open letters. And such a letter has existed since the beginning of the war: it was written by experts on Eastern Europe. They demanded arms for Ukraine.