The appalling speech of Olaf Scholz on May 9

Ignorant, rude, arrogant – Olaf Scholz – a political and human declaration of bankruptcy

René Zittlau

Introduction

The speech of Chancellor Scholz on May 9 before the European Parliament in Strasbourg was marked by complete ignorance, undercutting of minimal standards of diplomatic politeness and historical revisionism in the worst form.

I do not want to deprive the readers of those 70 seconds during which Olaf Scholz spoke about Russia (German with English subtitles):

What Olaf Scholz said about Russia – an analysis

No thought of commemoration

When the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Olaf Scholz, took to the microphone in Strasbourg two days ago at the invitation of the European Parliament, expectations were high, at least among the members of parliament there. 

As a German, one is now in a certain negative state of alarm when the chancellor, foreign minister or even defense minister of this country take the floor abroad. 

May 9 – according to the EU the Europe Day, according to the Russian understanding the day of victory over Hitler’s Germany a day full of symbolism.

In Strasbourg, the head of the government of the state whose legal predecessors were responsible for the greatest horror in human history spoke to the peoples of Europe. 

In Moscow, the victors over that tyranny commemorated the victims of the war – their own, but also explicitly all others. Voice from Russia reported on this in detail in two articles this week, here and here.  

On the same day, the leaders of two once deeply hostile states turn to the public in very difficult times to honor the memory of unspeakable horrors – a constellation that virtually calls for gestures of detente. 

Today, two days after the speeches of Chancellor Scholz and President Putin, the world has not become a better place. 

Taking Olaf Scholz’s words on and about Russia as the measure of future action by Germany and the EU as a whole, it only remains to state that not only in the German political leadership has a degree of historical oblivion taken root, indeed, one can and probably must speak of amnesia that hardly anyone would have thought possible just a few years ago. 

In view of the indescribable arrogance of the German chancellor’s appearance, with deliberate neglect of even the most minimal standards of diplomatic decorum, we will focus on the most vile outbursts.

Olaf Scholz qualifies a speech he has not even heard yet

Chancellor Scholz was the first speaker to take the podium in Strasbourg shortly after 09:30 on May 9, 2023. 

President Putin spoke in Moscow at the same time as Chancellor Scholz.  There, the celebrations began at around 10:40 a.m. local time, i.e. 09:40 CET. It follows that Olaf Scholz could not have had any knowledge of the content of the speech and the course of the celebrations, the size of the parade, etc. in Moscow. 

Vladimir Putin began his speech shortly before 10 a.m. Moscow time. 

By then, i.e. within a maximum of 20 minutes, the German Chancellor had already broken his baton on Russia in general and Vladimir Putin in particular, and in particular with the following sentence:

“The message of this May 9 should not be what comes out of Moscow.”

The condemnation of a presumed but unknown message, as Olaf Scholz expresses it here with an arrogance reminiscent of the darkest times, is a delicate matter, especially at the highest political level. It becomes a political disaster when the actual message from Moscow counteracts its own words.  

The content of the Russian president’s speech makes the German chancellor look old in the truest sense of the word. 

In addition, there is the unbelievable impudence of calling the highest representative of the Russian state in street jargon, not only without addressing him by his title, but even without mentioning his full name. It seems that the political leadership of the German state has lost all orientation.

“We are at war with Russia.”

Olaf Scholz’s appearance shows that he quite obviously does not have the necessary human qualities to avert harm from the German people in the office of the German chancellor, not to mention his obviously only rudimentary knowledge of history. 

The historical revisionism that was evident for all to hear in the words of Olaf Scholz as Chancellor of the German state will certainly not only be noted in Moscow.

“This chancellor is in over his head, not fit for office, and should resign.”

This German chancellor makes it clear with his choice of words that the harebrained diplomatic missteps of German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock are not slips, but represent the actual foreign policy thinking of the German government, as frightening and dangerous as this realization may be. Recall the German foreign minister’s statement in Prague, not negated by the chancellor, that “we are at war with Russia.”

Conclusion

In order to find diplomatically similar rude behavior by a comparably high-ranking German politician, one has to go very far back in German history and thus comes very close to historically very unpleasant periods for Germans and Germany. 

This chancellor is out over his head, not fit for his office, and should resign.