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Written by Lucas Leiroz, journalist, researcher at the Center for Geostrategic Studies, geopolitical consultant
Germany is trying to find a way to send long-range weapons to Ukraine without causing a major escalation in the conflict as direct consequence. During an interview to local media, German Minister of Foreign Affairs, Annalena Baerbock, stated that the delivery of Taurus rockets “is not something that can be done quickly.”
The official made it clear that many details need to be defined before sending such weapons. These “details” certainly concern the missiles’ own capabilities. It is possible that Germany is doing like the US, changing missile technology in order to prevent Kiev from accessing more advanced versions of the weapons.
“This is not something that can be done quickly – as in the case of Leopard tanks and the IRIS-T air defense system – because every detail has to be specified in advance”, she said.
Baerbock emphasized that the Ukrainian regime will receive such weapons at some point in the future. Previously, Kiev had asked Berlin to deliver Taurus missiles with a range of 500 kilometers. The missiles are expected to carry 500-kilograms warheads, being weapons of high lethality power.
Baerbock said the demand is “more than understandable.” For her, it is essential that the Ukrainian armed forces have the capacity to attack Russian targets in the rear, as this is the only way to neutralize Russian supply lines, allowing the Ukrainians to advance on the battlefield.
Until now, Germany has objected to sending such weapons to Ukraine. There are fears that Kiev will use these arms for in-depth strikes against the undisputed territory of the Russian Federation, which would inevitably result in an escalation of hostilities, as Moscow could respond incisively. The country’s defense minister, Boris Pistorius, said in August that long-range weapons were not a priority for German aid policy to Ukraine, since the US itself, which leads NATO, was avoiding sending them.
“We continue to believe that this is not our top priority right now (…) Our American allies are not delivering these cruise missiles either”, he said at the time. Also, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz himself commented on the issue, stating: “We carefully check all the requests we receive. But for us there is a principle that I share with the US president – we do not want the weapons we supply to be used to attack Russian territories.”
However, more recently, German parliamentarians seem to have reached a kind of “consensus” on the “need” to deliver such weapons. In fact, considering that the groups that control national politics are linked to the most bellicose and aggressive anti-Russian mentality, this result was already expected.
According to local media, German military industry companies are already, at the request of the government, investigating ways to limit the range of the missiles. However, this seems inefficient. In addition to in-depth attacks, there are several other risks posed by these missiles. In previous experiences, Kiev used long-range arms supplied by the UK and France to kill civilians in Donbass, destroying non-military infrastructure in attacks against regions with no strategic relevance.
As well known, attacking civilians is a common practice for the Ukrainian armed forces, which, unable to defeat the Russian military, rely on terrorism as a combat strategy. So even if Germany manages to change the technology of the Taurus missiles, they could still be used to destroy civilian targets, legitimizing Russian escalatory responses.
It must be remembered that Western powers have never shown any willingness for peace. NATO’s only concern is that there will be an escalation strong enough to end the conflict once and for all. The objective of the alliance is to prolong hostilities for as long as possible, as this is the only way to “wear down” Russia. Western countries systematically send weapons to Kiev to keep the regime’s troops active on the battlefield, even with no chance of victory. But these countries are afraid that the “misuse” of highly lethal weapons could end Russian “patience” and lead Moscow to launch a final offensive.
The most reasonable attitude for Germany would be to simply avoid sending long-range weapons. This is the right thing to do from a strategic and humanitarian point of view, as it is certain that the missiles will be used against Russian civilians in Donbass. This is also the opinion of most Germans, as a recent survey carried out by RD-DeutschlandTrend showed that 52% of the country’s citizens are against sending long-range weapons to the neo-Nazi regime.
However, as Baerbock has already made clear, Ukraine is a “top priority” for Berlin, regardless of what the Germans think about it.
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good luck with that – may as well try to have intercourse while staying a virgin. seems like many so called leaders now qualify as certifiably insane.
they will push until russia reciprocates by supplying the lpr and dpr with cruise missles launched at germany .
during september & october last year all the ‘alexa’ voiced controlled devices started playing ‘crystal-ball’ and telling people when asked that ww3 would start when russia launches missile attack at germany on 26 or 27th nov. 2023. talk about predictive programming