The decision followed weeks of intense disputes within the coalition, comprised of Scholz’s Social Democrats, Lindner’s Free Democrats, and the Greens.

The chancellery confirmed the firing after a high-stakes meeting with senior members of all three parties, according to Scholz’s spokesman, Steffen Hebestreit. A press conference is scheduled for 2015 GMT.

Lindner, a vocal advocate for economic reform, had pushed for substantial policy changes to revive Germany’s struggling economy, clashing with the Social Democrats and the Greens. He had previously hinted at a possible split from the coalition, warning of “an autumn of decisions” as tough budget negotiations approached.

Continue reading HERE

Source: https://www.firstpost.com/world/german-chancellor-olaf-scholz-fires-finance-minister-ends-nations-three-party-coalition-govt-13832844.html

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In the first visit by a G7 leader to China since the pandemic, Scholz pressed Xi to prevail on Russia to end the war in Ukraine, saying Beijing had a responsibility as a major power to do so.

Xi agreed that both leaders “jointly oppose the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons”, according to a readout by the state-run Xinhua news agency, though he refrained from criticising Russia or calling on Moscow to withdraw its troops.

Continue reading HERE

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/china/german-chancellor-scholz-lands-beijing-2022-11-04/

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[Disclaimer]

The post Xi, Scholz warn against ‘irresponsible’ nuclear threats over Ukraine first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Last month, Chancellor Olaf Scholz made a special address to the Bundestag and the German public, in which he declared a “turning point” in the modern history of the country. The era of a shrinking German military is over, he said. The days in which only three German combat aircraft are operational, and no submarine can put to sea because of technical problems, are at an end. The time has come to invest in the Bundeswehr, which steadily withered after the collapse of the Iron Curtain and the end of the Cold War. There’s a new war in the neighborhood. Russia invaded Ukraine unprovoked, and the biggest battles on European soil since the Second World War are taking place just hundreds of kilometers east of the German capital. “Soon,” Scholz promised, “Germany will have the largest conventional army in Europe within NATO.”

Such militant talk has been heard from Berlin several times in the past century or so, but this time, the decision by the Bundestag after Scholz’s speech to allocate one hundred billion euros immediately to massive rearmament of all Germany’s armed forces did not arouse waves of fear around the world, but rather plaudits. The current democratic Germany is well anchored in NATO, and even more so in the European Union. Rearmament is coming after years of appeals from the West for greater military involvement.

The German pendulum, one that in recent decades has remained steadily at the diplomatic end, where dialogue is always preferable to unilateral action and concepts such as “soft power” and “change through trade” are constantly heard, has swung sharply to the other side over the past three months. Germany is now on a clear path to rearmament, after decades of neglect and downsizing, abolition of mandatory conscription, and limited military procurement.

” I’m the one who must give answers about the unpreparedness of the German army,” Chief of German Army Lieutenant General Alfons Mais posted on social media just days after the war broke out, in a post critical of his country. “For decades, we conducted a mistaken military policy,” lamented former Minister of Defense Ursula von der Leyen. It seems clear, now that it is enjoying the public legitimacy it previously lacked, that the time has come for the German military’s star to shine once more.

And this time, one relatively small country, one with a thriving arms industry and “special relations” with Germany, suddenly finds itself at the heart of the German procurement campaign. What began in the 1990s with unilateral and one-time German compensation to Israel in the form of submarines, has in the past decade become a closer and more reciprocal security relationship than ever, turning over billions of euros. UAVs built in Israel, air-to-surface missiles fired from UAVs developed by Israel’s defense industry, small arms, German warships, electronic warfare systems and of course sophisticated submarines made in Germany – all have already changed hands. Even Israel’s Arrow 3 missile defense system with its state-of-the-art radar is there for purchase, as is the Iron Dome system for short-range rocket defense.

The German switch of direction, the Zeitenwende (“change of eras”) mentioned by Scholz, catches Israel when it has closer than ever security relations with Europe’s biggest economy, meaning an opportunity for a financial bonanza. “From the moment the German army’s procurement list was published, that is, the key areas where it intends to spend the €100 billion, the phones have not stopped ringing,” an Israeli source familiar with security procurement relations between the two countries told “Globes”. “Every Israeli company, state-owned or private, believes it can find an item that fits the systems it develops, and that now is the time to sell to the Germans.”

In the past, fearing the reaction of the Arab countries and their possible recognition of East Germany, West Germany refused to build submarines for Israel; they were built in foreign shipyards according to German design. The turning point in relations occurred only after the Gulf War in 1991, which coincided with reunification, and the desire of a newly united Germany to gain legitimacy from Israel. In those days, after two world wars, the very idea of a unified Germany scared the West.

Five German submarines have already been delivered to Israel. Among other things, these have become, according to foreign reports, Israel’s strategic home defense, capable of launching a “second round” of nuclear cruise missiles in the event of a nuclear attack. Four corvettes were also provided. The sixth submarine is currently under construction at the Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW) shipyards in Kiel and is supposed to be the glory of Germany’s naval shipbuilding industry, the biggest built in Germany since World War II. Last year, a contract was signed for the supply of three even more advanced submarines at close to three billion euro. According to the SIPRI Arms Transfers Database, over the last three decades, Israel has become the German arms industry’s fourth largest export destination, after Greece, Turkey and South Korea.

