Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Friedrich Merz. President Of Ukraine, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Friedrich Merz has been in office as Germany’s new chancellor a matter of weeks, and already he has the German capital aflutter with worry about the increasing danger of a third world war. More to the point, while Germans are fearful of such a prospect, the Russians are warning of it.
In a series of recent remarks, notably on German television, Merz has stopped just short of stating that he intends to authorize supplies of German-made ballistic missiles to Ukraine and to do so without imposing restrictions on the Kiev regime’s use of them to attack Russian territory. This is a tripwire for Moscow, as Merz cannot possibly fail to see. There are reports, notably from a Moscow television news presenter and blogger, Ruslan Ostashko, that Taurus missiles have already been shipped from Schrobenhausen, the Bavarian town where the Taurus is manufactured, and that Kiev now awaits authorization from Berlin to use them.
Quoting a source “in Zelensky’s office,” Ostashko reported that BND and MI6, the German and British intelligence services, have overseen the Taurus shipments. But this is a highly sensitive matter and there has been no official confirmation of Ostashko’s report. He may be reproducing the sort of purposeful leaks hawks commonly use to manage public opinion and avoid controversy while recklessly leading a nation closer to a war. The Kiev official may intend to encourage German momentum on the Taurus question. These practices were routine in Kiev and Washington, for instance, as the Biden regime raised the quantity and sophistication of the matériel it sent the Ukrainians after it provoked the Russian intervention three years ago. But at this fraught moment the provenance or veracity of these reports can neither be confirmed nor discounted.
The Merz government’s caution is especially important if the chancellor is to foment hostilities with Russia as he plans without his fractious coalition government collapsing. “There are no longer any range restrictions on weapons delivered to Ukraine,” he declared on German television May 26, “neither by the British nor the French nor by us — nor by the Americans.” After a meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky in Berlin two days later, Merz announced that Germany will finance production of long-range weapons in Ukraine — again, with no restrictions on their use. He and the Ukrainian president are shortly to sign an extensive arms agreement, it was also announced.
Merz is salami-slicing, as the expression goes. But even planning to deploy the Taurus is a daringly provocative escalation of Germany’s involvement in the West’s proxy war against the Russians. It is the most powerful of the ballistic missile systems available in the West. With a range of 500 kilometers, 310 miles, it is capable of reaching Moscow from Ukrainian territory, and the Ukrainians would need German personnel to operate these systems. Germans would also supply targeting data from a location, not yet known, in Germany.
Read in Scheerpost.
In a series of recent remarks, notably on German television, Merz has stopped just short of stating that he intends to authorize supplies of German-made ballistic missiles to Ukraine and to do so without imposing restrictions on the Kiev regime’s use of them to attack Russian territory. This is a tripwire for Moscow, as Merz cannot possibly fail to see. There are reports, notably from a Moscow television news presenter and blogger, Ruslan Ostashko, that Taurus missiles have already been shipped from Schrobenhausen, the Bavarian town where the Taurus is manufactured, and that Kiev now awaits authorization from Berlin to use them.
Quoting a source “in Zelensky’s office,” Ostashko reported that BND and MI6, the German and British intelligence services, have overseen the Taurus shipments. But this is a highly sensitive matter and there has been no official confirmation of Ostashko’s report. He may be reproducing the sort of purposeful leaks hawks commonly use to manage public opinion and avoid controversy while recklessly leading a nation closer to a war. The Kiev official may intend to encourage German momentum on the Taurus question. These practices were routine in Kiev and Washington, for instance, as the Biden regime raised the quantity and sophistication of the matériel it sent the Ukrainians after it provoked the Russian intervention three years ago. But at this fraught moment the provenance or veracity of these reports can neither be confirmed nor discounted.
The Merz government’s caution is especially important if the chancellor is to foment hostilities with Russia as he plans without his fractious coalition government collapsing. “There are no longer any range restrictions on weapons delivered to Ukraine,” he declared on German television May 26, “neither by the British nor the French nor by us — nor by the Americans.” After a meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky in Berlin two days later, Merz announced that Germany will finance production of long-range weapons in Ukraine — again, with no restrictions on their use. He and the Ukrainian president are shortly to sign an extensive arms agreement, it was also announced.
Merz is salami-slicing, as the expression goes. But even planning to deploy the Taurus is a daringly provocative escalation of Germany’s involvement in the West’s proxy war against the Russians. It is the most powerful of the ballistic missile systems available in the West. With a range of 500 kilometers, 310 miles, it is capable of reaching Moscow from Ukrainian territory, and the Ukrainians would need German personnel to operate these systems. Germans would also supply targeting data from a location, not yet known, in Germany.
Read in Scheerpost.