Debate about the energy embargo: Only those who are strong can be tough on Putin

The horror of the war that Russia has been waging in Ukraine for the past five weeks has a new name: Bucha.

It is to be feared that he will not be the last to mark Putin's trail of blood.

The terrible pictures from the Kiev suburbs, like the reports from Mariupol and other Ukrainian cities, show that Moscow is waging war in the neighboring country no differently than in Chechnya, Georgia and Syria: with unrestrained, targeted brutality, including against the civilian population.

The images from Bucha are likely to influence the debate about what Germany can or must do to stop Putin more than Zelenskyy's appeals and his ambassador's scolding in Berlin.

Even from the ranks of the traffic light coalition, voices are now being raised demanding that Germany should use the most powerful weapon in the "economic war" (Habeck) against the Kremlin and immediately stop buying gas, oil and coal from Russia.

It is undisputed that of all economic sanctions, a total energy embargo would be the sanction that would hit Russia most painfully.

Also, with every new piece of news about atrocities in Ukraine, it becomes harder to bear the thought that every day hundreds of millions are being transferred from Germany to the economic base of the criminal regime in Moscow.

Even if these funds don't go directly to the invading army's regimental coffers, they bolster Putin's rule and make it easier for him to continue the war in Ukraine.

But would the loss of these funds force the Kremlin to end the campaign?

Putin cannot be calculated so precisely.

It could be that he will intensify the war, in which he is also fighting to maintain his own rule, while he still has reserves for it, both in the accounts and in the arms stores.

A fatal omission: not to supply Kyiv with heavy weapons

Such an escalation could only be countered effectively with soldiers, tanks, fighter jets and rockets.

One of the fatal omissions of Berlin and other Western governments is that they have so far failed to supply Ukraine with heavy weapons that could decisively push back the invaders.

But is it also a mistake to be hesitant when turning off the gas tap?

Isn't it our moral duty and also an imperative of forward-looking security policy to do everything in our power to end the criminal war in Ukraine?

As a rule, the demands do not go as far as deploying the Bundeswehr – for understandable reasons.

However, even with an energy embargo, responsible politics has to consider and take into account the economic, social and (security) political consequences such an abrupt step would have for its own country.

It would most likely be irreversible.

But sure as the amen in church would come when the economy collapsed and inflation galloped, the lament

Because German debates are regularly characterized by having known better afterwards.

At the moment, the impression is even being given that longstanding misjudgements about Putin and the pipelines are now to be compensated for by an uncompromising commitment to an energy embargo.

But German politics should not fall from one extreme to the other, despite the “turning point”.

There was never anything wrong with being tough on Putin, and it's needed now more than ever.

But only those who are strong can be tough.

Neither Germany nor the EU would get any stronger if the continent's largest economy plunged itself into recession.

Many other European countries depend not only on Russian gas, but also on the German economic engine.

You should also think about that in Warsaw.

Moscow can only be contained with military force

The West must be prepared for a long dispute with Putin.

It is absolutely necessary to make it more difficult for him to finance his reign of terror in Ukraine, as in Russia, as soon as possible – but the Europeans must not weaken themselves in the process.

The only way to really contain Putin and prevent him from further aggression is with a credible deterrent based on real military power.

But the necessary conventional and nuclear armament costs money, a lot of money.

And that must also be achieved in Germany, even if the traffic light coalition gives the impression that it would be enough to invent a "special fund".

The democracies of the free West won the first Cold War not least thanks to their greater economic power.

Don't forget that now that you're in the middle of the second.