Rare opinions appear in German media: agreement with Hungarians

Western European viewers of the Spanish-language, German state Deutsche Welle broadcast were in for quite a surprise in connection with the war in Ukraine. The show host discussed the impact of economic sanctions imposed on Russia by the EU with Peruvian, Argentine, and Spanish experts and journalists living in Germany. The experts’ unanimous opinion was: the best solution to the economic and energy crises threatening Europe would be reaching peace as soon as possible and the EU shot themselves in the foot with their economic sanctions. This position is essentially in line with Hungary’s.

Fotó: YouTube/DW EspañoL Forrás: YouTube/DW Español

“I agree that it is a huge mistake to support the Ukrainians with weapons, and the economic sanctions – in their current form – do not serve their desired purpose. Weapons sent to Ukraine only serve to drag out the war. The direct consequence of this is thousands of civilian casualties along with, on the global and especially European level, economic, food-shortage and energy crises that are only intensified by the conditions left behind Covid, threatening catastrophe in the short-term. The economic sanctions implemented – especially energy sanctions – have a negative impact on Russia only in the mid-term; in fact, currently the Russians are benefitting from them as they successfully redirected oil exports to India and China. In the case of the latter, they’ve become the biggest oil exporter, surpassing Saudi Arabia.

The sanctions only made energy more expensive, increasing Russian profits, and burdening the European economy even more.

Thus, “Europe shot itself in the foot with these sanctions,” which have not reached any goals at all as Russia was able to take better advantage of the effects than the EU was. The war did not end, and the sanctions will not end the war. “Europe messed up everything that could be messed up in this situation,” said the Argentinian political expert lecturing in Berlin. He continued to say that those who hope and suggest that more sanctions will bring an end to the war are “listening to sirens.” We have to work on ending the conflict as soon as possible – sanctions-politics has led us to a dead end.

The experts featured on the German channel expressed their concern for the upcoming winter.

According to their predictions, the level of energy emergency in Germany will need to be raised to 3; the direct consequence of this will be that the people will not have access to enough resources. If this reaches industry, then it will most likely result in a recession.

Not to mention the huge increase in the price of food, especially meat products which we do not know how long the Germans will tolerate.

The speakers of course agreed that Russia committed an act of aggression; they resorted to a tool that violates international law and civil norms. They also noted that – not in defense of Russian aggression – Ukraine’s courtship of NATO and the curtailment of the Russian minority

created circumstances that spurred Russians to act. Only one small debate emerged when the Spanish journalist announced that Ukrainians want to defend their homeland, but she does not believe at all that supporting Ukraine means supporting European values. Just look at the situation in Ukraine before the war: there was a lack of rule of law and rampant corruption.

Zoltán Koskovics, geopolitical expert at the Center for Fundamental Rights, told Magyar Nemzet that this discussion broadcast on Deutsche Welle unfortunately is not characteristic of the West’s public discourse.

European leaders and other major players are falsely comforting themselves with the belief that Ukraine can win this conflict – thus the wartime propaganda.

These experts – who cannot be accused of conservatism otherwise – reflect a sense of sanity that is in line with the Hungarian government’s position. Hungary believes that peace is the most important because thereby we can save human lives and stave off worsening food supply, economic, and energy crises.

Famous guests. “Is scarcity really Putin’s best weapon?” – This was the topic of the German public Deutsche Welle’s Spanish-language broadcast called The Background in which three experts were invited. One of them was economist Francisco Bolanos Vainstein, a doctoral student at the University of Wuppertal in Germany, where he works as a researcher and lecturer, teaching economic, international economics, microeconomics, and among other things, also writes for Peruvian newspapers. Additionally, political scientist Dr. Ezequiel Luis Bistoletti, who is a professor of international relations at the Alice Salomon University of Berlin was also on the show. He has written a book on Venezuela and Ecuador, two countries burdened by sanctions. The third speaker was Carmen Valero, a regular foreign politics journalist for the Spanish El Mundo daily newspaper. According to her works, she reports from Bosnia-Herzegovina, China, Poland, Guatemala, and as of late, from Germany.

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