Ohen you ask Germans how they would like to live, most of them will probably think first of their personal daily life: a student about school, an employee about his job, a pensioner about his hobbies or his health. When it comes to fundamental political issues, many would argue for a life in peace, freedom and justice, as this is one of the fundamental promises of the German social contract. All in all, it has been filled in for decades.
However, even with peace and freedom, a problem arises which is often overlooked in the German debate. A people does not alone determine how it can live. The fact that there is war again in Europe, that our energy supply is in danger, that the prices of electricity and gas are skyrocketing – all this is because others want to live differently from U.S. In this case, it is Russian President Putin who does not want a democratic order for (Eastern) Europe, but rather an authoritarian order under his leadership. And he does not want to settle these issues at the negotiating table, but by military force. That is why Germany is now supplying arms and must take precautions in case she herself is attacked. Before February 24, the day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, few Germans could have imagined living like this. And nobody wanted it.
