This is not a scandal, but it’s scandalous.
Former Chief of Joint Staff of the Georgian Armed Forces Giorgi Kalandadze, who was wanted by Georgian authorities on charges of unlawful confinement and torture, was apprehended on Dec. 19 in Germany. He was released on bail on Jan. 6.
On Dec. 20, Georgia’s Prosecutor’s Office said it was seeking his extradition. Various Lithuanian and Georgian sources assume Kalandadze’s warrant had been reissued after his anti-Russian comments in an interview on Georgian national television.
Last October, former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili was arrested upon his return to the country. From the side of Georgian authorities, there were even remarks along the lines of
“Saakashvili better behave, or we’ll come up with some new charges to keep him imprisoned.“
Isn’t that a democratic way of leading the country? Not so very pro-western.
Does Kalandadze’s arrest have anything to do with the new German government? The new foreign minister of Germany, Annalena Baerbock, has a strong stance against Russia, and she strongly opposes Nord Stream 2. That can’t be it.
The new German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, seems to be somewhat softer in his opinions. Even Nord Stream 2, according to him, is just “business as usual”.
Could it be that the end of the Merkel era, though problematic in it’s own right, brought a second wind under Russia’s wings? Or are Baerbock and Scholz’s scattered efforts to define a stance on Russia simply not effective?
There are rumours that, according to Scholz, German-Russian relations should be decided at the highest level, the chancellery to be exact. Behind the scenes at the Kanzleramt there’s talk of a reset in relations between Berlin and Moscow, whispers of a January meeting of Putin and Scholz… Is Scholz trying to restart German-Russian relations on his own?
While reading the very few available news items on Kalandadze’s arrest and release in Berlin, I couldn’t help but wonder, is Georgia’s government just a puppet theater for Moscow’s wishes?
Could it be that Putin is stretching his long fingers of influence over “friendly” countries to slowly destabilize the Ukrainian defenses? Kalandadze for a long time and possibly still today, being a Ukrainian citizen, was training Ukrainian defense forces.
Can it be that Kalandadze’s arrest is a small piece in a bigger puzzle, Russia's way of preparing to attack?
As Timothy Snyder masterfully explained it, Germany, particularly with Angela Merkel in power, cultivated a honeymoon and also feelings of guilt vis-a-vis Putin’s Russia, based firstly on strong anti-capitalist anti-American instincts and secondly the erroneous belief Russia had been the main victim of WWII, and therefore of Germany.
As a consequence of such deliberate blindness and also of the economic greed of its business and political circles, the Merkel era encouraged what is known as a marked “schroederization” of Germany’s economy: just like the former Chancellor Schroeder (known for his pro-Russian views, and Russian money), many of the business and banking magnates became part of Russian business and openly tried to influence opinions on Russia.
Such a trend has not been denounced by Merkel and made Germany the “soft underbelly” of the EU vis-a-vis Russian tactical manipulation. In the last three years that blindness to reality manifested itself specifically by the murder in broad daylight on a work day in Berlin of a Georgian political activist.
Don’t forget, the Bundestag has to this day has failed to acknowledge Holodomor as genocide.
The objections to this strong anti-Russian political move smack of bad faith. For instance, that Holodomor preceded the UN Genocide convention, so it simply cannot be acknowledged as a Genocide. Holocaust also preceded it, but then there we are.
With the very concrete, visible, and immediate threat Russia presents against not only Ukraine but the whole Eastern and possibly central Europe on a micro-scale, and the world on a global scale, is Berlin-Moscow honeymoon going to come to an end?
This is not a James Bond movie, where the spy leaves after a night of love, and his lover tries to assassinate him the next. This is the real world, with real problems.
We need a strong and smart, strong and fact-founded Germany. Kalandadze’s arrest and even the chance he might be extradited to Georgia is foul play. But there’s hope that the German legal system is just and does not take sides.