But what has changed in recent years is reciprocity. The German army finds in Israel a modern and relatively proximate army that it can learn from, with similar potential enemies, like Iran and Russia (which are operating in Syria). In addition, Israel is a leading arms exporter in areas where Germany is relatively weak, such as modern warfare. Instead of just receiving submarines, Israel now sells anti-tank missiles and missile defense systems to Germany. It even leases advanced UAVs to the German army and will soon arm them with advanced air-to-surface missiles. Security relations are flourishing, and past attempts to make them conditional upon political progress with the Palestinians, as Merkel tried to do briefly, have evaporated.

“Germany is changing the way it thinks about war and its military procurement,” explains Dr. Peter Lintl, of Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWF, the German Institute for International and Security Affairs) and an expert on Germany-Israel relations. “The Germans see clearly that Israel arms work, and there’s no doubt that Israel is a leading country in this area. In addition, it’s important to remember that most German politicians have a basic ambition to strengthen relations between Israel and Germany. There are many considerations in buying weapons systems, but they are undoubtedly always joined by a longstanding German consideration – reinforcing ties between the countries, because of the history.”

Dr. Lintl believes that these days “There’s a consensus not to sell weapons related to the occupation, but only a minority within the political system say that weapons should not be bought from or sold to Israel at all because of the conflict with the Palestinians” But, he says, “Should there be another confrontation with Gaza, some will say, once again, that Germany needs to be more careful. In fact, there is a constant tension between the desire to strengthen the special relationship, because of the past, and the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. ”

Strangely, the Holocaust created a special bond between the countries, Dr. Lintl believes. “Just as pacifism has been, so far, a part of German national identity, so has battle readiness been in Israel. Both sides came out of the Holocaust saying ‘Never again’. In Germany it meant ‘No more war, ever,’ and in Israel it meant and still means ‘We will never again go like sheep to the slaughter.”’

The present global Zeitgeist is clearly leaning towards the Israeli approach. The war in Ukraine has led many European militaries to announce they are rearming, and Germany sees in Israel an arms industry that complements what it lacks: creativity, computing, innovation, and everything related to digitization and software. The close relationship between the two countries is reflected, for example, in the 2018 German deal to lease seven Heron-TP UAVs, which allows for training and information sharing between the parties, and not just purchasing a “black box” weapons system. Last April, the German government even announced that it would equip the drones with Israeli missiles, for which it will pay at least €150 million. The Germans hope this will also help them develop future European UAVs, and they are willing to pay billions of euros for that.

The German army’s generational shift is also doing its part. “The older generation with its forms and rubber stamps is gone, and younger people are coming in,” says an informed Israeli source. “They travel to Israel, go to the beach, visit Air Force bases, see the weapons systems in action – and they get excited. The same dynamics that made Israel the start-up nation also works in selling advanced weapons.”

Joint flights and training exercises

About €40 billion of the approved €100 billion are earmarked for equipping the Luftwaffe, which maintains the warmest of ties with its Israeli counterpart. The joint flyovers above Dachau and the Negev are symbolic, but also reflect the depth of the relationship forged between the forces, especially in recent years. At the Israel Air Force’s Tel Nof base, a German squadron trains UAV pilots, German and Israeli families walk around the base, and all have lunch together, shoulder to shoulder, each wearing their own uniform. The name of the squadron – The Red Baron – was suggested by the Israelis in honor of the German World War I flying ace.

The depth of this relationship was evident last month at a ceremony held near Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate. The commanders of the Israeli and German Air Forces – General Amikam Nurkin (who retired about two months ago) and General Ingo Gerhartz – jointly received the Ernst Cramer Medaille, a medal awarded by the Deutsch-Israelische Gesellschaft (DIG, the German-Israeli Society). This was the first time the award was presented to military personnel, and the Air Force commanders of both countries praised the cooperation between them.

Gerhartz later told newspaper Die Welt how much he valued his Israeli counterpart. “Israel has the most active air force in the world and a very efficient military industry. We, on the other hand, have complex bureaucratic structures.” Gerhartz added that the German Air Force was preparing for the day when it would be called upon to side with Israel in the name of the commitment made by former Chancellor Merkel and current Chancellor Scholz, that viewed ensuring Israel’s existence as part of the Federal Republic of Germany’s Staatsraison (meaning, ‘reason for being’). “If we say this,” Gerhartz said, “then we should also stand behind it. It means that the two air forces must be able to work together. The question of whether that will actually happen will depend on a political decision.”

Yoram Erlich, an Israeli who has lived in Germany for more than four decades and deals in tourism, is one of the members of the DIG leadership who decided to award the medal to both commanders. “I saw it as very natural,” he tells “Globes”. “The photos from the exercises in the Arava and the joint flights over Jerusalem or Dachau are part of very broad cooperation on security issues, much more than in the past.” Beyond that, he says, “there are very close personal relations between many Germans and Israelis these days. The Germans have a kind of attraction to Israel, because of the past. There are many exchange visits, whether for youth, journalists, military personnel, or politicians.”

