„Zeitenwende“-what does it mean?
There is a lot of talk now about a „Zeitenwende“. Covid,great power compeition and Ukraine war as well as climate change and digitalization and disruptive tecnologies are perceived as the main tunring points for a new era. Beyond the combination that a new energy and climate policy and transformation of the economiy and society will be part of the Zeitenwende, it has also military implications. The question that arises is whether NATO should go from the self-restraint theory of rational Putin to the other extreme and uncritically accept the Polish position that everything, including a war against NATO territory and „the unthinkable“ is now possible. Poland’s Foreign Minister said that today’s German generation is not responsible for World War II, but for World War III and first of all for the Ukraine war and then Putin’s next invasion against the Baltic States and Poland. While an invasion of the Baltic States is also not ruled out in Western security circles and this is also the subject of the CSBA study „Rethinking Armagedon“ and Michael O‘ Hannnon’s book „The Senkaku Paradox – Great power wars on small stakes“ with considerations of „integrated deterrence „and others like the Bundeswehr University security expert Masala, considers a nuclear demonstration strike off the coast of Finland or the Baltic Sea to be possible, many experts still believe that the old deterrence would have an effect on Putin with regard to Poland and the NATO area. It is interesting that in January the ex-chief of the Polish land forces did not refer to Orban but to Germany as the „perpetrator of NATO“.
“Polish general warns NATO alliance could end over Germany’s actions
Germany will be the perpetrator of NATO’s breaking apart and Putin won’t have to do much, warns General Waldemar Skrzypczak, the former commander of Polish Land Forces
January 11, 2022
editor: Grzegorz Adamczyk
author: Anna Wiejak
via: wpolityce.pl
In an interview for a conservative portal wpolityce.pl, Polish general Waldemar Skrzypczak spoke about the current tensions around Ukraine and Russia’s recent sending of troops to Kazakhstan.
He explained that Russia and Putin’s policy in recent years resolved around rebuilding an empire and expanding it so that spheres of influence which used to be part of the USSR would return.
“His goal is about restoring the Russian Empire to its previous state which existed during the Soviet Union. For it to be huge, meaningful and able to decide or co-decide about the fate of the world,” Skrzypczak said.
The general explained that Russia’s rank as a power fell severely following Gorbachev’s revolution and the fall of the USSR.
What’s more, he noted that the crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border was a result of Putin’s policy, which is meant to threaten Eastern Europe with an invasion of migrants.
A second aspect which the general listed was Russia constantly threatening Ukraine with war.
“Putin claims that Ukraine is still a part of the Russian empire and should be a part of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Moreover, he does not want NATO or its partners to appear in this sphere of interest, despite Ukraine being a NATO partner,” he said.
Just one more step and NATO will be gone, and the perpetrator of NATO’s breaking apart will not be Orbán or anyone else, but Germany, which desires a reset in relations with Russia.
Nevertheless, Skrzypczak pointed out, that the situation in Kazakhstan has spiraled out of control for Putin and that the Russian president was aware that he was facing a serious problem.
“If democratic forces take power in Kazakhstan, the country will leave Putin’s orbit, especially since Kazakhs are Muslims,” he stated. The general noted that Kazakhstan has drawn Putin’s attention away from Ukraine.
General Skrzypczak is of the opinion that Putin did not have too many arguments to convince NATO, the EU or Joe Biden of Russia’s rights. This is because the only argument Putin has left is that he does not want NATO close to Russia’s borders.
The general warned, however, that “Putin did not have to do much to make NATO fall apart due to Germany’s equivocal position”.
“Just one more step and NATO will be gone, and the perpetrator of NATO’s breaking apart will not be Orbán or anyone else, but Germany, which desires a reset in relations with Russia,” he said.
The general emphasized that Germany’s ambiguous game proved that it did not want to offer resistance as part of NATO’s circle, but the opposite — to take a step back for Putin.
