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I have no special insight into German politics, but in Slovakia this pro-Russian and pro-Putin moniker was attached to the current prime minister Robert Fico before elections. Interestingly enough, one of the the first things he did post-election was a conference with Ukrainian prime minister Denys Šmyhaľ in the city of Uzhhorod, where he signed the treaty of military cooperation with Ukraine, expressed his support for Ukrainian EU integration as well as support for EU military package. The rhetoric from anti-Fico coalition then changed that he betrayed his voters and that he only wants to make money for his cronies who will provide the military assistance.
It is incredibly difficult to navigate this situation, I am just used to media lying and speaking from the both sides of their mouth. It is just sad state of things.
Slovak media are very lame. It's a small country, little talent. No money in media, so only lame people or partisans will do it. I haven't watched TV in decades but the overall level of newspapers is now abysmal, and Ukraine derangement syndrome and war mania made it even worse. Merely overhearing DennikN (probably the best general newspaper) podcasts while visiting my mother makes me cringe.
Fico is likely a psychopath so he's going to 'do the needful' and be as flexible as is required. No idea why he'd sign this, but it's either blackmail or greed. He is believed to have a very finite life expectancy due to heart issues and expected to die within a few years unless he gets a heart transplant, but he's drinking heavily and not a good candidate for one. This I overheard from family who are doctors in the capital.
It's not only Slovak media. Once you are marked as pro-Putin, the whole media complex parrots this endlessly even in the face of contrary evidence, I think there is some media incest in this manner. Examples regarding Fico from Reuters or Guardian or even Die Welt.
They are all lame, that is why if media say that AFD party is Pro-Russian, then it really is tough to know what to think about it, they just cannot report about these issues honestly. It really is terrible, because people do not have time to delve into these issues deeply and maybe they really are Pro-Russia. It is hard to tell.
True. I didn't mean to imply other media are good.
It's all so horribly lame at times I almost feel compelled to start translating some of the clever stuff I read into Czech. Not sure where one could post it where it wouldn't be entirely pointless.
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