Olaf Scholz needs to deal with the Putin appeasers in his party

‘The weapons have to fall silent,’ the left wing of Germany’s ruling Social Democratic party suggested this week, in their latest public appeal for peace in Ukraine. The authors argued that it is time to find a way of living with the Russian government, putting pressure on the Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

The intervention could well be a watershed moment for the Chancellor, whose own support for Ukraine during the conflict has been mixed to say the least. Now Scholz has been presented with a choice: either he faces down the appeasers in his own party, or signals once again that Germany is an unreliable ally to Ukraine.

The left-wing SPD appeal itself demands a ceasefire in Ukraine even if that means ‘accepting realities one may not like.’ There is little mention of the fact that the realities of war in Ukraine means rape, torture and summary executions. The report’s authors forget that Russia is holding the world hostage with the seizure of nuclear power plants and threats of nuclear war.