Baerbock is cross-examined by Anne Will (ARD): Foreign Minister breaks a sweat when asked about tanks

Created: 09/19/2022, 07:18 am

Anne Will (ARD) discusses further arms deliveries to Ukraine with her guests. Foreign Minister Baerbock is hesitant.

Berlin – The crucial question of current German foreign policy is: “How do you feel about the delivery of battle tanks to Ukraine?” And it should be answered above all by the man who is asked it most often: Olaf Scholz, in his capacity as Federal Chancellor. One thing is clear: he doesn’t want to. So deliver. But how he justifies it somehow doesn’t really go down well with the public. Reason enough for Anne Will’s first program (ARD) after the summer break to ask the question again, but with a rating: “Battle tanks for Ukraine – why is the federal government hesitating?”

Olaf Scholz may now have the Roman general Fabius Cunctator, the hesitant, in mind, who was ultimately successful with a more defensive strategy. But on the other hand, it can be heard that the chancellor wants to avoid a “terrible escalation”, as CDU politician Kiesewetter reports to Anne Will. That’s a legitimate concern, says Michael Müller, who defended his comrade in this round and praised him to the best of his ability.

Anne Will (ARD) follows Baerbock’s hesitant answer

But it was up to Annalena Baerbock to explain the government’s position at the outset. The foreign minister (who was involved) made two main arguments: the tanks in question required longer training and structures for repairing the material had to be created. When Anne Wills asked if she was in favor of supplying the Leopard II, Baerbock indirectly answered diplomatically: Everything should be supplied “that makes the difference”. And when Anne Wills promptly asked whether this tank made the difference, the minister referred to the argument, already overused by Scholz, that Germany does not want to go it alone.

We may, the Americans recently announced, as Anne Applebaum knew. She demanded that Germany should assume a leadership role, and that with clear positions, Vladimir Putin might ultimately be persuaded to give in. Because the Kremlin ruler takes as much as he can, but if he fails, he withdraws. His threats before Sweden and Finland joined NATO fell flat.

Anne Will on ARD: These guests discuss further arms deliveries to Ukraine

Michael Müller felt compelled to emphasize on ARD that Putin’s rhetoric should not be buckled, as the past six months have shown: “We will continue to deliver.” That will also be necessary, Egon Ramms predicted, because at some point they would have to Losses of material are replaced and other systems are supplied. And besides, there are a lot of Leopard I’s in the industry.

The ex-general saw Germany “as a stopper” in deliveries, since the government alone had export permits for the Leopard II, but had not processed applications from other countries. Müller complained that others did not deliver what Ukraine wanted either, “but it hits us”.

The topic of the Ukraine war with Anne Will (ARD): Is Germany a leading power in Europe?

This is where the question of leadership came into play again for Anne Will. Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht recently claimed that Germany must be the leading power in Europe – at a time when criticism of the German government’s hesitant behavior was really gaining momentum.

This is probably called “forward defense” in military jargon. Müller, however, was modest in view of the German past: “We will grow into this role.” (Daland Segler)