You see that bringing Moscow back to the negotiating table and moving away from military escalation is a diplomatic necessity

Germany tweets “out of line” in the collective Western stance against Russia

• Biden receives Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the White House to reassure Germany.

  Reuters

• Putin's behavior confuses the German position.

  EPA

• Preparations for war are still taking place on the Ukrainian side of the border with Russia.

  dad

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As the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) mobilizes a collective stance against Russia, amid the alliance's expectations that Moscow will invade Ukraine, mixed messages emerged about Germany, which in turn raised questions about whether Berlin is committed to this collective approach.

Researchers Liana Fix, resident fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, and Stephen Keel, fellow in security and defense policy at the Marshall Fund, said in a report published by the "National Interest" magazine, that the new German government is under criticism for its policy towards Russia, during one of the worst crises. In European security, since the Balkan wars.

Recent signals from Berlin about sanctions and defensive arms deliveries have created confusion across the Atlantic, threatening to upset the unified response to Russia's incursion into Ukraine.

The two researchers wonder: Is Germany returning to its weaker position towards Russia, since before the country invaded Ukraine in 2014?

Or worse yet, will Germany return to its historical middle position, and move to the middle between Moscow and Washington?

The researchers argue that it is premature and futile to rule out Berlin and jump to the conclusion that Germany appears to be eastern, not western.

Germany's position in Europe and NATO is very important, and every effort should be made now to promote a united front, and to put pressure on Berlin to do more than the bare minimum.

They add that questions about Germany's role require quick and strong answers from Germany's new leaders, otherwise these questions will turn into fears, which legitimizes impressions that Germany is a weak ally, and fuels exaggerations that it is abandoning the transatlantic alliance altogether.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken went to Berlin to check Germany's position and support for this ally, because the current situation is confusing.

A slew of messages came from German officials, who make up her multiparty government, making it difficult to distinguish between the voices representing Germany's official position, and the confusing victims of coalition rule.

For the first time in the country's history, Germany is governed by a coalition of three parties, and there is political conflict both within and between the ruling parties.

For example, the left wing of the SPD, which has traditionally been softer on Russia, has grown stronger in the past few years, while the Greens have moved far from their peaceful roots to their more pragmatic stances today.

The coalition agreement defining the government's policies only led to points of contention, which led to much confusion about the internal dynamics of the new government.

However, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, of the Social Democratic Party, as well as his Foreign Minister, Annalina Birbock, of the Green Party, have explicitly stressed that all options are on the table in response to the Russian escalation.

This includes ending the controversial Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline with Russia.

Unfortunately, the German chancellor has been silent for so long, while some members of his own party have caused confusion within the coalition, undermining confidence at a time when it was of the utmost importance.

As a result, this skepticism persists.

Berlin will have to fulfill its promise to put Nord Stream 2 on the table in the event of any Russian escalation, even if it harms Germany's economic and energy interests.

Finding the right answer to arms transfers is more difficult, the researchers say, as Berlin believes that these types of transfers contribute to escalation rather than deterrence, and even Germany has prevented another ally, Estonia, from sending arms support to Ukraine, if the weapons that are They send it made in Germany.

Despite all the criticism, there is no indication that Germany wants to be responsible for breaking the US-led approach.

Berlin did not respond to French President Emmanuel Macron's European-focused proposal to resolve the crisis.

Nor are Germany's efforts under the Normandy formula (Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France) a sign of German appeasement or some German-French effort to split the alliance.

Germany sees bringing Russia back to the negotiating table, and moving away from military escalation, as a diplomatic necessity, not because this form or similar agreements have been particularly successful in the past, but because every effort that prevents or delays Russia from interfering in Ukraine is worth paying for.

The first Russian intervention in 2014 demonstrated how President Vladimir Putin's behavior could catalyze a major shift in German politics and Russia's perception. Germany under Angela Merkel had broken away from its old model of "leading east" and oriented Europe toward a common policy of sanctions toward Russia.

It has done so in a steady pace with the United States and, moreover, has become a leading country in the NATO fighting group in Lithuania, and it was not only Merkel's Christian Democratic Union that changed its mind dramatically about how to engage Russia, but So is Frank-Walter Steinmeier of the SPD, and this gives reason for optimism that Germany will not tweet out the flock.

The researchers conclude that Germany has a long way to go to assume the leadership role in Europe, which it successfully assumed seven years ago, and that an honest preliminary assessment of Germany's response to the most important European security crisis in decades is realistic, and the new government has already tried hard to correct the course of the sanctions messages, and there will be a need For much more in the coming days, Chancellor Schulz's visit to Washington now provides a crucial opportunity to further demonstrate Germany's commitment to a united transatlantic approach.

• The German chancellor has been silent for too long, while some members of his party have caused confusion within the coalition, which has undermined confidence at a time when it was of the utmost importance.

• The new German government is under criticism for its policy towards Russia, during one of the worst crises in European security, since the Balkan wars.

Recent signals from Berlin regarding sanctions and defensive arms deliveries have created transatlantic confusion.

• The first Russian intervention in 2014 demonstrated how President Vladimir Putin's behavior could spur a major shift in German politics and Russia's perception.

Germany, under the leadership of Angela Merkel, broke with its old model of "leading east" and directed Europe toward a common policy of sanctions against Russia.

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