Ehrlich says that he sensed security relations were growing closer when he began to see more and more German military personnel, especially from the Luftwaffe, at the Tel Aviv hotels he visits as part of his travels. “On one flight, I found myself sitting next to the German chief of staff who had apparently come to visit the country for security talks, and on another visit, in a Tel Aviv hotel lobby, I met German helicopter pilots who boasted to me that they had purchased an important component from the Israeli Air Force.”

“But, of course, you have to have a good product,” Ehrlich adds. “The German army won’t buy just for its own sake, just because of the history, or the special relationship. All my German acquaintances saw on television the Iron Dome system in action last year. One of the first things I have been told since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine is that Germany needs such a system, too.”

A slice of the budget pie

Meanwhile, Israel’s defense companies are not wasting time, with all of them trying to obtain a share of the heavy German military budget. Last week, the Innovation and Leadership in Aerospace (ILA) trade show was held in Berlin, after two years during which the Covid-19 pandemic halted international security conferences. Israel – which SIPRI ranks as the world’s ninth largest arms exporter – was lavishly represented at a variety of defense industry booths. Meanwhile, Rafael’s German subsidiary Dynamit Nobel Defense (DND), has already won a major contract to supply anti-tank rocket launchers to the German army.

At present, the German request to be the world’s first Arrow 3 customer is also being discussed. German political delegations have already visited Israel to discuss the purchase, and Gerhartz told the media he had recommended that the German government should purchase it. The sophisticated EL/M-2080 Green Pine missile-defense radar, which is part of the system, is supposed to protect not only Germany but the Baltic states and Poland as well. The initial cost of the project is estimated at €3 billion.

These billions are proof that security relations between Israel and Germany could hardly be closer. Less than 70 years after the Holocaust, German submarines are protecting Israel, and Western Europe’s defensive architecture is about to be “Made in Israel”.

Source: https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-germany-rearms-with-israeli-weapons-1001416383

The post Germany rearms with Israeli weapons first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The German military will contribute considerably to the strengthening of NATO’s east flank, the country’s Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has announced. He also promised major investment that would turn the Bundeswehr into the largest military force among European members of the US-led military bloc.

Speaking before the German parliament on Wednesday, Scholz assured fellow lawmakers that Berlin would “defend every square meter” of NATO territory, if necessary. The chancellor added that the bloc’s members in Eastern Europe could count on Germany. The country would increase its military presence in the region, including in and around the Baltic Sea, Scholz revealed.

Among the countries where the Bundeswehr will be permanently stationed as part of NATO forces is Lithuania. The Baltic state’s already strained relations with Moscow further escalated last week when Vilnius decided to block the transit of sanctioned goods to Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave. The Kremlin warned it would retaliate severely.

Commenting on Germany’s and NATO’s relations with Russia, Scholz pointed out that a partnership with the eastern neighbor is “unimaginable in the foreseeable future” now that an “imperialist Russia” has attacked Ukraine.

The German head of government warned, however, against terminating any of the fundamental agreements currently existing between the military alliance and Russia.

“We will campaign more than ever for the preservation of an international order that is based on law rather than force,” the German chancellor clarified.

Scholz also said that the sight of destruction in the towns of Irpin and Bucha outside of Kiev, which he had recently visited, reminded him of pictures of destroyed German cities after WWII.

“And just like the war-ravaged Europe then, today Ukraine needs a Marshall Plan for [its] reconstruction,” the chancellor argued, referring to the famous US-sponsored program for European post-war recovery.

The chancellor called it Europe’s “duty” to provide Ukraine with assistance.

To this end, Berlin has invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to join via video link the upcoming meeting of G7 leaders, which will take place in Bavaria from June 26 until June 28.

Scholz also said that he intended to hold a special conference of international experts, aimed at raising additional aid for Ukraine.

Speaking in the Bundestag, the chancellor revealed that German self-propelled howitzers had already been supplied to Kiev, with Ukrainian troops also currently undergoing training in the use of self-propelled anti-aircraft Gepard guns, and will start getting acquainted with US-designed M270 multiple launch rocket systems and the German-made IRIS-T air defense system. All of these weapons systems will be provided to Ukraine by Germany.

Later in the day, Chancellor Scholz was quoted by several media outlets as promising to make the German military the “biggest conventional army” among European NATO member states. According to the chancellor, this would have a positive effect not only on Germany’s security but also on that of its allies.

To this end, a special fund to the tune of €100 billion has been earmarked, which will help to considerably upgrade the German military’s capabilities, he reportedly also noted.

After weeks of talks, the ruling traffic-light coalition and the conservative opposition agreed in late May to allocate the money.

Source: https://www.rt.com/news/557679-german-chancellor-military-eastern-europe/

The post Germany makes major announcement on army first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

—3 European leaders go to Kyiv, expected to meet with Ukraine’s Zelenskyy
—10,000 civilians remaining in Sievierodonetsk, governor says
—Germany says can deliver weapons to Ukraine ‘end of July or the start of August’

This was last updated at 07:22 UTC/GMT

Governor says 10,000 civilians still in Sievierodonetsk
Serhiy Gaiday, the governor of the eastern Ukrainian Luhansk region, said that around 10,000 civilians are still in the key city of Sievierodonetsk, where fighting has been raging amid a dire humanitarian condition.

