For the philosopher Bertrand Russell, world history is “also the sum total of what could have been avoided”. However, that would require rational behavior – and not a form of overly aggressive government crime like that of Vladimir Putin. He governs his Russia like a syndicate that has made raiding sovereign states a business principle.
The special: Such violence in office provokes reactions that could not have been imagined a few weeks ago. The number of innovations is never greater than when there is a break in an epoch. Innovation follows invasion.
Innovation two: After years of debates about armaments, the Bundeswehr will immediately receive 100 billion euros as a “special fund” for investments and armaments projects. Olaf Scholz (SPD) assured in a strong Chancellor’s speech in front of the Bundestag that the Republic would “from now on – year after year – invest more than two percent of the gross domestic product in our defense”. The Bundeswehr needs “new, strong skills”. The country is now also delivering weapons to Ukraine as quickly as possible: 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 surface-to-air missiles of the “Stinger” type.
Innovation three: Changes to the nuclear and coal phase-out are no longer taboo. Robert Habeck said he would not “ideologically resist” further use of nuclear energy in view of the escalating confrontation with Russia. His Ministry for Economics and Climate Protection is examining the possibility of longer running times for coal and nuclear power plants. As an alternative to Russian gas, Habeck sees the import of liquid gas and, as usual, the exit from fossil fuels.
Innovation four: The EU is revising its previous line of not supplying any military goods to warring parties. For the first time it will finance the purchase and delivery of arms and military equipment “to an attacked country”. 500 million euros have been released for this purpose. Foreign Affairs Commissioner Josep Borrell spoke of the “end of the taboo according to which the EU would not supply weapons to warring parties”. At the same time, EU airspace was closed to Russian aircraft and the “Kremlin’s media machine” stopped: the state Pinocchio channels Russia Today and Sputnik are to be banned in the EU.
Innovation five: Germany, the US, France, Canada, Italy, the UK and the EU Commission are banning all Russian banks that are already sanctioned from the Swift international payment system. It is possible that other financial institutions will be added, which are also to be cut off from international financial flows. And the Russian central bank, which has large gold and foreign exchange reserves, is to be prevented from supporting the ruble exchange rate with global financial transactions.
Conclusion: What we have here is a series of sheer revolutions. Russian President Putin reacts like in old James Bond films with the “Dr. No” scheme: even more pressure, even more delusion of meaning. He put his country’s “deterrent forces” on alert – including nuclear weapons. NATO members had made “aggressive statements”. This distant view bodes well for negotiations that Russian and Ukrainian delegations are starting this morning at the Ukraine-Belarusian border.
Who is who and where are you? This is the current question about closeness and distance in relation to the warlord Putin. The British oil company BP is selling almost 20 percent of the Russian state-owned company Rosneft. CEO Bernard Looney and predecessor Bob Dudley are leaving the board of directors, on which former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder still sits. The social democrat wants to remain on the board of directors of Gazprom. “Then he should be treated as an accomplice to war criminals,” said former world chess champion and Russian politician Garry Kasparov in an interview with the Handelsblatt. In the meantime, the SPD leadership is also vehemently demanding Schröder’s departure from Russian councils.
(Photo: imago/Russian Look)
Today, Monday, Putin friend Valery Gergiev must also distance himself from the “brutal war of aggression” against Ukraine – otherwise he would no longer be able to conduct the Munich Philharmonic, warns Dieter Reiter, the city’s mayor. Even the most beautiful tones can be discordant.
In an interview with the Handelsblatt, Siegfried Russwurm, President of the Federation of German Industries (BDI), gives an impression of the mood in German business and industry on Putin’s war: “Many of those responsible told me clearly with regard to Russia: You can no longer do business with such a regime . Many companies are considering withdrawing from Russia, even without sanctions.”
Mercedes, for example, would be asked here. The Swabians have a 15 percent stake in the Kamaz company, which supplies armored vehicles to the Russian military. Marc Tüngler from the German Association for the Protection of Securities Ownership: “This has to be solved urgently. The longer management sticks to this cooperation, the more it will become defensive.”
What do you think of a CEO who says, “Sometimes we don’t know where the money has gone, but we see that money has gone”? Pretty crazy, right? Börje Ekholm, CEO of the Swedish company Ericsson, publicly admitted in this way that money could have flowed to the terrorists of the “Islamic State” (IS) in Iraq. Internal investigators couldn’t keep up with the list of misconduct: corruption, fraud, embezzlement, violation of national laws, accounting fraud and money laundering.
A number of international media evaluated the internal report, including NDR, WDR and the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. It turns out that the Iraq business, for example in the construction of mobile phone networks, brought in almost two billion dollars in net sales between 2011 and 2018, but let Ericsson sink deeper and deeper into the corruption swamp. People were bribed without regard to the person: officials, subcontractors, business partners, Kurdish clans, IS people. With the late CDU politician Norbert Blüm we say: “He who does everything for money will ultimately do everything for money.”
(Photo: imago images/Political Moments)
And then there’s Karl Lauterbach, 59, full-range supplier in the media business. He adds a weak non-fiction book to his countless interviews, talk show appearances, tweets and press conferences: “Before it is too late”. The SPD Minister of Health does not remain in the subject, but poaches in the territory of the Green Minister colleague Robert Habeck (Economy and Climate Protection).
On the one hand, Lauterbach wants to rouse action against the climate catastrophe, on the other hand, his alarmism makes the chances of success appear slim: “I am more than skeptical as to whether we can still master the upcoming challenges in the time available to us.” The author advises, “more to dare science” and – like himself – to eat no more meat and to build with wood. These are “the most underestimated CO2 savers”.
Somehow, Rainer Maria Rilke comes to mind when the author is on the wrong track: “Fame is the sum of the misunderstandings that accumulate around a name.”
I wish you a good start into the week.
It greets you cordially
Her
Hans Jürgen Jakobs
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