“I’m off”. This is the title of the article written by the well-known German publicist Henyrk M. Broder (75) for the current Edition of the “World Week” wrote. It’s his last for now.
As the title suggests, Broder no longer wants to write for “Weltwoche” – because publisher and editor-in-chief Roger Köppel (57) runs a pro-Putin course there. “I have no sympathy for Putinists who claim that the Russians only forestalled a NATO attack,” said Broder, who has published regularly in the Zurich magazine for more than 20 years. “You also have your say in the ‘Weltwoche’ – which is why I have just declared my work on this magazine to be over with this text.”
The alleged “prehistory”
Broder is bothered by the voices that think that the war in Ukraine has a history and that Russia might not do anything other than attack its neighbors. “Yes,” wrote Broder, “there is always a history, usually several, that compete with each other. Also in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. What is certain, however, is that Russia is currently raging in Ukraine and not the other way around.”
Broder also puts voices in their place that point out that Ukraine is one of the most corrupt countries in the world: “The message is: A country as corrupt as Ukraine does not deserve to be defended.”
What regarding corruption with us?
But if corruption were a prerequisite for the recognition of the right to self-determination and secure borders, the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania would have to be dissolved, whose Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig let the Russian energy company Gazprom bribe her with 20 million euros. Or Bavaria, where corruption is part of Bavarian folklore.
According to Broder, Putin understanders who want to restore Russia’s lost honor also have their say in the “Weltwoche”.
Köppel comes out as a “Putinist”
And he can start with the publisher himself – even if Köppel is not mentioned at all in the article. Since the beginning of the war, the SVP National Council has been conspicuous for its understanding of Putin, which Broder denounced. He wrote in his editorial two weeks ago: “The reason for this attack, according to the Russian leadership, lies in the anti-Russian policy of the Ukrainian government, uncompromisingly aimed at integrating the state bordering Russia into the EU and, above all, into the American military alliance . The Russians don’t want to accept that. Their warnings were ignored.”
But in order to distract from their own mistakes, the West relies on “demonization and horror stories”. Like the one that Putin is at least as bad as Hitler, Stalin, Genghis Khan “or all three together”. And the media would try to provide evidence of a deep-seated military cruelty among the Russians, a kind of cultural constant of dehumanization.
Probably too much for Broder. “It’s a shame,” he writes, “but there’s no other way.”