“Out of 100,000 residents, around 10,000 remain,” Gaiday said on the Telegram messaging app.

He said Ukraine’s army is “holding back the enemy as much as possible.”

Earlier this week, Ukraine said Russian forces destroyed all bridges connecting the city, making it difficult to evacuate civilians or deliver humanitarian aid.

Russia is believed to be now in control of at least the majority of the city.

European leaders arrive in Kyiv
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi arrived in Kyiv on Thursday, the French presidential palace said.

Scholz said the three leaders wanted “to show their support for Ukraine and the citizens of Ukraine.”

“But we don’t just want to demonstrate solidarity, we also want to assure that the help we organize — financial and humanitarian, but also when it comes to weapons — will be continued,” he said. Support will continue for as long as is necessary, he said.

The trio took an overnight train to Kyiv from Poland. They are expected to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Major German and Italian media outlets, including Germany’s ZDF and Italy’s Repubblica, had earlier published a photo of the three leaders on the train.

It is the first time the three travel to Kyiv since the war started in Ukraine.

There had been speculation earlier this week that Scholz would be part of the joint trip ahead of a G7 summit at the end of June.

The visit also comes a day before the European Commission is set to make a recommendation on Ukraine’s status as an EU candidate.

The three leaders have come under criticism over their response to the war. Critics say France and Germany, and, to a lesser extent, Italy, have been slow to deliver weapons to Ukraine. Scholz and Macron have also been criticized for maintaining contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

German minister: Weapons can be delivered to Ukraine by August
German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said three multiple rocket launchers could be delivered to Ukraine in July or August after Ukrainian forces receive adequate training on them.

Kyiv has complained that weapons that Germany pledged to Ukraine were not delivered. Berlin says Ukrainian troops must first be trained to use them.

“The training on these multiple rocket launchers can begin at the end of June, meaning they can be delivered at the end of July or the start of August,” Lambrecht told reporters as she arrived for a second day of talks with her NATO counterparts in Brussels.

German ex-chancellor seeks to recuperate parliamentary office
Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder has sent a letter to the Bundestag budget committee that challenges the decision to revoke his right to a parliamentary office.

Schröder was Germany’s chancellor from 1998 to 2005. After leaving office he was involved with Russian energy firms Gazprom and Rosneft. Since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, he has drawn criticism for his ties to Moscow.

The committee voted in May to wind down his office. The office was allocated more than €400,00 ($418,000) last year.

In a letter to the committee’s chair, Schröder’s lawyer said that the former chancellor had learned “via the media” that his office was being “put on hold.”

“This decision is based on the determination that he no longer has any ‘continuing obligations arising from the office,'” Schröders lawyer said in the letter, adding that this determination is not substantiated and that it was unclear what these “continuing obligations” would constitute.

The letter also argues that a resolution taken from the media is “evidently illegal and unconstitutional.”

Schröder’s lawyer said that he hopes for “the chance to reach a mutually acceptable settlement by way of conversation on an even playing field.”

Gazprom cuts gas supply to Germany by around 60% in 2 days
Russian energy giant Gazprom has begun reducing the volume of gas it supplies to Germany via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to a daily maximum of 67 million cubic meters early on Thursday.

On Tuesday, Gazprom announced it would reduce the maximum delivery volume to 100 million cubic meters of gas per day, down from 167 million cubic meters.

Overall, the cut represents an approximate 60% reduction in gas supplies to Germany in just two days.

German Economy Minister Robert Habeck accused Moscow of attempting to create unease and increase gas prices. He added that it was still possible to source alternative gas supplies on the market, albeit at a high price.

Report: 2 US volunteers in Ukraine missing
Two Americans who volunteered to support Ukraine’s armed forces have reportedly gone missing.

The Telegraph newspaper cited an unnamed fellow fighter as saying that the two Americans were captured by Russian forces during a June 9 battle northeast of Kharkiv.

The two Americans are identified as Alexander Drueke and Andy Huynh, US military veterans who had been living in the state of Alabama.

White House spokesperson John Kirby said that he could not confirm the disappearance, but that “if it’s true, we’ll do everything we can to get them safely back home.”

Kirby went on to discourage Americans from volunteering to fight in Ukraine.

“It is a war zone. It is combat. And if you feel passionate about supporting Ukraine, there’s any number of other ways to do that that are safer and just as effective,” Kirby said.

Ukraine says Russian companies use Georgian entities to bypass sanctions
David Arakhamia, Ukraine’s chief negotiator with Russia, said Russian people and companies are circumventing Western sanctions by making use of Georgian entities to do so.

He told a German Marshall Fund event in Washington that Russians are “heavily” using “Georgian banks, Georgian financial system, Georgian companies and so on,” to dodge the West’s sanctions regime.

“If you are a sanctioned Russian person, you go to the Internet, you open up a Georgian company, open up remotely the bank account and start processing,” Arakhamia added.

He also urged Washington to take action to close the loophole.

What happened in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Wednesday
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said defending the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine was “vital” as the outcome would indicate “who will dominate in the coming weeks” of the war.

Serhii Haidai, the governor of Luhansk province, said that the fighting around the contested city of Sievierodonetsk and other places in eastern Ukraine “is getting more difficult.” By contrast, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said that Russian forces were now in control of the city of Sievierodonetsk.

