Ursula von der Leyen’s recent campaign video, aimed at securing her re-election as President of the European Commission, has been widely criticized for its war-mongering tone and fear-mongering content. The video, featuring dramatic war imagery and paranoid rhetoric about Russia, has been condemned for promoting militarization and distorting the EU’s recovery fund purposes. Critics argue that von der Leyen’s alignment with figures like Zelensky and her push for increased defense spending highlight a troubling embrace of aggressive policies.
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One of the most disgusting things, both ethically and aesthetically, seen lately is Ursula von der Leyen’s campaign video, in which she touts her achievements in promoting peace and harmony across the continent, as she runs for re-election as President of the European Commission.
You have to see it: it’s indescribable. A male voice, edited in a wargame style, illustrates a map of Europe like in Risk: “Russia’s war is still at our doorstep.” A caption reads: Russia will influence the elections. “Our enemies will stop at nothing.” Cut to Von der Leyen, whose appearance falls somewhere between a Desperate Housewives character and a Luftwaffe field marshal, stating: “Their goal is to divide our societies,” which are supposedly so united and based on citizen equality.
“Vote for a strong Europe that dares to act,” she says, as she struts confidently through the ruins of a Ukrainian city, wearing a bulletproof vest and sporting an aggressively styled hairdo that speaks to the war effort of her hairdresser.
“In my second term,” she says, “I want to turbo-charge our defense industrial capacity.” But we were already doing that: we committed with NATO to increase arms spending to 2% of GDP, and the EU has diverted recovery funds to arms production under the deceptive category of “resilience.” But why this paranoid atmosphere? It’s simple: here she is with Zelensky, who has much to teach in terms of necro-propaganda, as this continental-scale Letizia Moratti (he used marketing agencies and spin doctors to create a video in which he walked through a pre-nuclear Kiev to get more weapons and make it post-nuclear; this was when we were told Ukraine would defeat Russia).
“We are in an era of rearmament, Europe cannot be left behind,” says the former German Defense Minister, who, to be philological, cannot help but love the Ukrainian army, infiltrated as it is by healthy young men with swastika tattoos who read Kant in the evening (source: Repubblica). Let’s not forget the fight against “disinformation,” of course, the Russian kind.
We must act, says the coiffed lady, thirsty for fresh blood. We are the Good Guys. Let’s send more missiles, tanks, troops, and, why not, a few nuclear bombs; alternatively, we could neutralize Putin with hairspray.
Il Fatto Quotidiano, June 2, 2024
