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Alex Lo

When a former peacenik makes a religious conversion to American-style neoconservative interventionism, she can be more gung-ho than your average Pentagon general.
Here we have Annalena Baerbock, Germany’s warrior foreign minister, who is going to Beijing to tell China to behave and follow instructions – or else.
“China bears a special responsibility for world peace,” she said ahead of her trip. “The role that China plays with its influence vis‑a‑vis Russia will have consequences for the whole of Europe and for our relationship with China.
“At the top of my agenda … is our interest in bringing the war on our European doorstep in Ukraine to a swift, lasting and just end.”
I am sure she will find a receptive audience in Beijing by issuing a direct threat before starting her visit.
The leader of the Greens, the once peace-loving lefty party of Germany, Baerbock has openly declared that her country, along with Nato and the United States, is fighting a war against Russia.
This is what she said at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, on January 24: “We are fighting a war against Russia … We can fight this war only together.”
Let me include the whole passage lest someone accuse me of quoting out of context: “Yes, we have to do more to defend Ukraine. Yes, we have to do more also on tanks. But the most important and the crucial part is that we do it together, and that we do not do the blame game in Europe, because we are fighting a war against Russia, and not against each other.
“Obviously, Ukraine needs more military support, but not only by one country like mine or the US, by all of us. We can fight this war only together.”
The day after her speech, Berlin announced it was sending 14 cutting-edge Leopard 2 tanks – and would allow other countries to send theirs as well – to Ukraine. Earlier in January, she visited the front lines in eastern Ukraine to rally for more Western weapons.
So, let me wrap my head around her warning against China. The collective West has been sending endless weapons and military training, along with the provision of real-time intelligence on Russian troop movements and targets, but it is China’s responsibility to get Russia out of Ukraine.
Beijing has supplied no weapons or intelligence to Moscow’s war machine and is the only world power to have offered something that resembles a peace proposal.
Baerbock reminds me of an internet meme a while back: “Sorry, but I can’t hear you over the sound of how awesome I am.” It seems she is so mesmerised by the awesomeness of her Churchillian war-rallying cries she can’t be bothered to gauge how she sounds to others.
She is probably too used to adulation and cheerleading – “Germany is waking up to its historic responsibility” blah, blah, blah – at Nato headquarters and in Washington.
China’s influence on Russia is key to EU relations, German minister says
Her country is now at the forefront of the European Union’s military resurgence, led by a former peacenik.
There is the minor problem, though, that most people in the EU want the war to end quickly by starting negotiations. According to a December poll conducted by the Project Europe Research of Szazadveg, a Hungarian think tank, an overwhelming 82 per cent of people in the EU agreed with the statement that “Russia and Ukraine should be forced into peace talks to end the war”.
Somehow the majority voices don’t count in Europe – despite repeated surveys showing similar results and mass rallies across the continent – when it comes to prosecuting the war in Ukraine.
It’s hard not to conclude Baerbock’s China trip is more window-dressing to show Western warmongers like her are reasonable people, and it’s the Chinese who won’t play to the tunes of Washington and Nato to force Moscow to capitulate.
As a greenie, she might have helped Mother Earth by saving her trip and its carbon footprint from her state jet to China.


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My Take

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German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock makes a statement before the closed meeting of the Bundestag parliamentary group of Greens on March 21, 2023. Photo: dpa

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German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock noted China’s willingness to “weigh in” on world affairs. Photo: Reuters 

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French President Emmanuel Macron. Photo: Reuters

Opinion

It’s unlikely Annalena Baerbock will convince Beijing during her visit to toe line of Washington, Nato and force Moscow to capitulate in Ukraine


Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


Column

.css-1m2rp1p{color:#34b8b5;}My Take | Top German wolf warrior wants China to end war the West sponsors

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}It’s unlikely Annalena Baerbock will convince Beijing during her visit to toe line of Washington, Nato and force Moscow to capitulate in Ukraine

My Take | Top German wolf warrior wants China to end war the West sponsors

It’s unlikely Annalena Baerbock will convince Beijing during her visit to toe line of Washington, Nato and force Moscow to capitulate in Ukraine