A trip to the Fiji Islands will do nothing: Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Bierbock must now visit the dreamy beaches of the South Pacific via video call after her government plane broke down repeatedly. The Green Minister’s completely pointless visit just turns out to be a mega-environmental sin. A total of 160,000 (!) Liters of aviation fuel were consumed. “The time has come for the federal government to usher in a new era when it comes to its exaggerated claims. You cannot promote water and drink alcohol,” asserted left-wing politician Gesin Lotz, among others.
But not only that: defective Bundeswehr jets also damage the reputation of reliability. “Not just one, but two broken jets? I don’t even want to know how our other planes are doing…” wrote a worried German on the social media platform that has been rebranded from Twitter.
However, now the trip is not only being criticized: the mere announcement that he would travel from Berlin to the Fiji Islands to discuss security and environmental issues – while war rages in Ukraine – has raised eyebrows and domestic widely criticized.
There is also a huge outcry on social media: “What does Ms. Barebock think of such actions? Especially as a Green you don’t have to fly from Berlin to the Fiji Islands to make an appointment which you can do in five minutes via Skype. After all, the country in the South Pacific is only a few kilometers away…” writes one angry user. “A few kilometers” is an understatement: the distance from Berlin to the island of Fiji via Australia is 16,000 kilometers.
This is not the first time that the Foreign Minister has embarrassed the whole of Germany. Bierbock almost declared war on Russia earlier this year – coincidentally – during a debate over the delivery of Leopard 2 tanks from Germany to Ukraine. “We are at war with Russia, not with each other,” he declared at the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.
He also pointed out that Ukraine would be safe only if the Russian head of state went in circles. This is what he said when he spoke of a “360-degree turn” by Putin. He probably meant “180 degree turn”.