The United States will provide Ukraine with another $1 billion (€963 million) to help the country amid Russia’s assault in the eastern Donbas region. The latest boost of aid will include major weapons systems that the Ukrainian government has appealed for such as howitzers, anti-ship missile launchers and rounds for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems.

The US will also send an additional $225 million in humanitarian aid to provide assistance for drinking water, food, shelter and other essential items.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its missiles had destroyed a warehouse in the Lviv region, which was being used to store ammunition for weapons donated by NATO members.

Germany will only be able to deliver three instead of four planned rocket launchers to Ukraine, Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said his country is ready to host four-way talks with the UN, Russia and Ukraine in order to unblock the passage of grain through the Black Sea.

A UN panel investigating possible human rights violations said they are collecting evidence, but that it is too early to say whether the allegations constitute war crimes.

Chinese state media reported Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke with Russian leader Vladimir Putin by phone and said his country would continue to support Russia’s “sovereignty and security.”

You can revisit our updates from Tuesday, June 15, here.

fb, ar, sdi/jsi (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/ukraine-german-chancellor-scholz-arrives-in-kyiv-live-updates/a-62146502

The post Ukraine: German Chancellor Scholz arrives in Kyiv — live updates first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Scholz, in an interview broadcast Monday on ZDF public television, said Russian President Vladimir Putin had miscalculated if he had anticipated he might be able to gain territory from Ukraine, declare an end to hostilities, and see Western countries drop sanctions.

“He didn’t think his entire Ukraine operation through,” Scholz said. “He didn’t think Ukraine would resist like that. He didn’t think we would support them to hold out for so long. … We won’t withdraw the sanctions unless he reaches an agreement with Ukraine, and he won’t get that with a dictated peace.”

He also said Germany would not accept Russia’s annexation of Crimea. “That was a breach of international law … that remains true,” he said.

Scholz added that he had no plans to visit Kyiv after a planned trip by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier was dropped due to Ukraine’s objections.

Scholz rejected criticism that he was at first too hesitant to send Ukraine heavy weapons, followed by criticism from pacifists after Germany last week announced the delivery of “Gepard” anti-aircraft tanks to Ukraine.

“There’s no point in doing something just because someone is shouting or not doing something because someone is shouting,” Scholz said, adding that protecting the country and keeping peace was his duty as chancellor.

Scholz is under pressure both at home and abroad to supply Ukraine with heavy arms such as tanks and howitzers and support an immediate EU embargo on Russian energy imports to strip Putin of hard currency that helps him finance the war.

(Reporting by Thomas Escritt and Riham Alkousaa; Editing by Leslie Adler)

Source: https://uk.news.yahoo.com/sanctions-not-lifted-until-russia-183608585.html

The post Sanctions will not be lifted until Russia signs peace deal with Ukraine -Germany’s Scholz first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

BERLIN — On the last Saturday in February, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz gathered with his top advisers in his vast, glass-walled office and read aloud a speech condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — remarks that would transform his nation’s security and defense policy.

As he queried particular phrases in the draft, his advisers proposed alternatives. Scholz, 63, who has known his nation only at peace, was desperate to avert a third world war, said a senior German official who, like others close to the chancellor, spoke on the condition of anonymity to recount private discussions. Initially, that concern made Scholz reluctant to speak of armaments, above all sending weapons to Ukraine.

But when aides presented the chancellor with the question of arming Ukraine directly or simply releasing German-made weapons purchased by partner nations, a request being weighed the same day, he approved both — assessing that sufficient support existed within his government and party to jettison Germany’s long-standing aversion to exporting weapons into conflict zones.

In the course of the deliberations that day, the chancellor also resolved to make explicit how Germany would develop its arsenal to guard against a widening conflict. The country, whose wars of conquest in the previous century had made the projection of military power verboten, would in effect become the world’s third-largest military spender, not only bolstering NATO deployments but strengthening the Bundeswehr, Germany’s armed forces, with procurements including new armed drones and fighter jets.

“He’s aware of what that means,” said an aide involved in the discussions. “That with growing abilities will also come growing demands and expectations.”

The challenge remained to find the words to announce these policies without alarming the public, recalled Scholz advisers. “We are also doing this for us, for our own security,” the chancellor said in the final version of the speech, which he delivered that Sunday to the German parliament. He declared Russia’s invasion three days earlier, on Feb. 24, a “Zeitenwende,” or “turning of an era.”

As over 100,000 rally for Ukraine, Germany announces vast defense spending increase that may upend European security policy

Scholz’s carefully crafted speech signals his approach to taking the reins of government in a crisis — cautious and calculating, constrained by history. The test is whether the same approach can steer his country through a national security transformation and into a more active and confident role on the world stage.

“Scholz sleepwalked into the crisis, seemingly never thinking it would actually happen, but has now brought about Germany’s most significant U-turn since 1989,” said Peter Wittig, a former German ambassador to the United States, referring to the fall of the Berlin Wall. “The chancellor said, ‘Germany needs hard power.’ ”

But decisions made in crisis can be difficult to sustain, Wittig said. Already Berlin is facing intensifying criticism from Ukrainian officials for not doing enough to export arms. And some in Scholz’s party say his security commitments are unrealistic.

