Bad times, when Angela Merkel represents the relatively reasonable view of politics. Former German Chancellor Merkel has broken her months-long silence and gave an interview to Der Spiegel. She said she has been resting and reading Macbeth and Don Carlos.
The interview took place in the Berliner Ensemble before a packed audience and was conducted by a friendly journalist. “We did not succeed in building a security architecture that could prevent this [war],” Merkel said.
According to the Financial Times account, she said: “Diplomacy isn’t wrong just because it doesn’t succeed. So I don’t see why I should say that was wrong, and I won’t apologize for it.” She said of the war: “Looking back, I’m glad that I can’t accuse myself of trying too little to prevent such an event from happening.”
Merkel said she had never believed in the “illusion” that Putin could be changed through trade. Her view, she said, was that if there could not be a close political relationship between Europe and Russia, “then at least it would make sense to have a trade relationship, because you can’t completely ignore each other.” She also defended her insistence on always keeping open the channels of communication with Putin. “Russia is the second-largest nuclear [weapons] power in the world,” she said. “I can’t pretend that it just doesn’t exist. … The interests of the country I governed meant finding a modus vivendi with Russia, in which we’re not at war but can try to somehow coexist, despite all our differences,” she said.
