Andriy Melnyk may become Ukraine's ambassador to Brazil
mind.ua/en/news/20257237-andriy-melnyk-may-be...
mind.uaPosted May 12, 2023, 4:29 AM UTC
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mind.uaDear Brazilians, I'm sorry for you.
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Maybe they were made for each other?
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Well, a LARGE part of Melnyk's influence in Germany stemmed from his excellent knowledge of German. He spoke fluently and could use even a bit obsolete Redewendungen like the famous "beleidigte Leberwurst". That made him a star for journals and TV channels where he was often invited to talk shows. That and his directness of course. But since he most likely doesn't know Portuguese he won't be able to be the same "star" in Brazil. Yes, he may make little sensations on the diplomatic level if he goes on telling his mind but he won't be able to reach the local population like he did in Germany. And I do not even mention how much less interested in this war is the population of Brazil compared to German/European. So, frankly, to me this appointment seems like a downgrade for a deputy minister of foreign affairs. There is nothing much to do and to achieve in Brazil with their remoteness in ALL senses and their populist leftist President. We all know that for completely misguided nostalgic idiotic reasons leftists tend to support Putin/Russia. I wonder if Melnyk maybe did some real harm to our relationship with Germany cause right now what we see looks like a punishment to me.
P.S. Redditors on r/de did and do say he was WRONG to behave like he did. They dislike his style and one can imagine how older German bureaucrats dislike it.
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I know some Germans who are quite sceptical of Ukraine because of Melnyk. Makeiev has also very openly criticized him.
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Melnyk lost his complete influence in Germany because of his language knowledge.
He was basically a person non Grata. Without the way, he would have been summoned several times.
He was actually working against the interests of Ukraine.
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Yeah, this is what I was talking about. I do not currently see his Brazilian appointment as anything other than punishment. It's a shame, really, cause we definitely do not have many seniour diplomats with such a knowledge of Germany and German. If only he used it in a smarter way. Yes, in the beginning of the war you Germans needed pushing but it had to be done differently, smartly, gentler. Sure, 99% of Ukrainians were cheering him up and were very happy when he kein Blatt vor den Mund nahm. But he, with his knowledge of how people roll and how things are done in your country, should have known better.
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I think he played a big role with the whole President Steinmeier not Welcome in Ukraine.
As far as I know he told this to the BILD news paper. This created an immense issue.
I can understand, that Steinmeier wasn't welcome, and it could be handled discrete with respect for the position he owns. But it was made public. While politicians of the opposition Party have been invited (if I remember the timeline correctly)
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Germany didn't want to cooperate but didn't like to hear that
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🤡
Update
Germany was one of the biggest supporter for Ukraine and still is.
Delivering weapons wasn't allowed by our conservatory, which have been changed to be able to send heavier weapons.
Germany delivered have weapons at most two weeks after Western allies.
And we have been the first delivering state of the art modern Air defence.
And all this despite Melnyk.
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So, frankly, to me this appointment seems like a downgrade for a deputy minister of foreign affairs.
Dunno, that "deputy minster" always seemed like some sort of holding pattern, a standby role for him. It didn't sound like an actual, real job.
But who knows.
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You're definitely right, that's how it's done. What matters is what foreign post one gets afterwards. Brazil is much, much less important/prestigious place for Ukraine than Germany. So it's downshifting for him.
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I'm German and I generally always thought his approach to getting German politicians to do stuff was good. He was critical, but in the same way that I was critical myself of my government, so that's why I generally always agreed with him.
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Well, I can't speak for Germans, but most Germans who expressed their opinion on Reddit said he was wrong to behave like this because he was a diplomat. They didn't say that he lied or exaggerated or anything. It wasn't about his messages/words but about his position as an ambassador.
Also some Germans have expressed their dislike of the fact he expressed his positive opinion of Stepan Bandera. They consider Bandera a Nazi. I wonder if they know that Bandera spent most of the war in the KZ Sachsenhausen and while being imprisoned in Sachsenhausen he refused to join forces with Wehrmacht when such proposal was made to him by Nazis in 1944. (Unlike Russian General Vlasov who formed a whole army to fight beside Wehrmacht!) Doesn't look like Nazi to me. Yes, by our today's standards he was a far right nationalist ready to fight with arms and even to commit terrorist acts to achieve Ukrainian independence. These days he wouldn't have many supporters in Ukraine. But he wasn't a Nazi.
