Chinese travelers to blame for war in Ukraine?

“Big Attack, Big Doubts – Is Ukraine Enough Support?” Last Thursday’s episode was announced as such. It’s probably not a question that Illan hasn’t asked his guests before. One could lean out the basement window and tell her she had no other questions. But how big do you want to call the 10,274,653rd Russia/Ukraine broadcast?

There were: Sunflower veteran Jurgen Trittin, again Jean Asselborn, Luxembourg Foreign Minister, Ben Hodges, US Lt. Gen. A. D., again, as well as Katrin Egendorf, ZDF foreign correspondent, political scientist Janka Oertel and head of ZDF studio Elmer Thevsen, again.

Good staff is hard to find, but good studio guests are even harder to find, and it takes forever to recycle the bad ones. A personal favorite of the show was the simultaneous translation by Ben Hodges, which translated so well that I was really excited to engage with the content he translated simultaneously. However, it’s not so bad: the show has no content. Maybrit Illner has been filling a gap in the market for some time now, or taking a market niche that deserves its own genre and audience.

First, the question raised by the title of the show is not even resolved. And that’s why it’s not a big upset, because it wouldn’t be if Illanor hadn’t proven time and time again that she can keep talking about multiple shows. But Marina Weisspont may be missing from this show. But let’s put it this way: a superficial “Ukraine is fighting for Europe’s freedom” project is not earth-shattering, but not surprising either. But no tanks were claimed or pictures of refugees were shown. No, they turned on a German reporter from America, brought an American to a studio in Germany, and a foreign minister from Luxembourg – and then talked mostly together about the relationship between China and Ukraine.

Janka Oertel has been called a Chinese expert, and others must have had sushi before – and what else to say? It doesn’t matter if it’s Tokyo or Bangkok, the important thing is China. Why exactly we should talk about a diplomatic triangular relationship between Ukraine, Russia and China is not entirely clear. But we learn a lot about Xi Jinping’s childhood and how he developed a fear of teddy bears. Also, how the Mongolian sulphurous butterfly influenced early industrialization in London, causing the Great Economic Miracle of the Ming Dynasty. Did you know that the bag of rice was actually knocked over on purpose? Chinese state security is already investigating the Reisburger scene. However, one is still faced with the question of what the Serbian Ministry of Agriculture should do about it.

Well, to be honest, we have no idea. But it won’t make any difference if the review ends here. We treat the six-person round table as a topic to discuss the relationship between China and Ukraine. Ask an expert about it, maybe if you can find several experts, a group of experts can discuss it. It will run at 3am instead of primetime on ZDF.

Here is the moment to save yourself

Baerbach in China: No Common European Position

As an average citizen you can take away, it’s no coincidence that this privileged country studied the constellation, says Katherine Eisendorf, that Russia is now probably dependent on China. And “China is currently trying to play the voice of reason,” Janka Ortel explains. So we are as smart as ever. How are you supposed to learn anything? The group doesn’t know about it either. Jürgen Trittin got his education about China from the TerraX documentary “Beautiful Landscapes”, while others may have read the Spiegel travelogue.

This level of half-knowledge and bitter arguments is not about China. You never know what you see in the end. I have to say I actually took a lot from Ben Hodges. He couldn’t follow all the Chinese fuss anyway, the simultaneous translator was great, but he had to have his limits. According to him, the attack in Moscow was definitely an inside job.

He didn’t think the damage was an assassination attempt, and the Russians wouldn’t stage it because it would be embarrassing for Ukrainians to go to Moscow. Well, he should know, after all, that the NSA is wiretapping Zelenskyj. That and the brief title of the show at the beginning and the bewildered surprise of those involved show how little they are prepared for such international and politically entangled topics: What, is the NSA actually listening to people?! Really right? The next thing you want to tell me is that Putin is actually a KGB agent.