”Putin war immer nur an Deutschland so weit interessiert, wie es seinen Plänen genutzt hat”

mozu Retweeted

Der heutige Tag bedeutet auch das Scheitern vieler Jahre deutscher Russlandpolitik, insbesondere vorangetrieben von Frank-Walter Steinmeier in seinen beiden Amtszeiten als Außenminister 2005-09 und 2013-17, und mitgetragen von Kanzlerin Merkel.

— Ulrich Speck (@ulrichspeck) February 21, 2022

 Today also means the failure of many years of German Russia policy, pushed in particular by Frank-Walter Steinmeier in his two terms of office as Foreign Minister 2005-09 and 2013-17, and supported by Chancellor Merkel.

The attempt to bring Russia closer to the West and to promote the transformation towards a liberal political and economic order has failed miserably.

It was Berlin that played a major role in European policy towards Russia, from the conceptual advancement of EU policies and permanent friendly talks to crisis management in 2014/15 and the gas partnership.

In fairness, outside influence on Putin is arguably limited; it has always stayed true to its vision of imperial greatness, using brute force from the start (from Chechnya to Syria), and increasingly subjugating the country.

But despite all this, Germany has always tried, almost desperately, to recognize positive approaches; at the same time things were often glossed over. Whatever Putin has done, the most important thing has always been the "conversation channels"; just no tensions with Moscow.

Putin was only ever interested in Germany to the extent that it benefited his plans; he always saw Germany as the object of his manipulations, there was never a genuine partnership.

これは対中政策でもいっしょだな。中国を西側に組み込んでリベラルな政治経済体制にしようというのは無理かもしれんね。CNNでザカリアの中国の認識なんか聞いていると、「ああ、学習していないな」という印象を拭えない。