It might seem like common sense to say that the West needs a) all the help it can get in taking on the Red Chinese menace and b) should focus on fighting Red China rather than stirring up unnecessary trouble with Putin’s Russia, especially since Russia would be a natural ally in the fight against China.

That is, more or less what Navy chief Kay-Achim Schönbach said while speaking at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA), an Indian defense institute. According to the Hindu Times, he said that:

China is “giving money to dictators and killers” so long as they give rights over their country’s resources, said Chief of German Navy Vice-Admiral Kay-Achim Schönbach while also stating that Ukraine “cannot” meet the requirements of joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and what Russian President Vladimir Putin really wants is “high-level respect” and it is “easy” to give him that as countries need Russia against China.

DW adds that he said, “And, my God, giving someone respect is low cost, even no cost. … It is easy to give [Putin] the respect he really demands — and probably also deserves.”

Jack Posobiec added on Twitter that Schönbach also said that Putin was a strong Christian and that Russia is becoming Christian again, recovering well from the days of godless communism. Read more