First they sanctioned him! Now, they are desperate to get him over phone and discuss peace!
Germany’s Die Zeit newspaper has reported that Chancellor Olaf Scholz is waiting to speak by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Scholz has been urging Putin to come to Ukraine peace summit for so long. Now, he is going a step ahead.
The German chancellor is hoping for the call to take place ahead of the G20 meeting in Brazil in mid-November.
Looks like Scholz is a great admirer of Putin or may be his voice. In March, he implied he now misses those phone calls with Putin. “Our last phone call was in December two years back — before that we used to speak more frequently.” Well, you can feel the pain in his words, in his voice.
In May last year, Scholz had again expressed his will to talk to Putin. He had said, “My last telephone call was some time ago. But I plan to speak to Putin again in due course.”
In October, he said his calls with Putin were “always friendly,” even if we have very different views on the matter.”
You see, Scholz is really desperate for phone call with Putin. He looks so willing to end the war in Ukraine now that he might want to himself lead a white flag rally to Moscow from Berlin.
The biggest indication of Germany’s new Russia policy, which looks pragmatic and not hostile, came in June this year when Berlin blocked fresh sanctions on Russian gas.
Germany blocked a deal on the eve of an international peace conference on Ukraine. EU diplomats then said Germany was the new Hungary, because until now, only Viktor Orban would oppose such sanctions against Russia.
The crux of the package was to ban countries from re-exporting Russian LNG from EU ports and financing planned Arctic and Baltic LNG terminals. One diplomat said, “Once upon a time, it was said that we should always blame … Hungary — and now it’s Germany.”
Guess what, Germany also opposed sanctions against Belarus, the biggest Russian ally in Europe.
Belgium — which currently chairs EU country negotiations — was forced to split talks on the package into two separate discussions amid German opposition to new sanctions against Belarus.
Berlin was worried about broadening a measure that would force EU companies to ensure their customers cannot then sell sanctioned goods on to Moscow.
Previously, the so-called no-Russia clause had only applied to firearms, battlefield items and dual-use goods — which have both a military and civilian application. Germany was worried its MSMEs would suffer if this was expanded to more civilian products, like chemicals, or machinery for metalworking.
Berlin had also stood in the way of closing a loophole that would allow high-end goods, including luxury cars, to transit from Belarus to Russia.
What is behind this change of hearts?
You see, at the end of the day, it’s economy stupid! Germany’s economy is shrinking at a faster pace than Joe Biden’s grey matter. Germany’s downturn is not new, with the country’s once-booming economy flirting with recession for well over a year now.
Once Europe’s poster-child for growth, Germany is now likened to the “sick man” of Europe by economists. Germany has now realised its economy can be revived only when the great liability called Ukraine war is ended. And Olaf Scholz also realise you can’t attain peace by using force, missiles and ammunitions against Russia. So for now, white flag seems the only future option for Germany.