In his text, Thomas Geisel sharply attacks the Ukrainian Ambassador Andriy Melnyk. He refers to him as “PR professional” and accuses him of using targeted rhetoric to portray the situation in Ukraine as more dramatic than it actually is. This increases the pressure on Germany to deliver weapons.
Regarding the war crimes in the Ukrainian city of Bucha, Geisel writes that every civilian casualty in a war is a tragedy and one too many. “But doesn’t the Ukrainian genocide rhetoric ultimately trivialize the war crimes of Srebrenica, My Lai and Babiyar (Babyn Yar), to name just a few, and perhaps also the night bombing in Dresden, which allegedly killed 30,000 people?“
Kuchaty distanced himself from Geisel’s positions
Sharp criticism of his statements has come from politicians from the CDU and the Greens, among others – but now also from the SPD’s own ranks. The SPD’s top candidate for the North Rhine-Westphalia state election, Thomas Kutschaty, called on Geisel in a telephone call on Sunday, according to his own statements, to submit the contribution “still today“to withdraw.”The Bucha war crimes in particular do not allow any relativization. This war of aggression must fail. You have to name it so clearly“, so Kuchaty on Twitter.
The Düsseldorf branch of the SPD also distanced itself from Geisel’s positions on Sunday. According to the local association, Geisel does not speak on behalf of the SPD.
Hostage defends himself: Concern about the consequences of arms deliveries
Thomas Geisel had already published the blog post earlier this week. At the weekend, former CDU General Secretary Ruprecht Polenz criticized Geisel’s positions on Twitter. Andriy Melnyk himself called Geisel’s contribution a “disgusting advance“.
In response to the criticism, Geisel told the Rheinische Post that he considered the Russian attack to be an attack contrary to international law and understood the demand for arms deliveries. “But I worry about the consequences if Germany complies with Ukraine’s demands for arms supplies“, he said. Militarily, Ukraine could hardly win the war.
Blog post now offline
Thomas Geisel has now taken the blog post offline. In doing so, he is complying with the request of the SPD’s top candidate in North Rhine-Westphalia, Thomas Kutschaty. Geisel writes in a recent post: “I understand this against the background that the post on social media is used as an opportunity to polemicize against the SPD, although I do not have an SPD mandate and it obviously does not reflect a party view, but my personal view.”