The new German foreign minister is ideal for the job from a political standpoint. Annalena Baerbock is female, young, easy on the eyes, and reliably far left as the co-leader of the Greens.

She’s also ideal from a Russian perspective — a neophyte and ideologue who can easily be outsmarted by a seasoned and wily autocrat like Vladimir Putin.

A reminder: Annalena Baerbock is a member of the World Economic Forum’s “Young Global Leaders”, from the class of 2020. Coincidentally, she earned that distinction in early March of 2020, just as the global hysteria about the “pandemic” was being rolled out.

Many thanks to Hellequin GB for translating this op-ed from the German-language service of RT:

The Rebuttal — Baerbock in Moscow

The German Foreign Minister visited her Russian counterpart. The mainstream is full of praise. In fact, however, Baerbock did not just return empty-handed. It became even clearer that Germany is no longer a partner for Russia on a diplomatic level.

A commentary by Gert-Ewen Ungar

The German mainstream was full of praise for the visit of the new, “green” foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, to Moscow. The Süddeutsche recognizes a clever appearance. Editor-in-Chief at t-online Florian Harms headlines “Baerbock tough” and gives the impression that the young foreign minister had made it really clear to her long-serving counterpart which direction the wind was blowing from. The Tagesspiegel thinks that even Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov must have been amazed at Baerbock, because she had shown both toughness and a willingness to engage in dialogue with the “rough” Russian chief diplomat. Germany is on top, Germany has a say — is the impression that the reporting is giving here.

Russian journalists will be even more astonished than Lavrov when they read these hymns of praise in the German media about the visit of the German foreign minister to Moscow. The impression that there is a massive problem with the press and media landscape in Germany will be further deepened by this one-sided assessment.

Yes, there were no major missteps on Baerbock’s part. She didn’t put her foot in it, and she was forgiven for the embarrassing slip of the tongue “free eating” at what was probably the most unfavorable moment and context. That’s just what happens.

The fact that the performance went well overall is not due to the Foreign Minister’s outstanding diplomatic skills, but to the fact that the visit was completely choreographed from the first to the last second. Rhetorically untalented, Baerbock limited herself to reading prepared speaking notes. Direct questions were avoided as far as possible. Even at the wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Baerbock read her text from the page, irritating the Russian public. On the other hand, if she acquits one time, the “uhs” and “ohs” dominate, and one muddle follows the next. No, she really can’t talk.

The post of chief diplomat still seems far too big for Baerbock, who has no diplomatic experience whatsoever. She doesn’t know the customs, doesn’t master the linguistic nuances, and contrary to her own self-portrayal, has only a limited knowledge of international law. You congeal everything into black and white, into a simple paradigm, into a simple, un-complicated formula.

The protocol alone is responsible for the success of this performance, not Annalena Baerbock. You can be sure that Baerbock’s leadership gave some employees in the Foreign Office sleepless nights. You have to acknowledge that the choreography was successful; the minister’s public image has remained intact. Even big Baerbock fans had expected worse.

However, the German mainstream hardly says a word about the content level. There is a reason for that too, because Baerbock has achieved nothing in Moscow. On the contrary.

The most important concern of the German foreign minister was to revive the Normandy format. This request has failed. Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov has made it clear that he sees no reason to do so. There is a reason for this, because it is precisely in connection with the Normandy format and the Minsk agreements that it can be clearly shown how unreliably Germany acted and is acting towards its Russian partner. Minsk II is a precise roadmap to peace that, with its thirteen points, describes a precise process agreed upon by all signatory parties.

The republics in Donbass and Kiev do not communicate with each other, so a Trilateral Contact Group was negotiated between the parties until finally everyone could give their consent. The additional protocol was signed by Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine. This Minsk Agreement was discussed and approved by the UN Security Council. It even has status under international law.

The first of these thirteen points is the ceasefire, the second agrees to the withdrawal of heavy arms beyond the line of contact to establish a security corridor. Thirdly, an OSCE independent observer mission was set up. These points have been implemented. From the fourth point, however, things started to go wrong, because then the Ukraine would have had to grant the Donbass region more autonomy. That didn’t happen.

