The Chancellor's tank strategy in the Ukraine war is cruel
Created: 01/13/2023 05:33
By: Georg Anastasiadis
In the Merkur commentary, Georg Anastasiadis criticizes the Chancellor's position on the issue of main battle tank deliveries to Ukraine.
© Mercury
The majority of Germans support the Chancellor's position on the issue of supplying main battle tanks to Ukraine.
She is still wrong.
A commentary by Georg Anastasiadis.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz is a cautious man who is not inclined to take hasty decisions.
In the Ukraine war, the motto still applies to him: as few weapons as possible, as late as possible.
At the same time, this should appease Putin, the worried German citizens and the impatient allies.
But on the Ukrainian battlefield it is now becoming increasingly clear how cruel and ultimately untenable the chancellor's strategy is.
It perpetuates the stalemate and trench warfare: what Ukrainians receive in support is too much to die and too little to survive.
A reconquest of the areas occupied by Putin's troops is not possible for Kyiv in this way - this prolongs this war, which Russia is waging more and more unrestrainedly, because the Kremlin sees no reason for negotiations as long as it can hold the "New Russian" provinces, and the Ukrainians can never consent , to cede almost the entire Black Sea coast.
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His announcement that he wanted to give the Ukrainians Leopard 2 main battle tanks put the Chancellor under massive pressure, both in his traffic light coalition and in relation to the NATO partners.
If he stops the transfer of German-made tanks, he will not only snub Poland, but the majority of all those allies who are demanding more efforts to defend Ukraine.
In addition, the Chancellor's position (which is not wrong in principle) that he should not act alone is crumbling more and more every day.
Americans, British, French, Spaniards, Poles, they are all ready to deliver more arms and are waiting for Scholz to take the lead - or at least not to block a European solution any further.
