The foreign relations and the diplomatic talks on the Russian Ukrainian War — A German Approach by Frankfurter Allgemeine Newspaper
By ADventure
The columnist in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Newspaper maintains a neutral, emotion-free style when writing this article (13.05.2022). He cites the facts without commenting on them and without stating his personal opinion. His goal is to describe the conversation between the German Chancellor and the Russian President. However, even though the text, for the most part, retains a detached style, two points within the article reveal the author’s thoughts. In particular, in the sentence “Sources from the Kremlin state about Putin’s conversation with Scholz, that Putin” informed” in detail about Russia’s intentions for Ukraine”, the term is referenced in quotation marks, which indicates a tone of irony and perhaps suspicion. That way, the columnist makes an indirect allusion to his point of view, which has to do with the thought that Putin probably did not really inform their Prime Minister about his intentions towards Ukraine.
Moreover, in the sentence “Russia justified repeatedly the aggressive war against the neighboring country that started on 24/02 with an allegedly de-Naziization of Ukraine”, with the phrase “allegedly de-Naziization” the opinion of the author is indirectly stated. The columnist does not seem convinced by Russia’s motives. He maintains a somewhat ironic and suspicious attitude towards the declaration that the war against Ukraine was conducted in the interest of its denationalization, a fact that is clear from the use, once again, of the quotation marks. Even though the article, at first, appears to be strict, without intense words and phrases, which can lead the reader in a certain direction, reading the article a little more carefully, one realizes that there is indeed a manipulative use of language. More specifically, the phrases “Putin informed “thoroughly”, “in the raw injury”, “justified the aggressive war”, “with an allegedly “de-Naziization”, implicitly disclose the columnist’s point of view. However, the frequency with which such phrases appear in the text is not enough to guide readers. Additionally, when reading this article, one comes to the realization that it does not focus on the war in Ukraine, but centers on the relationship between the two Prime Ministers and consequently on the relationship between Germany and Russia. In any case, of course, the severity of the situation and the impact of the war events are not disregarded. That is evident from the references to the issues related to this conflict.
Huge thanks to our professors:
Mania Xenou, Betty Tsakarestou!
ADventure team:
Μαρίνα Σ., Effie Karpathaki, Demetra Tzorou, Eirhnhzh, Katherine Papagianni, Theodora Filopoulou
