https://warontherocks.com/2022/02/why-germany-behaves-the-way-it-does/
"Other than Russia, no country looks worse during the current Ukraine crisis
than Germany.
On paper and in speeches, Germany stands in total solidarity with Ukraine. In
practice, however, Germany’s leaders are spending their time debating all the
things that they definitely wouldn’t do in response to Russian aggression.
German Minister of Defense Christine Lambrecht warned against drawing a link
between Nord Stream 2 and “differences with Moscow over Ukraine.” The secretary
general of the governing center-left Social Democrats said: “Everything in me
resists the idea of conflicts being conjured up just to bury a controversial
project.” The new leader of the German opposition argued against excluding
Russia from international payment systems. The Green foreign minister rejected
calls for German arms deliveries to Ukraine by saying that Germany’s
“restrictive position is well known and is rooted in history.” In addition to
all this, Germany has reportedly also blocked the export of German-made weapons
by third countries like Estonia.
So why is Germany behaving the way that it does? Over the last couple of weeks,
there have been countless attempts to find an explanation. Most have been
unconvincing. Some have argued that Germany is simply no longer a reliable
ally, while others have gone even further to suggest that Berlin is actively
working with Moscow to undermine Ukraine. Neither is true. Instead, Germans see
the world differently and their leaders are primarily responsive to the
political constraints of their office.
Germans’ world is one in which their country has “moved beyond power politics,
the national interest and militarism.” It’s a parallel reality in which trade
beats force and every conflict between states can be solved through more
dialogue or more multilateralism. Germany’s allies can be exasperated by this
view or take comfort in the fact it may slowly be beginning to change. But at
the very least they would do well to understand it."
Via Christoph S, who wrote "Good article."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
