You should tell the foreign secretary. No weapons for Ukraine. That’s what in the news.
Translation of the letter signed by 70 security experts:
“Massive, threatening troop concentrations on Ukraine’s eastern and southern borders, intensified anti-Western propaganda attacks that do not shy away from lies, and patently unacceptable demands on NATO and its member states: In recent weeks, Russia has been fundamentally questioning the security order that has prevailed in Europe since the end of the Cold War. In its international self-portrayal, Russia presents itself as a threatened state that urgently needs “security guarantees” from the West. The Kremlin is deliberately shifting the meaning of security assurances. The need for such guarantees has been discussed since the negotiation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1968 with regard to the protection of nuclear-weapon-free and non-nuclear-weapon states.
More nuclear warheads are now stored in Russia than in the three NATO nuclear-weapon states of the United States, Great Britain and France combined. Moscow maintains a wide range of delivery systems for its thousands of nuclear weapons-from intercontinental ballistic missiles to long-range bombers to nuclear submarines. It has one of the three most powerful conventional armies in the world, as well as veto power in the UN Security Council. The Russian Federation is thus one of the most militarily secure states in the world.
The Kremlin uses regular and irregular troops as well as Russia’s nuclear threat potential to wage various wars and permanently occupy territories of former Soviet republics. Not only in Eastern, but also in Western Europe as well as on other continents, the Kremlin unabashedly demonstrates a claim to special rights to enforce its interests on the territory of sovereign states. By circumventing international rules, treaties and organizations, Moscow hunts its enemies around the world. The Kremlin tries to undermine political processes, the rule of law and social cohesion in other countries with smear campaigns and hacker attacks, among other things. The latter is done partly in secret, but with the obvious goal of obstructing or discrediting democratic decision-making in pluralistic states. In particular, the political and territorial integrity of democratizing post-Soviet transition states is to be undermined.
As Europe’s largest economic power, Germany has been watching these activities critically but largely inactively for three decades now. In Moldova, Moscow’s overhaul began as early as 1992, immediately after the collapse of the USSR, with a massive intervention by the 14th Russian Army. Its remnants are still officially in Transnistria today, despite repeated demands by democratically elected Moldovan governments to withdraw and corresponding promises by the Kremlin. Neither to this nor to the following numerous revanchist adventures of Russia in the post-Soviet space and beyond, the Federal Republic reacted adequately.
What is more, Berlin’s foreign and foreign economic policy has contributed to the political and economic weakening of Eastern European non-nuclear weapon states and to the geo-economic strengthening of an increasingly expansive nuclear superpower. In 2008, Germany was instrumental in preventing Georgia and Ukraine from joining NATO. In 2019, on the other hand, the German government pursued the readmission of the Russian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, although Moscow had not and has not fulfilled any of the conditions for this highly symbolic act.
For the already fragile Ukrainian-Russian relations, the commissioning of the first Nord Stream gas pipeline in 2011 to 2012, which was superfluous in terms of energy, was a disaster. In retrospect, it appears to have paved the way for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine two years later. Much of the existing gas transport capacity between Siberia and the EU was not used in 2021. Nevertheless, the Federal Republic is now preparing to completely eliminate Ukraine’s remaining economic leverage over Russia with the opening of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
Eastern policy indulgence tradeEU economic sanctions against Moscow since 2014 have been mild and not a sufficient response to the Kremlin’s increasingly aggressive course. Against the backdrop of continued German-Russian special relations, German development, cultural and educational cooperation with Ukraine, Georgia or Moldova created the impression of a trade in indulgences in Eastern policy. It does not diminish the significance of serious missteps in German policy toward Russia, such as inviting Putin to the Bundestag in 2001 or the modernization partnership from 2008 onward. These and similar German steps suggested Moscow’s special rights in the post-Soviet space against the backdrop of then and now unwanted Russian troops in Moldova and Georgia.
