Sahra Wagenknecht is a guiding light for Die LINKE (Left Party) in Germany while Frauke Petry currently leads the far-right AfD ("Alternative for Germany"). One wouldn't think the two had much in common – they are at the extreme opposite ends of the political spectrum. Both women want Germany to dissolve the trans-Atlantic partnership; both want Germany to leave the NATO alliance that has brought peace and prosperity to the nation for 70 year; both are sworn opponents of the American influence which they see as undermining Germany's "sovereignty". And both are strong advocates for appeasing Russia.
The conservative columnist Richard Herzinger writes in Die Welt:
AfD und Linkspartei werden vom gemeinsamen Hass gegen westlichen Liberalismus und "Amerikanismus" getrieben. Die größte Herausforderung für die Bundesrepublik besteht somit in zwei Pro-Putin-Parteien.
("AfD and the Left Party are both driven by a common hatred of western liberalism and "Americanism". These two pro-Putin parties represent the greatest challenge to the the Federal Republic.")
Both Sahra Wagenknecht and Frauke Petry would throw Estonia and Latvia under the bus – as well as Poland – by having Germany exit NATO and forging a separate "peace alliance with Russia:
Spätestens hier fällt die frappierende Deckungsgleichheit zwischen den außenpolitischen Vorstellungen der Gauland-AfD und der SED-Nachfolgepartei Die Linke auf, die schon lange mit der Formel einer Ersetzung der Nato durch eine gemeinsame Sicherheitsstruktur mit Russland operiert.
("Here we can finally see the surprising congruence between the foreign policy ideas of the Gauland-AfD and the successor party to the (East German) SED – the Left Party; both have long advocated for replacing NATO with a common security arrangement with Russia.")
The AfD – Alternative for Germany – has now surpassed the Left Party as the third largest political party in Germany; many of its new supporters are former Left Party members who are attracted to the more radical populist rhetoric of the AfD. Sahra Wagenknecht will have to follow Frauke Petry's lead in attacking liberal democracy, the NATO alliance, the media ("Lügenpresse"), and the refugees seeking to stay in Germany if she wants to stay relevant. Aligning with Moscow has always been part of the DNA of the Left Party.
Nirgendwo sonst als in ihrer gemeinsamen Bereitschaft, sich für Putins neoimperiale Ansprüche ins Zeug zu legen, wird deutlicher, dass die vermeintlichen weltanschaulichen Antipoden AfD und Linkspartei in Wahrheit aus demselben Holz geschnitzt sind.Beide werden in ihrem Innersten vom gemeinsamen Hass gegen westlichen Liberalismus und "Amerikanismus" getrieben – alles andere ist dagegen nur ideologisches Ornament. In der konzertierten Aktion zweier deutscher Pro-Putin-Parteien besteht heute die größte Herausforderung für die Verfassungsordnung der Bundesrepublik.
("In their common willingness to support Putin's neo-imperial course it is clear that despite their supposed ideological differences the Afd and the Left Party are cut from the same cloth. Both are driven in their hearts by a common hatred of Western liberalism and "Americanism" – everything else is just an ideological ornament. The concerted action of two German pro-Putin parties today is the biggest challenge for the constitutional order of the Federal Republic.")
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Isn’t “Pro-Putin” (not only a bit of) a distortion?
Just because they want to uninstall Nato, it does not necessarily mean they want to re-establish the Warsaw Pact, does it? Couldn’t it be (heaven forbid!) that they want Germany to pursue its own path in security politics? And what could possibly be wrong with that?
I think it is time you laid bare your motives in this criticism.
As an American you have all the right to criticize efforts of German politicians who want to turn the country away from a US-dominated alliance.
But do you really mean to make readers believe that the substance of this criticism goes beyond protecting US interests?
Well, I’m quoting a prominent German columnist here – so the words are not mine. However, I agree with him. The Western democracies should stand together to preserve the freedom and prosperity that has been achieved in the last 70 years.
America will take the lead as the sole superpower among Western nations.
With respect to security, does Germany have the military power and political will to go it alone? Obviously not.
Germany certainly does neither have this power nor the political will at the moment. There is however absolutely no reason for this to persist.
If the biggest country on the most developed continent was not able to go its own way, who could?
I am sure you are familiar with the following quote. It should not come as a surprise that not every nation wants to remain in its 1949 role.
-> The first NATO Secretary General, Lord Ismay, stated in 1949 that the organization’s goal was “to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down.”