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Merkel Is Erasing May 9, 1945 From The National Memory
TND Guest Contributor: Dmitriy Sedov |
It would be ridiculous to suspect German Chancellor Angela Merkel of political immaturity. When she accuses Moscow of annexing the Crimea or of aggression against Ukraine, the German leader is playing a disingenuous political game. She knows full well that the overwhelming majority of Crimea’s population have expressed their wishes and what those are, and she knows full well that there are no Russian military units in Novorossia. Nevertheless, Angela Merkel is sticking to her guns. In one word, such behavior can be described as “biased”.
It would be completely pointless to jump into the discussion with Merkel and to point out to her – for example – Germany’s flagrant violations of international law while helping to establish the criminal regime in Kosovo or while attacking Libya. Resorting to such arguments in a debate with Berlin gets one nowhere. And one shouldn’t be surprised to see bias in Chancellor Merkel’s judgments about international affairs. Angela Merkel is a true believer in the global project of an American-style new world order, and she is insufferably Machiavellian about how she publicizes friction between her government and Washington: those occasional disagreements are feigned solely in order to preserve Merkel’s image with German voters. The German chancellor faithfully serves the interests of US policy and will never break with the White House on any serious issue.
Meanwhile, Angela Merkel is persisting in a stance that is destroying her relations with Russia and which is beginning to take on an increasingly damaging form. Her refusal to come to Moscow to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the victory over German Nazism is particularly significant. Unlike some other public figures who have refused to take part in the ceremonies, she represents the defeated aggressor nation that caused incalculable suffering to humanity. And that is an issue in and of itself.
Is Angela Merkel’s refusal intended to signal that there has been no victory over Nazism? And by arriving a day later for the wreath-laying ceremony at the Eternal Flame – does she want to merely honor the memory of the fallen? By whose hands did they fall? Here we see that the German Chancellor’s story doesn’t hold up.
Berlin is citing the “annexation of Crimea” and “aggression against Ukraine” as the reasons behind the German leader’s refusal to meet in Moscow on May 9. There is even less logic in that. Mixing major historical events with one’s own phobias is the wont of mere political pygmies. They are even ready to create a global issue out of the murky murder of a marginal Russian opposition figure. However, Russians still see Angela Merkel as the prominent representative of a large and friendly German nation. Since the victory in 1945 and Germany’s denazification, the two countries have shared a multifaceted and mutually beneficial and cooperative relationship.
Of course Moscow has seen how Germany’s tendency to try to dominate Europe has been stealthily reawakened since that country’s reunification. And NATO’s eastward expansion is to a large extent being spearheaded by Germany’s ruling elite, who are calculating that eventually the Bundeswehr will become the most powerful force in this vast and militarily strategic region. The discussions about joint European armed forces did not arise out of thin air.
However, the caliber of a politician could change, depending on the circumstances in which he finds himself. Bound by his dependence on another’s will, he becomes able to make decisions that betray the interests of his own people. There have been many such examples in history.
German Foreign Ministry spokesman Steffen Seibert made a characteristic lapse when commenting on Merkel’s decision: “It’s very important to the chancellor to jointly honor the memory of what both our nations endured during the Second World War, when Germany was the cause of so much suffering”. He may or may not have done so deliberately, but he made it clear that in regard to summing up the aftermath of the Second World War, Germany was moving to erase the historical memory bit by bit. One of the biggest “bits” is being expunged today – Germany’s role as the aggressor and the Red Army’s role as the victor in the war.
For the Russian people, the German chancellor’s refusal to attend the Victory Day celebrations in Moscow is a very serious sign that soon Germans might refuse to acknowledge the victory over Nazism. Germany’s political ranks are shifting to a new plane of political existence. The Germans are implanting a prosthetic, artificial memory, with which they can begin to revive the plans for building a “new order” in Europe.
This article was published at the Strategic Culture Foundation on-line journal www.strategic-culture.org and is reprinted with permission.
Source: http://thenewsdoctors.com/merkel-is-erasing-may-9-1945-from-the-national-memory/
