European officials told The Wall Street Journal Tuesday that divisions between NATO members on how much support to provide Ukraine have been growing in recent weeks.
On one side, Western European nations led by France and Germany are reluctant to send Ukraine heavy weapons, have maintained dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and are calling for a negotiated solution to end the war.
On the more hawkish side are the US, Britain, and nations in northern and central Europe, including the Baltic states, Poland, and the Czech Republic. These nations want to put more advanced weaponry in Ukraine’s hands and are against talks with Russia, and some have discouraged Kyiv from negotiating a peace deal with Moscow.
The more hawkish view was expressed by Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins in an interview on Monday. Karins told Politico that “Russia must lose” and warned some of his fellow EU members were wrong to push for a “peace at any cost.”
“The main goal of ours has to be that Russia loses — and the other side of the coin is that Ukraine wins the war. Anything short of that means we have a very bad security situation in Europe,” Karins said.
If Ukraine were to negotiate a peace settlement with Russia at this point, it would mean Kyiv would have to drop its claim to Crimea and recognize the independence of the Donbas breakaway republics. But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has rejected the idea of ceding any territory to achieve peace.
As the war grinds on, Russia is making significant gains in the Donbas, and the leaders of France and Germany appear skeptical that Ukraine would be able to push Russia back. Other European heads of state want to send Ukraine weapons they think are necessary to reverse Russia’s gains.
“Every phone call, ministers from the north of Europe and central Europe are getting more and more angry,” a Czech Republic official told The Wall Street Journal. “This is destroying the unity. It’s precisely what Putin wants and what the French and Germans are giving him.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is under growing pressure to send heavy weapons to Ukraine. So far, Germany has sent lighter arms to Ukraine and only made two arms deliveries between March 30 and May 26. Scholz has pledged to send Gepard anti-aircraft tanks, which are reportedly expected to be shipped in July, but hasn’t said he would send heavier battle tanks.
Scholz has defended his approach by warning of the dangers of sparking World War III and nuclear war, which the US and its hawkish allies don’t appear to be taking into consideration. Scholz’s caution is popular as a poll taken in early May shows 70% of Germans favor the way he is handling the situation.
While there are fractures in NATO, the US is still poised to support Ukraine against Russia in the long term as President Biden recently signed a $40 billion aid package for the Ukrainians. The EU also continues to take steps to cut off Russian energy even as Europeans are feeling the economic pain. On Monday, the EU agreed to a Russian oil ban with some exemptions for pipeline deliveries.
Everyone places their own interests first. A treaty is only as good as a coincidence of interests. Western Europe can’t afford NATO.
naturally every one will put one’s own first.Just like America fights this war for Zionists.
Exactly. One would think that the lesson was learned after WWI.
The Latvian PM is wrong. The victory for Russia in Ukraine (in whatever form Russia eventually settles for) is inevitable and was assured from the beginning. And this is not a loss for security in Europe.
It is merely the end of the illusion that his nation and others like them could ignore the reality of existing immediately next to a military superpower just by joining a military club. It was always nonsense, but now it’s becoming clearer to them where their “partners” stand when missiles start flying about.
“The main goal of ours has to be that Russia loses — and the other side of the coin is that Ukraine wins the war. Anything short of that means we have a very bad security situation in Europe,” Karins said.
And a Russian loss might mean his country will be a smoldering ash heap.
No one should listen to the Latvian PM. He “runs” a podunk nation with less population than many cities in Europe and America; essentially he is a glorified Mayor; his country has no legitimate military or economy, so will add nothing to the war he is encouraging; his sole purpose is to benefit his nation by siphoning off a portion of the US spending to benefit Latvia, then sit back and watch the fireworks. Like a yapping dog, he should be swatted with a rolled up newspaper until he stops annoying people.
Maybe Schulz also knows that it takes a long time to train with these weapons. A lot of the weapons shipments are mainly for show, as the media led by the NYT, which Western “reporters” read daily, demands it. The public is riled up so the politicians win easy points by “ARMING UKRAINE!!!”
Except a vast anti-air system was already in place when Russia stopped Zelensky’s Donbass invasion, and it was destroyed piece by piece. Replacements will also be destroyed. Russia can even target them with planes flying on the Russian side of the border. 15 German anti-air tanks to be sent in July? Boom, gone. They’re just for show.
The money should be used for West Europeans. But if you have to use them for the most corrupt people in Europe, and one of the most criminal, then pay for shelter in the large western Ukraine where there is no war. The Bosnian war showed that for the money required to house one parasite claiming “refugee status” in Western Europe, where they all stayed long after they couldn’t call themselves “refugees” anymore, you could pay for EIGHTY of them in Bosnia. Most of Bosnia was peaceful, you could give them food and housing there.
But socialist politicians love “refugees”, since that is the only way they stay in power. Not a single West European nation would have a social democrat government now without “refugees”, and definitely not Sweden and Finland, as research in Sweden has shown, looking at all national elections post-2000.
So they won’t help 80 times more in their own country. Instead bringing in one 80th of that to Finland and Sweden, to flip elections. This is not democracy, it is a dictatorship.
The full blocking of Russian oil and gas, except for pipelines to Hungary and Slovakia, is to go into effect next year.
Very clever. They know Donbass will be saved from Zelensky’s planned invasion long before that, it’s already almost done. With Donbass and Crimea saved, and a land bridge between them, Russia has the necessary territory to build a defense for the Russian population.
Western “media” only claim the war will go on longer because “!!PUTIN!! wants to take Ukraine!” Except Russia is a democracy, and the last thing they want is millions of brainwashed Ukrainians voting. But this requires too much honesty to say. Russia also doesn’t want Europe’s most corrupt people within its borders, a people that during its three decades of independence never could build anything, and is reliant on the Chinese construction companies that have been bribing Zelensky.
Even the US is starting to back out on sending sophisticated weapons. Ukraine’s forces are in disarray. Have a couple fronts they are trying to find a Russian weakness but they aren’t getting anywhere In the real front in the Donbas, the Ukraine military has abandoned three cities in different regions the past few days and might have 10,000 troops surrounded near Lysychank. Differing reports whether the retreats were ordered or forces just bailed. If they are fragmenting it would be criminal to send sophisticated weapons that wind up in the black market.
“70% of the German people support the way Sholz is handling things”. The German people are much more well informed about what has been happening in Ukraine, the history that brought about the conflict, and the sense over the past generation of being a bridge between Russia and the west rather than have a wall, than we are here with our propaganda media. Sholz,and Merkel before, were implementing this up until the recent events through their pipeline and gas deals with Russia benefitting trade throughout Europe. A negotiated peace of mutual benefit to all the peoples affected is the way
“German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is under growing pressure to send heavy weapons to Ukraine.”
By who? The US Arms Industry? When the “pressure” relents will article state that Olaf Scholz is under diminishing pressure….’?
If you’ve been buying Russian Gas & Oil shut your yaps. Especially the spurious President in the US that took us from energy independence to beggars.