Ukraine War: The SPD repeats its errors in Russia coverage | EUROtoday

As of 6:32 p.m | Reading time: 2 minutes

GOne ought to attempt to clarify historical past. They shouldn't be romanticized – that's what the historian Heinrich August Winkler wrote in 2016 in an article for “Vorwärts”, the SPD get together newspaper. Six years earlier than Russia invaded Ukraine, Winkler, who’s himself a member of the SPD, warned: Unlike the Soviet Union within the Brezhnev period, which was involved with sustaining the established order, Putin's Russia is anxious with enlargement.

It was an enchantment to the SPD to say goodbye to the wishful considering that they might get to Putin with “change through rapprochement”. At that point, Rolf Mützenich replied: A brand new détente coverage is extra necessary than ever. History has taught him in any other case. But that doesn't cease Mützenich from speaking about freezing the struggle as SPD parliamentary group chief within the Bundestag. This can definitely be understood as an method to Putin.

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As everyone knows, historical past doesn’t repeat itself, however there’s a repeat button for historic misjudgments. It wasn't way back that the SPD management admitted to misjudgments concerning its Russia coverage: “In the search for common ground, we often overlooked what divided us. That was a mistake,” mentioned Lars Klingbeil.

Today, SPD folks like Ralf Stegner have the impact of talking on international coverage on a chat present. And it appears like this: The debate on Russia coverage over the previous many years has “an opinionated, know-it-all and irreconcilable culture war tone.” Change by way of reappraisal – that doesn’t appear to exist within the get together.

Now Winkler, along with different historians, wrote a letter to the SPD and the Chancellor: He and the get together management lacked “the necessary clarity and unambiguous solidarity” with Ukraine.

It is a central safety coverage problem for Germany and Europe, which is why “we appeal to the party executive to make the necessary clarification of its position.” Maybe, in contrast to in 2016, this enchantment can be heard – and the SPD will come out of repeat mode and press the cease button.