An honest question to the Germans in this forum.
Do you think that it would help if Zelensky appeared on German TV, on his knees, begging Germany to help Ukraine, and begging Germany to stop helping Putin? Would this have an effect? Or perhaps that wouldn't be enough, either?
There are a lot of Europeans that asked Germany to help, but it seems it did not have any effect. All those Putin crimes did not have an effect either, Germans are still happy giving their money to Putin, Germans do not seem to care about dead Ukrainians. Would Zelensky begging on his knees make a real difference?
If it would help, perhaps we can send a petition to Zelenky to do it. Desperate times call for desperate measures!
No, that would be ridiculous and as it comes from an actor, it wouldn't be taken any more serious than Melnyk's tirades.
What would be more helpful:
- an apology for forbidding Steinmeier to visit, acknowledging that this was a wasted opportunity
- calling Melnyk home, apologising for sending someone to Germany who idolizes a Nazi and who didn't respect the country he was sent to
- make a convincing case that Putin's accusations of Ukraine being full of Nazis are wrong (see above, as well as the problem with the Azov battalion who likes to use Nazi symbols a lot) - this is actually a huge point as from this perspective Russian claims about Ukraine
are true.
- make a convincing case that it is inevitable that this war will keep going to EU/NATO countries if Ukraine falls (this will be the hardest)
- present a convincing roadmap how to get rid of oligarchy and corruption and become a reliable democracy (at least after the war)
Those who have doubts about helping Ukraine see two corrupt, fascist oligarchies fight each other, one of them has been a reliable partner through decades (Russia), the other has threatened that partnership (Ukraine)
There are a lot of calls to Germany to stop fascism (for the right reasons), but for some Germans there have been too many occasions of important Ukrainians associated with "our" Nazi history, that the whole "Ukraine is a democracy defending our values" just falls flat for these people. Russian claims about this are true, Ukraine denying this is obviously false. So why should other Ukrainian claims be more trustworthy?
This is from my point of view the main issue - a lack of trust towards Ukraine. Russia has definitely lost goodwill, but for some it just hasn't lost enough (yet) in comparison to Ukraine, who didn't really build a lot of it over the last 20 years.
And again, I don't think it's right to use this as a reason to not help Ukraine, but there are legitimate issues with Ukraine and addressing those issues would do far more than insulting German politicians or begging on your knees.