Dhe Russian Foreign Minister was no longer invited to the Munich Security Conference, and like last year he would not have come. But one can be sure that Moscow will follow every word spoken at this meeting. It is a plenary assembly of all states that support the invaded Ukraine against the Russian invaders.
What the Kremlin hears cannot please them. Even after a year of war, Putin has not succeeded in splitting the western alliance. So far, it has not shown the signs of fatigue that the Kremlin is counting on. Whether Chancellor Scholz or French President Macron: all speakers protested that Putin’s calculation of being able to hold out longer than Ukraine and the West would not work.
What it takes to contain Russia
According to their statements, the heads of state and government on both sides of the Atlantic know what it takes to push back on Putin in Ukraine and to curb Russian imperialism in the future: higher defense spending, a boost in arms production, more cooperation on weapons development. At the same time, as Macron pointed out, Europeans should also take an active role in trying to get back to arms control agreements with Moscow; that may sound fantastic at the moment, but it was also possible during the First Cold War.
At the same time, however, the West must brace itself for the fact that Putin would rather continue to threaten with his nuclear weapons, including those that Helmut Schmidt recognized half a century ago as the greatest danger for Europe, the medium-range missiles. Macron now also warned against them. Berlin must finally accept his repeated offer and talk to Paris about how Germany’s security could also be increased through the deterrent effect of French nuclear weapons. The Helmut Schmidt of the 21st century is not called Olaf Scholz, but Emmanuel Macron.
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