“Each step NATO takes back due to Germany’s pressure will be a defeat for NATO and NATO should pack up if that will be the case. After all, what is NATO for?” he asked.
https://rmx.news/poland/polish-general-just-one-more-step-and-nato-will-be-gone/
France, like the Germans, cannot be trusted either:
“Germany and France can’t be trusted to stop Russia from seizing Ukraine, warns Polish professor
Przemysław Żurawski vel Grajewski outlines the divisions within Europe concerning Ukraine and warns of the consequences of Germany’s plummeting prestige
January 24, 2022
editor: Grzegorz Adamczyk
author: forsal.pl
via: forsal.pl
Political science professor Przemysław Żurawski vel Grajewski emphasized that the two strongest EU countries may make serious concessions towards Russia in the ongoing conflict between Kiev and Moscow.
“Those governing Germany and France are capable of giving Ukraine up to the Kremlin,” he said.
He listed German support for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, embargoes on weapon deliveries to Ukraine and the French president’s calls to hold separate talks on an EU-Russia axis, which would exclude the U.S., as examples of French and German submissiveness.
“This is exactly what Moscow wants,” the professor stressed.
He pointed out that German support for Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline has already borne the fruit Russia expected in the form of the European energy crisis, and the expansion of the armed conflict in Ukraine would only deepen that crisis.
“Germany and France not only want to sell Ukraine, as what would they buy for it? Unfortunately, there is a hidden permission from Berlin and Paris to continue the war in Ukraine through Russia’s extension of the conflict which has been going on for years,” he said.
Żurawski vel Grajewski also noted that the West is divided on the matter of Ukraine.
“Germany and France favor Russia. Meanwhile, Ukraine is strongly supported by the United Kingdom and Canada, since the Ukrainian diaspora is the third largest one in that country. Kiev is also supported by Spain which has sent its ships to the Black Sea — a result of Moscow’s support for Catalonian separatism,” he explained.
The professor also mentioned the declarations of support from the Scandinavian countries and the entire NATO Eastern flank, with Poland at the forefront.
“Turkey also doesn’t support Russian aggression against Ukraine, as it does not want the Northern coasts of the Black Sea to dominated by Moscow,” he added.
Żurawski vel Grajewski warned that what was currently happening was “the weakening of German prestige in Eastern Europe, the U.K., Scandinavian countries, Canada, the USA and even Ukraine, in which Germany had once played an important role in the process of further integrating Kiev with Europe.”
Even US President Biden is not exempt from criticism and has even been called a “weakling” by a Polish professor. In addition, it is seen as a basic motive of the German nation and its elite core to be expansionist and to want to create an axis with Russia until it crashes again:
‘The weakling Biden loosened Berlin’s leash’ – Polish expert says US empowered hostile German-Russian axis
Dr. Rafał Brzeski stresses that Poland has become a lonely bastion against Russian and German expansion
November 16, 2021
editor: Grzegorz Adamczyk
author: Jakub Pacan
via: tysol.pl
A prominent security expert has labeled US President Joe Biden a “weakling” who has empowered Russia and Germany at Poland’s expense.
Dr. Rafał Brzeski, who is n expert in the areas of information war, special services, and terrorism, commented on the recently announced new Polish homeland defense bill and Poland’s current geopolitical situation.
In context of a possible war breaking out, Brzeski declared that war had already come to Poland.
“[The war] been crawling for a few years and when the ‘weakling’ Joe Biden took over the White House, he loosened Berlin’s leash and waived sanctions on the companies building Nord Stream 2,” he said. The expert believes that following Biden’s decisions, Poland has become a lonely barricade in the way of the “Putinist” vision of creating a space between Vladivostok to Lisbon under Russian-German management.
“In Moscow and Berlin, they remember that they had been able to remove the Polish obstacle in the past, and they had peace for 123 years. Now, they are trying to repeat this operation,” he said.
“All of this has made several enemies for Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki’s government, an expression of which has been the mouth-frothing in Brussels,” he stated.
