• About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Careers
  • EEO PUBLIC FILE REPORT
  • FCC Public File
  • FCC Applications
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
Friday, March 24, 2023
WTMJ
  • Home
  • News
    • Local
    • National
    • Coronavirus
    • Featured Stories
    • Decision Wisconsin
    • Guest Editorials
  • Weather
    • Closings and Delays
    • Flight Status
    • Interactive Radar
    • Watches and Warnings
  • Traffic
    • Construction Updates
  • Sports
    • Green Bay Packers
      • Green & Gold Podcast
    • Milwaukee Brewers
      • Brewers Weekly Podcast
      • Brewers Extra Innings
      • First Pitch
    • Milwaukee Bucks
      • Bucks Talk
      • Bucks Weekly: The Podcast
    • NCAA
    • Extra Points
  • Shows
    • Wisconsin’s Morning News
    • Steve Scaffidi
    • Jeff Wagner
    • Wisconsin’s Afternoon News
      • The Beatles & More! An England Adventure with Sandy Maxx and Journeys Connect
      • Spectacular Scandinavia with John Mercure and Collette
    • WTMJ Nights
    • Wisconsin’s Weekend Morning News
    • WTMJ Conversations
    • Reporter’s Notebook
    • Featured Shows
      • Accunet Mortgage & Realty Show
      • Creative Planning presents, Rethink Your Money with John Hagensen
      • Drake & Associates Retirement Ready Show
      • Every Day Health
      • Fix It Show
      • Hired! The GKB Recruitment Show
      • Money Talk, The Annex Wealth Management Show
  • Podcasts
    • WTMJ Conversations 2023: The Podcast
    • Wisconsin’s Morning News Podcast
    • The Steve Scaffidi Show
    • Jeff Wagner Podcast
    • Wisconsin’s Afternoon News Podcast
    • WTMJ Nights Podcast
    • Wisconsin’s Weekend Morning News Podcast
    • The Truth on WTMJ: The Podcast
    • WTMJ Conversations Podcast
    • Milwaukee Brewers
      • First Pitch
      • Brewers Weekly Podcast
      • Brewers Extra Innings Podcast
    • Milwaukee Bucks
      • Bucks Weekly: The Podcast
      • Bucks Talk: The Podcast
    • Green Bay Packers
      • Green & Gold Podcast
    • Featured Show Podcasts
      • The Fix-It Show Podcast
      • Money Talk, The Annex Wealth Management Show Podcast
      • The Accunet Mortgage and Realty Show Podcast
      • The Fox World Travel Show Podcast
      • Creative Planning presents, Rethink Your Money with John Hagensen
  • Features
    • WTMJ Cares: Polar Plunge with Vitrano for Special Olympics
    • The Beatles & More! An England Adventure with Sandy Maxx and Journeys Connect
    • Spectacular Scandinavia with John Mercure and Collette
    • Wagner’s Home Improvement Showcase
    • 2023 Greater Milwaukee International Car & Truck Show
    • Annex Wealth Management Webinar
    • Every Day Health
    • Sunday Sip
  • Contests
LISTEN LIVE
No Result
View All Result
WTMJ
  • Home
  • News
    • Local
    • National
    • Coronavirus
    • Featured Stories
    • Decision Wisconsin
    • Guest Editorials
  • Weather
    • Closings and Delays
    • Flight Status
    • Interactive Radar
    • Watches and Warnings
  • Traffic
    • Construction Updates
  • Sports
    • Green Bay Packers
      • Green & Gold Podcast
    • Milwaukee Brewers
      • Brewers Weekly Podcast
      • Brewers Extra Innings
      • First Pitch
    • Milwaukee Bucks
      • Bucks Talk
      • Bucks Weekly: The Podcast
    • NCAA
    • Extra Points
  • Shows
    • Wisconsin’s Morning News
    • Steve Scaffidi
    • Jeff Wagner
    • Wisconsin’s Afternoon News
      • The Beatles & More! An England Adventure with Sandy Maxx and Journeys Connect
      • Spectacular Scandinavia with John Mercure and Collette
    • WTMJ Nights
    • Wisconsin’s Weekend Morning News
    • WTMJ Conversations
    • Reporter’s Notebook
    • Featured Shows
      • Accunet Mortgage & Realty Show
      • Creative Planning presents, Rethink Your Money with John Hagensen
      • Drake & Associates Retirement Ready Show
      • Every Day Health
      • Fix It Show
      • Hired! The GKB Recruitment Show
      • Money Talk, The Annex Wealth Management Show
  • Podcasts
    • WTMJ Conversations 2023: The Podcast
    • Wisconsin’s Morning News Podcast
    • The Steve Scaffidi Show
    • Jeff Wagner Podcast
    • Wisconsin’s Afternoon News Podcast
    • WTMJ Nights Podcast
    • Wisconsin’s Weekend Morning News Podcast
    • The Truth on WTMJ: The Podcast
    • WTMJ Conversations Podcast
    • Milwaukee Brewers
      • First Pitch
      • Brewers Weekly Podcast
      • Brewers Extra Innings Podcast
    • Milwaukee Bucks
      • Bucks Weekly: The Podcast
      • Bucks Talk: The Podcast
    • Green Bay Packers
      • Green & Gold Podcast
    • Featured Show Podcasts
      • The Fix-It Show Podcast
      • Money Talk, The Annex Wealth Management Show Podcast
      • The Accunet Mortgage and Realty Show Podcast
      • The Fox World Travel Show Podcast
      • Creative Planning presents, Rethink Your Money with John Hagensen
  • Features
    • WTMJ Cares: Polar Plunge with Vitrano for Special Olympics
    • The Beatles & More! An England Adventure with Sandy Maxx and Journeys Connect
    • Spectacular Scandinavia with John Mercure and Collette
    • Wagner’s Home Improvement Showcase
    • 2023 Greater Milwaukee International Car & Truck Show
    • Annex Wealth Management Webinar
    • Every Day Health
    • Sunday Sip
  • Contests
LISTEN LIVE
No Result
View All Result
WTMJ
No Result
View All Result

