In mid-January, when the Russians were conducting a show-of-force military exercise along the Ukrainian border, Ukraine asked for military assistance from the West. Germany also tried to come to their aid, offering five thousand assault helmets to the Ukrainians, who were afraid of the possibility of a Russian attack. This is symbolic support, declared the German Minister of War, with this we are sending a message that we are with you!
"It's the joke of the century, with this power they could even send small pillows or teddy bears," reacted the Ukrainian icon of the Germans, the professional heavyweight world champion who once boxed in German colors, Vitalij Klitschko. Klitschko did not address the Germans from the edge of the track (the ring), but from the seat of the mayor of Kyiv, where he parachuted in after the future revolutionary events of 2014. At that time, many people felt that his place was in politics, since he is a hero of Ukraine, an honorary citizen of the city. He was elected with a suitable western tailwind, and since then he has been representing Ukrainian-Kyiv interests corresponding to the direction of the wind.
The assault helmet gift from the Germans was a kind of Kata Okos solution, whether they gave it or not. Because what does Ukraine do with five thousand assault helmets against hundreds of thousands of Russian forces? The Ukrainians expected heavy weapons, the civilian population needed headgear and protective vests, but the soldier needed a gun. But we know that Germany does not deliver weapons to a war zone for reasons of principle. He did not deliver to Syria either, only to Saudi Arabia, so that the weapon then passed on from there, it was no longer their war heel. Perhaps this is the only continuity in German politics, this pharisaical behavior.
The crash helmets were loaded onto a truck and set off. Not directly to Ukraine, because the war broke out there, so they could no longer send protective equipment directly from Germany. It had to be unloaded somewhere along the way, and then transported on a military truck from another country. Perhaps that is why the German press was so vocal about Hungary's involvement? Because we want to stay out of this war out of well-conceived and directly declared self-interest, and therefore refused the transport of any combat equipment? Who knows.
No one cares about the further fate of the helmets. As soon as the war broke out and they saw the advancing Russian tanks, the destroyed settlements, the looming danger, decades of German pacifism came to an end. The reality made the politicians realize that they had not paid any attention to the development of the army for a long time.
The 2019 report of the Bundestag's national defense representative found the German armed forces in the worst state compared to 1990.
Twenty thousand officers and non-commissioned officers were missing from the army, and the assets were catastrophic. Only one-third of the armored personnel carriers and fighter planes could be deployed, one-fifth of the transport helicopters, a total of sixteen (!) were operational, none of the submarines. Although they were not short of money, national defense expenditures rose from 32 to 47 billion euros in the last eight years, but none of this was visible to the army. The soldiers' bare bottoms were literally sticking out of their pants because they forgot to get warm underwear.
The Audit Office found corruption scandals in the Ministry of National Defense. For example, the protection of military objects was outsourced to private security companies for quite a bit of money. This also entails a security risk, as private companies are not subject to parliamentary vetting, they hire whoever they want. The ministry conducted suspicious transactions and gave millions of orders to consulting companies.
However, the question of responsibility was cleverly avoided, since there is no corruption in Germany, and there cannot be!
The Russian advance in the Ukraine woke the Germans from their Sleeping Beauty dream, and suddenly, on the fourth day of the war, they realized how defenseless and vulnerable they were. (Let me add, not only them, but also the European Union through them. This is called collective responsibility.) At the very end of February, Chancellor Scholz announced that in order to protect the security of their country and the "defense of freedom and democracy" national defense spending will be doubled in this year's budget, to 100 billion euros are raised because they want to create a striking, super-modern army.
Immediately after the announcement, the Germans' attitude towards the war changed. Until now, they said that whoever supplies weapons cannot be neutral, but now they immediately gave Ukraine 2,700 Strela anti-aircraft missiles. The Russian-made rockets were transferred from the National People's Army of the GDR to the military warehouse in Baden-Württemberg during German reunification.
The Strela represents the technical standard of the sixties, cobwebbed, rusty, long waiting to be scrapped. The place is probably needed for new, modern weapons, because in addition to the Strela, the Ukrainians' dowry was expanded with a thousand anti-tank guns and five hundred surface-to-air missiles from the Bundeswehr's lying stock. Allegedly, this is the end of the support, that's all they can do for Ukraine, no more. They cannot defend with military force a country that does not belong to any alliance.
Now this is precisely the political verdict.
Source and full article: Magyar Hírlap/Irén Rab
Featured Image: Obsit Military Shop
