ZDF Talk: Journalist at Lanz: Scholz’ tank tactics "sensational"

The months of discussions and political talks about the German tank delivery may have come to an end: according to reports, Germany now wants to deliver “Leopards” to Ukraine.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) is said to have decided that after the USA wanted to send tanks to the country at war. relief about that decision is not there on Tuesday evening with “Markus Lanz” – mainly because the chancellor apparently did not even let his own people in on it.

“Markus Lanz” – These were the guests:

Why did it take so long for the chancellor to make a decision about the “Leopard 2” tanks fell, one can only speculate at the moment. In the case of Lanz, however, there are basically two opinions on this.

While the SPD member of parliament Michael Roth and the journalist Ulrike Herrmann strategic reasons suspect behind Scholz’s reluctance, the political scientist Christian Mölling criticizes the opaque communication.

Particularly explosive: Ironically, Scholz’ party colleague Roth, who, as chairman of the foreign affairs committee, had only discussed the issue with the chancellor on Monday, was obviously involved in the plans not privy to. “I felt something,” smiles Roth meaningfully.

Also read: Leopard Panzer – The pressure is growing – how isolated is Scholz?

In fact, a few sentences later, he admits that when they met, they were “in one discussion process found.” So the chancellor doesn’t even seem to let his own party allies look at his cards.

Markus Lanz: Moderator criticizes Chancellor Scholz

Lanz seems to sense a small one in the revelation scandal: If Scholz is not even “willing” to “take his own people with him” – how is he supposed to gain the trust of a country?

Mölling also agrees, albeit with less pathos than Lanz: “It’s part of the basic principle of democracythat you justify what you do,” explains the security expert.

Especially because of the importance of the question, he would have liked Scholz to provide answers publicly, Mölling continued. And that also throws foreign policy Back and forth does not reflect well on the Federal Government’s reputation: after all, partner countries could now fear that in the future every decision will be preceded by an “egg dance” such as that on the tank issue.

Tank talk at Lanz: “That’s sensational”

But what if Scholz’s reserved communication is not the result of a lack of skills, but a stoic political strategy? The journalist Ulrike Herrmann throws this thesis into the round: According to her assumption, Scholz has just that delaying tactics want to achieve that the USA will also deliver tanks and that in the end different types of tanks will go to the Ukraine.

Also interesting: Pistorius – Leopard tank decision to be made “soon”

Germany did not want to go it alone, but Scholz would not have achieved his goal if he had told everyone, Herrmann said. “The result of the Scholz diplomacy is that there are now many more weapons in Ukraine than if Germany had delivered them immediately,” she explains. “This is sensational.”

At Lanz: strange USA praise of the SPD

Speaking of the USA: SPD politician Roth provided perhaps the strangest moment of the evening when he praised the United States in the highest tones. “Without the United States, Ukraine would have lost long ago,” he says, referring to previous events military supplies. “Without the US, we would be blank.”

Herrmann also agrees, but, like Mölling, notes that the USA invests more money in its military equipment than the last German governments. Roth, however, now seems to be arguing on an emotional level in particular: He says he is grateful to the United States for feeling responsible for Europe. Then he dramatically raises both hands: “Thank you, President Biden.”

More on the subject: Ceremony with a tank dispute – Scholz walking a tightrope in Paris

Only Mölling seems to remember at this moment that the USA, as an imperialist great power, is not the best negotiating partner. The Americans were “deeply annoyed” by Germany in the summer and had pressure on the federal government exercised. The fact that the US is now acting more at the request of the United States than at the urging of its European partners sends a signal to them. “That’s why we’re losing countries like Poland,” he says.

Markus Lanz: That’s how the last programs went

Lanz: Tank delivery makes Kremlin nervous

However, none of the German guests will have the final word that evening, but rather the Russian author Dmitry Glukhovsky. As an opponent of the war, he lives in exile; in September the Russian regime declared him a foreign agents. His books can only be sold in his home country under strict conditions.

Glukhovsky says the tank delivery is making the Russian government nervous. But he also warns: “Putin is now allowed to act as if the majority would support the war after all.” That is also due to one propaganda change: The war against Ukraine is no longer presented as a “special operation”, but as Russia’s resistance to the supposedly destructive West. And that sounds at least worrying in view of possible offensives in the spring.

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