Against the backdrop of such distortions, Germany should finally abandon its special path in Eastern politics – perceived in this way not only in Central Eastern Europe. Nazi Germany’s crimes on the territory of today’s Russia from 1941 to 1944 are not suitable to justify German restraint in reacting to the Kremlin’s revanchism and international law nihilism. Especially not when – as in the case of Ukraine – it is a matter of a Russian invasion of the territory, recognized under international law, of another victim nation of former German expansionism. The continued demonstrative violation of UN, OSCE and Council of Europe fundamental principles in Eastern and now also Northern Europe, even officially accepted by Moscow, must not be accepted.
The Federal Republic’s Russia policy must be fundamentally corrected. Further merely verbal or symbolic reactions by Berlin to Russian revisionist adventures will, as in the past, only tempt the Kremlin to further escapades. Germany has a special responsibility as a key country of the EU, NATO and the Western community of values.
In the interest of international security, European integration and common norms, Berlin must finally close the gap between its public rhetoric and real practice in Eastern Europe. This should be expressed in a series of parallel and concrete measures of a political, legal, diplomatic, civil society, technical and economic nature. Germany is a major trade, research, and investment partner of both Russia and the EU Eastern Partnership states, as well as a leading power of the Union. It has more, indeed in certain areas far more opportunities to get involved than most other Western countries. This is true both in terms of containing and sanctioning Russia and in terms of supporting states dismembered and harassed by Moscow. Berlin must follow up its good words with far more and effective action than it has done so far.
What’s the Atlantic Council? Oh yes, an NGO headquartered in DC, funded by random billionaires. Who would like Germany to be more hostile towards Russia, it seems. When are we opening recruitment for WW3?
I thought this shift had already taken place in the German government,
Calls from…. Whom ?? It’s all about stopping Nordstream 2 for the benefit of the U.S. .
“Don’t invade Ukraine or we might be forced to build Nordstream 3!”
why is there the byzantine double headed eagle there tho
Germany has, surprisingly, a large defence budget. It spends $50bn and ranks as the 7th largest in the world.
If the Bundeswehr were properly managed, Germany would have a very credible armed forces to help bolster European security. Instead it has neglected by successive generations of politicians who have wasted billions of euros of taxpayer money.
Good letter, doubt it changes much. It seems that for Germany cheap natural gas is more important than avoiding an all-out war breaking out in Europe, and betrayal of several EU states which border Russia is not an issue either.
Said this many times: Europe’s defense policy basically rests on Germany and whether it has the will to play a larger role
guess it’s either Atomkraftwerk or Putin.
Hooooo boy. The last time Germany and Russia went at it it got pretty bad.
Too busy getting in bed with Gazprom. I’m half German but I’m ashamed of Germany and their policies lately
> The C-17 transport aircraft are in flight as we speak, Germany has apparently denied overflight rights judging by the path.
No chance of that. They’ve denied British military flyover rights which are currently supplying weapons to Ukraine.
no, we are not
Prussia vs Russia
Super unbiased source on the matter.
So, the ideea of financing Germany economic development after WW2, instead of transforming it in an agrarian country was not a good ideea after all. Instead of having a strong democratic partner we find that the sympathy for dictatorship is still strong in Germany.
Seeing German people comments in other thread they would rather support invading Poland than helping Ukraine.
Putin knows that as long as he can turn the gas off to Germany he can do whatever he wants to every non-NATO country in Eurasia. As long as the Germans rely on Russian gas this will always be the case. The best option would be to remove Germany from NATO, they contribute nothing anyway.
Germany has greatly weakened it’s position, with regard to Russia. Since 2014, not only has it made itself dependent upon Russian fossil fuels, it’s also invested heavily in Russia.
As Europe’s biggest economy, this has likely further emboldened Putin and increased the threat of Russian aggression.
Of course said Germany and refused the use of airspace to fellow nato member that was delivering defensive weaponry to Ukraine amid threat of russisch soldaten invasion. Good job Germany. Not that we asked for help but at least don’t make this shit so obvious. JFC.
23 comments
You should tell the foreign secretary. No weapons for Ukraine. That’s what in the news.