German caution on Ukraine arms rooted in political culture

AP News by AP News
January 21, 2023
in AP National, AP News, National
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterEmail

By GEIR MOULSON
Associated Press

BERLIN (AP) — Germany has become one of Ukraine’s leading weapons suppliers in the 11 months since Russia’s invasion, but Chancellor Olaf Scholz also has gained a reputation for hesitating to take each new step — generating impatience among allies.

Berlin’s perceived foot-dragging, most recently on the Leopard 2 battle tanks that Kyiv has long sought, is rooted at least partly in a post-World War II political culture of military caution, along with present-day worries about a possible escalation in the war.

On Friday, Germany inched closer to a decision to deliver the tanks, ordering a review of its Leopard stocks in preparation for a possible green light.

There was still no commitment, however. Defense Minister Boris Pistorius rejected the suggestion that Germany was standing in the way but said, “we have to balance all the pros and contras before we decide things like that, just like that.”

It’s a pattern that has been repeated over the months as Scholz first held off pledging new, heavier equipment, then eventually agreed to do so.

Most recently, Germany said in early January that it would send 40 Marder armored personnel carriers to Ukraine — doing so in a joint announcement with the U.S., which pledged 50 Bradley armored vehicles.

That decision followed months of calls for Berlin to send the Marder and stoked pressure for it to move up another step to the Leopard tank.

“There is a discrepancy between the actual size of the commitment and weapons deliveries — it’s the second-largest European supplier — and the hesitancy with which it is done,” said Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff, a Berlin-based senior analyst with the German Marshall Fund of the United States think tank.

Scholz, an unshakably self-confident politician with a stubborn streak and little taste for bowing to public calls for action, has stuck resolutely to his approach. He has said that Germany won’t go it alone on weapons decisions and pointed to the need to avoid NATO becoming a direct party to the war with Russia.

As pressure mounted last week, he declared that he wouldn’t be rushed into important security decisions by “excited comments.” And he insisted that a majority in Germany supports his government’s “calm, well-considered and careful” decision-making.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, Scholz listed some of the equipment Germany has sent to Ukraine, declaring that it marks “a profound turning point in German foreign and security policy.”

That is, at least to some extent, true. Germany refused to provide lethal weapons before the invasion started, reflecting a political culture rooted in part in the memory of Germany’s own history of aggression during the 20th century — including the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union.

“No German chancellor, of no party, wants to be seen out front in pushing a military agenda — you want to try all other options before you resort to that,” Kleine-Brockhoff said. “And therefore for domestic consumption, it is seen as a positive thing for a German chancellor not to lead on this, to be cautious, to be resistant, to have tried all other options.”

Scholz does face calls from Germany’s center-right opposition and some in his three-party governing coalition to be more proactive on military aid; less so from his own center-left Social Democratic Party, which for decades was steeped in the legacy of Cold War rapprochement pursued by predecessor Willy Brandt in the early 1970s.

