Memo for world king from Europe: ‘To whom it may concern’
What does it mean that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz found it necessary to speak out against any country moving another’s borders by force and finished off the admonition with the English-language phrase “to whom it may concern”?
On the face of it, the warning was meant for Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, whose full-scale invasion of Ukraine will mark three years next month. Mr Scholz had just been speaking to the media about Russia’s war in Ukraine.
But context is all.
He spoke to the media with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen by his side in Berlin.
And he used those five words “to whom it may concern”, which must surely be meant for the ears of a native English-speaker.
Both of these facts suggest that Mr Scholz was addressing a different listener than Mr Putin and he was warning against forcibly redrawing borders of a territory other than Ukraine.
Ms Frederiksen has been mounting a diplomatic blitz through various European capitals in an attempt to draw comfort from Denmark’s continental family about Donald Trump’s idea of taking over Greenland.
Soon after visiting Berlin, Ms Frederiksen made a stop in Paris and Brussels to talk to President Emmanuel Macron and Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte respectively. On Sunday, she met her Norwegian and Swedish counterparts and Finland’s president in Copenhagen.
With all the frenzied activity and talkathons, it’s interesting that Mr Trump’s name was not directly mentioned by Mr Scholz or Ms Frederiksen. He is becoming the one who must not be named, the ‘world king’, better addressed as ‘to whom it may concern’.
Originally published at https://www.rashmee.com
