the EU is certainly not trying to emulate the US

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Élysée_Treaty

The section called ‘Controversy’. Have we managed to become independent?

How people in the US or even western Europe live is entirely irrelevant to this perception.

That’s why Russia must be worried. People see the material improvement but don’t consider the long-term perspective.

Putin has publicly stated intention of getting control of UDSSR land “back”.

Do you have a source? I know there is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundations_of_Geopolitics with the author being close to Putin, and there is a quote in another comment in that direction. But it requires to win a war against Europe. That’s not realistic.

NATO was never an enemy of a collaborative or just Russia.

Russia wanted to be part of Nato. Putin’s speech in front of the German parliament in 2001 looks sincere to me. On the other hand chancellor Kohl’s notes show that the West never had the intention to integrate Russia but they promised it.

Giving in to ‘no Nato’ is giving up on autonomy and on being able to defend, with all its consequences.

There is article 42 of the EU. There is also nothing preventing Nato from officially fighting for Ukraine right now.

Today’s USA under Trump is more of an ally to Russia than not. Trump is actively working for Putin and against Europe.

Deception. Trump would be impeached if that would be true. The US still have their base in Wiesbaden, they just let the EU pay for everything.

Putin would need a strong but independent EU against the US while the US needs a fractured EU to keep them paying and following their lead. Both support the right wing parties but with different goals.

If there is need for talks, why not a nameless Parliamentary State Secretary who meets a nameless member of the Iranian opposition?

The support consists in legitimizing Pahlavi. Meeting the current chair of the Bundestag’s Foreign Affairs Committee has less gravitas than being received with full military honors but there is still gravitas. It not fully confirms but suggests that he inherited the leadership and that the reign of his father was legit. It also signals that regime change is possible. If we would oppose the war we wouldn’t do that.

If the meeting doesn’t mean anything why has the government not met him? Adding one layer of indirection doesn’t change much.

it is far from certain that Russia will succeed in their campaign to destabilize the EU

That’s why I think that the Russian influence on social networks is not big.

The real fear the Russian government has is that some of their remaining imperial holdings also decide that enough is enough.

I think so, too. The question is which fate they can expect from joining the American free market. If they end up homeless without healthcare like poor American citizens then their freedom will be a trap. I think that the US cannot afford to have countries with better healthcare and housing in their sphere of influence in the long run. Germany is starting to discuss no treatment for unemployed.

But there is also the US problem of being overtaken by China. I think that problem can only be solved with a war. Russia would be involved. So some geostrategic considerations should influence Russia, too.

The government doesn’t meet Pahlavi because it looks bad. How does it not look bad if somebody else meets him who has deep ties to the government?

wälzt aber die Mehrkosten auf die Vermieter ab

Solange Mieten nicht komplett vom Staat vorgegeben werden landen Mehrkosten irgendwann immer beim Mieter.

I mean news like

In Lithuania, the parliament has extended a special law on national sanctions for Russian and Belarusian citizens for another two …

With their history I understand why they want Russia’s power to be dismantled but it only makes sense to openly call for it if they don’t expect to fight Russia on their own in 5 years. Otherwise it would be better to try to avoid the war by trying to create peaceful relations before the protection runs out.

All I want to say with this is that Russia has not that much of an influence on the media.

The West uses the extreme right parties to split the workers so that neoliberal policies can be implemented.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madman_theory

We live in times of information warfare. That means that everything can be deception. As long as the billionaires don’t push for an impeachment I am sure that Trump is deception and with him everything that looks like successful Russian influence.

In South America we can see the US influence. Why should it be any different in Europe? At least in Germany we have a chancellor who was paid by an American company for years.

Russia can’t want a Europe that is controlled by the US. To me, the Russian support for the opposition looks not so much like an attempt to destroy Europe but as an attempt to get the US out.

But even if you personally disagree

The US control the social networks. That’s not my personal preference but a fact.

the large majority of the eastern European states believe so and thus will prevent any attempts at reconciliation with Russia on EU level.

If they believe that soon the EU won’t protect them they would seek reconciliation immediately. They can only be aggressive towards Russia because they expect Russia to lose and to be dismantled.

Of course, the meeting can be held for the personal goals of Laschet but how likely is that? Current chair of the Bundestag’s Foreign Affairs Committee, it can’t be much more official while the war is illegal.

How can Russia believe to win the necessary wars? People suggest that Russia can win the propaganda war in the EU to take enough countries out of the EU and then have no opposition when conquering the Baltics. But buying ads cannot beat owning the algorithm.

The strategic benefit of the Baltics for Russia is that defending is easier. It doesn’t make sense to start a war to get them.

Russia doesn’t oppose the EU with article 42. I think it’s actually Nato and the influence of the US that they don’t want.

have such conflicting interests

What are the conflicts? I thought the classic threat to the US is Russian resources and German engineering. Add the full EU to that and a single economic zone from Portugal to Vladivostok would become the central market of the world. The bourgeois must like that.

Where did the connection between the Hagia Sophia and the office of senator for South Carolina come from?

He is a senator. The Roman empire continues.

I am not pulling an equivalence. I am not saying that current Russia should be treated like current Germany. I am just saying that there can be reconsiliation. Russia’s main demand is no Nato. If Europe can offer that because we split with America then we should check what Russia has to offer. Maybe Putin is willing to step down for it.

What are you trying to say? That that isn’t support? Laschet is the former chancellor candidate. That’s the highest ranking member of the CDU that still allows some form of denial. Obviously it works but why? How can the meeting be interpreted any different but as support?

The irony is that the tension with China and Russia originates from the US. The Ukraine war cannot be undone but there is less to forgive than the cruelty of WW 2. If we split from the US we could rebuild our relations with China and Russia.

That’s why I believe that the tensions with the US are superficial. We don’t act as if the US are dead against us. We play good cop, bad cop because it would be difficult to explain to European democracies that we support the war against Iran to limit the oil supply for China.

Two days ago the son of the Shah was in Berlin. At least Germany supports the regime change.

profitiert die Autoindustrie

Viel schlimmer wäre, wenn die Bevölkerung den Nutzen von gesellschaftlich betriebener Grundversorgung auch für andere Bereiche fordern würde. Wenn die Gesellschaft den Nutzen des Gemeinwohls erkennt, wird kapitalistische Ausbeutung viel schwieriger.

Für den Thermomix: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hummus

Klingt wie die Einstellung von Rechts zur Migration. Da stellt sich die Frage, wie man der Gesellschaft beibringt, dass eine zu kleine Stichprobe nicht aussagekräftig ist.

For the analysis, Russia, not China, is the biggest threat, even for the transatlantic US, for the forseeable future:

Russland als für die deutsche, europäische und transatlantische Sicherheit auf absehbare Zeit größte und unmittelbare Bedrohung.

But it is China that had a trillion dollar trade surplus. They will use it to control global markets which will make it difficult for Germany to stay profitable and to finance the expansion against Russia. The strategy is incomplete without taking China into account.