In this new era for Germany, marked by the return of land war to Europe, the past casts a long shadow. When Scholz led his Social Democratic Party to victory in last fall’s elections, he inherited the mantle of German chancellors with complex ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Angela Merkel, a fluent Russian speaker raised in Germany’s former communist east, was a frequent interlocutor for Putin, pressing him on issues ranging from migration to human rights. She also steered the Normandy Format talks — among France, Germany, Ukraine and Russia — that helped broker a 2014 cease-fire agreement in the contested Ukrainian region of Donbas.

Scholz, who had been finance minister and vice chancellor in Merkel’s final coalition government, positioned himself as her natural heir. She was among those he consulted in preparing to meet with Putin in February.

Now, Merkel’s legacy is coming under new criticism. The center-right chancellor supported the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, bucking U.S. recommendations and deepening her country’s dependency on Russian fossil fuels. She also favored dialogue with Putin over more forceful measures. She counseled President Barack Obama against sending lethal aid to Ukraine when he sought her advice in 2014 and 2015, according to current and former German diplomats familiar with the conversations.

Germany, urged to ‘stop Putin’s war machine,’ resists embargo on Russian energy

At the same time, Merkel “had no illusions about Putin’s ruthlessness,” said a former German diplomat.

That sets her apart from Gerhard Schröder, the chancellor before her, whose refusal to relinquish board seats on Russian energy companies has made him persona non grata in Scholz’s party, which he twice led to victory, in 1998 and 2002. His deference to Putin has also threatened to discredit Germany’s broader policy of Ostpolitik, the normalization of relations with the East, pioneered by the Social Democrats in the 1970s.

Schröder’s access to strongmen in Eastern Europe and Western Asia has at times proved useful to his government. In 2017, he helped persuade Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to release a detained human rights activist, said Ulrich Brandenburg, a former German ambassador to Russia. But the 77-year-old’s trip last month to Moscow yielded no results, according to German officials, who said he is acting independently. In a speech last month, Schröder spoke of “many mistakes on both sides.”

The legacy of his predecessors is hard for Scholz to escape, said Pavlo Klimkin, a former Ukrainian foreign minister and ambassador to Germany. “Under moral and political pressure, Scholz is clearly trying to exit this friendly mentality to Russia,” Klimkin said.

What you need to know about Olaf Scholz

The chancellor’s mentality already differed from that of his predecessors, his allies say.
Scholz, a onetime vice president of the International Union of Socialist Youth who criticized the “aggressive-imperialist NATO,” increased Germany’s defense budget when he served as finance minister in Merkel’s cabinet. In 2018, his role in selecting a new foreign minister caused blowback in his center-left party when his pick took a tough line on Russia, accusing the Kremlin of defining itself in opposition to the West. Scholz and others faced internal recriminations, associates said, for advocating what one person called a “Europe First” agenda.

Some within Scholz’s party are still skeptical of such an agenda. Ralf Stegner, a Social Democratic lawmaker and member of the foreign affairs committee, said security in Europe is possible only “with Russia, not against Russia.”

Philipp Türmer, deputy chairman of the Social Democratic Party’s youth organization, said a better-equipped military is a necessity. But “abstract aims of military expansion,” including the NATO commitment of spending 2 percent of economic output on defense, “don’t make sense,” said Türmer, who holds the same position at the youth organization, called Jusos, that Scholz once did.

In the short term, “the party will remain united around Scholz and this goal,” said Nils Schmid, a lawmaker and foreign policy spokesman for Scholz’s Social Democrats in parliament. Then, he said, the chancellor will have to “spell out exactly which projects and which purchases are needed.”

The path is uncharted in a country without a national security council or a well-supplied military. Germany’s army chief took to LinkedIn in the early hours of Russia’s invasion to warn that the country’s armed forces were “more or less powerless.”

Power is what Scholz decided his country needed, after diplomacy failed to bring Putin back from the brink.

During his February visit to Moscow, the chancellor accepted sparkling wine from his Russian counterpart. But when Scholz asked the Russian president, “Mr. Putin, can you assure me that once I leave Moscow, that’s not the moment your fighter jets start to invade Ukraine?” Putin gave no answer, according to someone briefed on the conversation.

Scholz says response to Russia will be ‘united and decisive’ if Ukraine is invaded

A week before Russia’s invasion, when the leader of an allied nation asked Scholz on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference what he thought the probability was that Putin would give the order to attack, on a scale from 1 to 10, the chancellor refused to make a prediction, according to a person familiar with the exchange. Scholz also demurred when pressed to counter early Russian hostilities, most notably resisting calls to halt Nord Stream 2 — before reversing course and preventing certification of the controversial project.

Scholz has told associates since his Feb. 27 speech that German power means not only national defense but also economic prosperity and the cultural factors that make Germany an attractive place to live.

A majority of the public backs sending arms to Ukraine, according to recent polling, a reversal from earlier this year during Russia’s military buildup, when surveys showed that most Germans still opposed weapons deliveries.

But public confidence is at a low ebb. Only 19 percent of Germans are optimistic about the near future, the lowest share since 1949, according to a March poll by the Allensbach Institute. “The population is in shock,” wrote the institute’s managing director.