Scholz “decided early on that he does not want to lead militarily on Ukraine assistance,” Kleine-Brockhoff said, though “he wants to be a good ally and part of the alliance and in the middle of the pack.”

But the cautious approach “drives allies crazy” and raises questions over whether they can count on the Germans, Kleine-Brockhoff acknowledged.

Berlin kept up its caution on the Leopard tank even after Britain announced last week that it would provide Ukraine its own Challenger 2 tanks.

The hesitancy isn’t just an issue between Berlin and Kyiv, since other countries would need Germany’s permission to send their own stocks of German-made Leopards to Ukraine. On Wednesday, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Warsaw would consider giving its tanks even without Berlin’s permission.

“Consent is of secondary importance here. We will either obtain it quickly, or we will do the right thing ourselves,” Morawiecki said.

British historian Timothy Garton Ash wrote in The Guardian and other newspapers this week that “to its credit, the German government’s position on military support for Ukraine has moved a very long way since the eve of the Russian invasion.”

But he argued that the tank issue has become “a litmus test of Germany’s courage to resist (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s nuclear blackmail, overcome its own domestic cocktail of fears and doubts, and defend a free and sovereign Ukraine,” and that Scholz should lead a “European Leopard plan.”

Whether that will eventually happen remains to be seen. Scholz’s government has insisted on close coordination with the United States, a possible reflection in part of the fact that Germany — unlike Britain and France — relies on the U.S. nuclear deterrent.

On Friday, Scholz’s spokesman, Steffen Hebestreit, denied reports that Germany had insisted it would only deliver Leopard tanks if the U.S. sends its own Abrams tanks. He rejected the notion that Berlin is trailing others and insisted it is taking the right approach.

“These are not easy decisions, and they need to be well-weighed,” he said. “And this is about them being sustainable, that all can go along with them and stand behind them — and part of a leadership performance is keeping an alliance together.”

___

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Previous Post

Burkina Faso says 66 women, children freed from extremists

Next Post

Turkey cancels planned visit by Swedish defense minister

AP News

AP News

Stay Connected

  • 22.3k Followers
  • 1k Follower
  • 679 Subscribers

Most Popular

Reporter’s Notebook for 3/6/21

Nola vs. deGrom highlights MLB’s 2023 opening-day matchups

March 24, 2023
Southeast Wisconsin

Southeast Wisconsin facing 3-to-7 inches of snow during first weekend of Spring

March 24, 2023
Reporter’s Notebook for 3/6/21

Bezos’ rocket company pins crash on overheated engine nozzle

March 24, 2023
Reporter’s Notebook for 3/6/21

3 astronauts delayed on space station to return in September

March 24, 2023
Reporter’s Notebook for 3/6/21

Disabled Wisconsin voters say absentee law not followed

March 24, 2023
WTMJ

For more than 90 years, WTMJ-AM has been "Wisconsin's Radio Station".

Follow Us

Home

News

Weather

Traffic

Sports

Shows

Podcasts

Features

Careers

Contests

Recent News

Reporter’s Notebook for 3/6/21

Nola vs. deGrom highlights MLB’s 2023 opening-day matchups

March 24, 2023
Southeast Wisconsin

Southeast Wisconsin facing 3-to-7 inches of snow during first weekend of Spring

March 24, 2023
  • Home
  • News
  • Weather
  • Traffic
  • Sports
  • Shows
  • Podcasts
  • Features
  • Contests

© 2022 Good Karma Brands, LLC.

  • LISTEN LIVE
  • Home
  • News
    • News
    • Local News
    • Coronavirus
    • Decision Wisconsin
  • Weather
    • Weather
    • Watches and Warnings
    • Closings and Delays
    • Flight Status
  • Traffic
  • Construction Updates
  • Sports
    • Sports
    • Green Bay Packers
    • Milwaukee Brewers
    • Milwaukee Bucks
  • Shows
    • Shows
    • Wisconsin’s Morning News
    • Steve Scaffidi
    • Jeff Wagner
    • Wisconsin’s Afternoon News
      • Spectacular Scandinavia with John Mercure and Collette
    • WTMJ Nights
    • WTMJ Conversations
    • Featured Shows
  • Podcasts
  • Features
    • Features
    • Good Karma Give Back
    • WTMJ Roundtable
  • Contests
  • Alexa
No Result
View All Result

© 2022 Good Karma Brands, LLC.