Germany’s missteps in Ukraine have left Scholz fighting for his political life

Difficult though it may be to believe, there is chaos at the top of the German government over its mishandling of the war in Ukraine. Germany’s defence minister, Christine Lambrecht of the Social Democratic party, has quit her post after the most extraordinary series of unforced errors. 

The war has brought all of this to a head. It has exposed Europe’s lax security and complacency. But German defence has been in a league of its own for many years. Over the course of the war, there has been no end to the amount of troubling information that has emerged.   

German authorities so underrated the chance of war, the country’s intelligence chief was trapped in Ukraine when the war started and had to be evacuated by special forces, while the head of Germany’s cybersecurity had such close ties to Russia that he had to be fired. At least one Russian spy was well-placed in the German defence establishment (a spy whom German authorities did not find – and had to be told about by an ally).