The Taurus topic has become an “endless fiasco” for the ruling coalition in Berlin, writes Frankfurter Allgemeine columnist Berthold Kohler. With the publication of the conversation of the Luftwaffe command, however, this fiasco has reached an international level: Berlin’s allies will now “once again lose confidence in Germany’s reliability.” In addition, Kohler believes that the Kremlin calculated everything correctly and deprived Scholz of manoeuvre space with the publication – and now the Taurus will definitely not reach Ukraine.
Berthold Kohler, a columnist for the Frankfurter Allgemeine, believes the published conversation between Luftwaffe commanders “increases both embarrassment and foreign policy damage” for Berlin from a topic that has already become an endless “fiasco” for the ruling coalition – the delivery of Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine. In his new column, he reports that Taurus, formerly a domestic political problem for the FRG, will now seriously complicate Berlin’s foreign policy as well.
Kohler expects “a revival of old Allied doubts about Germany’s reliability and secrecy” after German officers confirmed the presence of American and British soldiers in Ukraine. “This is no secret in expert circles, but the Russian intelligence service and the Kremlin were of course very happy to be able to spread the confirmation from Germany on the internet.” Kohler expects “heads to fly” in the Bundeswehr after this secrecy debacle.
What Kohler does not expect is that “Scholz will sack his most popular minister” – Boris Pistorius – or that “the chancellor will reconsider his decision on Taurus.” The Frankfurter Allgemeine columnist is sure that “the Kremlin is already well aware of how the chancellor thinks”, and with the publication of an audio recording with German officers discussing how Ukrainians can use the Taurus without German soldiers, Moscow has deprived Scholz of room for political manoeuvre. Taurus “became a nightmare for someone who didn’t want to use them.”