Thread by @RikeFranke

28 German artists & intellectuals have published an open letter, asking German chancellor Scholz not to agree to deliver heavy weapons to Ukraine. emma.de/artikel/offene…

They have two main arguments: heavy weapons delivery might make Germany a participant in the war (#Kriegsteilnehmer) and it might prolong the war and thus increase suffering.
Many have discussed these points so I won’t do that again.

Something that really irks me in the letter is this phrasing: “the delivery (…) COULD turn Germany in a war participant”.

I’m sorry, either you think it does, or it doesn’t*. “Could” is a cop-out.

*view of most experts

And then there is this 😶.
So… if Russia just created too much suffering, at one point, it’s so much that Ukraine should just give up??? That’s your stance?

Translation “The second limit is the level of destruction and human suffering among the Ukrainian civilian population. At one point, even justified resistance against an aggressor is unbearably disproportionate.”

You can be a pacifist, but come on 😳

I’m really not running around saying arms deliveries are great and there are no risks or downsides. It is war and in war there are rarely good options, only least-bad ones. But these arguments against the delivery are just terrible.

Reaction by Ukrainian author Yevgenia Belorusets:
“In my apartment in Kiev I have books by Alexander Kluge, who is one of my favorite authors, and who, by signing this letter, condemns me, my parents, my apartment with his books, to disappear.”

spiegel.de/ausland/ukrain…