In one of the main German national talk shows “Maischberger” (ARD) on June 15, top establishment journalist and publisher Wolfram Weimer spoke out forcefully for a negotiated peace to stop the war, on the eve of the Kiev visit of Scholz, Macron, and Draghi. He is well connected in international and German media. This kind of intervention has been lacking recently in national talk shows. On the contrary, when somebody has dared to speak out against the continuation of the war, or otherwise criticize it, they have been heavily attacked. Something else may be going on behind the scenes – at least a faction fight, which hopefully, may gain more ground. While it seems that Weimer’s intervention was not widely covered in mainstream media, social media have partially picked it up, and it is now included at the end of his Wikipedia biography.
In what the ARD website called “the moment of the evening,” Weimer said “We have to admit to ourselves an unpleasant truth, and that is that Russia has won this war. … In fact, Russia has practically conquered the Donbass now.” The territorial gains are huge, he said, and the land connection to Crimea is there. He asked: “How is Russia going to lose this war now? Ukraine doesn’t have the strength, even with the weapons we can still supply,” Weimer said. According to him, Russia is winning the battle even in the game of international sanctions. “We cannot win this war, we must end it as soon as possible.
Weimer then demanded, “Actually, Berlin must now present a peace plan.” ARD Berlin journalist Kerstin Palzer interjected that she does not believe that Scholz would finally go to Kiev and then say: “Dear Ukrainians, give up now. That is absolutely inconceivable.” Weimer countered: “We are talking about a ceasefire. The call to arms cannot end this political game. Surely we have to get to a moment when this war stops.” When Palzer followed up again with “Scholz and Macron have been on the phone with Putin for weeks, and as far as I know, nothing comes of it.” Weimer underlined again: “This war is lost, as much as it hurts.”
