Dr Karin Kneissl, famous for inviting and dancing with Russian President Putin at her wedding and who served in the right-wing firebrand Austrian leader Sebastian Kurtz’s cabinet as the Foreign Minister sat down for a virtual interview on a geopolitical talk show called “SAMVAAD”, which is an initiative by a New Delhi based Think Tank called the Indian Strategic Studies Forum (ISSF). Dr Kneissl was in-charge of Austria’s foreign policy between 2017-2019 when she was forced to resign after Chancellor Kurtz’s government fell.
Post her resignation it has not been smooth sailing for Dr Kneissl, who struggled to adjust to civilian life, before being forced out of Europe due to disagreements with liberal circles, which quickly took an ugly turn and she started receiving death threats. Dr Kneissl chose crisis-ridden Lebanon as the place of her refuge and now conducts her work from Lebanon itself, despite a shortage of necessities in the middle eastern country.
To tell her story, Dr Karin Kneissl chose Indian Strategic Studies Forum’s talk show “SAMVAAD” which is hosted by ISSF’s director Udayan Raj Singh. In this tell-all, no holds barred interview Dr Kneissl narrates how she was exiled to Lebanon, her thoughts on the Russian-Ukraine war, why the sanctions on Russia failed and the Energy crisis in Europe. According to her, the war in Ukraine could have been avoided if the western leaders would have timely intervened and understood Moscow’s point of view.
Dr Kneissl who is an expert on energy diplomacy, says that western policymakers lack a basic understanding of the energy market due to which their sanctions on Russia failed. She further stated that Russia will continue being in a financially stable position until western experts develop a basic understanding of the demand-supply chain in the Energy market.
Dr Kneissl also analyzed Germany’s position during the current European energy crisis and said the German government needs to correct past mistakes concerning its decision to be over-dependent on Russian oil and gas. She also slammed Germany for mindlessly closing their nuclear reactors without having a proper alternative planned. She further predicted that due to its miscalculations and strategic arrogance Germany would be the biggest loser of the war in Ukraine.
In the 40-minute-long interview, there were many explosive claims made by the former minister which leaves the viewer wondering about the serious decline of rule of law in Europe. The episode is available on ISSF’s YouTube channel.
