Was there something? Joe Biden also apparently wants to dispel the impression that what he announced in the White House on Wednesday was hard diplomatic work. It is nothing less than an abrupt U-turn by his government: the US will deliver the Abrams main battle tank to Ukraine, well, yes, and jump on the armored train. Only hours earlier, the federal government had announced that Leopard tanks were to be delivered from Germany. Suddenly, what seemed impossible just a few days ago is now possible.
Just a week earlier, Washington said that the Abrams was “very complicated” armaments that were neither easy to maintain nor to operate and would therefore not be of any immediate use to Ukraine. The USA therefore indirectly rejected a delivery – only Chancellor Olaf Scholz is said to have made this a condition in order to give the green light for the delivery of the Leopard to Kyiv.
So has the US President given in?
In his announcement, Biden thanked Scholz for his “leadership” and “unwavering commitment” to supporting Ukraine. Germany has really made a strong case, the Chancellor is a strong voice for unity and a close friend.
When asked by a journalist about the change of heart, Biden replied that he was “not forced” by Germany to change his mind. “We wanted to make sure we’re all together. That’s what we’ve wanted to do all along. And that’s what we’re doing right now,” Biden said.
So the chancellor has caved in?
On the contrary. Scholz didn’t let himself be deterred, at least that’s how he sees it. A few hours before Biden’s appearance, the Chancellor made it clear in the Bundestag that he had done a lot of things “right” with his wait-and-see policy when it came to tank deliveries. It is “right that we are supporting Ukraine in close coordination with our international partners.” It was “correct and intentional that we worked our way up bit by bit”. And it “was right and is right that we didn’t let ourselves drift.”
Could the relationship with the USA have suffered as a result of the tank pact based on the Scholz principle? Relations are “at a better level than they have probably been for a long time,” assured the Chancellor, who called Biden a “very capable, very oriented” politician and “really good partner”.
There is great harmony and unity, nobody was pushed, pushed or put under pressure – that’s how Biden and Scholz obviously want it to be understood. The past few weeks have given a different picture. The “Süddeutsche Zeitung” even claims to have heard about heated arguments between Washington and Berlin at cabinet level, which the federal government clearly denied. However, the partner countries had obviously got stuck.
Because with all the emphasized unity: Even who took the reins of the trade in their hands is obviously controversial. On Wednesday there were still signs of a gentle struggle and the sovereignty of interpretation. “Today’s announcement builds on the hard work and commitment of countries around the world, led by the United States of America,” Biden said. “Germany is the country that is at the forefront,” said Scholz in the evening in the ZDF interview.
In public, on the other hand, the impression was created that Germany was hesitating and hesitating. The chancellor let the tank discussion go on for weeks. The criticism grew louder. British historian Timothy Garton Ash tweeted the term “schholzen”, which, according to his definition, describes “communicating good intentions just to use/find/invent every conceivable reason to delay or prevent them” . International partners felt they were being held out and recently openly threatened to deliver the Leopard tanks from Berlin without the necessary export license. And last but not least, Scholz’s own coalition partners climbed the roof more and more energetically.
But the chancellor let it all roll off. His slogan: no going it alone, battle tanks only in international solidarity, so that the risks for Germany don’t “grow in the wrong direction”. Scholz obviously insisted that the nuclear power USA also get involved in order not to expose Germany too much as the country where the Leopard tank was manufactured.
This, in turn, put the United States under pressure. Biden “knew that Germany would only supply Leopard tanks if we were to supply Abrams tanks,” Politico quoted a US official as saying, “and Allied unity is the most important thing to him.” So Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin made him a suggestion on how that could be done.
After the sobering meeting of the supporter countries in Ramstein, Austin too, according to the New York Times, was convinced that the Germans would actually only deliver in harmony with the Americans. Accordingly, he is said to have said to advisors that he saw no point in risking a “rupture” in NATO or a rift with Germany over it. After all, he recommended that President Biden deliver the Abrams main battle tanks, despite the alleged technical problems with the logistics.
“It seems the issue has been political all along, not military,” Evelyn Farkas, who was once the Pentagon’s Ukraine policy officer in the Obama administration, told the New York Times. “And our military leaders should have given the green light to the Abrams long ago to encourage the Germans that collective security would prevail.”
Now the US wants to deliver exactly 31 Abrams main battle tanks, which is the size of a Ukrainian tank battalion. That’s more than a handful of “the most powerful tank in the world,” as Biden called the heavy machine. And possibly also a signal, because the delivery is more than just a mere accommodation for Germany. The Republican Michael McCaul, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, had previously called for “just one” Abrams tank to be sent to get Berlin moving. “Germany is waiting for us to take the lead,” he said, “then they will also deliver the Leopard.”
Against this background, the US media also read about a “about-face” by Biden, although his government had never completely ruled out supplying the Ukraine with battle tanks at some point – but publicly emphasized again that it was not the right time to celebrate the 70th -Send barrel tanks. Now the Ukrainian armed forces are to receive an entire battalion.
Some details still have to be worked out, it said on Wednesday. Especially since the delivery to Ukraine “will take some time,” as Biden said. According to US media, it could be months. But the knot has been untied, the tank pact is a done deal.
According to CNN, Biden spoke by phone with Scholz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday to discuss further military support for Ukraine. Biden then concluded that maintaining unity within the western alliance was crucial – which apparently justified the delivery of the Abrams tanks, contrary to the skepticism previously expressed.
It has not yet been clarified whether the relationship between Germany and the USA actually suffered from this episode and to what extent. In any case, it was a long and presumably agonizing road to the decision. However, the tough struggle also showed that Scholz and Biden can pull themselves together. Because they agree on that, as both emphasized: As allies, they must stand together.
Sources: “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, “Politico”, Bundestag (plenary minutes), “Axios”, “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”, “New York Times”, “Tagesschau”, ZDF, ABC News, CNN
