I guess Germany was under pressure from Putin regarding their gas dependency from Russia. The decision to deliver weapons after all was also a decision to accept Gas prices rising 10x fold next winter. Germans will pay quite dearly, since most of them use gas for heating.
Not delivering weapons to any war zone has been a holy principle for German politics since 1945. Never war again war has had a strong foothold. Even now I grown up in this tradition would ask, is it better to lose the war or more lives. Putin might invade the country now, but he will not stay there forever. Most of Eastern Europe and the Baltic countries show that. Even Eastern Germany.
Germany's dependency on Russian gas is a different problem. They don't dare to do much. Now delivering weapons might prolong and intensify the fights. If the pipeline (it passes through Ukraine!) gets destroyed they don't need to dare to stop financing Putin's war. They will need to solve the problem how to heat their homes.
(German living abroad.)
Today it’s Russia, but they will have to follow through with China, too, plus a few other countries (gulf states e.g.).
Germany along with other countries of NATO will be forced to militarize which will cost way more than abandoning Russian exports.
Ukraine is fighting now for less militarized and endangered Europe.
I agree that sometimes it's better to loose a war. Just not this one.
I hope somebody else can appreciate the irony of this sentence like I do, given that the cause of the conflict is military NATO expansion towards east.
If Ukraine can stand up (which I'd hope, but don't really believe) and Putin thinks the same way you think he will use nuclear weapons. And he has said clearly that he thinks the current Ukraine is a threat to the survial of Russia. Which is of course nonsense, but that doesn't matter.
The better support Ukraine gets the closer we are moving to a nuclear war. I'm not sure to say don't support them. But don't underestimate the danger of Putin.
My brainwashed Russian relatives think that their army is there to "protect" the population from the "modern Nazi", all the while not being able to see that their self-appointed czar is the actual Nazi (which I don't think is an exaggeration anymore).
What many Germans don’t seem to realise yet is the massive changes they are in for. Some consequences are evident already now, e.g. gas rationing next winter. Many other, still hidden consequences will emerge in the next four weeks as the sanctions kick in. German and Russian economic ties went deep, their rupture will not come easy.
The price might be worth paying but I hope all those Germans who were angry at their government for not delivering weapons sooner will accept those consequences with the same enthusiasm.
