The fear of a war with Russia is growing. Political expert Ralph Schöllhammer from Webster University analyzes the explosive situation in detail this time in “10 vor 8”, both from a political and military point of view. Especially in view of this, a fatal momentum of its own threatens to develop.
But while the Russian troops are already marching up, Germany can think of little. In contrast to Germany’s earlier aspirations to become a great power 100 years ago, the “German inferiority complex is a problem today,” says the political scientist. As one of the leading voices in the EU, the country should actually take a stand – instead of just sending 5,000 helmets to Kiev, as is the case now.
In addition, European politicians must realize that activism like the one in 2014, when European politicians had their picture taken with the hashtag “We stand with Ukraine”, is not enough. “There is no such thing as hashtag diplomacy.” Powers like Russia and China don’t care about such symbolic actions. “They only understand the harsh language of power.”
Austria could now give up its opposition to nuclear power within the EU. “The high energy dependency on Russia is now a security problem.” The energy transition contradicts the reality of security policy. 40 percent of natural gas comes from Russia. There would also not be as much interdependence here as is always claimed, because Russia is also building pipelines to China. As US President Joe Biden travels around the world begging other countries to reduce Europe’s dependence on Russian gas, one has to ask: why don’t the Europeans do it themselves?
The administration of US President Donald Trump had already suggested that Europe should build more ports for the delivery of liquid gas. “That got stuck in the bureaucratic process in Germany.” This also aggravated the situation.
Schöllhammer will talk about all of this and many other explosive aspects of the current situation at 7:50 p.m. on eXXpressTV!
