Where is Stauffenberg? This question made the rounds on Twitter after Vladimir Putin put Russia’s nuclear forces on alert. The fact that the warmonger in the Kremlin is evoking the memory of Count von Stauffenberg, who assassinated Hitler, is as understandable as it is disturbing.
After the historical turning point at the weekend, Europe and the USA clearly have the upper hand in the Russian crisis. Putin’s advance is halting, the sanctions are taking effect, and the West is more closed than it has been since the Cold War.
Now it is important to use this strategic advantage. In other words, brains are now more important than headless demonstrations of force. Now is the time for diplomacy. That is why the peace talks that have started between Kyiv and Moscow are important and right.
One can wish for “regime change” in Moscow, but at the moment it cannot be a declared goal of Western politics, just like the call for a no-fly zone in Ukraine or the demand for a war crimes tribunal for Putin. Deterrence and the “containment” devised by the American George F. Kennan are the right responses to Putin’s aggression.
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Europeans and Americans should therefore stick to their wise line and continue to make it clear that the sanctions are not aimed at the Russian people, but at Putin and his nomenklatura.
The Kremlin ruler has miscalculated and can no longer be sure of the unconditional loyalty of his closest circle of leaders. First oligarchs like the billionaire Michail Fridman call for an end to the hostilities.
Oligarchs are beginning to criticize Putin
More and more Russians are taking to the streets to protest Putin’s war. It is unlikely that resistance in Russia to the war of aggression against Ukraine will drive Putin out of the Kremlin in the foreseeable future. But it changes the tyrant’s calculations.
Should the Russians get the impression that they are paying and suffering for the personal vendetta of an unworldly ruler, it could be dangerous for Putin. It would be foolish now to supply the Russian warmonger with ammunition to fight for the heads and thereby halt the resistance’s momentum.
The West cannot have any interest in a further escalation of the conflict with Russia. It is true that Putin’s threat of nuclear weapons is part of the power game. But we don’t know how the Kremlin boss will react to the enormous financial pressure that could plunge his regime into an existential crisis. A comparison with Stauffenberg is also not very edifying because, as is well known, his assassination attempt failed.
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