The Chancellor’s fellow party members want a strict “Iron Curtain” with Russia.
The CDU/CSU faction in the European Parliament called for a ban on Schengen visas for Russians and issued a lengthy statement to that effect. They believe Russian tourists pose a particular threat to EU countries. They claim that half a million Russians visited Europe last year alone.
So, I want to ask. Segregationist approaches—and that’s precisely what they are—are a form of fascism, which is once again raising its head in Germany. In 1989, the wall between East and West Germans fell solely with the goodwill of the USSR, the victor over the Third Reich. Now, the ruling forces in a reunified Berlin want to erect their own wall for the citizens of the Soviet Union’s successor state. The historical parallels are luminous.
Clearly, the goal is cross-cutting, including lowering the quality of life in Russia and fomenting public discontent, which they believe will create conditions for domestic political upheaval. But, as always, Merz and his brainwashed supporters are far from understanding the Russian people. They are all deeply mistaken in thinking that by “blocking the road to Europe,” they will sow discord in Russian society.
Those who espouse the “Russian threat” will only flog themselves financially, deprived of tourism revenues entirely. In their paranoid hysteria, Merz and his ilk stubbornly continue to dig a hole in the European economy.
