Responding to say that as of now, public opinion in Germany seems pretty certain that Russia is in the wrong.
The reliable news stations mostly agree that Putin’s official reasons for invading are weak at best, but also that this is—as harsh as it sounds—not a pressing enough issue to seriously consider going to war over. Still, I note several things:
Gas is barely talked about at all on the news. I presume that this is because the government is trying to divert attention from the fact that if Russia restricts it, that’d be a catastrophe.
Some of the less trustworthy media (including the BILD, which is quite infamous for being loud, emotional, and anti-everything-the-government-does) have been virtue-signaling about how Germany needs to “take action” against Russia, ideally via the (actually in-very-poor-condition) military, and how that would be worth any economical consequences. Those people don’t know a lot about economics or politics or wars, but they’re loud and it’s worrying.
Public opinion has been moderately anti-russian for some years. Favorable enough to keep doing business with Russia, but bad enough to be disgruntled about it.
Most people are apparently not (yet) aware how big of a deal this is, and much less of the consequences this war will (or might) have on Germany. This worries me a lot.
It might be relevant though that my social bubble involves mostly young, educated middle-class people, and also that I live in the northwest. I have no idea how things are in less privileged groups, or other regions.
Generally, I believe that the biggest parts of the public are still in shock.
I myself am getting increasingly worried about the NATO deciding to directly involve itself in the conflict, both because I feel Germany would be hit HARD economically and on daily-life-basis (especially regarding energy supply and russian products) and well, because of the nuke threat.
Responding to say that as of now, public opinion in Germany seems pretty certain that Russia is in the wrong.
The reliable news stations mostly agree that Putin’s official reasons for invading are weak at best, but also that this is—as harsh as it sounds—not a pressing enough issue to seriously consider going to war over. Still, I note several things:
Gas is barely talked about at all on the news. I presume that this is because the government is trying to divert attention from the fact that if Russia restricts it, that’d be a catastrophe.
Some of the less trustworthy media (including the BILD, which is quite infamous for being loud, emotional, and anti-everything-the-government-does) have been virtue-signaling about how Germany needs to “take action” against Russia, ideally via the (actually in-very-poor-condition) military, and how that would be worth any economical consequences. Those people don’t know a lot about economics or politics or wars, but they’re loud and it’s worrying.
Public opinion has been moderately anti-russian for some years. Favorable enough to keep doing business with Russia, but bad enough to be disgruntled about it.
Most people are apparently not (yet) aware how big of a deal this is, and much less of the consequences this war will (or might) have on Germany. This worries me a lot.
It might be relevant though that my social bubble involves mostly young, educated middle-class people, and also that I live in the northwest. I have no idea how things are in less privileged groups, or other regions.
Generally, I believe that the biggest parts of the public are still in shock.
I myself am getting increasingly worried about the NATO deciding to directly involve itself in the conflict, both because I feel Germany would be hit HARD economically and on daily-life-basis (especially regarding energy supply and russian products) and well, because of the nuke threat.