Anyone who has invested a lot in something tends to keep putting more into it, even if it seems too expensive and pointless.

Scientists observe this effect of “sunk costs” in relationships, but also in business and politics.

An example of this is the assumption of some German politicians that one can tame Vladimir Putin with empathy and friendly accommodation.

This was tried for a long time, and the more hopeless it seemed, the more some clung to it.

Now they too have to reassess the situation.

That is hard.

Many who understand Putin are stunned.

They can be found above all on the left and the AfD, but also in parts of the SPD.

On the day the war began, the party leaders spoke with varying degrees of clarity.

Everyone agreed that Putin must end his attack on Ukraine immediately.

But while SPD leader Lars Klingbeil spoke clearly of "war" and emphasized that Putin had "beat away" the outstretched hand, AfD leader Tino Chrupalla and his deputy Alice Weidel announced that the Russian "attack" must result in “Credible offers are finally being made to the Russian partner”.

However, that sounds cynical after weeks of negotiations during which many offers were made and Putin was preparing for war.

SPD glorified détente policy

The Left leaders, in turn, condemned the Russian attack "strongly" and emphasized that they are now in the "most dangerous situation for peace in Europe in decades".

This was remarkable in that left-wing politicians, such as Gregor Gysi, liked to bring up Kosovo until recently when it came to Russia's violations of international law in Ukraine.

According to the motto: It's bad now, but it was bad in the past too.

In the SPD, even beyond the party leadership, the desire to defend Putin is over for the time being.

This is a turning point.

Because in the party, people like to remember Willy Brandt's policy of détente, which they see as a prerequisite for German reunification.

However, the SPD politician Fritz Felsentreu pointed out more than a year ago that Brandt had put a lot of money into the defense budget, which made his offer to negotiate seem like one of several options.

In the meantime, the SPD had glorified the idea of ​​detente;

you see yourself surrounded by friends with whom you can discuss everything.

This historically grown mentality no longer fits the times.

Stegner does not want an “arms race”

Comrades like parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich and former Prime Minister Matthias Platzeck, who had previously shown a lot of understanding for the Kremlin's point of view, now expressed their incomprehension.

In addition to the apparently indestructible former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, Ralf Stegner, who pointed out on the morning of the beginning of the war that even those who had relied on stronger military deterrence had failed, also caused irritation.

He wrote on Twitter that a new arms race would “not only destroy the European peace order” but also cost resources that are needed for climate protection, for example.

That seemed bizarre on the day that the peace order was destroyed by Putin.

Comrades were also outraged.