Politico reports:

Accusations of broken promises and spreading fake news. Criticism from within the government coalition’s own ranks. And a chancellor defending his course with references to Emperor Wilhelm II.

In other words: Just another week of Olaf Scholz’s wavering policy on military support for Ukraine.

The German chancellor, who has steadfastly refused to visit Kyiv or even say he wants Ukraine to “win” the war, has been under heavy fire since March for hesitating on delivery of tanks to Ukraine. When Scholz last month bowed to pressure and agreed to send some heavy weapons, he surprised the Ukrainians, allies and experts with his decision to provide anti-aircraft tanks, which Kyiv hadn’t asked for, while continuing to hold off on the delivery of the battle tanks and infantry fighting vehicles Ukraine had been urging the West to send.

Scholz’s latest scolding came this week from Polish President Andrzej Duda, who accused the German government of breaking its promises on military support for Ukraine, which just entered its fourth month of intense fighting. Poland has donated over 200 of its own Soviet-made tanks to Ukraine and was counting on Germany to replace them with modern German equivalents, Duda said, adding that Berlin had not honored a commitment to do so.

Scholz’s reluctance to deliver the weapons has also fueled criticism from within his ruling coalition, which consists of the chancellor’s Social Democrats, the Greens and the liberal Free Democrats (FDP).

“Poland’s criticism is understandable,” said Anton Hofreiter, a Green MP and chair of the Bundestag’s European Affairs committee. “Germany has a difficult reputation in the EU anyway, because we coordinate too little with our European partners. We urgently need to work on this.”

Pressure on Germany is growing further as the Ukrainian army has struggled in recent days to contain a new Russian offensive in the Donbas, which triggered fresh calls to provide more support. [Continue reading…]