June 2023 | 275 comments (275 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

Annalena Baerbock Europe's Samantha Power (none / 0)

NEVER forget that in 2021 Baerbock bragged at the atlantic council about her German NZI granpa fighting in 1945.
"And my own grandfather fought like in the winter of [1945] at this river, at this border. [Oder-Neisse Line] And I was there standing in 2004 on this bridge."

Annalena Baerbock on a 'transatlantic green deal' and German strategies in facing Russia and China | Atlantic Council - May 6, 2021 |
FAREED ZAKARIA: Would it be fair to say what you're describing is a kind of a Green Party and your leadership that would, I think, be reassuring to most Americans, in the sense that it seems to affirm the Atlantic alliance, affirm NATO. You know, affirm the importance of thinking about human rights. And so I'm wondering, this is--this moment happened before when Joschka Fischer became foreign minister. And people who had worried that--in that case, I think he was a little older than you--so had in the 1980s thrown a couple of Molotov cocktails in anti-American demonstrations. That he turned out to be actually a very pro-NATO, pro--even pro-US foreign minister. Would you say that this is a model you look at favorably, that of Joschka Fischer in government?
ANNALENA BAERBOCK: Well, he's part of my party. And actually, when he was foreign minister, just at this moment I joined the party. This was in 2004, actually, like a really emotional moment for me because it was the first of May in 2004 when Europe did its enlargement to the east. So European countries joined the EU, especially from the east, and I come from a region around Berlin. It's called Brandenburg. It was eastern Germany. And it has a direct border over the Oder River to Poland. And my own grandfather fought like in the winter of [1945] at this river, at this border.

The Red Army invades Berlin and overruns the last German defences | D-day 1945 |
And I was there standing in 2004 on this bridge, which obviously was rebuilt between Poland and Germany, when Joschka Fischer as foreign minister, together with his colleague from the Polish side, was celebrating again the reunification of Europe.
And this was really the moment when I thought, wow, we are standing of the shoulders not only on Joschka Fischer, but also of our grandparents, who made it possible that countries who were enemies are again not only in peace but in friendship together. And this is what the ground where I'm standing on, fighting for a Europe which lives in friendship, in a common integrated market. And for this, we need institutions like the EU, like a strong transatlantic relation, because this wouldn't have been possible, our reunification, without support from the US. So it's, yeah, building on our history. But this is really important for me. Otherwise, it won't make sense to become a chancellor.
History is nothing which just flows like a river. It's always a moment where people have to take the courage to build the future actively. So it doesn't make sense to say I just follow up what Joschka Fischer did fifteen years ago. I take the best from the past to bring it in the future.
And coming back to your question also with the NATO, for example, I think the most important thing is to put out a new strategic agenda. What is the role of the NATO in the year of 2021 and not in 2004? And we have, unluckily, faced Ukraine situation. We have seen that what we believed back in 2004, that there is never again war in Europe, is not true. And therefore, we have to redefine our strategic goals within NATO, within the EU, and coming up with the new challenges ahead, also fulfill it with resources, for example with military expenditures.
But--this is also important for 2021--the threats are not only cyber, it's the climate crisis. It's COVID. It's pandemics worldwide. So for me it's so important that it's not building a new wall around Europe or transatlantic region, but really seeing that we work together in a world of institution of strong human rights, but being aware that we have other countries like China, like Russia who are also in a new strategic fight with us.