Angela Merkel, German chancellor from 2005 to 2021, just whitewashed her record on Ukraine and Russia.
While Merkel has always insisted her leadership balanced strength with diplomacy, her record shows an enduring tolerance for Vladimir Putin’s mayhem. Merkel even allowed Putin’s chemical weapons program to operate in Germany. But it was in regards to Ukraine where Merkel did the most damage. Amusingly, the former chancellor now insists that her Ukraine policy marks a strong point of her tenure.
Merkel was interviewed in Berlin on Tuesday by journalist Alexander Osang.
Asked whether she regrets her leadership on Ukraine, Merkel responded, “I don’t see that I have to say ‘that was wrong’ and that’s why I have nothing to apologize for.”
No contrition for the failure to use Germany’s immense economic and political leverage to bolster Ukraine’s power and defenses post Russia’s 2014 invasion of the Donbas and seizure of Crimea. Nor contrition for Merkel’s failure to adopt tougher sanctions on Moscow. On the contrary, Merkel claims that her pressuring Ukraine to accept the 2014-2015 Minsk accords (which were heavily favorable to Russia) was actually a gift to Ukraine. She says the accords “brought calm and gave Ukraine, for example, a lot of time, seven years, to develop into what it is today.” Merkel also defended her record by referencing each NATO member’s pledge, post the 2014 Russian invasion, to reach a 2%-of-GDP minimum target for defense spending. Of course, Merkel’s government never even got close to that figure. Germany barely reached 1.4%-of-GDP defense spending under Merkel. Indeed, under the former chancellor’s command, the German military was a fortress of painted broomsticks and broken warships.
The history is clear. Russia systematically broke the Minsk accords, waging a campaign of terror against Ukrainian forces and civilians. Contrary to Merkel’s alternate reality, Ukraine’s ability “to develop into what it is today” is the result of two factors that Merkel had absolutely nothing to do with.
First, the provision of predominantly U.S., British, and Eastern European military training and arms support. Moreover, for all the Western commentariat’s pre-2022 ludicrous claims that Merkel was the true leader of the free world, former President Donald Trump far more than Merkel and former President Barack Obama was instrumental to Ukraine’s military development by providing anti-tank weapons to Ukraine (Trump ruined his record by attempting to shakedown Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky).
The second factor that brought Ukraine to its current strength is Zelensky’s leadership. And if you think Merkel has anything to do with that, well, just listen to what Zelensky has been saying about Germany’s record on Russia. It ain’t exactly positive.
Still, Merkel wasn’t done with her lack-of-humility masterclass. In a quite astonishing display of arrogance, she even condemned the U.S. for opposing Putin’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline. “Basically,” Merkel insisted, “[the U.S.] sanctioned us as allies because of a different political opinion.”
Basically, that’s BS.
Forget that Nord Stream 2 would have ensured Europe’s energy dependence on Putin and his associated means of political blackmail for generations. Forget that it would have cut Ukraine out of much-needed energy transit revenues and left Eastern Europe vulnerable to energy cutoffs. Forget that the vast majority of European Union member states vociferously opposed the pipeline. For Merkel, the American boogeyman is an easier truth.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz is generally weak on Ukraine, to the detriment of Europe and Western security. Compared to Merkel, however, Scholz is a modern Otto von Bismarck — a giant of European strength and leadership. Merkel’s record on Russia? She was the modern Franz von Papen, the German vice-chancellor who helped bring Hitler to power in the delusional belief he could control the fanatic. In other words, Merkel was what the Russians would refer to as a useful idiot. And what the Chinese communists literally referred to as an “old friend.”
