For Germany, Russia’s fears were very real. The strategic goal of their policy is not to lean out, said SWPS historian and political scientist Professor Klaus Bachmann on TVN24. As he put it, Germany was “a leader in economic and financial matters”, but “a dwarf in military matters”.
On Friday Meeting of the Liaison Committee on Security Support for Ukraine At the Ramstein base, representatives of 50 countries discussed the possibility of military assistance to Kiev. During this meeting, the participants failed to reach an agreement on the supply of panther tanks Ukraine. The US and other allies expected this Germany They themselves will supply tanks to Ukraine and allow other countries to be manufacturers of these combat vehicles. It didn’t.
Bachmann: The strategic goal of this policy is to be low
Professor Klaus Bachmann, a historian and political scientist at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, spoke on Tuesday in Rozmovo Pyazekiko about the German policy on arming Ukraine.
– The strategic goal of this policy is to keep a low profile so that others go first, esp AmericaBecause you can retaliate from the side Russia They hit, not us,” he said.
Klaus Bachmann in “Piasecki’s Dialogue”.TVN24
“Economically, this is mostly an illusion,” he noted, because “since February of last year these reforms – economic sanctions, the transformation of international trade, the isolation of Russia – at the moment Germany’s foreign trade with Russia is 0.7 percent. Foreign trade. “This is completely irrelevant, ” he said.
As he added, “The fear of Russia is very real for Germany.” – We are used to thinking of Germany as the initiators of changes, the leaders of politics, the leaders. That’s the norm in economic and financial matters, and it always has been in the past few decades, Bachmann said.
But – he noted – “in military matters, Germany is a dwarf.” – If we imagine for a moment that Russia is somehow trying to punish Germany (…) for providing leopards, then Germany is completely defenseless – TVN24 guest judged.
– We have a magnificent, world-class arms industry. It can do almost anything. The question is whether we want it politically.
Bachmann: Perhaps Scholes heard from Putin that this is the limit
According to Bachmann, Germany is the second largest supplier of weapons to Ukraine after the United States. – But there is a difference in politics, and I think also in the office of the president – we only supply Ukraine with weapons that can defend itself. (…) I think it is mostly based on an illusion. “Every military man tells me that it makes no sense to distinguish between offensive and defensive weapons of politicians, because theoretically even a bulletproof vest can kill someone,” he said.
“With the Tigers there’s the idea that it’s an offensive weapon, a tank that you can conquer foreign terrain with,” he said. That is why there is a limit. Perhaps Scholes heard something from Putin, or thought he heard something from Putin, that there is a limit, and now he is using it. I don’t rule it out, the historian noted.
Bachmann on reparations: One side does not want to change the status quo, so there will be no negotiations
The TVN24 guest also touched on Germany’s reaction Polish demands for war reparations. When asked whether he “impressed the Germans” or “shrugged”, he replied: – the latter.
– There is a very simple rule in international negotiations. Negotiations only happen when both parties want to change the status quo. And here one party does not want, so there is no negotiation, he said.
He noted, “German diplomacy is holding it back longer than before Greece and to Italy”, and “there is no judicial possibility, no international arbitration, to compel her to do so”.
Main photo source: PAP/EPA/BENOIT TESSIER