Everyone is talking about Putin, but Corona is still there – and Karl Lauterbach is therefore way ahead again. Even if the Minister of Health only gets a turn at the very end, after midnight, on “Maischberger” because of Putin.
The guests:
Professor Karl Lauterbach (59, SPD). At the same time, the health minister gives out pills for waking up and calming down: the strictest rules in Europe are correct, but do not necessarily have to apply.
Roderich Kiesewetter (59, CDU). The foreign policy expert tweeted: “Putin’s partial mobilization shows Russia’s military weakness.”
Katrin Eigendorf (60). The ZDF war reporter believes that Putin is losing control.
Micky Beisenherz (45). The TV author asks the financial wasp’s nest: “When will the energy solos come?”
Dagmar Rosenfeld (48). The editor-in-chief (WELT am SONNTAG) railed against Economics Minister Robert Habeck: “The energy levy can no longer be communicated.”
Henrike Roßbach (42). The journalist (“SZ”) states: “There are not so many countries that still think so much about Corona.”
Children, children, this is going to be a hard winter! The Zoff-o-Meter hopes for warm comfort instead of hot air.
Most hopeful overture
After an ARD clip with Putin’s latest threat show, Beisenherz comments on two perspectives: “Of course, at first you think, oh God, now he’s rolling across Ukraine…”
But, as the TV author then says about his second thought: “That might also be a good sign, because the witch of the east is really puffing up again for fear that you won’t take her seriously. That’s why Putin says the nuclear weapons thing isn’t a bluff. Maybe now there will be more resistance in Russia.”
Micky Beisenherz
Crunchy comment
“This partial mobilization is also an admission by Putin that he is in the process of losing this war,” said editor-in-chief Rosenfeld without hesitation.
Her prognosis: “Partial mobilization will bring war to Russian living rooms. It suddenly affects men, sons, wives. Up until now it was just a TV show.”
Hottest perspectives
“With the sham referendums in the occupied territories, Putin is now attempting a perpetrator-victim reversal,” Rosenfeld continues to analyze. “In his argument, that’s Russian territory and he becomes a self-defense warrior.”
“He now has to give up the fiction that this war doesn’t really affect Russia at all,” assists “SZ”-Rossbach, but: “A Putin who has his back against the wall is perhaps a particularly dangerous Putin.” gulp!
Henrike Roßbach
Bitterst joke
Beisenherz sees the unity of the West already at the tipping point, and Rosenfeld puts pressure on: “Whoever says Panzerhaubitze 2000 must also say Leopard 2. It cannot be that Putin draws the red lines.”
Her suggestion: “There are 13 EU countries that have Leopard 2 tanks. Why doesn’t Germany put itself at the forefront of an initiative that says: We’re negotiating together to send these tanks?”
Dagmar Rosenfeld
“Russia has already delivered a few battle tanks,” Beisenherz jokes. “They just left them there.”
Clearest analysis
War and crisis reporter Eigendorf, long ZDF correspondent in Moscow, doesn’t care. “Putin saw the West as an opponent from the start,” she recalls. “That’s not new.”
“First of all, this is a sign in our own country that the previous special operations part did not work,” says Kiesewetter, a retired colonel at the age of 27 in the Bundeswehr. “But it is also a sign in our societies to stir up fear, to divide Europe and to upset cohesion with America.”
Roderich Kiesewetter
Most realistic forecast
Regarding the call-up of 300,000 soldiers, the foreign politician says: “My personal assessment is that he is preparing for a kind of spring offensive. They have to be trained first, and that takes time.”
“That’s why,” Kiesewetter continued, “our demand is to support Ukraine as much as possible as early as possible.”
Clearest warning
“Putin has never been hit as badly as he is now since he came to power,” notes Eigendorf. “If I have to send my own son to war, that’s a completely different matter than if it’s some people from the Caucasus.”
According to Kiesewetter’s assessment, the use of “tactical nuclear weapons, which have about one-hundredth the explosive power of Hiroshima” would result in “both China and its friendly African states turning their backs on Putin. Russia would become a pariah state.”
Most Dangerous Findings
The war reporter says of Putin’s perfidious propaganda: “People believe that the West is threatening Russia with nuclear weapons. Some of us believe that too.”
“We have Russian nuclear weapons in the Kaliningrad region, which can be in Berlin in two minutes and in Paris in three minutes,” Kiesewetter recalls.
