Dragging Along the Germans

The German government will not object if Poland decides to send Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine, Germany’s top diplomat said Sunday, indicating movement on supplying weapons that Kyiv has described as essential to its ability to fend off an intensified Russian offensive.
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Germany’s tentativeness has drawn criticism, particularly from Poland and the Baltic states, countries on NATO’s eastern flank that feel especially threatened by Russia’s renewed aggression.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that if the fellow NATO and European Unio member did not consent to transferring Leopard tanks to Ukraine, his country was prepared to build a “smaller coalition” of countries that would send theirs anyway.

The Poles dragged the Germans to yes by telling them that, whether or not the Germans liked it, Poland would give their tanks to Ukraine. The Germans may be content to being near the trailing edge, but they didn't want to be seen as being wholly recalcitrant (or being, effectively, Russian tools).

The Russians are displaying an astonishing level of hypocrisy:

Earlier Sunday, the speaker of the lower house of Russia’s parliament, State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin, said governments that give more powerful weapons to Ukraine risked causing a “global tragedy that would destroy their countries.”

“Supplies of offensive weapons to the Kyiv regime would lead to a global catastrophe,” Volodin said. “If Washington and NATO supply weapons that would be used for striking peaceful cities and making attempts to seize our territory as they threaten to do, it would trigger a retaliation with more powerful weapons.”

The Russians have been pounding peaceful Ukrainian cities since the beginning of the war. They have been indiscriminately bombing hotels, schools, apartment buildings and hospitals. I guess that they are worried that the Golden Rule of Warfare may apply: Do Unto Others as They Did Unto You. Beyond that, nobody has seriously proposed invading and occupying Russian territory. That would be an exceedingly stupid move.

Meanwhile, there seems to have been a pause in Russia's campaign of aerial terrorism. Maybe they have come to realize that video and photos going around the world of Ukrainian resuce workers trying to save people from the wreckage of an apartment building leveled by a Russian missile isn't advancing Russian interests.