A photo ... from Berlin

My Dear Friend of Democracy,

Today, just this photo.

I took it on Friday in Berlin, Germany, at an election campaign event of the newly founded party "Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht", or BSW for short. At the recent EU parliament election, the left-wing populist party ran for the first time in an election – and received 6.2 per cent from the start.

One of the party's main demands is stopping weapons shipments to Ukraine. Instead, Ukraine and the West should negotiate with Putin.

How did the party become quite successful right from the start?

Obviously, the more complex the times, the more tempting it is to give a political mandate to those who provide simple answers.

But reality does not stick to never-never land.

We'd better face reality. This reality includes that, most of the time and like most people, the enemies of democracy think and act rationally. Stopping arms deliveries to Ukraine would be an invitation to Putin to continue the war because it would increase his chances of winning. A diplomatic solution would, therefore, become even more distant.

? So, we also better think and act rationally. Only then will we be able to defeat the enemies of democracy. In the case of Putin, this means that we should not talk about arms deliveries OR diplomacy, but rather arms deliveries AND diplomacy. The worse Putin's prospects of winning his war of aggression become, the more willing he will be to negotiate.

See you in Europe,

Johannes