The Story
Germany’s embattled Defence Minister probably wishes she went to bed early on hogmanay rather than recording a late night video for her Instagram followers.
Christine Lambrecht’s voice could barely be heard over the sound of the exploding fireworks as she decided to film the message on a Berlin street corner. But what she did say might as well have been drowned out completely.
In a now infamous quote, Lambrecht said that: "There is a war raging in the middle of Europe. And connected with that, I was able to gain a lot of special impressions - many, many encounters with interesting and great people."
She made no mention of the civilian casualties in Ukraine, only giving “heartfelt thanks” to those who couldn’t celebrate New Year because they were serving in uniform.
The video was popular - but not in the way she had hoped. People lampooned her for the facile suggestion that the war had allowed her to meet interesting people and for the overall terrible communication skills it dis…
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