The expert noted that expansionism was rooted not only in the core of Russian policy but also in that of Germany.
He explained that the German core has operated in a binary way for over 1,000 years — when Germany becomes strong, the desire for domination wins over and the core decides to carry out radical expansion until it clashes and Germany meekly capitulates. This is then followed by a phase of self-whitewashing and self-forgiveness of crimes, and once again, a growth in strength and expansion.
Brzeski stressed that given German history, Germany is unable to peacefully co-exist, unlike the Polish core, when Poland still had it. Poland used to be able to combine nations into one Commonwealth, but when Poland was weakened, its enemies physically removed its core and made sure that it was never reborn.
Brzeski also referred to Prime Minister Morawiecki’s words in a Financial Times interview about a coming “Third World War.”
“He gave a few strong signals with three words: we know who you are, we know that this is a war ad we know who started it. We know that just like in September 1939, we are boxed in, but we will not be enslaved and will defend ourselves with all our might,” he stated and added that in Moscow, the memory of Polish advantages has been imprinted into the motherboard of the country’s political thought.
Poland prepares to defend itself
Brzeski emphasized that the time has come for Poland to enact a new defense bill as the previous one was too small to cover all necessary areas.
He explained that for the last several years the Polish government has been introducing several reforms and infrastructure projects which also possessed strategic defensive components.
The Via Carpathia (announced in 2016 during a meeting between former Polish prime ministers Beata Szydło and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban) is planned to run parallel to the Russian border. The Polish government’s project to increase the number of bridges across Polish rivers would also serve to help transport American troops to the East. Other projects also include the development of railways, new equipment for various services such as the fire brigade, the formation of the Polish Territorial Defense Force, strong development of the military industry and the creation of temporary hospitals whose experiences with Covid-19 have an additional military dimension.
The expert admitted, that while it would have been better to act even quicker, the Polish government first had to obtain the necessary funds for development. They obtained these funds by fixing the fiscal system, taking money away from VAT thieves, tax optimizers and the producers of illegal goods such as drugs.
https://rmx.news/article/biden-is-a-weakling-polish-expert-says-us-actions-threaten-polish-security/
This is also the background to the temporary tensions between Poland’s PiS government and Germany over the appointment of the new Polish ambassador Arndt Freiherr Freytag von Loringhoven, who is counted among the historical core of the German elite and also quite pro-Russian analyzes at the time of his post as the first German boss of the NATO secret service spread: Arndt Burchard Ludwig Freiherr Freytag von Loringhoven (born November 12, 1956 in Munich is a German diplomat. He was Vice President of the Federal Intelligence Service from 2007 to 2010. His father Bernd Freytag von Loringhoven from the von Freytag von Loringhofen family was from July 1944 to April 30, 1945 as an adjutant at the daily military briefings in the bunker in Berlin. A relative of his father, Colonel i.G.Wessel Freytag von Loringhofen, had procured the explosives for the July 20, 1944 assassination attempt and committed suicide shortly after it failed. From 1974 Freytag von Loringhoven studied history, philosophy and chemistry in Bonn and Berlin. In 1976 he moved to the University of Oxford, studying biochemistry in 1980 with a Masters of Arts and a doctorate. In 1984 he started research at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Martinsried near Munich and in 1986 he switched to the diplomatic service of the Federal Foreign Office. From 1989 he was a consultant at the embassy in Paris, in 1992 in Moscow. From 1994 he worked in the ministry’s planning staff and from 1998 in the office of the foreign minister. In 2002 he returned to the Embassy in Moscow as head of the political department. From 2005 he was employed in the political department of the Federal Foreign Office. From 2007 to 2010 he was Vice President of the Federal Intelligence Service. From August 2010 to August 