The German Government's Hesitance over the War Is Angering Allies

[marmar]

The German Government’s Hesitance over the War Is Angering Allies
Berlin has refused to go along with a gas embargo against Russia and it has been slow with weapons deliveries for Ukraine. The atrocities in Bucha are creating additional pressure for the German government to act.

By Giorgos Christides, Matthias Gebauer, Konstantin von Hammerstein, Martin Hesse, Steffen Lüdke, Ralf Neukirch, Jan Petter, Marco Schulz und Gerald Traufetter
08.04.2022, 18.15 Uhr


(Der Spiegel) A state secret. It can be seen behind the security gate of the Marie Elisabeth Lüders Building, one of the many offices in Berlin of the German parliament, the Bundestag. Mobile phones and digital watches are prohibited in parliament’s Secret Protection Unit. Anyone who wants to read confidential documents here has to turn in their notes after reading them. They are kept locked until the next visit.

Members of parliament often send their staff to the room if they have the appropriate security clearance. But the document currently displayed in the red folder is classified as being so secret by the federal government that only the parliamentarians themselves are allowed to read it.

....(snip)....

Melnyk knows how to put the Germans on the defensive. But sources in Lambrecht’s ministry defended their boss, saying that the Ukrainian deputy defense minister had explicitly warned against reports of arms deliveries at the end of March. That kind of information, after all, could help the Kremlin to "target its military actions more precisely."

Massive Pressure on Berlin

But by then, it was already too late. Once again, the German government had become the target of deep criticism. The Russian war against Ukraine is now entering its seventh week, and it has also left its mark on Berlin. Things are not going well for German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his defense minister.

At the beginning of the war, Scholz was celebrated internationally for his speech in which he declared that the invasion was a "watershed" - and for completely reorienting German defense and foreign policy. The dramatic shift also raised hopes among Germany’s allies. Arms deliveries to Ukraine and a massive rearmament program for the Bundeswehr – it at last seemed as though the Germans were claiming a leading role for themselves in European security policy

Six weeks later, though, that elation has all but evaporated. Indeed, Scholz and his government are viewed internationally as standing in the way of more proactive steps. .................(more)

https://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/weapons-for-ukraine-the-german-government-s-hesitance-over-the-war-is-angering-allies-a-f8a6b97d-901e-42c2-ba7d-9f7b18accf0a

[Tomconroy]

1. Germany is the weak man of europe.

[OAITW r.2.0]

2. Understandable, imho.

Lots lot recent conflicting baggage (WW2 and post WW2 - (East v. West) within Germany. But it sounds like they country is coalescing behind Ukraine.