The  Times: Washington’s maneuvers to send German tanks to Kiev revealed Europe’s continued dependence on it

Once again, the dependence of Europe and the NATO countries on the United States appears, through what the British newspaper The Times described as diplomatic maneuvers and a case of back-and-forth regarding sending German Leopard tanks to Kiev, which ended, as expected, with Berlin yielding to Washington’s wishes and risking its relations with Russia.

The Times newspaper said: The Abrams tanks, which the US administration promised to send to Kiev, to satisfy Germany and reassure it about its move to supply Ukraine with Leopard tanks, will not arrive in the country before several months. But despite this fact, Washington’s decision to send its tanks was a decisive element that opened the way for the flow of Western heavy weapons to the regime in Kiev.

The US Department of Defense advised the Pentagon not to send Abrams tanks, which need maintenance and high supply and consume huge amounts of fuel, to Kiev. In tense talks with Washington, German Chancellor Olaf Schultz demanded that the United States send Abrams tanks, as a cover for the transfer of German Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.

The Times indicated that this German announcement prompted officials in Finland, the Netherlands and Spain to say: They will also send tanks to Ukraine, and training of Ukrainian tank crews will begin almost immediately in Germany.

European allies see, according to the newspaper, that the conflict in Ukraine revealed the failure of the European continent to develop what French President Emmanuel Macron calls strategic self-reliance despite fear, after former US President Donald Trump threatened to withdraw from NATO, and Germany was forced to travel a long distance in its strategic view since the start of the Ukrainian crisis.

Inas Abdulkareem