2014 he was deputy Head of the European Department at the Federal Foreign Office. From August 8, 2014 to the end of November 2016 he was Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the Czech Republic. At the end of 2016, he took up the newly created post of NATO intelligence coordinator in Brussels as Assistant Secretary General of NATO. About his job as the number three behind the NATO Secretary General you can read on the NATO website: „Arndt Freytag von Loringhoven is NATO’s first Assistant Secretary General for Intelligence and Security. He took up his post on 1 December 2016. He is responsible for providing intelligence support to the North Atlantic Council and the Military Committee as well as for advising the Secretary General on intelligence and security matters. His tasks include setting up the new Joint Division and thus merging NATO’s civilian and military intelligence strands.“ https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/who_is_who_140834.htm
In the media there are very few reorts that NATO has its own secret service. Allegedly, this was founded in 2016 on the advice of the USA and has around 270 employees, not all of whom are agents. However, in an article from 2014 Russia Today speaks of a NATO secret service and NATO secret service officers:
“NATO intelligence warns of misjudgment of Russian Ukraine policy 12/9/2014 • 12:24 p.m
NATO intelligence officers have written an assessment of the situation in Ukraine, according to which Russia has no interest in separating eastern Ukraine and also exercises a positive control function within the popular militias in Donbass. It was just a very short article, a few lines long, but it packs a punch. As the news magazine DER SPIEGEL reports, NATO intelligence officers have written a report according to which the West has completely misjudged Russia’s strategic intentions According to the intelligence officials, the Kremlin would like to achieve reorganization within the administrative units of the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk in order to promote dialogue between Kyiv and the regions. Both areas should ensure Russian influence within the framework of a federalized Ukraine. The secret service agents also point out that Putin is now exercising more control over the various groups among the separatists, who have often acted in an uncoordinated manner in the past. What is striking about the SPIEGEL article, despite the enormous implications of this NATO intelligence report, is that it is only written as a 15-line short message. If you consider the previous SPIEGEL line regarding the Ukraine crisis, it becomes clear that the findings of the secret services do not fit in at all with the previous orientation of the news magazine and that of a large part of the German press. It is the NATO secret services themselves who, with their analysis of the West’s current escalation policy, take the basis: Contrary to the media discourse, Russian President Waldimir Putin has no imperial plan, nor is Moscow interested in annexing parts of Ukraine, let alone, as the current rhetoric and calls for rearmament constantly claim, does he want to incorporate other Eastern European states . On the contrary, according to the NATO intelligence agency’s assessment of the situation, Russia wants to maintain the integrity of Ukraine as a federal country. One can only hope that NATO intelligence officers will also find NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg’s ear. He recently announced: “We [NATO] have already increased our presence in the eastern part of our alliance. We have five times more planes in the air. Our armed forces begin an exercise every two days. And we have also increased the number of our ships in the Baltic and Black Seas.” For Moscow, NATO encroachment towards the Russian borders appears aggressive and, above all, the agreements made after the Cold War should be ignored. Stoltenberg has repeatedly rejected a guarantee that NATO will not accept countries like Ukraine and Georgia into the alliance.” https://deutsch.rt.com/7837/international/nato-geheimdienst-warns-vor-false-assessment-of-the-russian-ukraine-politics/
Putin-Russia seems to sense allies in the old NATO secret service agents, but neither NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg nor Trump’s CIA listened to them. In any case, for conservative Poland, Arndt Freytag von Loringhoven should belong to the historical elite core of Germany, who cannot be trusted, especially since he was more likely to be considered to understand Putin and be pro-Russian.
