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Sebastian Herrmann
We need to talk. Hardly any sentence triggers escape reflexes as reliably as this one. But don’t worry, Arnold Schwarzenegger will help: the former bodybuilder, muscle and machine gun actor, and ex-California governor knows the techniques for delivering messages to a stubborn audience. A few weeks ago he published a video, in which he addressed Russian soldiers to report on the horrors in Ukraine. “But before I talk about the harsh reality,” says Schwarzenegger, “I would like to tell you about the Russian who has become my hero.” He then reported on a meeting with Yuri Petrovich Vlasov, whom he was allowed to shake hands with at the 1961 World Weightlifting Championships as a 16-year-old. He talks about filming in Moscow, encounters with people and similarities. Then he tells of the fate of his father, who was a Wehrmacht soldier outside of Leningrad and suffered from his guilt all his life. Schwarzenegger first builds closeness and emphasizes similarities. Only then does the unpleasant part of the message begin: the horrors that are being perpetrated by Russian hands in Ukraine.