German chancellor Olaf Scholz reached Washington to discuss the Ukrainian issue and further enhance ties with the US as the latter fears that Europe could be facing a security crisis due to its aggressive stance.
His meeting with US president Joe Biden – his first visit to the US as Germany’s chancellor – also comes as many wonder where Germany is in this crisis. Scholz neither has called Putin unlike his neighbours France and Italy, whose heads of state have been in touch with Russian president Putin, Biden, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and NATO. French president Macron is rushing eastwards in a bid to reach a ‘deal’ that might stop the war and will meet both Putin and then Zelensky.
News agency reports from Deutsche Welle suggest that Germans are increasingly looking forward to how Scholz decides to address this crisis. His ally and one of the longest serving members of his party, the Social Democrats, Gerhard Schröder, further exacerbated Germany’s problems when last week he accused Ukraine of sabre-rattling and announced that he would join the board of Gazprom, Russia’s most prominent energy company. Scholz later took to the television, appearing in German news broadcast agency ZDF, where he clearly outlined that there is only ‘one’ chancellor.
Many Republicans have said that Germany may be in bed with Russia as the US and NATO often keep highlighting how the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline could be the trump card when it comes to sanctions, according to a report by news agency the New York Times. The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which is yet to begin operations, will be intrinsic to the German energy sector come winter as it will heat thousands of German homes.
The German envoy in Washington recently revealed that it is being seen as an ‘unreliable’ ally overseas. The German envoy Emily Haber said that many in the US were questioning Germany’s reliability. While other members of the German coalition, like the Green Party which gave Germany its new defence minister Annalena Baerbock, have been outspoken about Russian aggression. Historically, the Social Democrats have taken a softer approach to relations with Russia.
Germans on social media have shared snide remarks. While some commented on how Scholz mastered in copying his towering predecessor Angela Merkel’s mannerisms while casting doubts on his ability to react, some poked fun on social media saying that ‘he may have been switched to mute’.
Despite all of this, eyes will be on Washington to see what the Biden-Scholz meet leads to as the German chancellor who in his first few months in office faces severe challenges like no other with a migrant crisis in Belarus-Poland border, a resurgent pandemic and looming threat from the Russia-Ukraine crisis.
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