„German secret service candidate for ambassador in Poland 02.06.2020 11:34 Arndt Freytag von Loringhoven is to become the new German ambassador to Poland. Arndt Freytag von Loringhoven is to become the new German ambassador to Poland. This is reported by one of the largest news portals in Poland, Onet.pl. He is to replace current Ambassador Rolf Nickel in the summer. Von Loringhoven is said to have been NATO Deputy Secretary General for Intelligence and Security until recently. In his career he is said to have also been deputy head of the German secret service BND. In the past, Arndt Freytag von Loringhoven was a close associate of former diplomatic chief Joschka Fischer. Previously he was also ambassador in Prague. As Onet reports, the diplomatic office in Warsaw is one of the nine most important embassies in the world. The diplomats placed here belong to a narrow group of about 15 German diplomats with the highest salary category – B9. This means that no one under the age of 60 and without at least 30 years of experience in diplomacy has a chance of being in this position. According to an interlocutor in the Polish Foreign Ministry, Berlin is sending a „heavyweight“ diplomat to Poland. onet/ps https://www.polskieradio.pl/400/7764/Artykul/2523600,German-Secret-Service-Candidate-for-Ambassador-in-Poland
In any case, the German government and the new German ambassador in Poland are trying to compensate his image loss.:
“Germany’s ambassador to Warsaw: Poles may have got Russia right
Arndt Freytag von Loringhoven acknowledges that Germany, unlike Poland, took too long in understanding what Putin was about and says he can easily imagine German troops being involved in protecting Poland’s borders
March 02, 2022
editor: Grzegorz Adamczyk
author: Jędrzej Bielecki
via: rp.pl
German Ambassador to Poland Arndt Freytag von Loringhoven in an interview with Polish daily Rzeczpospolita argues that while it is obvious today that Moscow has rejected dialogue and cooperation, this was not the case when Putin came to power 20 years ago.
But he conceded that it took Germany too long to understand Putin’s game and that Poland seems to have deciphered him much sooner.
Germany’s man in Warsaw was also open to the idea of German troops being engaged in territorial defense of Poland and other NATO eastern flank states. He reminded that the German army was already involved in defending Lithuania and that Russian aggression against Ukraine will lead to changes in German military doctrine.
Von Loringhoven was defensive about the charge of Germany having been naïve in its dealings with Russia. He recalled that Germany’s policy was always built on two pillars: deterrence and dialogue.
For years Germany kept making offers of cooperation to Putin in order to hold out the hope of modernizing that country. It is now obvious that Moscow rejects this, but this was not so 20 years ago when Putin came to power.
“Maybe it took us too long to understand this, and Poles understood Russia’s policy better,” concludes von Loringhoven.
He feels that Poles, like the Baltic states, have suffered for centuries as a result of Russian imperialism and therefore sees the Kremlin as a source of aggression. Germany in turn, argues von Loringhoven, felt that it was possible for Russia to change, since Germany itself changed radically after 1945.
That belief in Russia’s capacity for change was encouraged by a constructive relationship that was struck during the reunification of Germany in the 1990s. But Germany always remained cautious and never offered Russia either NATO or EU membership.
“This is why it is wrong to talk about us being naïve,” summed up von Loringhoven.
https://rmx.news/poland/germanys-ambassador-to-warsaw-poles-may-have-got-russia-right/
Let’s see how far the „Zeitenwende“ changes that or what this term will mean in reality. The next conflict could arise from the fact that Germany and parts of the EU might be putting pressure on Selensky to come to a compromise with Russia as quickly as possible so that one allegedly could have peace The question that is also being asked in Poland is whether the West has the stamina to endure a new Cold War at all:
“Does the West really have the stamina to fight Russia for years?
Will everyone in the West want to take part in the years-long battle over values and freedom?
March 28, 2022
editor: Grzegorz Adamczyk
author: Jerzy Haszczyński
via: rp.pl
President Joe Biden in his Warsaw’s speech on Saturday referred to God when he spoke about the future of “that man,” whom he previously called a war criminal and a butcher. “That man” cannot remain in power. These words bear religious meaning.
No mater how they are read; as American aspirations to change power in the Kremlin or a call on Russians themselves to deal with the batter, it is hard to expect Biden to sit down at the table with the butcher.
The American president had also cited John Paul II and his famous “do not be afraid” speech. Now, these words are also fitting in the ongoing battle against evil. Yet, over a dozen years passed before the evil empire fell after those words had been uttered. Almost a decade had passed between the trade union Solidarity’s founding and the fall of communism in Poland.
