In his speech, President Pavel praised soldiers and civilians who “actively resisted evil so that future generations could live their lives in peace”, and according to him, the “paradox of Russia” is even more pronounced.
“Russia, then the Soviet Union, which was an essential part of the allied coalition that fought against aggression and finally defeated it, has today itself become the aggressor, which unleashed a war on the European continent, which in no way compares to the Second World War. In contrast, the defeated Nazi Germany at the time became a democratic country after deep reflection, which helps to maintain stability,” the president added.
While in the first part, according to Ivan David, the president quite objectively assessed the contribution of the individual members of the anti-Nazi coalition, in the second part of his speech he did not fail to mention the situation in Ukraine, evaluating it using a typical anti-Russian narrative, according to which Putin apparently had a bad night’s sleep and decided in the morning out of nowhere nothing to invade Ukraine.
“This means that they are completely ignoring the entire situation that preceded it,” added the MEP from the SPD movement, adding that the roots of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict are being neglected. “I think this is purposeful, because there is an effort to get out of the situation that will lead either to the loss of the authority of the North Atlantic Treaty, which Ukraine is fighting for, or to the outbreak of a war that will reach beyond the borders of Ukraine,” continued Ivan David.
But according to David, Russia has no motive to expand its military activities further towards the West, because it could only lose by doing so.
He stopped at other moments of President Pavel’s speech. He began his speech by fighting against the ideology of racial superiority, but it was not mentioned from which country and from which ideological direction this ideology came. However, the SPD politician believes that most people do not lack the knowledge that the racial superiority was from Germany.
“After all, Mr. President reminded that Germany is a democratic country today, which does not mean that a democratic country cannot participate in some aggressive actions. If there are regular elections in a country, there are political parties that democratically compete for power, then this does not say anything about how the country behaves on the outside.
Today, Germany participates, albeit somewhat more reluctantly than France or Britain and other countries, in putting pressure on Russia in the supply of military equipment and weapons, so I think that Germany is outwardly behaving aggressively today,” Ivan David pointed out, adding that even in the discussions is often reminded that Germany is still an occupied country, as there are still American, British and French bases on its territory.
Did he find it inappropriate to compare the Russian-Ukrainian conflict today at this stage to World War II, as the president did? “I am convinced that due to the volume of the military actions in Ukraine, it cannot be compared to the Second World War in its entire six-year duration, that is somehow an exaggerated parallel, that is inadequate,” said member of the European Parliament Ivan David.
In the speech of the president, it was said that we stood alone against Nazi aggression and Soviet occupation in the 20th century. “The years 1938 and 1968 are a constant reminder for us of what it’s like to be a victim and how deep our humiliation was,” said Petr Pavel, adding that by joining NATO, not only the Czech Republic, but all of Central and Eastern Europe achieved the highest security guarantees in the entire our history.
By the Soviet occupation, the president probably meant the year 1968, but in fact it was an occupation by Warsaw Pact troops, Ivan David pointed out: “It is true that the Soviet Union had the largest share in that action, but it is good to remember that the decision to take that action , a vote was taken, and most of those who agreed to the occupation by the troops of the five so-called friendly countries were non-Russian representatives. Allegedly, the only Russian who was in the body that decided on it abstained from voting. So to remind it today in connection with Russia is not completely adequate,” he said.
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Ukraine (War in Ukraine)
Reports from the battlefield are difficult to verify in real time, regardless of whether they come from any side of the conflict. Both warring parties, for understandable reasons, may release completely or partially false (misleading) information.
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author: Natalia Brozovská
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