Philosopher Peter Sloterdijk sees Russian President Vladimir Putin as a relatively insignificant man who suddenly finds himself at the head of a vast political-military complex and fantasizes a fitting story to go with it. “He wakes up in the morning and sees Russia surrounded.”
In an interview with the German Press Agency, Sloterdijk not only provides a relentless analysis of the notorious liar in the Kremlin, he also warns against the delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine and parries criticism from Ambassador Andriy Melnyk.
You can see that very clearly with him. But one also regularly witnesses the most blatant lies with Putin. There has seldom been a politician for whom lies make up such a large proportion of his verbal utterances.
These are ideas that were probably compatible with the poor Christianity of the past millennium. They may have survived longer in Russia than in the West and are now experiencing their post-Soviet renaissance, also with the help of the Orthodox Church.
He concocts a history in the manner of half-educated people who have accidentally come into power. His reflections are on the level of Hitler’s rabulistic table talks – one can definitely compare them structurally.
Apparently Putin is in a second phase of this fantasizing, because initially he said completely different things. The Great Russian script only intensified in a second phase.
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After all, supplying heavy weapons would be more or less tantamount to openly entering the position of the warring party. If Western politicians have shied away from this up to now, there are good reasons for that. Germany is by no means alone here, and France and the USA have also agreed so far to exercise restraint with heavy weapons.
More than any other side, they accuse the Germans of not having become a party to the war because they have a bad conscience in Germany and a tendency to cave in. They find willing collaborators in German journalists.
Like disappointed theatergoers who would have liked to see more spectacle, some journalists accuse Chancellor Scholz of his cautious attitude. This is reminiscent of theater criticism gone awry.
On the contrary, there is still a huge wave of friendliness and helpfulness. There are still around half a million Ukrainians with us, and if many have already returned to western Ukraine, it is because they only came temporarily from the start to seek protection, not as emigrants.
