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Ukraine conflict — EU round-up: Putin's war prompts dramatic German U-turn
[BBC] Germany has just witnessed a truly historic day. Chancellor Olaf Scholz only came to power in December, but within 24 hours he has transformed modern Germany's foreign policy.During an emergency parliamentary session on Ukraine on Sunday, Chancellor Scholz announced an additional $113bn (£84bn) for the German army. There was an audible ripple of shock in parliament. Some MPs clapped, some booed, others looked stunned. Undeterred, Mr Scholz went on to announce drastic measures that would have been unthinkable a week ago, including a constitutional commitment to Nato's military spending target of 2% of GDP - and he confirmed that Germany would be sending weapons direct to Ukraine. Within a few days Vladimir Putin has managed to do what Nato allies have spent years trying to achieve: a massive increase of military spending in Germany. This is arguably one of the biggest shifts ever seen in Germany's post-war foreign policy. Old political certainties about peacekeeping are being ditched in Germany. Left-wing politicians and many voters are unhappy with higher spending on weapons. But since the invasion there has been a dawning realisation here that, if successful in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin may not stop there. So the political mainstream accepts that Germany needs to spend more on its military: to defend Nato allies, but also to defend itself. Suddenly Ukraine feels very near to Berlin. Ukraine invasion: EU shuts airspace to Russian planes EU clamps down on oligarchs and Kremlin's media machine: Bloc shuts down airspace to Russian aircraft including private jets, bans RT and Sputnik and hits Belarus with new sanctions Brothers in arms: Estonians, Latvians, Poles and Georgians travel to border crossings to join Ukrainians in the fight against Putin's army, writes NICK PISA on the Poland-Ukraine border EU announces all member countries will take in Ukrainian refugees for up to three years without needing to apply for asylum - as queues stretch back EIGHT MILES at Ukraine-Poland border and total number of refugees hits 368,000
Finland and Sweden have brushed off warnings from neighbouring Russia that their possible joining of NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... would trigger "serious military-political consequences" from Moscow for the two countries. A statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry Friday voiced concern about what it described as efforts by the United States and some of its allies to "drag" Finland and Sweden into NATO and warned that Moscow would be forced to take retaliatory measures if they join the alliance.
[The Drive]
Posted by: Skidmark 2022-02-28 |
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