Germany’s federal government is reportedly embroiled in a behind-the-scenes dispute over plans to deliver an additional €3 billion in arms to Ukraine, according to German news outlet Der Spiegel. It reported late on Thursday that Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Defense Minister Boris Pistorius are pushing for the emergency funding ahead of the Feb. 23 […]
  • PhilipTheBucket@ponder.catEnglish
    91·
    8 days ago

    So I was all set to hit the upvote button because this is pretty relevant news.

    Then I read the subtitle, “German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has reportedly blocked a proposed €3 billion arms package for Ukraine so as not to antagonize voters ahead of next month’s election, Der Spiegel reports”. I can’t get access to the Spiegel article because it’s paywalled, but none of the other summaries of this story I quickly skimmed across said anything about the voters. They said he thinks the current aid is sufficient, and doesn’t want to take the significant financial hit if they don’t need to.

    So then I looked a little further down the page on “ReMix News”, and found a big feature box with a photo of Putin and a link to https://rmx.news/article/majority-of-germans-want-chancellor-scholz-to-renew-talks-with-putin-on-ending-war-in-ukraine/:

    Majority of Germans want Chancellor Scholz to renew talks with Putin on ending war in Ukraine

    Majority of Germans want Chancellor Scholz to renew talks with Putin on ending war in Ukraine According to new polling, nearly 6 in 10 Germans want Scholz to pick up the phone to Putin and facilitate peace talks ahead of next month’s G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro

    It’s just tiny changes. So imperceptible that you could say they’re not even there, or are just some kind of rephrasing.

    Excerpts from the exact same story, from https://www.dailyfinland.fi/europe/39911/Majority-of-Germans-want-Scholz-to-speak-with-Putin (the first place outside ReMix News that I found it):

    Nearly half surveyed want Ukraine to give up territory

    Germans are divided on the question of whether Ukraine should give up part of its territory for peace with Russia. Some 39% say it should not give up an inch. But 22% believe that Ukraine should give up the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, which was illegally annexed by Russia 10 years ago.

    Another 23% argue that Kiev should give up not only Crimea but also territories that have been occupied by Russia since its full-scale invasion more than two years ago. Combined, 45% of respondents are in favour of giving up territory.

    Disagreement over permission for long-range weapons

    There is also disagreement on the question of whether Ukraine should be allowed to fire long-range Western weapons deep into Russian territory. Of those polled, 42% are in favour and 43% are against.

    Zelensky has long been calling on his Western allies for such permission, saying without this it is like trying to fight with your hands tied.

    Scholz is sceptical about this. Unlike the United States, Britain and France, so far Germany has not supplied long-range weapons to Ukraine. Scholz has been consistently unwilling to provide Kiev with the Taurus cruise missile, which has a range of 500 kilometres, because he fears that Germany and NATO could then be drawn into the war.

    Then how it’s summarized in ReMix News:

    The German public, however, is divided on how any future settlement between Russia and Ukraine should be implemented, with 39 percent opposed to Ukraine relinquishing any part of its territory to Russia and 45 percent supporting some form of territorial compromise.

    Meanwhile, the war wages on, and Ukraine’s desired military strategy of using long-range missiles provided by Western allies is also hotly contested in Germany.

    While 42 percent of respondents are in favor of granting Kyiv permission to use such weapons to strike Russia, 43 percent remain opposed, fearing the move would risk further escalation of the conflict and drag NATO further into the war.

    Germany has so far refrained from delivering long-range weapons to Ukraine, drawing criticism from Ukrainian loyalists in the U.S., the U.K., and France who were more willing to hand over missiles.

    “Drag NATO further into the war” instead of “NATO could then be drawn into the war.”

    “Territorial compromise” instead of “22% believe that Ukraine should give up the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, which was illegally annexed by Russia 10 years ago” (okay, that second one is the same thing from the opposite direction)

    “Ukraine’s desired military strategy,” “Ukrainian loyalists in the U.S., the U.K., and France,” and “more willing to hand over missiles.”

    Tiny changes.