German Intransigence on Ukraine Military Materiel

"It was right and it is important that we didn't let ourselves be driven [into making the decision]."

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz

 

"With spring approaching, Ukrainian forces are working to defend the territory they hod and preparing for additional counter offences."

"To liberate their land, they need to be able to counter Russia's evolving tactics and strategy on the battlefield in the very near term."

U.S. President Joe Biden

 

"German main battle tanks, further broadening of defence support and training missions, green light for partners to supply similar weapons."

"Just heard about these important and timely decisions in a call with Olaf Scholz."

"Sinecrely grateful to the chancellor and all our friends in [Germany]."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Germany's Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has come under pressure to supply Ukraine with Leopard 2 tanks   Reuters

All NATO members were in agreement; it was necessary to work together as a supportive team to render to Ukraine all the support it needed -- both in terms of expressions of support and the supply of military weapons -- to allow the country to continue defying the intentions of the Kremlin to return Ukraine to a vassal state. Finally, it has been decided; France, the U.K., the U.S., Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, (Canada) and Sweden are to send hundreds of tanks and heavy armoured vehicles to help fortify Ukraine's efforts to break through entrenched Russian lines on Ukrainian territory.

It has been weeks of speculation finally come to a crescendo, and a conclusion. Ukraine repeatedly asked its allies to send it tanks so it could counter Moscow's suspected plans of moving forward again with heavy armed vehicles once spring arrives. When the terrain, now semi-frozen, and as winter wears on, will become a bog, and finally settle into a hard, dry landscape once again able to hold the weight of tons of steel, enabling the Russian military to launch another assault to retake territory the Ukrainian counteroffensive liberated.

The tense anxiety over Germany's steadfast reluctance to release large arms just as fellow NATO members were urging and themselves committing to, has finally come to a head. German prevarication, citing its sense of responsibility after its horrendous performance in World War II and the Holocaust years, restrained it from become embroiled in a situation that could conceivably lead to another world war; it was fearful of escalating the situation into a wider conflict from the Ukraine-Russia theatre.

How very noble, somewhat tardy but Germany has officially discovered its conscience, taking full responsibility for forcing years of viciously destructive conflict on the world, for destroying tens of millions of lives. Well, what if there was a different, more complicated backstory that might be substantially less noble that caused Germany to balk and play for time over supplying Ukraine with the means to defend itself? 

 

Many issues raise themselves for scrutiny by a jaundiced eye. Take the mid-2000s when investment in new pipelines for greater access to plentiful and inexpensive Russian gas reserves, bypassing the pipelines that ran through Poland and Ukraine, despite being warned of the potential for security implications of such pipelines. Where Germany would be crucially dependent on Russian gas and Moscow could get on with its near-abroad expansion plans wile continuing energy exports.

 

In years past Russia punished Ukraine and Western Europe with diminished gas flows as a method of control and discipline when Moscow felt so inclined. There is also the issue of elite German political figures being drawn into the Russian sphere of energy influence; Gerhard Schroeder with his close relations with Moscow and President Putin leading his advocacy for Nord Stream 1.  A project for which he was eventually pleased to act as chairman; what! a former chancellor chairing another country's energy project?!

 

For his troubles he is reputed to have been graced with $1 million annually from Russian gas companies. Succeeding Schroeder, Angela Merkel opposed Ukraine's request for NATO membership, believing Vladimir Putin could be reasoned with. The Nord Stream 2 pipeline was approved in 2015 by Frau Merkel, a year following President Putin's instigated rebel war in eastern Ukraine, and Moscow's occupation of Crimea and its annexation. Her successor, Olaf Scholz is a Schroeder protege.

 

In 2021 two senior German officials at the German economic ministry were investigated for their roles in energy supply while spying for Russia.A senior ruling government official last year installed a fraudulent environmental foundation enabling Moscow to bypass U.S. sanctions, receiving 192 million euros from Gazprom, used to help complete Nord Stream 2. This operation was known to both Chancellors Merkel and Scholz.

 

At a time when Russian gas represented 55 percent of Germany's energy supply, Moscow's threats to cut energy exports to Europe was linked to its unspoken pressure to allow Russia its invasion of Ukraine without interference. It was only under intense pressure from other NATO members that Germany was forced to supply Ukraine with war materiel, although it continued to balk at sending them Leopard 2 tanks, and to refuse to give permission for their tanks owned by other countries to release them to Ukraine.

 

Lacking Berlin's approval, German-manufactured military weapons by law may not be re-exported elsewhere. The German government, in fact, did not reflect the opinion of the majority German population, in its refusal to allow military materiel to be sent to Ukraine. Its major focus as a government reflected the economic fallout from its loss of German gas supplies.

A German Leopard tank during exercises   Getty Images