Russian President Putin announced the first mobilization order since World War II , the situation in Russia and Ukraine and even the relationship between Russia and the West is quietly changing. Putin once made it clear in his national televised speech that the Russian armed forces will use "all weapons and equipment" and "all military forces" to complete their mission. Regarding Putin's statement, Western public opinion generally believes that this is Putin laying the groundwork for the use of nuclear weapon . Interestingly, although Western media unanimously believe that Putin is bluffing, EU Foreign Minister Borrelli warned that when the other party said that he was not bluffing, he must take it seriously. US national security adviser Sullivan was even more direct, saying that White House has warned Russia many times that once nuclear weapons are used, it will face "disastrous consequences."
. Just as the Russian-European crisis is likely to further expand, former Prime Minister Merkel , who has been in charge of Germany for 16 years, has appeared in public media very rarely recently. According to reports released by German media, when attending the opening ceremony of a public meeting, Merk expressed his views on the current Russian-Ukrainian conflict and the previous announcement of a partial mobilization order by Putin.
Merkel said that as a "serious dialogue partner", Putin's speech should be taken seriously and cannot be regarded as a bluff from the beginning. Merkel stressed that this is neither appeasement nor cowardice, but a manifestation of political wisdom, and dialogue helps to preserve or even open up new mediation space.
In fact, since Merkel stepped down, he has not only rarely appeared in public media, but also rarely expressed his views on the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. In the early days of the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Merkel's approach suffered a lot of criticism and even criticism in the Western world. Until June this year, Merkel condemned Russia's approach in a speech, but was still calling on Western countries to maintain dialogue with Russia. In fact, as a politician who has stepped down, Merkel, who is now indifferent to office, can still get the attention of Western public opinion. The fundamental reason is that the entire European system cannot find a key figure who has the ability or courage to have equal, calm and rational dialogue with Russia.
As a former head of state who has experienced the German period, Merkel is well aware that Europe's prosperity and security are inseparable from Russia, and that the two have no possibility of independent existence. But Germany's ability to remain rational does not mean that the EU and NATO behind Germany can do the same. Therefore, after Merkel stepped down, Germany's foreign policy underwent subversive changes, from the past "relative independence" to the current "temperature".
After the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the Scholz government failed to play a balanced role from beginning to end. This performance surprised all bystanders, so that when Putin announced the mobilization order, no country was available, and there was hope for Germany to balance Russia-EU relations. Of course, from a realistic perspective, even if Merkel is still in office, the energy she can exert is actually seriously restricted. First of all, the core of this geopolitical conflict is that the United States has in order to completely overturn Europe's security and economic order, so that Russia and Europe have no room for retreatment, so that Europe can devote itself to the United States' security and open up new sales channels for the United States' military-industrial complex .
At the same time, the energy and food crisis caused by the conflict is destroying Europe's crumbling economy, and capital flight is draining the blood of Europe's manufacturing industry. If the origin of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict is the old account of the Cold War between Russia and NATO, then the European economic recession is the inevitable result of European countries, including Germany, being left to the United States for a long time. It can be expected that if the EU leaders Germany and France cannot give birth to a leader who can firmly pursue independence, then the decline of Europe will almost be inevitable.
