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To see a list of previous articles, enter “Ukraine” in the Search Box on the upper right, on The Trenchant Observer web site, and you will see a list in chronological order.
Dispatches
1) Thorsten Jungholt, “Putin hat nicht begriffen, dass er einen ‚Volkskrieg‘ gegen Russland ausgelöst hat,” Interview mit Sicherheitsexperte Joachim Krause, Die Welt, den 14 September 2022 (15:41 Uhr).
Joachim Krause, 71, is Professor Emeritus of International Politics at Kiel University
2) Thorsten Jungholt, “Putin did not understand that he triggered a ‘people’s war’ against Russia:” Interview with security expert Joachim Krause, Die Welt, September 14, 2022 (15:41).
Joachim Krause, 71, is Professor Emeritus of International Politics at Kiel University
The article in English can be found by clicking “Translate into English” on the right side of the browser’s address bar.
3) Klaus Geiger, Gregor Schwung, und Daniel Friedrich Sturm, “Die USA zweifeln immer mehr an der Verlässlichkeit von Olaf Scholz, Die Welt, den 14. September 2022
4) Klaus Geiger, Gregor Schwung, and Daniel Friedrich Sturm, “The USA is increasingly doubting the reliability of Olaf Scholz,” Fie Wely, September 14, 2022l;
5) “Scholz sees no insight into the Kremlin leader after a telephone call with Putin,” Die Welt, September 14, 2022.
Analysis
Joaqim Krause, in an interview with Thorsten Jungholt in Die Welt, explained that Western restrictions on weapons deliveries to Ukraine have cost Ukrainian lives:
WELT: Is it too easy to say: Without the restrictions imposed by the West on the supply of weapons, could Ukraine really win the war?
Krause: Ukraine could probably have achieved much more success if it had had more weapon systems at its disposal that enabled the space-scale offensive. The restrictions of the West mainly concern fighter aircraft and armored vehicles. Both are means by which it would be possible to expel the Russians from the territories they occupy.
They don’t necessarily have to be battle tanks, armored personnel carriers are also important to transport infantrymen. Thanks to the restrained German arms supply policy, Ukraine is paying a high blood toll these days, especially in the south near Kherson.
But as Geiger, Schwung, and Sturm point out, the foot-dragging approach of Olaf Scholz to weapons deiveries is not entirely due to restrictions imposed by the Americans.
They unmask the perfidious nature of Scholz’s arguments, always hiding behind the argument that Germany will not undertake steps on its own. “Kein Alleingang” is the mantra.
Now the new U.S. ambassador and Washington officials have made it explicitly clear that it is up to each country to decide what weapons to supply to Ukraine.
Scholz’s mendacious justifications for delay are now laid bare. The slowness of the German response is basically the result of the cowardice of the German leaders, who still today refuse to say that the goal in the Ukraine war is
“victory”.
We need to always bear in mind that the SPD has many pro-Russian members among its ranks, that is, many “friends of Putin” or “Putin Versteher”. Foremost among them is ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder,a big friend of Putin who after leaving office went to work for Russian energy companies.
There is now a dawning awareness that today the most powerful “Putin Versteher” may be Olaf Scholz himself.
How else are we to understand his “Alleingang” or solo calls to Putin, and his dilatory approach to providing Ukraine with the weapons it needs.
The Trenchant Observer
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