Military historian Sönke Neitzel would like to see more arms deliveries from Germany to Ukraine. He does not see any room for a diplomatic solution with Russia at the moment. The war is only in its first phase, he says on Lanz.
According to military historian Sönke Neitzel, the “turn of the times” speech given by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz three days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine is one of the best that has been given in Germany so far. However, he said, it lacked the action that would have to follow the speech. Germany is still supplying too few weapons to the war zone, he criticized on Markus Lanz on ZDF. “Especially with regard to the production of ammunition, one has the impression that the government has not yet heard the shot.” Things are slowly moving in the right direction, he said, “but this country can do more.”
Neitzel sees part of the problem in the administrative apparatus. “We are set up for peace, and our government is an administrative system,” the military historian said. Since the end of the Cold War, for example, the number of positions in the Defense Ministry has increased by 40 percent, he said. Germany has more generals than it did during the Cold War, he said, even though troop strength has dropped significantly. “That’s where we need ministers who say, ‘I’m reforming this, I’m breaking it up now, and everybody follow me.’ We need to put more pressure on the kettle.”
Neitzel is a historian specializing in military history. He has taught at the University of Potsdam’s Institute of History since 2015. He is Germany’s only professor of military history.
“Germany is a dwarf in terms of security policy”
According to Neitzel, the war in Ukraine is at the end of the first phase. “For all we know, this is not the beginning of the end, but the end of the beginning,” he quotes Winston Churchill. The danger of Russia occupying Ukraine no longer exists, he said. But Russia is playing for time. The morale of the Ukrainian army is very high, says Neitzel, “but I would wonder whether it will manage to push the Russians out of its territory. In any case, nothing works there without Western help.”
Russia has a military problem: They underperformed, Neitzel says. Now they have to use Iranian kamikaze drones. That, he says, is a sign of Russian weakness. “This is just like the U.S. ordering its weapons from Amazon,” the scientist scoffs. The drones are cheap, he says, and they don’t always work, but the Russian army is saving high-tech material.
Neitzel does not see any room for diplomacy at the moment. “And one thing must also be clear: Germany doesn’t play along with negotiations anyway.” Germany is a dwarf in terms of military policy, he said. “If Ukraine had had to rely on Germany, it would no longer exist,” Neitzel says. The U.S., in particular, had supported Ukraine in the war, which is why it would later also want to help shape peace.
Source of the news: https://www.n-tv.de