Translation of the letter signed by 70 security experts:
“Massive, threatening troop concentrations on Ukraine’s eastern and southern borders, intensified anti-Western propaganda attacks that do not shy away from lies, and patently unacceptable demands on NATO and its member states: In recent weeks, Russia has been fundamentally questioning the security order that has prevailed in Europe since the end of the Cold War. In its international self-portrayal, Russia presents itself as a threatened state that urgently needs “security guarantees” from the West. The Kremlin is deliberately shifting the meaning of security assurances. The need for such guarantees has been discussed since the negotiation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1968 with regard to the protection of nuclear-weapon-free and non-nuclear-weapon states.
More nuclear warheads are now stored in Russia than in the three NATO nuclear-weapon states of the United States, Great Britain and France combined. Moscow maintains a wide range of delivery systems for its thousands of nuclear weapons-from intercontinental ballistic missiles to long-range bombers to nuclear submarines. It has one of the three most powerful conventional armies in the world, as well as veto power in the UN Security Council. The Russian Federation is thus one of the most militarily secure states in the world.
The Kremlin uses regular and irregular troops as well as Russia’s nuclear threat potential to wage various wars and permanently occupy territories of former Soviet republics. Not only in Eastern, but also in Western Europe as well as on other continents, the Kremlin unabashedly demonstrates a claim to special rights to enforce its interests on the territory of sovereign states. By circumventing international rules, treaties and organizations, Moscow hunts its enemies around the world. The Kremlin tries to undermine political processes, the rule of law and social cohesion in other countries with smear campaigns and hacker attacks, among other things. The latter is done partly in secret, but with the obvious goal of obstructing or discrediting democratic decision-making in pluralistic states. In particular, the political and territorial integrity of democratizing post-Soviet transition states is to be undermined.
As Europe’s largest economic power, Germany has been watching these activities critically but largely inactively for three decades now. In Moldova, Moscow’s overhaul began as early as 1992, immediately after the collapse of the USSR, with a massive intervention by the 14th Russian Army. Its remnants are still officially in Transnistria today, despite repeated demands by democratically elected Moldovan governments to withdraw and corresponding promises by the Kremlin. Neither to this nor to the following numerous revanchist adventures of Russia in the post-Soviet space and beyond, the Federal Republic reacted adequately.
What is more, Berlin’s foreign and foreign economic policy has contributed to the political and economic weakening of Eastern European non-nuclear weapon states and to the geo-economic strengthening of an increasingly expansive nuclear superpower. In 2008, Germany was instrumental in preventing Georgia and Ukraine from joining NATO. In 2019, on the other hand, the German government pursued the readmission of the Russian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, although Moscow had not and has not fulfilled any of the conditions for this highly symbolic act.
For the already fragile Ukrainian-Russian relations, the commissioning of the first Nord Stream gas pipeline in 2011 to 2012, which was superfluous in terms of energy, was a disaster. In retrospect, it appears to have paved the way for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine two years later. Much of the existing gas transport capacity between Siberia and the EU was not used in 2021. Nevertheless, the Federal Republic is now preparing to completely eliminate Ukraine’s remaining economic leverage over Russia with the opening of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
Eastern policy indulgence tradeEU economic sanctions against Moscow since 2014 have been mild and not a sufficient response to the Kremlin’s increasingly aggressive course. Against the backdrop of continued German-Russian special relations, German development, cultural and educational cooperation with Ukraine, Georgia or Moldova created the impression of a trade in indulgences in Eastern policy. It does not diminish the significance of serious missteps in German policy toward Russia, such as inviting Putin to the Bundestag in 2001 or the modernization partnership from 2008 onward. These and similar German steps suggested Moscow’s special rights in the post-Soviet space against the backdrop of then and now unwanted Russian troops in Moldova and Georgia.
Against the backdrop of such distortions, Germany should finally abandon its special path in Eastern politics – perceived in this way not only in Central Eastern Europe. Nazi Germany’s crimes on the territory of today’s Russia from 1941 to 1944 are not suitable to justify German restraint in reacting to the Kremlin’s revanchism and international law nihilism. Especially not when – as in the case of Ukraine – it is a matter of a Russian invasion of the territory, recognized under international law, of another victim nation of former German expansionism. The continued demonstrative violation of UN, OSCE and Council of Europe fundamental principles in Eastern and now also Northern Europe, even officially accepted by Moscow, must not be accepted.
