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June 18, 2024 - 7:00am
Rod Stewart is hard to dislike. But in Germany, one issue divides people so deeply that even the most outrageous leopard print can’t gloss over it: the war in Ukraine.
Stewart played a concert in the German city of Leipzig last week and showed his support for Ukraine by shouting “Fuck Putin” and dedicating his 1991 hit Rhythm of My Heart to the country’s struggle. As the song finished and a picture of President Zelensky appeared, there was loud booing from sections of the audience.
While the international press stressed that a “German crowd” had jeered at one of Britain’s most beloved stars, much of the domestic media pointed the finger specifically at the east of the country, where Leipzig is located. A Berlin newspaper stated that while “Leipzig booed, Berlin cheered” when Rod Stewart repeated the pro-Ukraine segment at a concert in the capital. Hamburg too is certain that at its gig on Thursday “this will definitely not happen to him”.
Many Germans like to think that waning support for Ukraine is a reserve of the formerly socialist East. Pro-Russian sentiments are seen as an unfortunate Cold War hangover along with voting for the Right-wing Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), which just won the European Elections in the region and boycotted Zelensky’s visit to the German parliament.
This take is a half-truth, as unhelpful in explaining what happened at the concert as it is in stabilising support for Ukraine in the West. Eastern Germans have absolutely been more critical towards Ukraine than their Western compatriots. One recent survey suggested that nearly half of them thought too many weapons were being sent while only a third of Westerners believed this.
But it is also true that support for Ukraine is ebbing elsewhere, too. An EU report suggests that 60% of Italians disagree with weapon deliveries, nearly 80% of Austrians want to remain neutral, and even in France nearly 40% would favour a reduction or a stop of arms support. Many German leaders (almost all of whom are from the former West) have also notably changed their tune — not least Olaf Scholz himself who fought the EU election campaign as a peace chancellor.
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SubscribeWhy did he have to bring politics into his performance anyway? He was there to sing and entertain – that’s what people paid for. Stick to the day-job, Rod.
As the sage of Springfield once asked: ‘Gee, is there anything rock stars don’t know?’
Who is the sage of Springfield?
Hardly “politics”. “Politics” would have been him yelling “Vote for Olaf Scholz”.
See Ricky Gervais’s amusing recent video.
Ah yes, there he is, as always, up to the point.
Downvoted by a cryptoRickyGervais-ophobe, obviously
Cannot edit the previous comment, hence this new post.
The older votes disappeared again and now the only visible votes are those that were put after all previous votes got to zero.
I thought this bug was addressed, but it persists. Disappointing!
But artists supported various causes for decades.
So problem with Rod is that he supports “wrong” cause?
How many artists are now effectively supporting Hamas with their Gaza comments.
I find it surprising that people of former East Germany who were subjugated by Russia are against people who fight against Russia for their freedom.
It’s because they’re stupid. Some Russians yearn for Stalin.
And some of,no many of my British countrymen yearn for Churchill,but Boris will do,and they are looking forward to recreating Dads Army in real life. War is so much cosy fun,eh.
The ones to fight are the CIA enabling the conflict on behalf of USA corporate capitalist hegemony. It’s an imperialist colonial takeover by subterfuge of the whole Russian landmass.
By greedy American bastards.
The ENEMY is AMERICA. But so far as only Ukrainians are dying it’s ok. No one gives a flying fig about THEM.
Exactly.
If Rod wants to support the Washington meat-grinder then he should go over to the east of Europe and observe the carnage himself. This proxy war is comparable to the few miles that were fought over during the Great War of 1914-18.
He slightly overestimates his own greatness
He’s not sexy any more.
He’s 80 odd.
Who does?
Old man makes a fool of himself!
Strange. I can understand the easterners being discontented about lots of things, but pro-Putin? For that matter, pro-Russian? I guess not enough of them remember the Red Army’s 1945 rapefest followed by four years of military rule and another 40 by a Soviet puppet regime whose biggest employer was the Stasi. And Leipzig? Wasn’t Leipzig the wellspring of the 1989 bloodless revolution that led to the crumbling of the Berlin Wall?
Right on all counts!
Is it a THING,this 5 minute memory,and total ignorance of history. All those food additives have done their job. I am awed at the level of ignorance and stupidity among the general population. Just repeat what you are told to say. Is everyone five years old now.
I hope you’re going to volunteer for the front line when they draw up the draft registration and not send your grandson or daughter instead
Brian Cox tweeted, admiring engineering which enables Voyager to be fixed remotely. Cue some dumb responses. He replied:
“Honestly – a few of the replies to this little tribute to engineering excellence exhibit a level of stupidity that suggests to me that it won’t be long before our spacecraft are the only thing that remains of our increasingly dim-witted civilisation. Until recently my guess has been that the answer to the Fermi Paradox might be found in biology – complex biological systems are rare. I’m increasingly of the view that the reason for The Great Silence is that civilisations are inevitably crushed by the weight of nobheads shortly after inventing the internet.”
It is strange isn’t it? Are they all just mental? I guess they must be. Stupid, uneducated, propaganda-infused (though from where I’m uncertain) sheeple, none of whom bothered to try to understand the complexities of a complex conflict because of course if they did they’d naturally come to the same conclusions we have about the conflict.
Sorry, I mean Putin’s full-scale, illegal, unjustified genocide of Ukraine. There. I think I’ve hit every mandatory descriptive: NATO, BBC, EU, Washington, Ukraine.
But lazy and divisive reporting does nothing to alleviate the problems Zelensky faces at this critical juncture.
Lazy and divisive reporting got us this far. It has been a font of propaganda from the start, from telling us how Ukraine is always winning despite losing territory to erasing anything that happened before Feb 2022, But your shorts are in a knot because people who went to a concert did not expect a political rally?
There are too many Zelenskys about the globe at this moment in history and wherever they are trouble,war and strife is.
But not too many Putins?
Exactly, and if America gets it wrong in the next election there will be one more.
Are you Moscow Jane?
Hanoi Jane too , see her comments above
To quote Ann Coulter, “Shut up and sing.”
To quote everyone else “Ann Coulter shut up”
Is Ann Coulter really a man? With the Adam’s apple and male identification she could well be.
Rod Stewart is like a lot of nice,simple,kind people. He thinks that Ukranian people are simple peasants,at one with nature,and free from the consumer materialism we are all drowning under. And of course we all feel about “plucky little Ukraine” the way our great grandparents felt about “plucky little Belgium”.
It’s 1914 again,or is it 1939 now. I can’t keep up with all this time travel. Or maybe it’s soon going to be 1965 and it’ll be “plucky little Vietnam time” can’t have those Dominos falling can we. Do they think we are stupid. Do they think we haven’t heard it all before? Do they think we dont know any history. Sadly the answer to all the above is YES.
History is bunk.