Scholz’s calls with Putin since the invasion have been carefully coordinated with European allies, the United States and Ukraine. “It is the Ukrainians that need to call the shots,” said the senior German official, so no one will “betray them, even accidentally.”

Ukrainian assessments of German leadership are already laced with a sense of betrayal, especially after evidence of civilian massacres emerged from Bucha. Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, said last weekend that Scholz “finally has to take on this leadership role” and advance tougher sanctions.

In Bucha, the scope of Russian barbarity is coming into focus

Norbert Röttgen, a lawmaker from Germany’s center-right Christian Democratic Union, accused Scholz of pursuing a “policy of deliberate halfheartedness.” Scenes from Bucha demand the chancellor make good on his language about a new era, Röttgen said.

“A ‘Zeitenwende’ requires much more than just a defense fund,” said the lawmaker, a former chairman of the foreign affairs committee. “The government has to deliver on its promise that everything fundamentally has changed.”

In a Wednesday appearance before lawmakers, Scholz defended his government’s arms shipments, saying Germany was sending everything it could. He stressed that shipments were being coordinated with NATO, in response to questions about a Ukrainian request for 100 German infantry vehicles. That request was relayed to Scholz and his team by Wladimir Klitschko, the Ukrainian celebrity and former professional boxer, during a visit to Berlin last week, according to a person with knowledge of the meeting. A Ukrainian official declined to comment.

Ukraine presses NATO for immediate aid: ‘Weapons, weapons, weapons’

Despite the decision to send arms into a conflict zone, said a senior German diplomat, “our history doesn’t go away. You will see a careful approach in foreign policy.” The foremost task, according to the diplomat, is to “hold Europe together.”

And that falls to Scholz. “He is the center of power, even in a parliamentary system,” the diplomat said.

Parts of the German media doubt he has what it takes. The chancellor, wrote a columnist in the Munich-based Süddeutsche Zeitung, embodies his country’s problems: “weak in leadership, self-centered and helpless.”

That assessment, say Scholz’s allies, is contradicted by his success in overturning decades of foreign policy consensus in a single weekend, and bringing his three-party coalition government along with him. “He’s proactive and pushy,” said Schmid, the lawmaker and foreign policy spokesman. “He wants to see things implemented.”

At 5 feet and 7 inches, Scholz is not an imposing presence. When he was mayor of Hamburg, from 2011 to 2018, he used to row before cabinet meetings on Alster Lake. Now, he uses an indoor water rower — or else runs two times a week. Despite his serious manner, he has a mischievous, high-pitched laugh, say associates, and aides address him with the informal pronoun “du,” instead of the professional “Sie.”

French President Emmanuel Macron, a longtime advocate of greater European military cooperation, has staked out a more high-profile role rallying the continent behind the Ukrainian cause. Biden went to Warsaw to proclaim a new “battle for democracy.” Scholz is less comfortable standing at a lectern than he is sitting at a conference table. “He’s someone who knows his briefing book,” said the senior German diplomat.

After call with Putin, Macron convinced that ‘the worst is yet to come’ and that Russia wants to take all of Ukraine

That attitude also shapes Scholz’s engagement with fellow leaders. He feels especially aligned with Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, said the senior German official, who added, “Olaf Scholz is not the guy who bonds in a way that they’re best buddies and drinking, but I think they all click politically.”

Scholz’s advisers have benefited from strong ties with Biden’s team, said senior officials in Berlin.

Scholz’s closest confidant, Wolfgang Schmidt, the chancellery chief of staff who has the rank of a cabinet minister, speaks regularly to William J. Burns, the CIA director, who was in Berlin last month. Scholz’s chief economic adviser, Jörg Kukies, a former Goldman Sachs banker, works with Daleep Singh, a deputy national security adviser handling sanctions. And foreign policy adviser Jens Plötner consults with Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser.

The chancellor’s advisers hope Biden’s leadership role in responding to Russian aggression might help him win over Trump supporters who crave American strength. And they’re even inclined to help. One adviser mused about Scholz and Macron, who is up for reelection this month, traveling to the United States and reaching out to American voters.

“They could go to where the F-35 is produced,” said the adviser, referring to the combat aircraft, which is made in Fort Worth and which Germany has promised to buy. “And they could say, ‘That’s your leader who made this happen.’ ”

Vanessa Guinan-Bank contributed to this report.

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/04/08/olaf-scholz-germany-russia-ukraine/

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Germany on Wednesday promised continued support for Ukraine in their war with Russia, but ruled out NATO’s direct involvement in the conflict.

Addressing lawmakers during a budget debate, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz warned that suggestions for a NATO peacekeeping mission or a no-fly zone in Ukraine could trigger a wider conflict.

“NATO will not become a party to the war. We are in agreement with our European allies and the US on this. This is a matter of reason, and everything else would be irresponsible,” he stressed.

The German chancellor said Western sanctions against Russia have started to show their impact, and they may soon adopt even stricter measures if Russian President Vladimir Putin would not cease hostilities.

“Putin needs to understand the truth about the war in Ukraine,” he said. “The truth is that the war destroys Ukraine. But with this war, Putin is also destroying the future of Russia.”