Now, the battle against evil may take even longer. This would not be a crusade in the medieval meaning of the word. It would not be a military conquest of Moscow. It would be the application of huge economic pressure on Russia combined with a display of the power of Western values — democracy and freedom, which would be shown through action, not mere words. Missionaries work in a similar manner; by showing that prosperity and standards of living are associated with the values one believes in.
Such a crusade requires great sacrifice. Will the untied West wait for that long? Can it bear the costs of sanctions for years?
Experience shows that this is not that likely. And the experience from prior to the Russian invasion points to disdain, exhaustion and a desire for a swift end to the war at the cost of Ukraine prevailing.
There is a military element to this crusade. Its burden lies with the Ukrainians. It has nothing to do with conquering Moscow. In fact, it is the opposite. This is about liberating what Moscow conquered. Ukrainians did not hear anything new from Biden in Warsaw about how to achieve that goal.
What else can they receive from the West, in addition to sending weapon supplies, that will let them conclude the first stage of the battle against evil? It will not end so long as Russian forces remain in Kyiv’s suburbs and on Ukrainian coast.
The next stages can be completed only when a free and secure Ukraine will begin to spread Western values into Russia. This spread is what “that man” and other dictators like him fear.
https://rmx.news/commentary/does-the-west-really-have-the-stamina-to-fight-russia-for-years/
But until that happens, Herfried Münkler describes the difference between the old Cold War and the new Cold War in a guest article in Focus:
„What our future looks like with Putin and why it will be more dangerous than in the Cold War 03/30/2022 The West now has an Eastern block on its doorstep again. But this time there are no buffer states. The danger of direct confrontations thus increases considerably. The time of peace in Europe will be over for the foreseeable future.(…) Looking back on the current war, one can say that the greater the pressure and influence exerted by Russia, the stronger the Ukraine’s western orientation has become. Whatever the outcome of the war that started with the Russian invasion, as Ukraine’s violent subjugation or as Ukraine’s military self-assertion, there will be a much longer and more contentious border between „the West“ and Russia, including Belarus, than there is in the Cold War between East and West. Direct confrontation lines instead of buffer zones In fact, at the time, apart from short stretches on NATO’s south-eastern flank, the two blocs only met directly in Germany. To the north there was a neutral buffer zone with Sweden and Finland, and to the south Austria and Yugoslavia had a similar function. The conceivable threats and conflict scenarios were spatially limited. This is no longer the case; the border line now stretches without a buffer from the Baltic States to the Black Sea, and conflicts over spheres of influence are to be feared almost everywhere. Armed force or migratory movements as a means of conflict These conflicts can be carried out with armed force, but also by directing migration movements and the like. The fact that Belarusian ruler Lukashenko flown in Iraqis and Syrians willing to migrate in autumn 2021 and their pressure on the Polish and Lithuanian borders could have been a test run for the future – especially when the European economic and financial circuits are finally decoupled from Russian natural gas and oil supplies and there are no longer any sanction options for the Europeans. The eastern border of NATO and the EU will remain a troubled, endangered border for a long time. During the Cold War it was a border where emigration from the Eastern Bloc was prevented by force of arms. In the future, it will be a border where the western states will block mass migration organized by Putin or Lukashenko from the conflict and slum areas of the world into Europe. It will be a border with fences and barbed wire – but that’s partly what it is now. Thirty years of great peace in Europe is over.
It will also be seen what deterrence strategy NATO will choose at its June 2022 summit, as some strategists and ex-generals believe the old deterrence strategy needs to be adjusted in the face of Russia’s escalate-to-deescalate nuclear doctrine, some US Generals also want to revive the doctrines of limited nuclear war and Airland Battle of the Regan era and Colin S. Gray, with the frontline and space for limited nuclear war now migrating east, right to the border of Russia, and the question is whether these concepts would still be suitable at all. In addition, the question also arises as to whether the NATO-Russia Act of 1997 will now be revoked in order to permanently build permanent military bases, deploy peranent war equipment and NATO troops in Eastern Europe.
