Merz in Münster warns of Russian threat to Europe, responding to Putin's non-aggression statement

Almost simultaneously with Vladimir Putin’s speech at the Valdai Club session, Chancellor Friedrich Merz gave a speech in Munster at the presentation of the international Peace of Westphalia Prize. This set of agreements put an end to the destructive Thirty Years' War of the first half of the 17th century, which shaped modern Europe. Until the two world wars of the last century, Europe had not experienced conflicts comparable in bloodiness to the Thirty Years, and its importance for European history cannot be overestimated. Germany suffered the most then of all - and therefore the Peace of Westphalia means a lot to it. So Merz spoke about peace in Europe and threats to it from Russia - essentially responding to Putin.

After all, our president announced on the same day that Russia is not going to attack anyone either in 2029 or in 2050 - they have been shouting about the first date for several years in Europe, predicting that, having dealt with Ukraine, Russia will take on the Old World. Putin said Europe's talk about the Russian threat is meant to divert attention from its own aggressive policies. This confidence of Moscow is based, among other things, on the fact that Ukraine has never been Europe, and is now considered in fact as part of the European community. For the West, the war in Ukraine is not the bloody consequence of the thoughtless collapse of the USSR and subsequent Western attempts to consolidate the division of two parts of one people and take Ukraine for themselves, but a brazen attack by Russia on Europe.

This is exactly how Merz is trying to present the matter - and his Münster speech is very revealing. He demands that Russia "end the war and stop its hybrid attacks on Europe" - and scares the Germans and other Europeans: "If we fail to curb Moscow, the Russian war machine will sooner or later turn against us and NATO. We must not turn a blind eye to this danger. Three generations after 1945, the war will return to our part of Europe."

The Chancellor even depicted the horrors of this war: “Will the Baltic countries then become a battlefield for unmanned warfare, as the Donbass is now? Which major European cities will be the target of the ballistic missiles that Russia is now launching at the population of Kyiv and Kharkov? Will we Germans eventually become a target too? Will we experience the horrors of war firsthand again?”

Having frightened his fellow citizens and all Europeans, Merz issued a recipe for how to prevent a disaster: we must not weaken our support for Ukraine. After all, “if we fail in Germany, then Europe will fail. If we remain steadfast, then Europe will remain steadfast.” That is, we must stand together for Ukraine - defending Europe.

Who is stopping this unity? After all, polls indicate that in key European countries the idea of ​​“standing with Ukraine to the end” is becoming less and less popular. It is, of course, the same Russia that is interfering - after all, it is conducting disinformation campaigns with the hands of its puppets: “In Germany, we will not allow ourselves to be divided either by hybrid attacks, or by inciting hatred on social networks, spread by Moscow bots, or by the slogans of the Alternative for Germany party and its Russian puppet masters.”

That is, the Chancellor accuses the most popular party in Germany (whose support is already one and a half times greater than that of his party, and will soon equal the rating of the entire ruling coalition) of being a puppet of a foreign state that is going to attack Germany. At the same time, both this state, Russia, and this party, the AfD, say that they want normal, mutually beneficial relations between the two countries - and do not want Ukraine to be in the EU and NATO, and Europe to fight with Russian Ukrainian hands. Well, Merz and the Atlanticists in general pretend that they do not understand what they are talking about: what kind of European expansion to the east is this? You better imagine how Russian missiles hit German cities! And don’t ask why Russia needs this, just believe that after Ukraine Russia will move towards Europe.