The Federal Republic’s Russia policy must be fundamentally corrected. Further merely verbal or symbolic reactions by Berlin to Russian revisionist adventures will, as in the past, only tempt the Kremlin to further escapades. Germany has a special responsibility as a key country of the EU, NATO and the Western community of values.
In the interest of international security, European integration and common norms, Berlin must finally close the gap between its public rhetoric and real practice in Eastern Europe. This should be expressed in a series of parallel and concrete measures of a political, legal, diplomatic, civil society, technical and economic nature. Germany is a major trade, research, and investment partner of both Russia and the EU Eastern Partnership states, as well as a leading power of the Union. It has more, indeed in certain areas far more opportunities to get involved than most other Western countries. This is true both in terms of containing and sanctioning Russia and in terms of supporting states dismembered and harassed by Moscow. Berlin must follow up its good words with far more and effective action than it has done so far.
Signatories:…..”
Translated with [www.DeepL.com/Translator](http://www.DeepL.com/Translator) (free version)
What’s the Atlantic Council? Oh yes, an NGO headquartered in DC, funded by random billionaires. Who would like Germany to be more hostile towards Russia, it seems. When are we opening recruitment for WW3?
I thought this shift had already taken place in the German government,
Calls from…. Whom ?? It’s all about stopping Nordstream 2 for the benefit of the U.S. .
“Don’t invade Ukraine or we might be forced to build Nordstream 3!”
why is there the byzantine double headed eagle there tho
Germany has, surprisingly, a large defence budget. It spends $50bn and ranks as the 7th largest in the world.
If the Bundeswehr were properly managed, Germany would have a very credible armed forces to help bolster European security. Instead it has neglected by successive generations of politicians who have wasted billions of euros of taxpayer money.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/luftwaffe-has-just-four-combat-ready-eurofighter-typhoons-ld0bz5mtn
https://www.dw.com/en/german-military-lacks-equipment-and-recruits-says-damning-report/a-47281996
Good letter, doubt it changes much. It seems that for Germany cheap natural gas is more important than avoiding an all-out war breaking out in Europe, and betrayal of several EU states which border Russia is not an issue either.
Said this many times: Europe’s defense policy basically rests on Germany and whether it has the will to play a larger role
guess it’s either Atomkraftwerk or Putin.
Hooooo boy. The last time Germany and Russia went at it it got pretty bad.
Too busy getting in bed with Gazprom. I’m half German but I’m ashamed of Germany and their policies lately
> The C-17 transport aircraft are in flight as we speak, Germany has apparently denied overflight rights judging by the path.
No chance of that. They’ve denied British military flyover rights which are currently supplying weapons to Ukraine.
no, we are not
Prussia vs Russia
Super unbiased source on the matter.
So, the ideea of financing Germany economic development after WW2, instead of transforming it in an agrarian country was not a good ideea after all. Instead of having a strong democratic partner we find that the sympathy for dictatorship is still strong in Germany.
Seeing German people comments in other thread they would rather support invading Poland than helping Ukraine.
Putin knows that as long as he can turn the gas off to Germany he can do whatever he wants to every non-NATO country in Eurasia. As long as the Germans rely on Russian gas this will always be the case. The best option would be to remove Germany from NATO, they contribute nothing anyway.
For people that immediately jumped to the conclusion that Germany forbid overflight. The Ministry of Defence has confirmed that no request for overflight was made:
https://twitter.com/tom_nuttall/status/1483347715287400453
Germany has greatly weakened it’s position, with regard to Russia. Since 2014, not only has it made itself dependent upon Russian fossil fuels, it’s also invested heavily in Russia.
As Europe’s biggest economy, this has likely further emboldened Putin and increased the threat of Russian aggression.
Of course said Germany and refused the use of airspace to fellow nato member that was delivering defensive weaponry to Ukraine amid threat of russisch soldaten invasion. Good job Germany. Not that we asked for help but at least don’t make this shit so obvious. JFC.