The last few days has seen increasing pressure on German chancellor Scholz and his SPD party to send German manufactured Leopard tanks to Ukraine. Not only has this been rejected but Germany has also prevented other EU countries, under terms of sale, supplying Ukraine from their own stocks. The latter policy has apparently now been abandoned if the statement made by Annalena Baerbock (the Green Party foreign minister in Scholz` coalition government) in an interview with French television is to be believed. It is not unlikely that Poland` s ”stuff you” stance, ”we will send them anyway,” was the final straw. As things go it looks increasingly likely that Germany will soon be sending its own Leopards. All` s well that ends well you might think concerning this kerfuffel.
Maybe, but not for Germany. In my opinion it exposes a geo-political rift that trashes any reputation that Germany has painstakingly managed to build up since the second world war.
It spotlights Germany` s political weakness and its inability to shed its past and take its rightful place as a leader in a democratic Europe. Once again going it alone, albeit now on a quasi pacifist, aggressor appeasing tack.
A quote from Swedish national Svenska Dagbladet on Germany´s decision not to send Leopard tanks that I translated into German for a Twitter tweet.
”Feige und gefährlich..schickt starke Signale deutscher Schwäche nach Rußland..Deutschland ist das schwächste Kettenglied des westlichen Zusammenhalts.” Being labelled as cowardly and weak is painful coming from a country with a two hundred year history of avoiding conflict.
After sending that tweet, a helpful defender of the Chancellor responded with a list of war material that Germany has already sent to Ukraine. The list is impressive, containing a large amount of wartime supplies, with the onus on need rather than aggression, although there are exceptions. Machine guns, missiles, rocket launchers with ammunition, hand grenades, Marder infantry fighting vehicles. Enough lethal material debunking any excuse Scholz has of not wanting to fan the flames of war. Another of Scholz ´ excuses has been of not going it alone which, considering his isolation in an otherwise almost unanimous Europe, is easily translated as without America that is. The insinuation here being that Biden the Boss says no. Judging by statements in Washington denying this, either the US is lying through its teeth or Scholz is using them as a pinafore. Whichever is true, the indecisiveness of the German government, its lack of leadership in the face of brutal aggression not seen in Europe since world war two, will leave Germany holding the baby whatever the outcome in Ukraine.
History will not be kind.