Germany gets UN postponement it deserves – RT World News

“Pride comes before a fall“ (pride precedes a fall) says a proverb that every German knows. You might say, that’s not surprising considering how the last two world wars started and ended.

But the saying is much older. It is derived from Martin Luther’s interpretation of the Old Testament (in the English King James Bible, the passage in question reads “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall”) Obviously, the admonition not to engage in stumbling lest you stumble and fall on your foolish and violent face is addressed to all of us, including, for example, Americans and Israelis.

Yet recent events at the United Nations have highlighted the importance of – to use a less harsh word than arrogance – a lack of self-awareness biased towards the case of modern Germany. Or to be precise, its political elite. Berlin, in essence, has been publicly humiliated, in front of the whole world: Asking for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council, lost a vote in the United Nations General Assembly.

Non-permanent rotating seats on the UN Security Council are, to put it mildly, not very powerful resources. Their value is at least as much a matter of political symbolism and prestige as practical benefits. But it would be foolish to conclude that Germany’s defeat does not matter. On the contrary, it is a fact that such a chair does it is not packs a big punch that makes failing to find one even worse: How hard can it be? It is obviously very difficult for the current Berlin team.

So, ironically, although the stakes were certainly not that high, this is a huge setback and a huge embarrassment for official Germany. One reason is that the normal order is broken. You could even say a tradition that goes back to the Cold War of the last century. Since 1973, it was registered as a full member of the United Nations of the Cold War, East and West, the first West then united Germany (actually, West Germany after usurping its former rival), has had a non-permanent seat six times and, is often forgotten now. what was once East Germany. This is the first time that Germany has failed to achieve what has come to be seen as the default: getting what it wants.

Instead, Austria and Portugal did. Voting for non-permanent security council seats is complicated and divided by region. That is why only Lisbon and Vienna were direct competitors of Germany in the same regional box, as it were. But if you list all the other countries that have made it this year while Germany didn’t, they include it too Kyrgyzstan, Trinidad and Tobago, and Zimbabwe.

It’s no wonder the Germans are more miserable than when they lose a football match. Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, who had traveled to New York to address the world and scored what appeared to be an easy victory, was disgusted by “painful failure“ (but he doesn’t want to do the right thing and resign).

The German News Agency (dpa) noted a “with sound“ debacle. The influential business newspaper Wirtschaftswoche is registered a “retreat violently“ for not only Wadephul but also his boss, Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Both – they are proud to agree – have long sought to assert a greater international role for Berlin in Europe, as well as in the world. Yet they see their German reversion rejected by something as close to a world parliament as no German government has ever done before.

Worse, when international ‘leadership’ is not available, as no one wants German leaders – who would think – even the most modest aspirations seem impossible. Editorial in Spiegel, the German Pravda of radical centrismhe despairs that Berlin may also say goodbye to his dancing dreams “middle power” (middle power) and now it has reached the glorious status of “small state,” literally meaning only a small situation, but really, if you know the German mentality, the funniest thing (when it happens in, say, Liechtenstein) and the worst disgrace when it happens in Germany.

And to be fair, there is something odd about Germany not maintaining its moderate power and respectability in the UN. You don’t have to be a German nationalist to notice the contrast between Germany’s economic and demographic weight – both declining badly but still significantly – and its traditional role as a major player in at least America’s puppet version of Europe on the one hand and its humiliation at the UN on the other.

So what happened? It’s not a secret. Indeed, the reasons for the Berlin fiasco are embarrassingly obvious. First of all, Germany has sided with Israel with a vicious and defiant stubbornness. The question of why a country that absurdly claims to have learned from the Holocaust has chosen to fully support the mass murder of Palestinians (and Lebanese too) and suppress, often brutally, any solidarity with these victims will keep historians busy for a long time. But it is already clear that, once again, the terrible defeat of Germany is visible to the whole world and will not be forgotten. The vote at the United Nations is just a foretaste of the punishment to come.

In Europe, an economically stagnant but militarily resurgent Germany has taken on a new profile as the one Western nation most responsible for prolonging the war in Ukraine — that is, the gross misuse of Ukrainians as cannon fodder in a failed attempt to geopolitically humiliate Russia after even the United States abandoned that role. But most of the world wants this war to end and has no false sympathy for Zelensky’s corrupt regime.

Such international observers also see that Berlin is ready for humility, corruption accept massive attacks on its critical infrastructure indeed the Zelensky administration and, most likely, several of its NATO ‘partners’ as well. This disgusting combination of aggression and cowardly failure to protect basic national interests cannot bring respect or sympathy. It certainly doesn’t say “Vote for me, I’m trustworthy.”

Then there’s the pronounced German tendency to teach the world but especially anyone who isn’t European or North American, well, everything you can think of. China, for example, when it just doesn’t happen disinvite Germans, as it is now understood, get to hear old, worn-out, holier-than-thou sermons about ‘democratic values’ – from a country where the entire left-wing opposition party (BSW) is out of parliament due to highly questionable, seemingly systemic errors.

Human rights and the rule of law are also the main things to preach about stupidity, while removing the freedom of opinion and the media by abusing the sanctions intended for international politics to harass and destroy individual opponents, such as, Berlin journalist Hüseyin Doğru and his entire family. “clan like” is one of the worst words in German, meaning to punish and threaten the whole family. Observers of the brutal abuse of Doğru, basically arbitrary and lawless have started using it. And it’s okay.

And then, there’s the icky allegiance to the United States, of course. Even when Berlin has been able to personally oppose US President Donald Trump – it is not difficult to do, admittedly – it is also unable to find clear words about the Iran war, where it likes to blame it for corruption and belittle the victims in Tehran, or for example, the concerns of Venezuela and Cuba. Why would anyone hand over power to spineless wimps?

There are specific solo exhibitions as well: Wadephul’s predecessor Annalena Baerbock is famous for her vitality, covering areas from basic geometry (360 degrees and all that) by accidentally declaring war. Indeed, some Germans have long called him “personalized humiliation.” But are Wadephul the best? He has used his pre-vote speech at the United Nations – a job interview, basically – to rehash his pet peeve theory which says that what he sees as rogue states, for example Iran, are not entitled to protection under international law. It is clearly intellectual and badly motivated nonsense, such utter nonsense, which would make international law superfluous, from a trained lawyer who is also foreign minister makes Germany look stupid and dishonest.

Germany to the world: We are it is not send our best to work with you. That is not a good message when you want the world to love and trust you because you are full of pride and contempt. But there is a worse possibility. What if more of our fellow nations in this world conclude that Baerbock and Wadephul really are it is our best?