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Germany ostracizes dignitary, leading artists who remain cozy with Putin
Former German Chancellor and Putin crony Gerhard Schröder (1998-2005).
I've complained about the wannabe oligarch Schroeder for at least a decade.
Germany is finally waking up now that Angela Merkel is gone.
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Former German Chancellor and Putin crony Gerhard Schröder (1998-2005).
3.5.22
A former German chancellor who was cheered for his refusal to take part in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and admired for his sweeping reforms of the country's ailing economy has become persona non grata at home because of his unflagging loyalty to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Gerhard Schroeder, who served from 1998 until 2005, when he lost power to Angela Merkel in a close election, quickly pivoted to a post as a well-paid lobbyist for the Russian energy empire tied to his friend Putin. The arrangement raised eyebrows. But it wasn’t until Schroeder, 77, raised criticism of Ukraine’s “saber-rattling” last month, just before Russia's invasion, coupled with his subsequent refusal to distance himself from Putin, that his ties have become a source of national embarrassment. Many who view Schroeder as a Putin apologist are calling from him to step down from his executive positions with Gazprom, Rosneft and the Nord Stream gas pipeline projects. “It’s not alright for Gerhard Schroeder to hold these positions, and I think he should give them up,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in a TV interview Thursday, shortly after Schroeder's staff resigned en masse and he was unceremoniously removed from an honorary leadership position at his favorite soccer club, Borussia Dortmund. Schroeder has also been fired from several corporate oversight posts.
Many Germans had long argued that lasting peace and security in Europe were possible only by maintaining close ties to Russia. For some, that meant backing Moscow's contention that NATO was pressing Russia with its agreements to grant membership to nations once within the Kremlin's sphere of Eastern European influence. Many Germans were thus willing to look away from Russia’s 2014 invasion of Crimea and ignore Ukrainian objections over the Nord Stream gas project connecting Russia to Germany beneath the Baltic Sea — pipelines that robbed Ukraine of badly needed gas transit fees. Juergen Hogrefe, who wrote a best-selling 2002 biography on Schroeder, said the ex-chancellor has tarnished his legacy by failing to distance himself from Putin after the war started — unfathomable behavior to the millions of Germans who thought wars in Europe would never happen again and who are now widely backing their government’s rush to reequip its armed forces, polls show. Despite the worsening ostracism, there are some in Germany, . especially in Schroeder's center-left Social Democrat party, who harbor hopes that he might be able to use his influence with Putin to help establish a ceasefire or even peace. "I think it’s an illusion to think that Schroeder has any influence at all over Putin now, He turned himself into a ‘useful idiot’ for Putin and ruined his own reputation. It’s doubtful that there’s any role for Schroeder. He’s yesterday’s man.”
I've complained about the wannabe oligarch Schroeder for at least a decade.
Germany is finally waking up now that Angela Merkel is gone.