The Chancellor made it clear: Delivering Taurus to Ukraine is out of the question, “and it will stay that way.” Scholz’s reasoning is wrong and shows, above all, that he did not understand how important Ukraine’s victory is for Germany’s security.
A majority of Germans agree with Chancellor Olaf Scholz on the Taurus issue. According to the current RTL/ntv trend barometer, 56 percent of German citizens believe it is right not to make the precision weapon available to the Ukrainians, who are under great pressure. At the end of the day, isn’t that proof enough that the Chancellor is right in his restraint, namely that he is on the same page as the majority on a very sensitive issue?
It would be nice if the dynamics of the war in Ukraine adapted to Germany’s learning curve for modern warfare. How steep this learning curve has been in the past two years, how much the country has learned – a tweet that is already historic from today’s perspective makes it clear:
It is important to recognize that the federal government has worked its way up from the naive and cynical aid deliveries of then Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht to heavy, effective and therefore serious weapons. Anyone traveling in Ukraine will inevitably be amazed at how many people there are familiar with the Iris-T-SLM anti-aircraft system, the Gepard anti-aircraft tank or the 2000 self-propelled howitzer. Alone, it’s not enough.
The decisive factor these days is not our learning curve, but rather the pressure of the Russian aggressor, which the Ukrainian troops – outnumbered in ammunition – are currently only resisting with great difficulty. The resistance costs many thousands of lives, it costs the courage of those who would now have to be mobilized to replace the front-line soldiers who have been so exhausted after two years. And it may only be a matter of time before Moscow’s henchmen manage a far-reaching and strategically important breakthrough through the defense lines in the east of the country.
This precarious frontline situation must be decisive for the federal government. Not the list of everything that has already been sent, not the seven billion that are included in the budget for 2024 and not the self-praise that Scholz so often strives to rank second behind the USA in the list of the strongest supporters. Especially since in the ranking, which is based on the strength of economic performance, it is only enough for 10th place.
The Western democracies must now ensure that the dramatic situation on the front stabilizes as quickly as possible – on the one hand, by engaging the EU with the ammunition manufacturers that are currently still offering on the world market – the Czechs have opened up a source, including in Pakistan is produced – buys what is possible. Yes, Pakistan is not a good partner for arms deals – in the current situation that shouldn’t play a role.
All technical hurdles can be overcome
On the other hand, the Russian troops’ abundant supply of weapons and ammunition must be interrupted. So that the Russians’ blatant 10 to 1 superiority in artillery ammunition is stopped. For this urgent military undertaking, the Taurus, which operates with high precision and is particularly resistant to Russian defense systems, would be the weapon of choice.
All technical hurdles could be overcome. Programming the cruise missile is far less complicated than operating the Patriot air defense system, which is successfully used in Ukraine. Even compared to the control of a Western F-16 fighter jet, the demands that a Taurus rocket places on the operator are manageable. In the past, the cruise missile was integrated into the Spanish and South Korean armies without any specially assigned Bundeswehr soldiers traveling with it. Scholz’s argument that Bundeswehr soldiers are needed in Kiev for Taurus is nonsense and not worthy of a chancellor.
Just as Ukrainian pilots are trained on F-16s outside the country, Ukrainian gunners and tank troops familiarize themselves with the Leopard II or the Marder in Germany, Ukrainian programmers can learn how to use Taurus. The only crucial requirement: There must be the will to enable Ukraine to win.
This doesn’t even require a particularly strong solidarity with those fighting bravely. It is enough to realize that in the coming months, decisive decisions may be made regarding the question of how one, how the next generation will live in Europe in the future: whether in freedom, self-determination, in sovereign nation states with recognized borders – or threatened by one Rewarded by territorial gains, the strengthened Russian conqueror is expanding his campaign against Western values and Western territories and has dictatorships such as North Korea and Iran at his side. Sounds absurd? How likely did a full Russian invasion of Ukraine sound five years ago?
The West must arm itself – now
The Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is well-intentioned towards Western countries in that he rarely misses an opportunity to express his disgust for the free lifestyle, respect for human rights and democratic systems. The Kremlin budget for 2024 speaks an even clearer language: 30 percent of the budget for the current year goes directly to the defense budget. Six percent of Russia’s economic power should flow into the war. Moscow is preparing for an expansion of the war.
If Ukraine loses this war, firstly, the naivety and disorganization of its Western supporters will be responsible and, secondly, it will pave the way for Putin’s plan to challenge and drive apart the Western alliances. It doesn’t have to come to that. But it will most likely happen if the Western democracies do not demand that we recognize the threat and arm ourselves against it. Also, and now especially, by equipping Ukraine as quickly as possible with what it needs to not only slow down Putin’s troops, but to push them back. Taurus is one of them.