Russia and Ukraine flashpoint

[RolStoppable]

SanAndreasX said:

Ryuu96 said:

"It was not a spontaneous reaction to interventions by Zelensky, but obviously a manufactured escalation in this meeting in the Oval Office," Merz said at a press conference in Hamburg. Merz said he was "quite surprised, including by the mutual tone of the dialogue," adding that the incident fit a pattern in recent U.S. behavior.

"There is a certain sequence in a number of events in recent weeks and months, including the appearance of the American delegation in Munich at the security conference, and we are now seeing it from Washington," he said. According to Merz, these events serve as a wake-up call for Europe's security policy. "I am in favor of preparing for the fact that in the coming years and decades we will have to do much, much more for our own security," he said.

US deliberately orchestrated Zelensky-Trump Oval Office clash, Friedrich Merz says

Not sure how to feel about Merz yet, but I'm glad that so far, at least, he's standing up for Ukraine, Germany, and Europe against Putin and Trump, and that he wants Europe to have the power act in situations like the Ukraine War.

This is more or less Merz's only political stance where he is on the right track. It's just unfortunate that it stands in conflict with how he wants to approach financing everything, which is kind of important I'd say. Lower taxes for the rich, take on no new debt, that's obviously fundamentally stupid when it's abundantly clear that the tasks ahead will demand huge investments. But he's a conservative, so he has no obligation to keep any promises if he wants to get re-elected, so that's that.

Foreign policy beyond Europe got its first red flag when he pondered about inviting Netanyahu to Germany and somehow find a way to ignore the ICC ruling. That was more of a quick thought than an actual plan, but it's still pretty damning to think about something like that in the first place.

Domestically, he took the reins of his party with the goal of cutting the AfD's votes on the national level in half, the result of his efforts is that the AfD is now twice as strong. He accomplished this by committing the typical conservative blunder of believing that the far-right is best fought by putting more emphasis on the talking points of the far-right and presenting oneself as the reasonable party to take care of the (usually) imagined problems; but all this does is add more legitimacy to far-right talking points and push more people to vote for the original.

Merz winning the German election isn't an achievement at all, because the conservative party could have fielded anyone and take the first spot. That's because of the setup of the preceding government that consisted of two left-wing parties and the liberals who behaved more like they were an opposition party than one that is in the government. "Liberal" in Central Europe is defined by the belief that a free market regulates itself and all will be well, plus you have to take money from the poor and funnel it to the rich; so in other words, it's a party that is clearly positioned on the right side of the political spectrum unlike in the USA where liberal is synonymous with left. The inefficiency and ineptitude of this particular government made it have the lowest favorability rating ever, so all involved parties were bound to lose voters and Germany was destined to make the conservatives the #1 again.

Anyway, this thread is about Ukraine and by extent the security of Europe as a whole. Even a broken clock is right twice a day, so perhaps Merz manages to get this one thing (somewhat) right.