Thread by @bctallis

Germany’s response to #Russia’s assault on #Ukraine is an abject disappointment.

Why be so hard on #Germany?
Because:
- Ukraine needs & deserves much better

- We all need a Germany that does much better
(including Germans). A 🧵

#Germany has not unequivocally endorsed #Ukraine's #EU candidacy bid;
- was slow to provide weapons of any kind;
- is dragging its feet over providing #heavyweapons;
- delayed the #EU ban on🇷🇺coal, &
- STILL buys the most🇷🇺gas, giving billions of Euros to #Putin.

This is particularly hard to bear as #Germany COULD do so much more.
A fully engaged Germany COULD make such a difference - as when it boldly accepted millions of refugees - in the 1990s and in 2015.
It believed in its best sides & promised "#wirschaffendas" "we can manage it"

Or when it threw its weight behind issuing and underwriting collective EU debt to get Europe's #COVID recovery plan going.

#Germany is the world's 4th biggest economy, Europe's economic powerhouse and a massive arms producer and exporter - including very powerful and effective #heavyweapons
dw.com/en/german-arms…

#Germany is rich & has real capability to help #Ukraine far more than it is doing now.
Some of its politicians even mislead Germans about what their allies are doing -claiming other #NATO states aren't giving heavy weapons to 🇺🇦 when in fact they are.
politico.eu/article/berlin…

#Germany's government is not only failing #Ukraine which fights for all our security & for our values against #Putin's authoritarian regime but its also destroying 🇩🇪's own credibility.
This is a real shame as, since WW2, Germans have worked so hard to rebuild their reputation

From being sinners in the eyes of the world,🇩🇪strove to face its past crimes & learn lessons from them. In the process, #Germany became a genuine moral power - & able to exert real influence in the world because of it, as well as becoming widely admired.
theguardian.com/world/2020/jul…

There were missteps of course, not least in dealing with 🇬🇷🇵🇹🇮🇪🇮🇹🇪🇸 in Europe's financial crisis - and in building up the corrupt relations with #Russia (& dependency on its #oil & #gas) that are now so problematic. BUT

#Germany did underpin the deepening & widening of the #EU and, for many people came to symbolise a decent European democracy that faced its problematic past while developing an economically dynamic, tolerant and thriving liberal multicultural society.

To build all that, from the ruins of its defeat in WW2 was immensely impressive - but #Germany also benefited from a lot of help from its friends and allies ... the kind of help it needs to repay now

By the time of the fall of the #Berlin Wall - and in the way it handled that #Germany came to symbolise the hope of a better world that could be built from the trauma of the past.

Now, with every excuse made to not help #Ukraine (we can't; we don't have anything; we're scared of escalation; we don't want to be a target; we wan't peace; the Ukrainian ambassador is rude) #Germany's credibility as an international actor & as a #NATO ally is crumbling.

This does an incredible disservice to brave Ukrainians who wait & die while #Germany debates.

- It weakens the fight for democracy & against authoritarianism.

-It also betrays the work of those Germans who worked so hard to restore their country's reputation & influence.

#Germany's reputation and, consequently its effectiveness in international affairs - are in free fall.
We need a more credible, moral & committed 🇩🇪 for Europe's security & future.

Ukraine needs much more 🇩🇪 support right now.

We would all benefit from this - including🇩🇪/ end