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Since assuming office December 8, Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his cabinet have had to confront an unprecedented Russian troop buildup along the border of Ukraine and the prospect of major war in Europe. To date, their performance does not inspire confidence about Germany’s ability to lead in this moment of crisis.
Roughly half of Germany’s natural gas imports come from Russia. That reliance will become increasingly important in coming years as Germany embarks on a simultaneous phaseout from coal and nuclear energy. Russia is also an important destination for German exports. And for historical reasons, German leaders have long desired close relations with Russia.
Slowly but surely, Germany has maneuvered itself into a position of vulnerability vis-à-vis the Kremlin.
Germany’s complicated relationship with Russia is unique among its European neighbors. Germany’s first Social Democratic (SPD) chancellor, Willy Brandt, pursued détente with the Soviet Union from 1969. Brandt’s “Ostpolitik” — the normalization of relations between West Germany and Eastern Europe — paved the way for the Helsinki Final Act of 1975, which recognized the national borders of post-war Europe.
This was an important goal for Soviet leaders anxious about shoring up their Eastern European satellites. But it also gave dissidents and civil rights activists in the Soviet empire a manifesto for liberal reform.
But Russia in 2022 — as has become abundantly clear from its demands for a wholesale revision of the European security order it put in front of the United States and NATO in December — is a very different beast to the Soviet Union of the late Cold War, which sought political consolidation and hard cash. Vladimir Putin’s Russia is also not interested in joining the political West, as it appeared to be during the 1990s.
Instead, the Russian President detests America’s continued presence in Europe as epitomized by the NATO alliance. He sees the European Union as weak and divided and liberal…
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Source : cnn
