As of: March 13, 2024, 11:26 a.m
By: Stephanie Munk
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Scholz cites controversial arguments in his no to Taurus for Ukraine.
Is there a fear behind the Chancellor's hesitation that Putin will soon win the Ukraine war?
Berlin – Olaf Scholz (SPD) actually wanted to have ended the debate long ago.
But he doesn't succeed.
The discussion about Taurus deliveries to Ukraine continues, despite his half-hearted Bastas.
“I am the Chancellor, so that applies,” said Scholz last week while visiting a school in Sindelfingen.
The fact that the word of power has fizzled out is probably also due to the fact that Scholz doesn't seem to speak plainly - and there may be other motives in the background.
Behind Scholz's categorical no, which he does not explain in a comprehensible way, could be the fear that Vladimir Putin will soon win the war against Ukraine.
Then Germany would urgently need its Taurus cruise missiles as a deterrent against Russia.
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (r.) and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
© Kay Nietfeld/dpa
Putin must be stopped further if he wins over Ukraine - Taurus as an important factor
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
put forward this thesis
in an article.
The thought process: If Russia wins the war, Germany and Europe will face the challenge of stopping Putin from reaching out to other countries.
Given the state of the Bundeswehr with numerous deficiencies and a lack of equipment, the Taurus missiles would be one of the few effective weapons with which Germany could impress Putin.
So far, Scholz hasn't said anything about such motives in public.
Instead, he emphasizes that the call for Taurus cruise missiles is not currently the most urgent thing in the Ukraine war: Instead, Ukraine must be quickly supplied with more ammunition.
But one does not exclude the other.
Roderich Kiesewetter, defense expert for the Union, emphasized the importance of Taurus deliveries to Ukraine to
Merkur.de
from
IPPEN.MEDIA
: “It must be clear that if Putin is not stopped in Ukraine, the risk of war for all of us will increase massively.” , explained the CDU politician.
His party colleague Johann Wadephul, also responsible for security policy, told
Merkur.de
that it is “now common knowledge” that Ukraine is urgently dependent on Taurus missiles.
When it comes to the Taurus question, Scholz gets entangled in his own arguments
But Scholz seems to get caught up in one weak argument after another.
First he emphasized that Germany had to send German soldiers to Ukraine.
Several experts disagreed - and the content of the intercepted conversation between high-ranking German Air Force officers was also different.
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Scholz was then accused of actually having mistrust of Ukraine and not wanting to give up the highly complex German Taurus.
Security expert Ulf Steindl from the “Austria Institute for European and Security Policy” also said in an interview with
Merkur.de
that this motive was probably behind Scholz's rejection.
Just like Scholz's fear of Russian reaction, Ukraine should use the Taurus to attack Russian territory.
The Chancellor himself has not yet made a clear statement about such concerns.
However, his hesitant nature when it comes to supporting Ukraine has long been known - he himself sees it as necessary prudence.
But Scholz also has to listen to accusations that he is allowing himself to be intimidated too much by Russian President Putin.
Is Scholz too afraid of Putin?
“You can smell the sweat of fear”
“The problem with Olaf Scholz is that you can smell the sweat of fear,” CDU politician Jens Spahn, for example, accused him on Wednesday (March 13th) in the
RTL/ntv program “ Frühstart ”.
“Putin senses that a fearful, despondent man is leading the largest nation in Europe.” Similar tones came from France: an advisor to Macron is said to have gossiped about Scholz, saying that he would immediately look for a bunker as soon as Putin so much as coughed.
Last week, Great Britain brought a solution into play that Scholz might like at first glance: exchanging rings for Taurus rockets.
The idea: Great Britain delivers more “Storm Shadow” cruise missiles to Ukraine and receives Taurus rockets from Germany in return.
But Scholz is against it.
Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit also had Scholz say after the suggestion from Great Britain: “The decision is made”.
Scholz “said clearly that he does not want to accept any involvement of German soldiers in this conflict, either directly or indirectly.”
Government survey on Taurus in the Bundestag - Scholz has to fear tough questions from the opposition
On Wednesday (March 13th) Scholz will have to listen to harsh words from the opposition in the government poll in the Bundestag.
The Union actually wanted to confront Scholz with contradictions in his arguments at a special meeting of the Defense Committee, but Scholz rejected this.
On Thursday (March 14th) Parliament will also vote again on a Union proposal regarding Taurus deliveries.
However, there will almost certainly not be a majority in favor of it.
(smu with material from dpa)