Urgent requirement
Regarding Putin’s attempt to convert his Ukrainian spoils of war into “Russian territory” through sham voting, the foreign policy expert warns: “Then an attack by Ukraine on its own territory would be an attack on the Russian Federation.”
“We need a very clear statement from the United Nations,” he adds, “preferably from the General Assembly, which can overrule the paralyzed World Security Council. What matters is that Russia is breaking international law here.”
Most shocking fates
A particularly oppressive ARD clip shows the grave of a mayor who was murdered in Isjum with her entire family because she did not want to cooperate with the Russians.
In the now recaptured town, Eigendorf met an old woman who had been starving in a cellar for six months, and to whom her son said: “You’d sooner die than accept anything from the Russians.”
Katrin Eigendorf
Worst Expectation
Regarding the expected spring offensive, Kiesewetter explains: “We now have time to give Ukraine good support. There is also the possibility that we will supply Leopard tanks that are between 20 and 40 years old and very easy to operate by the Ukrainians.”
“We have two or three tough years ahead of us,” predicts the foreign policy expert. “Putin is preparing for a long war. We should do everything to end the war as quickly as possible.”
Most Political Perspective
“That’s why,” Kiesewetter continues, “I promoted the rapid delivery of long-range weapons so early on. The sooner the war is over, the sooner the terrible suffering in the occupied territories will end.”
His concern: “Putin’s weapon is that Ukraine will disintegrate and we will get flight and mass migration.”
Most cautious defensive action
The Minister of Health is greeted with a quote from the virologist Christian Drosten: “From the point of view of the individual, the pandemic risk is over for most.”
“It now sounds to me as if Corona, in terms of the danger it poses to me, is something like the flu,” suspects Maischberger.
The minister sees it differently, but stays covered: “I’m sorry that I’m mentioning a study again,” he says. “I will certainly be criticized for that again.” Uff!
Medical key question
Then the talk show host shows photos of the Oktoberfest hustle and bustle. “What about personal responsibility? Anyone who has a risk will not go to the Oktoberfest and then wear a mask in a full train, ”she wonders.
“I don’t want to give any numbers now, so as not to scare anyone,” Lauterbach answered, just missing the question. “But in autumn and winter there will be the possibility that we will then have much higher incidences. We have a very contagious variant. We have to be prepared for that.” Isso!
Most unsatisfactory explanation
Maischberger probes: “The Oktoberfest and the train are at the same time,” she doubts. “Why should I wear a mask on the train but not at the Oktoberfest?”
“At the Oktoberfest you go there voluntarily and take the risk,” lectures the minister. “Many train passengers have to take the train to work. So if I want to drive safely, it would be nice for me if everyone wears masks.”
Most impatient attempt at justification
The talk show host is still not satisfied: “You don’t believe that people on the train can decide for themselves, how big is my risk with this variant that we are dealing with at the moment?” She continues.
Then the minister’s skin becomes thin: “You know, as health minister, I can’t always orient myself to the most absurd behavior in the country,” he grumbles. “It can’t be the standard that the most dangerous behavior we’re seeing anywhere becomes the standard for everyone.” Boom!
Most energetic announcement
“Can that be the standard that Germany has the strictest infection protection law in all of Europe?” counters Maischberger promptly.
“I believe that we set a strict standard,” admits Lauterbach, but: “The measures only come into play if it really develops in such a way that it becomes necessary. I just don’t want us to be unprepared again for the third fall!”
Smartest precaution
In the finale, the talk show host skilfully combines her two main themes: “There are many problems in the world. Are you also busy with other things?”
“I follow the discussions about the Ukraine war very closely,” reports the minister readily. “It is underestimated how much Germany is already delivering. That also made a difference on the offensive. We also organize a lot of transports for injured people…”
However, the talk show host only asks the most interesting question at the very end, when the show is over and the credits have already rolled. “Do you have an opinion on the tanks?” But Lauterbach quickly takes off the headset: Chancellor is listening!
quote of the evening
You don’t always have to walk with the herd. If you are convinced of something, you have to stand by it, even if that doesn’t bring you any plus points in the popularity scale.
Karl Lauterbach
Conclusion
Explosive topic, burning problems, interesting issues and competent proposals for solutions, but with an unimpressive guest list: one minister, one member of parliament, but four media people. That was a talk show in the “very late journalist” category.