Breaking the Tabu in Germany on Ukraine Hit Lists and Helga Zepp-LaRouche

On Nov. 5, the head of the SPD parliamentary group, Rolf Mützenich, denounced the fact that he had been put on the infamous list of “information terrorists” of Kiev’s Center for Countering Disinformation (CDD) for advocating a cease fire in Ukraine, and that he had received threats (cf. SAS 45/22). The existence of such a list was known to the government, the political parties and the media for months, and yet they never made an issue of it. Mützenich’s remarks had the merit of breaking that silence — at least somewhat.

But there has still been no coverage of the fact that the very first person named on the CDD’s second list (and the second named on the first list) is Helga Zepp-LaRouche, identified as the founder of the Schiller Institute (SI). And tens of other members and associates of the SI, who have spoken at SI events, are targeted in the same way for allegedly supporting “Russian narratives”. Needless to say, there is a very real threat to the personal security of anyone who is on the CCD lists or that of Myrotvorets.

Within the SPD, it is significant that the head of the party, Lars Klingbeil, expressed the party’s “full solidarity” with Mützenich, despite his own hawkish positions on Russia. During a Nov. 7 parliamentary group meeting, he said both SPD leaders support Ukraine, but are also favorable to taking “diplomatic initiatives”. As for Mützenich himself, a close political ally of Chancellor Scholz, he reiterated the need for talks to end the war in remarks to the Neue Berliner Redaktionsgesellschaft newspaper chain (Nov. 12): “I would like to see as much talk about diplomacy as about arms deliveries,” he said.

The still-timid debate around this issue may reflect the growing misgivings within ruling circles in Western Europe about the unlimited support they are giving to a regime in Kiev, which is not as “democratic” as it’s presented.