Don’t Be a US Puppet: Sahra Wagenknecht Berates Angela Merkel
Sahra Wagenknecht: You are warning us of fire, Mrs. Merkel, but you are among those who are running around with lighted matches. Photo from Russia Insider
Sahra Wagenknecht, Bundestag Member and Left Party Deputy Chairperson, berates Angela Merkel in the video below for squandering all the gains of “détente” politics, leading Europe into a new Cold War with Russia, and to the brink of a flash fire because Merkel does not have the courage to stand up to the US government. She points out that the American coup in Ukraine was part of Zbigniew Brzezinski’s geostrategic plan to expand NATO eastward: “first in Central Europe, then in the South, then in the Baltic States and, finally, in the Ukraine.” She informed Merkel that Brzezinski wrote that “every step of expansion automatically expands the immediate sphere of influence of the Unites States.”
However, what also continues to drive US foreign policy today is the “Wolfowitz doctrine” written after the collapse of the Iron Curtain in 1992 by Paul Wolfowitz, then Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, and his deputy, Scooter Libby.
Our first objective is to prevent the re-emergence of a new rival, either on the territory of the former Soviet Union or elsewhere, that poses a threat on the order of that posed formerly by the Soviet Union. This is a dominant consideration underlying the new regional defense strategy and requires that we endeavor to prevent any hostile power from dominating a region whose resources would, under consolidated control, be sufficient to generate global power.
Obama brought Angela Merkel to heel to do Washington’s bidding, as we saw with the arm twisting that went on when he wanted Europe to back the sanctions America imposed against Russia for legitimately protecting its own interests in Ukraine.
All my life America has beaten the same old lies on its war drums to feed the voracious appetite of the Military Industrial Complex that could not survive without war. Where has this taken us? To a world of chaos and fear and terror, and poverty and inequality! As I refuse to listen to the insanity of the same old lies about Russia I was brainwashed with growing up in Australia, it is refreshing to hear Sahra Wagenknecht’s feisty speech challenging Obama’s puppets to think again about the path of insanity they would have us embark upon.
Click to activate the English subtitles. A transcript of the subtitles appears below.
Transcript of Subtitles
One gets the impression that there is something, Mrs. Merkel, that you think is even more important than the interests of German business: it is the interest of the US government and American business.
In your speech in Sydney, Mrs. Merkel, you are terribly outraged by the fact that 25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall there continues to exist an old way of thinking of “spheres of influence” which tramples on international law. “Who would have thought!” you were quoted. That begs the question: “Mrs. Merkel, where on earth do you live?” And where have you been living the past 25 years?
Where were you when the United States trampled international law in Iraq, to expose its sphere of influence over Iraqi oil?
Where were you when Germany’s participation [against] international law in Afghanistan was and still is being trampled upon?
Where were you when Libya was bombed, when the Syrian opposition was armed and affiliated with ISIS after weapon deliveries?
Was all that, in your opinion, in accordance with international law? Of course, it was not at all about spheres of influence!
I can recommend you to read Zbigniew Brzezinski’s book, who has long been a pioneer of American foreign policy. The beautiful title of this book, written in 1997, reads as follows: The Grand Chessboard: The Primacy of America and its Geostrategic Imperatives. With regard to Europe, Brzezinski argues for a decisive NATO expansion eastward: first in Central Europe, then in the South, then in the Baltic States and, finally, in the Ukraine. Because, as the author convincingly justifies, quote, “every step of expansion automatically expands the immediate sphere of influence of the Unites States.”
This is an old way of thinking in terms of “spheres of influence,” which was very successfully implemented, and you really never, ever noticed it, Mrs. Merkel? On the contrary, you belonged to those who further implemented and supported that in Europe! You were just one of the “vassals,” to use Brzezinski’s words, which endorsed this strategy!
[Speaker] Ms. Wagenknecht, let…
Ms. Wagenknecht …I was talking about Brzezinski, NATO enlargement to the east and German policy in this regard.
Mrs. Merkel, now you’ve driven Germany to a new “Cold War” with Russia, poisoned the political climate and jeopardised the peace in Europe. You have instigated a senseless economic war, which massively harms, primarily the German and European economy. Hall: do not moan so, you’re not the one working for companies whose orders have dropped sharply; you’re not the ones running or working for these enterprises. You don’t have to deal with the hard consequences of what you have done.
You are warning us of fire, Mrs. Merkel, but you are among those who are running around with lighted matches. Verbal escalation is always what comes before worse things! That is what Hans-Dietrich Genscher told you after your speech in Sydney. No, it doesn’t mean we love Putin, or Russian capitalism with its oligarchs but diplomacy means taking the interests of the other side seriously, rather than ignorantly pushing them away. And it cannot be ignored when Mikhail Gorbachev and Helmet Kohl almost with the exact same words warn that without the German-Russian partnership no stability and security in Europe is possible.
The former chairman of the SPD Platzeck pointed out, that trade between Russian and the US this year has grown, while trade between the EU, primarily Germany, has experienced a huge collapse. As a reaction, the CDU tries to squeeze people like Mr. Platzech, and other supposed “Putin apologists” out of the “Petersburg Dialogue” conference.
Instead of backing understanding, you are encouraging ignorance! In Ukraine, you co-operate with a regime, in which the important functions of the police and security services are occupied by recognised Nazis! President Poroshenko talks of “total war!” He stopped all payments to pensioners and hospitals in eastern Ukraine! And for Prime Minister Yatsenyuk the insurgents are, quote, “creatures which must be destroyed!” Instead of working with these thugs, we finally again need a German foreign policy in which security and peace in Europe is more important than the instructions from Washington.
In a year which marks the centenary of the outbreak of World War One, and seventy-five years of World War Two, in such a year it would, I think, be extremely appropriate to remember a saying of Willy Brandt: “War – this is not the ultima ratio, [last reasonable argument – Latin] war is the ultima irratio [last foolish argument – Latin].”
War cannot be used as [a] political tool any longer, Mrs. Merkel! So go back to the path of diplomacy, the lifting of sanctions! And if indeed within the SPD there are voices calling for common sense in foreign policy, from Helmut Schmidt to Matthias Platzeck, then please listen, Mrs. Merkel, to the voice of your coalition partners! Stop playing with fire!
I summarize: You have squandered all the gains of “détente” politics, and led Europe into a new Cold War, and to the brink of a flash fire, because you do not have the courage to stand up to the US government. This is not something that you can be proud of. The citizens of our country in any case deserved better politics, politics where the call for prosperity for all is finally again taken seriously, and return to a friendly neighbourhood policy with all our European neighbours.
Translation – youtube.com/user/igarcuz
This video originally appeared at Russia Insider
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