President Joe Biden’s visit to Kiev is marking a major watershed in contemporary history and that is the consolidation of the US as the leader and main guarantor of the West while Germany takes the backseat. As Germany becomes increasingly sidelined in Western leadership, so does its ally, France. Filling Germany’s void in Europe is Poland, and its leadership role in Europe to arms deliveries to Ukraine is increasingly making Poland a stronger and more respected nation in the conference rooms of international politics.
It was Germany’s choice to refuse to take up a leadership role in the Russian invasion of Ukraine and indeed, Europe and Ukraine would have welcomed Germany’s positive and constructive leadership to defeat Russia and guarantee security to the European continent. Without the US, Germany would have arranged a 19th-century imperialistic-style agreement with Russia over Ukraine and Russia would have been handed a leading role in global affairs. Germany has consistently tried to steer away from being involved in any armament deliveries to Ukraine and even refused to cooperate with allies on arms shipments, while on trade with Russia, Germany often chose the opportunistic option. The biggest thing standing between a German-Russian friendship that would compromise Europe’s security and empower dictators all over the world is the US.
There will be great changes to the Europe political structure after Ukraine wins the war and pushes out the Russian invaders from its borders. So far, Germany has done its best to delay Ukraine’s victory and history is taking note of everything.
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