James Snell

Germany has no excuse for not sending tanks to Ukraine

(Photo: Getty)

When a man is in a hole, he is best advised to stop digging. When a German chancellor is in a hole, by contrast, he seems to think it his duty to chide others for failing to dig their own. So it is with Olaf Scholz, Germany’s increasingly ridiculous chancellor.  

Scholz lost a defence minister and appointed an unknown quantity as her replacement mere days ago. That new defence minister, Boris Pistorius, will soon meet up to 50 Nato and allied defence ministers in Ramstein on Friday to coordinate supporting Ukraine. It’s a tough thing to do within your first week on the job. Especially when the chancellor and his officials seem intent on making your job harder. 

A brief step back. The consensus on arming Ukraine is moving very quickly in favour of more assistance. Major Russian spring and even winter offensives are being reported as likely by every intelligence agency. A new Russian wave of mobilisation may soon take place.

Written by
James Snell

James Snell is a senior advisor for special initiatives at the New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy. His upcoming book, Defeat, about the failure of the war in Afghanistan and the future of terrorism, will be published by Gibson Square next year.

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