Furthermore, Germany, France — and especially the European Union (EU) — then drastically deviated from the spirit of this agreement by no longer treating Russia as a contracting and mediating party, but without further ado as a party to the conflict, and, on top of that, imposed sanctions. Minsk II was signed on February 12, 2015, was enshrined in international law by the UN Security Council on February 17, 2015 — and on February 19, the EU imposed a new package of sanctions against Russia. That was an absolute provocation, which is constantly intensified by the fact that Germany and France, as the guarantors of this agreement, have so far failed to do anything to urge the government in Kiev to implement their obligations under the agreement.

Baerbock holds on to this fatal wrong view to this day. For them, Russia remains an alleged party to the conflict. She acts accordingly verbally, at least when she is not in Russia. In her speech in front of the Bundestag, she vigorously lashes out at Russia, goes through the entire anti-Russian vocabulary, speaks of a rule-based order, points to the systemic conflict between liberal democracies and authoritarian states, speaks of values for which the West stands, in short: she worships up and down the foreign policy agenda given by the transatlantic think tank DGAP [German Council on Foreign Relations] in all its dubiousness. In doing so, she at least makes it clear who is pulling the strings in the background and who controls this foreign minister. One of their goals now is to “revive” the Normandy format. With this demand she traveled to Russia, and with this demand she failed.

No, the Normandy format will not be able to be revived for the time being. Anyone who, after all the propaganda in the German media, is able to put themselves in Russia’s shoes for just a moment will clearly see how provocatively Germany acted, how hollow and stale all the phrases about partnership and reliability have to sound to Russian ears. With its foreign policy actions in connection with the Minsk Agreement, Germany has disqualified itself as an interlocutor on the international stage.

Lavrov makes this clear when he refers to the good cooperation between Germany and Russia in the areas of business and technology and fails to mention German foreign policy. He makes it clear when he warns against the politicization of the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline. It is now clear to the whole world that it is not Russia that is using this project as a political means of exerting pressure, but rather Germany and the EU.

If Lavrov refers to the common interests, but then no further agreements are made, it becomes clear what Lavrov expects from Germany in the future: NOTHING.

The mainstream is right: the meeting between the German foreign minister and the Russian foreign minister went smoothly. Baerbock has proven her ability to be able to read from a slip of paper. Baerbock has temporarily scaled down the aggressive tone a bit. However, she failed in her most important goal.

And what’s more: Germany is being admonished by Russia about respecting freedom of the press. This example also shows how implausible Germany now appears on the international stage. How hypocritical it sounds when it talks about liberal democracy, which is allegedly in a system conflict with autocracies, to which Germany of course counts Russia, but at the same time fundamental rights such as freedom of the press are curtailed in this Germany.

The fact that the German commitment to liberalism is just lip service becomes clear at the very latest when dealing with RT DE. And no, the federal government cannot hide behind the fact that the video platform YouTube, which belongs to the Internet group Google and which has summarily deleted all RT DE content, is “only” a private and not a state provider. The constitutional court and the scientific services of the German Bundestag have made it clear that the federal government must actively enforce fundamental rights, especially against the Internet giants. Yet they don’t.

Baerbock came back from Russia empty-handed. Nothing concrete was agreed to. No further talks at any Secretary of State or other official level, no issue to be addressed bilaterally. It was made clear to Baerbock that Germany was no longer a negotiating partner. Lavrov was careful with Baerbock; that’s right. Anyone who looks at the result of the meeting will understand why. It is not necessary to be confrontational with someone you do not consider trustworthy, reliable or competent to make decisions. You get the job done.

It was a polite rebuff that Baerbock received. Today, Russia does not consider Germany competent to negotiate on matters for the whole of Europe. The German gazettes have overlooked this fact in their adulation. But after this visit it is absolutely clear: Germany will no longer have a say in this in the future.