(BTW I personally read his leaflet where he denounces anti-semitism. There were Jews in UPA troops.)
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My armchair analysis is that his criticism of Makeiev (the new Ukrainian ambassador to Germany who is doing a really good job) got Melnyk removed as deputy foreign minister. And also they need a stick to poke the Brazilian government into doing something to help Ukraine and Melnyk is someone like that. Brazil should have behaved and they would have gotten a nicer ambassador.
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Germany is a lot more calm and rational compared to emotional and passionate Brazil so if Melnyk plans to use the same tactics as in Germany , they might just (figuratively) beat the shit out of him and tell him to gtfo.
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From what i hear Makeiev is involved in negotiations for Germany supplying further military equipment. Bad to say about Germany that it needs to be negotiated at all appearantly, but at least he is helping getting things done.
For comparison, when in summer 2022 there was a public discussion in Germany about sending tanks to Ukraine Melnyk's contribution was... sabotaging the planned state visit of Germany's president to Ukraine. Which in turn prevented the chancellor (same party) from visiting Ukraine in order to not burden the already historically complex coalition government. All of which occupied a large part of Germany's public attention regarding Ukraine.
Of course, that Germany - despite Melnyk's "best" efforts - concluded to send tanks to Ukraine under the precondition it would not do so alone was a fact that got ignored for half a year. Not only by some of the eventual tank suppliers, but also by Melnyk himself.
edit: Regarding the negotiations, there seems to be success.
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You forgot his tweeting spree of "Ukraine never wanted Gepards! That's just a German ploy to burden Ukraine with an over-complicated obsolete system that has no use (and no ammunition) anyway...." or such highlights as "Germany could easily send 350+ Leopard-2s (among other things) to Ukraine without even reducing their defensive capabilities by a relevant amount".
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Oh no, not this guy
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What did he do?
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He's aggressive, but I think with Brazilian politicians that will be much better than pussyfooting around.
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Yea reading his biography now.
Not sure how a person of his temperament ended up working for diplomatic service, quite unpredictable. But if he's been around this long the UA government must recognize his value.
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I think his extreme outspokenness is part of the reason Ukraine managed to make it very clear to the world that they do not intend to just be another ignored region at war.
Their shock and awe diplomacy at the start was absolutely necessary. It was necessary to make it very clear to the world that they don't just want to die and to shake much of the West out of their complacency that this is just what happens to non-Western parts of the world. That's the truth.
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On the other hand weaoponized politeness needs to go in diplomacy. People shouldnt be polite in light of a war with continental involvement. Especially if its Melnyks nation that has war waged upon them by the country we German citizens funded with billions of dollars for 20 years and one of our chancelor is good buddies with Putin.
Seriously I dont know who was offended by him in Germany but it certainly wasnt me. We are simple minded people are we? Someones nation is getting rocket struck into smithereens and a whole city the size of Dresden is essentially eradicated and Germans are like "melnyk is such an impolite ambassador - we wont support Ukraine no more".
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On the one hand he was very aggressive but some people think his criticism of Germany might say it helped push them to speed up aid
But then he managed to offend 3 countries at once by downplaying war crimes of WW2 era Ukrainian nationalist who collaborated with the nazis. This pissed off Germany Israel and especially Poland all at the same time.
https://www.politico.eu/article/zelenskyy-dismisses-controversial-ambassador-to-germany/
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some people think his criticism of Germany might say it helped push them to speed up aid
And they are wrong in saying that. If anything it slowed the process down, because instead of facilitating communication between governments he maneuvered himself into a position where he was completely sidelined and all communication happened directly between the German government and the foreign ministry in Kyiv, while Melnyk was channeling his inner Trump shitposting on twitter and giving dumb interviews.
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Do people in this sub understand what Politico is?
The European branch is owned by Axel Springer. The German equivalent to the Fox News universe.
Their content ranges from sensationalist via misleading to downright lies.
And like with Fox News, people here parrot them because they happen to say what they like to be true.
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As bad as politico is (i could name a couple of issues in this article ad hoc), in principle the article is right. Melnyk was a divisive figure and had to go as he managed to not only antagonize Germany, but also started adding Israel and Poland to the list.
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No, they don't. And they don't want to understand it either.
The few people here not simply giving up after a while basically spend months being downvoted heavily on every single "daily story about why Germany is evil and supporting Russia" just for mentioning the fact that all the narratives always led back to Axel Springer SE with BILD, POLITICO and Business Insider basically making up 95% of the narratives for months.
