How Germany became a security liability

There were lots of smiles and some awkward football banter when German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock met her British counterpart David Cameron in Berlin earlier this week.

Cameron was careful to tiptoe around Berlin’s recent security blunders, after an online call between German officials discussing British military activities in Ukraine was intercepted by Russia.

Britain’s former prime minister is good at this diplomatic dance, and he made a valiant effort to not, in his words, ‘play into the hands of some Russian narrative about divisions between allies.’ But it’s hard to paper over the cracks these recent security breaches have caused.

After a shaky start to the Ukraine war, Germany has made an effort to become a dependable ally to Ukraine and a country able to take a fair share of the responsibility for security in Europe. It is now the second largest supplier of military aid to Ukraine, and has recently boosted funding for its own armed forces by €100 billion.