Chancellor Friedrich Merz declared that dealing with war criminals requires zero tolerance, specifically targeting Russian President Putin as potentially the current era's worst offender
If you want to talk about measurement, then you cannot deny that Germany is complicit in war crimes still to this day (as is my own nation). By all means condemn Russia, but while facilitating a settler colonial project then the label of hypocrisy always applies, which is what the quote I posted refers to.
Yes I believe that Merz delivering weapons to Israel is less evil then the many crimes Putin has committed. Nicaragua is also suing Germany over the matter, so in a way Merz is actually being judged for it.
None of what you’ve said has explains how he is beyond critique for his hypocrisy here. Merz calling out a war criminal, while also facilitating another one is undermining your own argument. If intended to make a different argument, then my comment was not the place to reply.
The problem with hypocrisy is that it is a very easy tool to get away with being judged. A pretty good example is the carbon footprint and oil giants. The argument is basically that critizsing oil giants is hypocrisy, because you are emitting too. The problem with that it puts your emissions on the same level as that of some massive oil company, which is clearly insane. So you need to adjust for scale when talking about hypocrisy.
This is also why Palestinians are not hypocrits, when they complain about Israeli war crimes, besides them commiting war crimes themself, such as October 7th.
If you want to talk about measurement, then you cannot deny that Germany is complicit in war crimes still to this day (as is my own nation). By all means condemn Russia, but while facilitating a settler colonial project then the label of hypocrisy always applies, which is what the quote I posted refers to.
Your words on Merz would have more credibility if his moves didn’t have so many loopholes. It will take more than symbolic gestures to break the ties between industrial genocide and German tech: https://mondoweiss.net/2025/08/germanys-declaration-to-stop-sending-weapons-to-israel-symbolic-gesture-or-major-shift/
At what point did I deny that?
You said, “Merz is fine in that respect”.
Yes I believe that Merz delivering weapons to Israel is less evil then the many crimes Putin has committed. Nicaragua is also suing Germany over the matter, so in a way Merz is actually being judged for it.
None of what you’ve said has explains how he is beyond critique for his hypocrisy here. Merz calling out a war criminal, while also facilitating another one is undermining your own argument. If intended to make a different argument, then my comment was not the place to reply.
The problem with hypocrisy is that it is a very easy tool to get away with being judged. A pretty good example is the carbon footprint and oil giants. The argument is basically that critizsing oil giants is hypocrisy, because you are emitting too. The problem with that it puts your emissions on the same level as that of some massive oil company, which is clearly insane. So you need to adjust for scale when talking about hypocrisy.
This is also why Palestinians are not hypocrits, when they complain about Israeli war crimes, besides them commiting war crimes themself, such as October 7th.