Even if Putin’s troops are said to be „stuck,“ the question remains as to what the outcome of the negotiations are supposed to be. On the one hand, the Ukrainian side is still talking about territorial integrity, but NATO membership has already been written off and concessions are being made on the Donbass. Putin is likely to want Donbass with the Mariopoul-Crimea land bridge as his first target. Whether this will then still be part of Ukraine with the minority autonomy regulation is rather unlikely. Probably independent as a new Eastern Ukraine or just part of Russia. And then? Selensky now wants security guarantees through the back door, but even if the US warmed to it, that would be as meaningless as the Budapest Memorandum and less than the Taiwan Relations Act. Not even strategic ambiguity. And that Selensky wants to get military security guarantees from the EU through the back door via Article 42 is just as desperate. There will be no effective or credible military security guarantees for Ukraine, least of all through the EU. So Putin will first take Eastern Ukraine and wait for his next chance. The FAZ article also describes this dilemma: „Security Guarantees for Ukraine: The Dilemma of the West“
Insofar as Putin does not come to a premature end after all through a Russian Stauffenberg or like the Gang of four in China or ala Berjia or Ceaucescu, his perspective should be that he can hold out for another 2 years and count on Trump’s re-election, especially since Trump, his supporters and Fox News along with Tucker Carlson fanatically spread Putin’s propaganda in the US and see Biden, the Democrats and liberalism as the main enemy and not Putin, whom he even publicly calls on to help him take action against Biden and Biden’s son Hunter.
„TV star Tucker Carlson- Agitator from Trump’s favorite network spreads confused Putin propaganda at prime time
With the Russian attack on Ukraine, pro-Russian conspiracy theories are also finding more and more attention on the internet. But that’s not all: Putin’s propaganda even ends up on US television. TV host Tucker Carlson is spreading bizarre theories about Joe Biden’s son and alleged weapons laboratories. Trump’s house and yard agitators are now making propaganda for Putin – at US p
rime time. Fox News‘ most influential TV star Tucker Carlson is spreading current conspiracy theories from Russia: Does Hunter Biden, the son of the democratic US President, actually run secret Ukrainian chemical weapons laboratories, Carlson asks in his TV shows. To the delight of Donald Trump and his son Don Junior, America’s popular Fox host is now leaking false statements from the Kremlin. These are „facts,“ Don Junior immediately told his 7.3 million Twitter followers – there can be no question of a conspiracy. So Putin’s calculation seems to be working, at least in this respect. Finally, earlier this month, a Kremlin appeal to pro-state Russian media said: “It is important to use excerpts from the programs of popular Fox News host Tucker Carlson as often as possible.” A copy of this message had reached the American news portal „Mother Jones“ via an insider source.
How Russian propaganda is consistently spread on Fox News
Those familiar with Tucker Carlson’s Fox News shows should not have been surprised by this Kremlin appeal. After all, shortly before the attack on Ukraine, the popular presenter repeatedly expressed his understanding for the Russian president. At the same time, however, Carlson emphasized that approval by the Kremlin boss was „by no means treason“ or even „un-American“. “Has Putin ever called me a racist? Is he trying to wipe out Christianity? Did he cause this pandemic?“ the Fox News ratings king asked his 3.2 million viewers in the evening. Last week, Carlson also repeated persistent Russian propaganda that the president’s son, Hunter Biden, runs Ukrainian biochemistry laboratories. Despite repeated rebuttals by the US government, Russian lies about American biochemical weapons manufacturing in Ukraine have become more frequent and vehement lately.”
The „Zeitenwende“ could look very different from what is dreamed of by a new Western or even NATO strategy, especially in the old era there was a minimum sustainable Western consensus for a strategy, which would be in question with a new Trump presidency.