LOS ANGELES (OC).–Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused German Chancellor Friedrich Merz of warmongering with the Russian Federation, making anti-Russian statements. Certainly Merz knows the history of war with Russia with Hitler’s Third Reich responsible for some 28 million Russian deaths in WW II. Successive generations of German leadership since WW II has worked hard to make up for the Nazi massacre of the Russian people, by far incurring the most losses of any country in WW II. Speaking in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia at a Conference of South Asian Countries, Lavrov said it was “complete nonsense” to label Russia a direct threat the European Union. “I hope that every politician with common sense understands this,” Lavrov said, refuting Merz’s claim that Russian President Vladimir Putin seeks to take over more European country once done with Ukraine.
Lavrov said Merz was on a path to militarize Germany, something once thought unthinkable in the wake of WW II. Lavrov said that Merz no longer sees diplomacy as a path to peace on the continent, instead militarizing German with the false narrative that Putin seeks to take over more European countries. That narrative was created by former President Joe Biden and Ukraine’s 47-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky to justify proxy war with the Kremlin. Biden funded proxy war Feb. 24, 2022, the day Putin moved his army into Ukraine. Putin warned Biden that if arming Ukraine to the teeth didn’t change, he would be forced to implement ad “special military operation” to demilitarize Ukraine. Biden ignored Putin until he finally invaded Ukraine. Biden said repeatedly that the Ukraine war was “unprovoked and unjustified,” something opposed by the Kremlin.
Biden and Zelensky continue the narrative until he left office. Now Zelensky routinely tells the EU that Putin has his eyes set on other European countries, hinting that the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia could be next in Putin’s master plan. Yet when Putin was interviewed by former Fox News journalist Tucker Carlson back in February, Putin said that Ukraine was not Europe and that he had no interest in going to war with NATO. “If Mr. Merz believes that peaceful options are exhausted, he must have decided to devote himself entirely to the militarization of Germany at the expense of his people, only to then harp on Nazi slogans—to counter the threat emanating from Russia,” Lavrov said. Merz seems unusually pessimistic for someone who only recently assumed the position of Chancellor. Lavrov talked with Secretary of State Marco Rubio about a diplomatic end to the Ukraine War.
Merz met with Trump in the White House June 5, promising to cooperate in Trump plans to forge a peace deal to end the Ukraine War. Yet after the meeting, Merz adopted Zelensky’s propaganda that Putin was trying to expand his territory to Europe. Zelensky often refers to Ukraine as the deadliest war in Europe since WW II. Yet Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union and before that the Russian Empire. So, in point of history, Ukraine was never part of Europe but always part of the Russian Empire or Soviet Union. Zelensky claims his war protects European democracy, when, in fact, it does nothing of the sort. Zelensky can’t control his own border with his war with the Kremlin. So, how can Merz think that Ukraine defends European democracy? Zelensky can’t defend his own country from his war with the Kremlin, asking for more cash-and-arms from the EU.
Lavrov sees Germany as resorting to Nazi style propaganda to push the narrative that Kremlin seeks to take over parts of Europe. Merz has made statements recently that Russia only responds to force, no longer seeks a peaceful solution to the Ukraine War. Yet Lavrov spent hours talking with Rubio about novel solutions to end the conflict. Putin recognizes the fact that Zelensky refuses to cede territory already captured by the Kremlin to Russia in any peace settlement. Zelensky keeps telling the Ukrainian people that he’s winning the Ukraine War, refusing to admit he’s lost over the last three years some 25% of Ukraine’s best sovereign territory. Merz told the Budestag, the lower house of parliament, that Russian does not consider Ukraine’s right to independence and freedom. Merz suggests that only military force can bring back Ukraine’s territory.
Merz sounds like he’s given up on diplomacy to end the deadly Ukraine War. “The means of diplomacy are exhausted when a criminal regime openly questions the right of an entire country to exist with military force and sets out to destroy the political freedom order of the entire European continent,” Merz told the Bundestag. Not sure that Merz knew what he was saying in parliament, other than preparing Germany for war with Russia. Germany does not operate independent of the European Union. So, when Merz makes statements they must have the consensus of the European Union. Merz seems to back Ukraine’s NATO membership, despite President Donald Trump telling him June 5 that he opposed it. Whether Merz is talking tough or not, he needs to coordinate his statements with the EU because Germany isn’t about to go to war with the Kremlin.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
