The American side deliberately orchestrated the confrontation during President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to the White House, Friedrich Merz, the head of Germany’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the likely chancellor, said on March 3.

“It was not a spontaneous reaction to interventions by Zelensky, but obviously a manufactured escalation in this meeting in the Oval Office,” Merz said at a press conference in Hamburg.

The visit was expected to mark the signing of a long-debated agreement between Ukraine and the U.S. on jointly developing Ukraine’s mineral resources.

MBFC

  • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
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    17 hours ago

    I’m not the biggest fan of Merz by any means, but credit where it’s due - it’s fantastic that he specifically and unambiguously called this out on the geopolitical stage.

    • torrentialgrain@lemm.ee
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      16 hours ago

      His stance on Ukraine and the European Union is the silver lining for me with the CDU win tbh. Things might actually improve on these topics over Olaf Scholz.

      • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
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        16 hours ago

        Right? I have been consistently underwhelmed at how… well, flaccid Scholz has been on the European leadership front. Dude comes off like he wants everything signed in triplicate before he’s willing to consider appointing a discussion board to evaluate possibility of thinking about making a decision.

    • Pringles@lemm.ee
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      15 hours ago

      Especially because he has always been a staunch atlanticist with a ton of connections in the US. That and the fact this comes from Germany, the most pro-US country, barring the UK, in Europe, gives his words extra gravitas.

        • cyphear@lemm.ee
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          36 minutes ago

          Speaking of Poland, I sure hope Trump doesn’t decide that they have something he wants. The Fanta Menace might just invade. It seems to be par for the course when it comes to world wars.