Annalena Baerbock arrived in Kyiv this week. Perhaps out of superstition, perhaps out of thrift, he wore the same occasion-appropriate yellow three-quarter jacket with blue buttons that he always wears when he travels to the Ukraine. You might as well have a dozen of these yellow blazers in your closet than your host of camouflage jackets. A great politician has an image design background.
For security reasons, no prior communique was issued about his arrival, from the railway station the armored car took him straight to Zelenskyi, to the presidential bunker. After they hugged each other according to the new European custom, he said: “Dear Vologya! (Maybe he said Vova rather, because the collection of the soft palatal is not for German sound-forming organs. - the author) It is impressive to see that despite the destructive fury of Russia, you are on the path of reforms." This is what the capable green leader of German diplomacy meant by efforts aimed at judicial reform in Ukraine, the fight against corruption and media freedom.
In the voice of the samovar, he then assured the Ukrainian president that his people could count on long-term support from Germany and other allies. Western support is rooted in the deep conviction that Ukraine will win this war. Globally, they have already raised almost one billion euros for the further development of the Ukrainian Air Defense Forces, and they are working hard to make it even more. Ammunition will also arrive without interruption. All the Ukrainians have to do is stay on the battlefield, no matter how difficult the situation.
I don't know if Annalena Baerbock heard that the mobilization law came into effect in Ukraine on Pentecost Saturday. All conscript men will be registered in the military, everyone will be required to carry the new military book, it can be taken from them when they are certified, and only with it can they manage their affairs both at home and abroad. Those who sabotage the draft will be produced by court order or coercive measures. Did the German foreign minister hear that there is conscription in Ukraine, that the conscripts are hiding and fleeing wherever they can? There are almost no people in Ukraine who want to fight and die for Ukraine. The gates of the prisons have already been opened, and whoever among the convicts is a soldier will have his sentence waived.
Did Annalena see the camp gendarmes forcefully rounding up the young and the old on the street, in their own homes, at their workplaces, collectively called Ukrainian cannonballs? There are video recordings of this, made secretly by terrified family members and acquaintances. These recordings are not shown in Germany, fact-checkers hunt them down from the Internet, and Russian news sources (audiatur et altera pars!) are subject to EU sanctions from the beginning in the name of European media freedom. There is no official data on how many people have died so far in this fratricidal war, how many people have suffered physically and mentally as a result of what they have experienced.
According to the German foreign minister, the Ukrainian state is also fighting corruption successfully. Do you know that you can get away with the forced waiting list if you pay off the right person or office? Anyone who has money is easily allowed to cross the border, there are tariffs for this. He who is a thief tries to desert alone, if he is lucky, he is saved, if not, he pays with his life. The border river Tisza, recently drowned in water, Hungarian border guards find fugitives shot there. Hungarian humanitarian supplies do not always reach those in need, the authorities skim and confiscate them, as there is a state of war, and this can be blamed on everything.
Due to martial law, for example, due elections are not held. President Zelensky's mandate expired on May 20, but this rule of law deficit in Western democracies does not bother anyone. The president is still in office, already in illegitimate status according to the democratic rules of the game, but if we dared to say that a military dictatorship was introduced in his country, we would surely be beaten. According to some analysts, the president's support is still around sixty percent, but what kind of group do the analysts have in mind? For the eight or ten million Russians and other minorities who were deprived of their rights? For those fighting on the battlefields? For the destitute or for the beneficiaries? According to statistics, the total number of refugees abroad during the two years of the war was 31 million, of which 20 million returned, but these numbers do not reflect the reality. As a result of forced war, Ukraine has become a country whose borders and number of inhabitants cannot be determined.
I think that many cheerful Ukrainians already regretted that in 2019 they chose an apparently independent, popular comedian TV star as the president of the country, instead of the independent Poroshenko. Zelenskyi called himself the servant of the Servant of the People, his populist promises could be taken seriously or jokingly, because what do you expect from a comedian? His political promises were not backed up by a program, strategy or person who was able to implement all of this. For example, the end of the war that had been going on for years in the Donbass. Instead, the local skirmish escalated, first into a special operation, then into a proxy war, and I can't even imagine what else it could become!
Since February 24, 2022, Zelensky has appeared on the world stage in military field clothes. This is how he goes to the Pope, the UN and Brussels. He doesn't care about the dress code, he has his own, the world needs to see that he represents a country at war. The dancer-comedian-turned-politician completely identified with his role.
"Is Ukraine Losing This War?" - the German reporter asked the foreign minister after his visit to Kyiv. "No, because the Ukrainians fight like lions. Brave young people who know that if they don't shoot, they will be shot. They also know that they protect not only Ukraine, but also our European peace system, Annalena Baerbock said with deep conviction. "That's why Ukraine must definitely win, and we will give them all the support."
The author is a historian
Source: Magyar Hírlap
Cover photo: Annalena Baerbock of Germany and Dmitro Kuleba of Ukraine. MTI/EPA/Pool/Reuters/Gleb Garanich