Scholz renewed his call for the Russian leader to immediately cease all combat operations in Ukraine and withdraw the Russian troops from the country.

Source: https://www.yenisafak.com/en/world/germany-says-nato-not-a-party-to-war-in-ukraine-3592264

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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock met in Washington on Wednesday to discuss various issues between the two countries. One critical issue was that of the increase of Russian troops along the border of its former Soviet neighbor Ukraine. The build-up is said to be caused by Ukraine’s attempts to join NATO, which the U.S. and Germany are both members of. The two representatives agreed that this military presence can be dangerous.

“Both Germany and the United States see Russia’s actions toward Ukraine as an immediate and urgent challenge to peace and stability in Europe,” said Blinken. “We condemn Russia’s military buildup on Ukraine’s borders, as well as Russia’s increasingly harsh rhetoric as it continues to push the false narrative that Ukraine seeks to provoke them. That’s a little bit like the fox saying it had no choice but to attack the henhouse because somehow the hens presented a threat.”

Without using analogies like her American counterpart, Baerbock agreed that Russia’s actions are a form of intimidation.

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“We jointly reiterated that Russian actions and activities come with a clear price tag,” she explained, “and a renewed violation of Ukrainian sovereignty by Russia would have severe consequences.”

The Blinken-Baerbock meeting followed a telephone call last week between President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin, a conversation Sunday between Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and a group discussion Tuesday among Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan and his counterparts from the five Nordic nations.

It also preceded a flurry of meetings involving NATO foreign ministers, senior U.S. and Russian officials, the NATO-Russia Council and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe set for next week.

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“The real question is whether Russia is serious about diplomacy, serious about de-escalation,” Blinken said. “Let’s see where this goes over the next weeks.”

Western officials have hinted at any number of economically crippling sanctions that could be imposed should Russia act. Those include near-total cutoff from the international financial system and steps toward greater NATO integration with non-allied European nations.

But, there have been very few specifics and Blinken again declined to discuss them. “I’m not going to telegraph them publicly, but I can tell you with great confidence that a tremendous amount of work has been done already. There is very strong coordination and collaboration and very strong agreement on measures that would be taken in the event of renewed Russian aggression against Ukraine.”

As the Biden administration moves to build international consensus around a set of possible punitive measures, Germany is clearly the linchpin. Securing the support of Europe’s biggest economy will be key to both messaging and implementation of whatever is decided.

Baerbock is the top diplomat in the first German government in 16 years not headed by Angela Merkel. She has struck a tougher tone on Russia than her predecessor. But Germany has adopted a less confrontational stance toward Russia compared with many other European nations.

Germany’s business ties with Russia could provide leverage, but they could also prove a hindrance for forging a united front toward Moscow. Despite strong criticism from the U.S., the center-left government of new Chancellor Olaf Scholz hasn’t shown itself willing to block the start of natural gas deliveries through a newly built pipeline linking Russia and Germany—a move that would hurt both countries.

Under Merkel, Germany persuaded the Biden administration last year not to impose sanctions on the company building the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which many believe will leave Europe beholden to Russia for energy and Ukraine more vulnerable.

Blinken noted that the pipeline, while completed, has yet to go into operation and said gas flows through it would be unlikely if Russia invades Ukraine.

“If Russia renews its aggression toward Ukraine, it would certainly be difficult to see gas flowing through it in the future,” he said. This actually gives the EU leverage over Russia, he said, rather than the other way around.

Baerbock sidestepped the question of whether the pipeline would be operationalized in the event of a Russian intervention. However, she said the new German government would abide by an agreement signed last summer with Washington that says Russia will not be allowed to use energy as a political weapon against Europe.

“We agreed on this, together with our European partners, that we would take effective measures together with our European partners, should Russia use energy as a weapon or should it continue its aggressive acts against Ukraine,” Baerbock said.

Blinken did not directly address her response but said the U.S. would press ahead with joint measures on the pipeline if necessary.

“We will continue to work in a way that I hope can be effective in dealing with energy issues and challenges, including those posed in our judgment by Nord Stream 2, and also in a way that preserves what is so vital, and that is strong trans-Atlantic solidarity. That is the most effective response and most effective tool that we have in countering Russian aggression,” he said.

Nord Stream 2 is a topic of major concern in Washington, and Congress is expected to take up two bills related to it and other Russia sanctions next week, just as the meetings in Europe are happening. A GOP bill would automatically impose Nord Stream sanctions, while a Democratic version would impose a wider range of penalties on Russia should it invade Ukraine.

Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers in Washington have blamed Nord Stream 2 for increasing Russia’s leverage over Germany and limiting what Berlin would be willing to do in response to a new invasion. Germany, like much of the European Union, is heavily reliant on Russian natural gas.

Blinken said the U.S. has delivered weapons to Ukraine and would continue to do so in the event of a further Russian military assault on the country.

Echoing concerns by some in Germany that this could stoke military tensions with Russia, Baerbock said “we have a different position on arms supply to Ukraine,” but noted that Berlin has provided a military hospital to the Ukrainian army and support in treating wounded soldiers.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: https://www.newsweek.com/us-germany-say-russia-military-buildup-ukraine-poses-immediate-urgent-challenge-1666076

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