TV debate
“maischberger. the week”
“Germany is being made into cannon fodder” – as Maischberger portrays Alice Weidel as a dove of peace
Women’s debate at Maischberger: In the discussion about Putin’s war in Ukraine, Alice Weidel (left) and Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann rarely found a common denominator
© Oliver Ziebe/WDR/stern
Alice Weidel and Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann argue at Maischberger about sanctions, weapons for Russia and values, but they still find something in common.
Well, maybe you from the Maischberger editorial team first asked Sahra Wagenknecht. It can be. And that would be somehow obvious these days when you’re a talk show guest selector on ARD. But she couldn’t because she was already sitting in Markus Lanz’s chair. But it didn’t necessarily have to be someone with technical expertise or even decision-making powers. A little riot might be nice and beneficial to the quota. The question of whether the right-wing AfD should, should, should, be allowed to build a completely unnecessary stage – but no one in the editorial team has asked it. And if they did, someone in the background mumbled something about “normal party” and “democratically elected”. So they called Alice Weidel. She agreed: She also likes to talk about weapons, including these questions: Should Germany send main battle tanks to Ukraine? What next for sanctions against Russia?
Who discussed at Maischberger?
Alice Weidel, AfD, party and parliamentary group leader
Marie Agnes Strack Zimmermann FDP, Chairwoman of the Federal Defense Committee
Oliver Kalkofecomedian and actor
Kerstin Palzercorrespondent in the ARD capital studio
Gabor Steingarteditor of the “Pioneer Briefing”
How did the discussion go?
Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann has said everything on the subject since the outbreak of war in the Ukraine; on all channels. That’s why you can still ask her about it. And not only Karl Lauterbach has proven that a lot of talk show assignments also serve the career, at some point the FDP might be looking for a defense minister or something, who knows.
So your task is to speak, with a little pathos if you like, of “our value-based world” and say sentences like: “I will not allow a person like Putin…” or “We cannot continue to watch how …” And so forth. Although we can, of course, continue to watch wars in other policy areas and in other parts of the world.
Then comes, as expected, a defense of the sanctions (“Of course, that affects Russia”) and a plea for the delivery of battle tanks to Ukraine. Because now, with everyone talking about Ukraine’s military successes, you can see that without all the arms deliveries from the West they would never have gotten this far in this war. “We are not becoming a war party as a result,” Strack-Zimmermann adds, adding that international law is clear on this. Does Putin see it that way too?
Weidel tries to be serious, but then says at every opportunity that Strack-Zimmermann is a lobbyist for the armaments industry. Although the war in Russia was an “attack that violates international law,” she evaded the question of whether Putin should answer to the war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
Weidel rejects the West’s sanctions policy, in fact she wants to “absolutely end” them and reestablish “normal economic relations” with Russia. Everything should go back to how it used to be! In addition, the federal government should “bring about immediate peace negotiations” between Russia and Ukraine. As? Then Weidel dodges again.
Deliveries of tanks to the Ukraine are of course “the completely wrong way” for the AfD politician – here an “escalation spiral” is being turned, “the Third World War is being provoked” and “Germany is being made into cannon fodder,” says Weidel. In this way, the AfD can present itself as a party of peace and bourgeois prosperity.
“It’s hard for me to listen to them,” says Strack-Zimmermann then. But then she doesn’t either. In the finest politician’s style, the two women constantly interrupt each other and talk at the same time, while demanding that the other one should – finally! – hear out. They then happily and extensively answer questions that weren’t even asked of them, while Sandra Maischberger continues to believe that she can tame both the one and the other through friendly moderation. Why should only men on talk shows attack each other like that? At some point you’re still happy when it’s over, we’re not in the “summer house of the stars”.
The special moment
In order to explain, comment on and classify the world, Ms. Maischberger invited Oliver Kalkofe, who is nice but offensively has no idea, which as an actor and comedian he doesn’t have to do at all. “The feeling of confusion is getting bigger,” he then says, so: for classification, “I can’t judge that”, or “it seems to me as if…”. And finally: “I’m not a military expert!” Then he is welcome to come when Corona is mentioned again.
The findings
The AfD and the FDP agree on the question of the longer lifetime of the German nuclear power plants. But somehow everyone else in the studio thinks that’s right, too, including Kalkofen.
Conclusion
There cannot and must not be a simple business as usual!