Germany threatens to remove Russian ambassador in row over WWII commemorations
Germany threatens to remove Russian ambassador in row over WWII commemorations
Russia's ambassador to Germany said he may defy attempts to bar him from attending events commemorating the end of World War Two.
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This is insane. The Soviet Union had by far the biggest losses during WW2 in the fight against Nazism. Around eight to ten million soldiers died during the war, and if you add the civilian casualties on top of that, the estimates sit at around 24 million people. Many of those people were Russian and Belorussian. Let them mourn their dead. It doesn't matter that the Russian ambassador is a prick or not. I think it speaks volumes when the country that started WW2 does shit like this and it's not okay.
By "the country that started WW2", do you mean Germany or Russia? Because the USSR was also one of the initial aggressors of WW2. They invaded Poland together, divided eastern Europe between the USSR and Nazi Germany, invaded the Baltics and Finland. The USSR and Nazi Germany were basically allies until Hitler betrayed Stalin and invaded.
They weren't allies. Pick up a history book.
Read up on the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. They agreed to divide Poland, invaded together, and also divided the rest of eastern Europe and agreed not to attack each other. Up to the point of the Nazi breach of that pact, they had both been aggressors in WW2.
Russian representatives aren't being banned because of the behaviour of this ambassador. They're being banned becaue they are expected to misuse the publicity of an event where Ukrainians - the Soviet republic with the second-highest military and civilian casualties - will also be present
You've got two parts of the former Soviet Union fighting a brutal war against each other. You probably can't invite both sides to the same event and expect it to go okay. Which side do you invite? The one that didn't start the problem
Look, the country that was putting soviet citizens in concentration camps and tried to starve St. Petersburg out doesn't have shit to say about who gets to mourn their dead and who doesn't. It's straight up disrespectful and definitely not Germany's place to say anything. Like honestly, what's the worst the Russian ambassador could do? No one is asking to let him hold a speech. So what could he even do that's so bad? Start a fist fight with the Ukrainian ambassador? Lol
The country kidnapping Ukrainian kids while starving Kiev can go fuck themselves
So does Israel, yet you don't see Germany making a big fuss about it. How come you suddenly believe that Germany has found its morals when it comes to Russia but somehow still lacks them when it comes to Israel?
So should Germany make a fuss about both instances or not? You can't have it both ways.
Of course. Germany should make a fuss about both instances. Both wars are illegal wars of aggression. In a perfect world all conflicts should be handled with the utmost seriousness.
The people that committed the crimes of Nazi Germany are dead, and good riddance to them. Modern Germany is doing the right thing by commemorating their defeat. They can do that on their own terms in their own country. People don't get to just do whatever they want in Germany on the basis of being from a country that suffered under the Nazis.
Nobody is asking Nechayev to make a speech, but nobody is asking him to attend either and he still plans to do that. Nechayev described this commemoration as “part of the path to our reconciliation”, so he clearly thinks of it as something Germany should be doing in order to be friendlier with Russia despite Russia's actions
They can do that on their own terms in their own country.
No. They cannot. Germany has a tremendous responsibility for the sins of its past and has been actively failing to make up for them for 80 years now. Germany is still chock full of nazis to the brim.
If Germany isn't doing it on its own terms then it's not Germany doing it, is it? Not only can Germany do it on its own terms, it only matters if Germany does it on its own terms.
Regardless, the responsibility Germany has does not entail giving Russia propaganda fodder for its own imperialism. That helps literally nobody.
Not too sure how effective this is tho, as a solution.
It seems to me like a diplomatic escalation in the sense that banning the Russian ambassador from attending this commemoration event gives Putin something to instrumentalise anyways, at least for internal consumption. In the same time this move does not apply any kind of actual pressure on Russia. So I honestly don't know what good can come out of this move.
If Putin is going to make use of it either way, it seems to me like you might as well pick the option that makes it more likely for the event to go ahead without incident. It's not like Germany is burning any good will with Russia here, there isn't any to burn
So in the name of civility we can't take proactive steps to limit a belligerent country's ability to cause shit?