This article appears in the November 18, 2022 issue of Executive Intelligence Review.
Senior German Social Democrat Breaks Silence on CCD Blacklist
[Print version of this article]
Nov. 12—In what represents a breakthrough for public debate in Germany, the Chairman of the Social Democrats’ parliamentary group, Rolf Mützenich, in remarks at the party’s Debate Convention on Nov. 5, raised the issue of the “terror list” of Ukraine’s CCD (Center for Combating Disinformation), on which he had been placed by Kiev. For years, Mützenich has been a close political ally of Chancellor Olaf Scholz—any attack on him would be read by many people as an attack on the Chancellor.
That fact of Mützenich being on the CCD hit list was known to the government and to the Social Democratic Party (SPD) months ago, but a veil of silence had been put in place. Mützenich’s remarks compelled the media to mention the existence of that blacklist, and also compelled the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry to instantly issue an official denial, saying that the list was not a “terror list,” adding that Mützenich was neither under investigation, nor being harassed, for anti-Ukrainian activities. It came as no surprise that in taking up the issue, Germany’s ARD national public broadcasting TV Channel One, tried to play down the role of the CCD, claiming that it was “just one countermeasure against Russian propaganda,” and that the CCD does not issue sanctions against individuals. The CCD has, via the Internet, accused more than 90 public figures in politics, the media, academia, and entertainment from multiple nations of “spreading narratives consistent with Russian propaganda.”
The scandal about the CCD list finally made it into the mainstream media with SPD co-chairman Lars Klingbeil at an SPD parliamentary group meeting on Nov. 7 declaring: “To make it quite clear, a parliamentary group leader of the SPD, the largest government faction, does not belong on such a list. And he has the full solidarity of the SPD—we are all on your side there.” He added that Rolf Mützenich and he were “in complete agreement that we stand in solidarity with Ukraine, but we are, of course, looking for any point where we can launch diplomatic initiatives.” It is especially Klingbeil, in the leadership of the SPD, who has taken on an ever more disgusting role as a pro-war hardliner against Russia in recent months. So for him to have to come out in defense of Mützenich indicates that some things obviously have gone too far.
At the above mentioned SPD Debate Convention, Mützenich strongly criticized the very existence of such lists of pubic figures being drawn up in Ukraine. He raised this as a potential obstacle to future cooperation between the two nations in Europe, saying: “The question is whether between two states that also want to find themselves in the European Union, against the backdrop of a framework of values, are such lists really very beneficial for joint relations and also joint cooperation?” Mützenich also pointed out that whereas the list is now widely reported to have been taken off the Internet by the CCD, one can still, using the hashtag “infoterror,” find it in archived web postings.
While these new “heroes” finally dare to speak up, they are still too afraid to acknowledge the leading role of Helga Zepp-LaRouche and the Schiller Institute in organizing, with press conferences and other public activities, a successful international resistance against this terror. The role of the Schiller Institute was recognized by the CCD, which initially put Zepp-LaRouche second, and then moved her up to number one on the blacklist, with numerous of her associates prominently placed there as well. Among the very few voices of resistance outside the Schiller Institute and EIR is Wolfgang Bittner, a leading anti-war author in Germany, whose article about the CCD, referencing the fact that Helga Zepp-LaRouche was a key, top target of it, was published—not by any mainstream media but by the independent Nachdenkseiten web journal.
Another prominent figure in Germany who called attention to the CCD and the U.S. hand behind its list as early as August, is graphic artist Klaus Staeck, the Director of the Berlin Academy of Arts. Countering claims by the pro-Kiev cabal that the CCD was not threatening anybody with this list, Staeck added to his August article on his own website on Nov. 6 a screenshot of the CCD website to prove the point. “The above screenshot from the official government page (Aug. 9, 2022) and the quotes given in the column speak for themselves. The text page with the ‘wanted list’ of more than 70 people, has since been deleted from the Internet,” Staeck wrote, adding a copy of the pre-deletion list in an automatic translation from the original Ukrainian as of July 14, 2022.
As for Mützenich, he also decided to counter his critics among propagandists of the pro-Kiev cabal with a statement published on Nov. 12. He told the newspaper chain Neue Berliner Redaktionsgesellschaft, “I would like to see as much talk about diplomacy as about arms deliveries,” adding that he sometimes has had the impression that “diplomacy” was in danger of becoming a dirty word in the public discussion.
It is not a matter of “negotiating with Russia over the heads of Ukraine,” but it is necessary to talk to governments around the world “that could still have some influence on Putin,” Mützenich stressed, pleading for “not closing small diplomatic windows carelessly.”
Referring to the debate among Social Democrats over Russia policies, Mützenich warned against “exaggerated self-flagellation” by claims that past cooperation with Russia had been all bad. “I am not willing to go in sackcloth and ashes,” he said, “the SPD’s policy of détente [in the 1970s —ed.] had been “an important door-opener for the peaceful establishment of the sovereignty of formerly oppressed states in Eastern Europe.… There is no need to apologize for that.” Indeed, there isn’t, and one may add that there is no alternative to the urgency of diplomacy.
