How the right grapples with Putin Drowning: dog rescued from canal in England

In the movie “Groundhog Day”, the main character is in an endless loop. He gets up every morning to experience exactly the same as the day before. Roger Köppel is currently our marmot: he also gets up at the crack of dawn every morning to make us happy with his video blog “Weltwoche daily”. The eternally the same message he proclaims there can be summarized succinctly as follows: We must show understanding for Putin’s war against Ukraine.

Only insiders can judge whether the SVP is happy with Köppel’s foreign policy escapades or not. The fact is that well-known representatives – such as Zurich’s government councilor Ernst Stocker – have already spoken out firmly against it. The right-wing columnist Henryk Broder left the “Weltwoche” because of this.

However, Köppel could have better luck with our northern and eastern neighbours, whom he has recently also delighted with his videos. The far-right populists of Austria’s FPÖ and Germany’s AfD have long made no secret of their admiration for Putin. In Germany, Alice Schwarzer and Sahra Wagenknecht organize a meeting disguised as an alleged peace demonstration, in which they seek understanding for Putin. Right-wing extremists are also welcome.

However, the right is by no means behind Putin. The situation in Italy is typical. Neo-fascist Prime Minister Georgia Meloni has just returned from a trip to Kiev. There she not only assured President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Italy’s support against Putin, she even flirted with a possible delivery of Italian warplanes.

Meloni’s allies must have followed this with a sour expression. Silvio Berlusconi – long associated with Putin in a male friend – recently scorned Selenskyj. That surprised no one. On the other hand, it was surprising and pleasant at the same time how resolutely Meloni laced up the clownish old man Berlusconi.

The third in Italy’s right-wing alliance, Lega boss Matteo Salvini, still remains in the background. However, his sympathy for the Russian president is well known. After all, until recently he walked around in a T-shirt with Putin’s image on it and is said to have accepted donations from Moscow.

However, the extreme right scene in Europe is not decisive for the game. Much more relevant to the fate of Ukraine is how the Republicans position themselves in the United States, because without American help, Ukraine’s defenders will soon lose.

The Grand Old Party (GOP) is also divided. The majority of Republicans and the party establishment support Biden’s aid to Ukraine, and they want to go even further. Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina senator influential in foreign policy, accuses his president of not doing enough and is calling on him to finally start delivering F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. Republican Congressman Mike McCaul made the same accusation. He is chairman of the foreign policy committee and, like Biden, has just visited Kiev.

However, the so-called MAGA faction (Make America Great Again) within the GOP sees it very differently. The “crazy faction” — Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, Lauren Boebert, etc. — considers US aid to Ukraine a waste of taxpayer money. For example, Greene acknowledged Biden’s surprise visit to Kiev with the following tweet: “The President of the United States cares more about Ukraine than America and is forcing the American people to pay for the Ukrainian government’s war.”

Encouraged by Tucker Carlson, other members of the Crazy faction have also expressed similar sentiments. The Fox News host went so far as to contrast Biden’s visit to Kiev with an eco-disaster in eastern Palestine. A serious train accident recently occurred at this location in Ohio, where toxic gases ignited. The president should have traveled to Ohio and promised help there, Carlson hurried.

Aid to Ukraine is also becoming an issue in the upcoming race for the US presidency. Former UN ambassador Nikki Haley has already officially announced her candidacy. She supports the traditional party line. “It’s not just about Ukraine, it’s about freedom in general,” she said at a campaign rally in Exeter, New York, last week. “Should the Russians conquer Ukraine, they will then invade Poland and the Baltic states and start World War III. And if Russia wins, we can be sure that China will invade Taiwan and Iran will develop the nuclear bomb.”

Ron DeSantis has not yet announced his candidacy, but he is already campaigning on a small fire. While the Florida governor was once a self-professed critic of Putin, he is now moving to the Fox News line. “It cannot be in our interest to get involved in a proxy war with China and worry about how the border with Crimea is,” he told the broadcaster.

And what about Donald Trump? The ex-president’s admiration for Putin is well known, and he originally described his invasion of Ukraine as “brilliant”. In the meantime, Trump has barely commented on this subject, other than incessantly repeating, as the marmot mentioned at the beginning, that if he had been president, none of this would have happened.