With the delivery of anti-aircraft tanks, Germany is now also making its own contribution to supporting Ukraine against the Russian invaders with heavy weapons.

Together with the planned ring exchange of old Soviet equipment and artillery training, German military aid adds up to a substantial volume that should be about the same as what other allies are doing.

Even when it came to light weapons, Germany was one of the more important suppliers, which was often lost in the public debate.

For Europe's central power, which has been militarily reticent and pro-Russian for so long, this is another major course correction, but a necessary one.

Putin destroyed the post-Cold War European peace plan that German foreign policy had relied on for so long.

Whether it would ever have been possible to reconcile Moscow's imperialist claims with a free order in Europe will occupy historians for a long time, but it is now only a theoretical question.

At the moment it is a question of stopping Russian expansion.

Putin's generals are already naming targets beyond Ukraine, and he himself has called for Russian hegemony over all of Eastern Europe in the past.

Recklessness in strategic questions

In this extremely difficult situation, the federal government is pursuing a sensible course overall.

She has made sure that the sanctions primarily weaken Russia, not her own country.

It keeps the Bundeswehr operational to the extent possible in this poorly equipped army, and it acts in coordination with the allies.

One can blame the chancellor for his hesitancy and failed public communication.

But that was also made more difficult by the fact that Scholz was being pulled through the ring from the ranks of the coalition.

One can only shake one's head at the frivolity with which serious strategic issues are repeatedly ignored.

She even captured the Union.

Your application in the Bundestag reads,

It doesn't take Lavrov's dire threats to understand that increasing Western military aid comes with risks.

Of course, the supplies are potential Russian targets.

The crucial question is whether Putin will cross the threshold into direct military conflict with NATO.

Nobody can reliably predict that.

So far he hasn't dared, which suggests that western, essentially American, deterrence is still working.

Nevertheless, before the nuclear war, which Putin should also fear, there are many stages of escalation.

The West must remain prepared for this, in the literal sense of the word: with clout and unity in the alliance.

Fair-weather thinking has shaped foreign policy in Germany for far too long.

The idea of ​​avoiding a conflict with Putin has been unworldly since February 24.

But the threshold for spreading the war west must be kept as high as possible.