Obviously? They’re not able to, and even if they were, the EU economy and population is so much bigger, Russia would become the backwater of its own empire. Why would they want that? The end result would look a lot like the EU admitting Russia.
This Fehr guy has all the same talking points I’ve seen German politicians use as well. And that’s essentially across all relevant political parties.
For example, Interior minister Faeser called the Palästina-Kongress, which they shut down last year, and which was organized by secular left-wing groups and a Jewish group, “Islamist”. And the press loves to just repeat this stuff. And it’s great propaganda. The average German is afraid of Islamists, hates Muslims in general, and will applaud when the authorities suppress anyone labeled as such, and never look into if it’s actually true.
Foreign minister Baerbock claimed she personally saw, on video, evidence of rape on Oct 7, even though actual investigations by the UN and others have found no footage like that. She was being heckled at the time by pro-Palestine activists and just made that up, so it looks to an misinformed audience like they’re booing rape victims. And people believe this because the press never pushes back on these false claims.
Just straight up inventing blatant lies to cover for the genocide they’re committing. How tf can these people sleep at night?
The “Houthis” (Ansarallah) didn’t shoot at ships without provocation. They did it as a response to the genocide in Gaza, out of solidarity, to implement a blockade. They said as much, and the article explains this.
The author seems concerned that if the people […] are labeled terrorists, they might receive less aid, even though aid exemptions have been added?
First of all, the author is not (only, primarily) concerned with aid, but rather trade.
Secondly, and the article explains that but maybe not clearly enough, but sanctions cause lots of companies to stop all dealings with the sanctioned entity, despite humanitarian exceptions. This causes massive friction not just for trade, but also for humanitarian aid, as the humanitarian aid groups need to contract out e.g. logistics to companies, and they need to be able to do payments. Sanctions always cause collateral damage in this way, because they create lots of paperwork and legal grey areas, and companies do not want to deal with this.
Potentially receiving less aid seems like a reasonable consequence
You are aware that thanks to the previous Saudi (and US backed) blockade and US sanctions on Yemen, hundreds of thousands of people died, mostly due to starvation and such, and most of them children. Starving children may very well be the consequence of the US’s actions. Do you really think that’s fucking reasonable?
We knew about this stuff, but I guess it’s really only official once the NYT writes it down.
Apparently the way to write about one nuclear power being heavily involved in strikes on another nuclear power, except for actually pushing the button, which they strongly advise their proxy to do, is to make it kinda cool and daring and not terrifying. This reads like some character drama. Note how the Ukrainian characters seem a lot more flawed.
That they used euphemisms, like “point of interest” instead of “target”, to obfuscate what they’re doing isn’t that surprising, but seriously fuck these guys. Learn this one weird trick on how to avoid WW3: just call it something else. I wonder how insane someone has to be to be a general.
Also makes me wonder what they’re leaving out of that story. The Ukrainians did that one on their own, trust us. Sink Russian flagship? No US involved. Invade Kursk? US didn’t know about it. Attack Russian oil infra? Yeah not cool Ukraine, not cool. Also no word about who blew up that dam or Nordstream.
Everywhere else though? Yeah basically the US did all that. Total involvement.
We’re told it only went south when the Ukrainians stopped following orders. Not doing exactly what the US says is bad apparently. It’s either reckless or stupid, and it actually for real doomed their 2023 offensive. For sure that one would have succeeded if the stupid Ukrainians listened.
Great partnership guys, why oh why would anyone be wary if the US actually has their best interests in mind, let alone the best interest of the their soldiers or population? No, you see, you need to charge up that hill now! Don’t look at it first! Don’t shell it first! We swear it’s just a small number of Russians. And no, we don’t trust you enough to tell you how we know that. So risk averse these Ukrainians! And btw, I see a lot 18-25 year olds running around in Kiev, what’s up with that? Looks like you are not taking this very seriously Mr. Zelensky! Looks like you don’t want to win!