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I admire the Ukrainian government for their humour at this time! I just spat out my coffee...😉😂😂😂
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lol I think it's actually the perfect choice.
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For taking a seat and getting some popcorn sure it is. But this is war, Melnyk could, however indirectly, endanger lives.
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Oh god, him again. At least good relations with Brazil aren't as important, BRICS and all.
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Lol...yeah. Send him to another continent. And dont give him internet access there. May he never be hraed of again..
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Too bad they dont need a ambassador somewhere in the Antarctic. This guy... the political bull in the china shop.
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Thats a good decision, Melnyk is tough. Brazil is a rough place, either a bandit is elected or a criminal. im looking forward to the news: Brazilians have to...Brazil hasnt...Brazil is going to....Brazil must face...
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Personally I'm more looking forward to: "Why is nobody willing to reasonable discuss things and why is Brazil so hostile after all the hard work Melnyk put into insulting everyone?" narratives in a year or so...
At least Brazil already has a shitty stance, so that can't deteriorate much more.
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Poor Lula- Brazil will never be the same. :-)
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that can only be a positive thing
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Germans know that would be a big deal.
That guy is vocal.
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Im a half german/ half brazilian that passionately stands with Ukraine but in all honesty I can’t stand Melnyk! My impression was that he either doesn’t want to understand or simply wasn’t capable of understanding where the german mentality is coming from („Never again“: 2 World Wars, genozid on the Jews, millions of dead people in many countries, our country in ruins, our country separated into West/East Germany for 50 years). Back in 2022 when Germany was hesitant in supporting Ukraine with lethal equipment he was so disrespectful that I am sure that many Germans that stood with Ukraine most certainly changed their mind. I don’t think he had any influence on the decisions anyway so I assume the only thing he achieved was turning parts of public opinion against supporting Ukraine. If he tries it the same way in Brazil I can imagine they just kick him out of the country.
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Are these numbers real? Holy frick oO
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They aren't. The total population of Brazilians in Portugal is around 250k, and this includes from people migrated in the 70s to today.
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https://www.dn.pt/sociedade/novos-imigrantes-ja-ultrapassam-os-de-2021-um-terco-sao-brasileiros-tem-emprego-mas-falta-a-habitacao--15051820.html Breathe out Your numbers are about those who have already received citizenship.
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Your source states that 50k Brazilians moved to Portugal in the first half of 2022. This is neither 300k nor during Lula's tenure, which started in 2023.
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Seems to be confirmed now.
Sending Melnyk somewhere to improve relations is a bold decision
Maybe they see Brazil as a rogue country? Could explain the selection of Melnyk.
Could be trying to get him out of the way, rather than running his mouth in Europe and pissing off the Germans.
That definitely sounds too good to be true.
We shouldn't forget that he started his job in Germany with holocaust denial, spread desinformation for 7(!) years while directly insulting several high ranking government politicians and was only removed after the additional international attention to his ramblings pissed of Poland and Israel, too.
And after just a few weeks (which he btw spend on Ukrainian media telling his tales of "Germany reality" -a.k.a. Russia light - with a strictly controlled media/education/etc and a brain-washed population adoring Russian culture... what ever that culture might be- for everyone who wanted to hear it) he got promoted to a new position.
So it's very, very hard to believe that insulting Germany was not what he was send to do. And if that's his new job in Brazil... fine for him. I don't expect Brazil to change their mostly Russia-friendly "neutrality-bullshit" stance anyway, so I'm not exactly inclined to pity them...
Now i do. But not for the better.
Guess its more likely that they don't care about Brazil at all and want to get rid of Melnyk so they send him there.
My thought as well... Didn't work out as deputy foreign minister so now its back to being ambassador to a nation Ukraine doesn't care about offending. I'm just glad they didn't send him back to Germany
Which is a bit of a strange call considering the weird non-committal support-non-support relation Brazil has with Russia. I'd assume you'd want to have a competent ambassador there. If they just want to get rid of him they could've sent him to Tuvalu or Micronesia instead
Small reminder that Brazil still is holding back its Gepard ammunition. If there is still a chance for that Melnyk could do some real damage to that prospect.
That ship has sailed.
New ammunition is basically starting production right now with the first batches ready for delivery within two months at most and many times the amount of ammunition available until now being produced just this year.