What a disgraceful shambles Washington and Berlin have left the democratic world in this week. They have unilaterally concluded a deal over the heads of their allies and partners giving a green light to the completion and activation of the notorious Russo-German Nord Stream 2 project.
They have also humiliated, for no good reason their Ukrainian friend and ally.
Instead of showing leadership and building unity around a renewed US-European partnership, they have unilaterally opted for the creation of a dubious US-German axis that has unceremoniously endorsed Chancellor Angela Merkel’s business “pact with the devil,” Russia’s autocrat Vladimir Putin.
Their “deal” has created shock waves and drawn criticism and condemnation not only from Ukraine but within the USA too, including in the Congress. Both of the content of the decision and its implications, and also the unsavory way it was produced and announced.
The effect has been to undermine confidence in the Biden administration’s declared readiness to stand up more robustly to Russian aggression than under presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, and only strengthened accumulated concerns about Berlin’s ambivalence in dealing with Russia.
Despite all its earlier assurances to the contrary, the sell-out by the Biden administration to a Berlin eager to maintain its own “special relationship” with Moscow in blatant disregard of the Russian pariah state’s international isolation resulting from its aggressive behavior, is bad enough.
For the winners are not merely those circles in Germany who put business, profit, and expediency “uber alles,” but the undisguised enemy of the West – the Putin regime – determined to undermine and weaken its democratic nemesis in any way possible.
And this invariably raises the question, is Biden prone to blinking a lot, or is he, in fact, a wimp? What in fact should we expect?
German Chancellor Angela Merkel holds her annual summer press conference on national and international topics at the house of the Federal Press Conference (AFP)
What is disgusting is the underhand way Washington and Berlin devised their deal, supposedly in the interests of Ukraine, but without including Kyiv in the deliberations. And for that matter, arbitrarily overriding the strong opposition to the Nord Stream 2 project still being voiced within the European Union itself, and failing to consult with other European states with good reason to fear the geostrategic implications of the Russo-German scheme.
Yes, the US and Germany are leading forces in the Trans-Atlantic alliance, but partnership rests on trust and taking into account the views of others, not riding roughshod over them. And since when, and with what right, has Berlin become a substitute for the European Union?
Why has the Biden administration agreed to treat Berlin, with all the skeletons in its cupboard, as the self-delegated representative of Europe?
What we have just witnessed is an appalling new precedent, hopefully short-lived, of “great powers” arrogantly deciding what’s best for others – not only Ukraine but for Europe as a whole – and imposing “their” decision on others as a fait accompli. A virtual diktat that does not envisage appeals from dissenting friends and allies.
Surely Biden and Merkel do not need to be reminded that Is this is not what democracy and the free world are about? That this behavior cannot be allowed to become a pattern?
So again, the principal beneficiary of the “deal” is of course Moscow, and the main loser, Ukraine. Inexplicably and undeservedly, it has been treated very shabbily by Washington and Berlin.
Yes, there are vague cosmetic statements within the US-German agreement to reassure and placate Ukraine. But the very serious issues concerning the country’s security are not addressed.
Ukraine finds itself at war for the eighth year with a predatory Russia because of its European self-identification. It seeks concrete assurances about how it can bolster its security, through integration into Euro-Atlantic structures, and what military assistance in the form of weapons, training, and equipment it can hope to receive from its friends.
The Zelensky administration has made no secret of its dismay with the lack of progress in the Normandy Four negotiating format in which Germany and France are supposed to be helping to mediate a peace settlement in eastern Ukraine – read, end Russian aggression, and see the withdrawal of Russian forces.
Now, Germany pledges to step up its hitherto unproductive efforts in this forum.VIs it speaking for France as well?
In reality, Berlin is not being helpful at all. On July 22, its foreign minister called on Ukraine to adhere to the ill-conceived Steinmeier Plan, devised by Germany’s president in 2016, which follows a Russian narrative, placing Moscow’s “political” preconditions above the security concerns Kyiv insists should be addressed first. And even fixed in Ukraine’s legislation!
This is a regression of the first order. At the last Normandy Four summit in Paris in 2019, Merkel herself acknowledged that the Minsk accords of 2014-15 need to be reviewed because some of them are unworkable. Yet in Zelensky’s presence, when he met with her in Berlin on July 12, she pretended she had forgotten about this. And her foreign minister is mow parroting her line.
Why? What is Germany up to? Former Ukrainian foreign minister under Petro Poroshenko, Pavlo Klimkin, suspects that the U.S.-German “grand deal” is only the tip of the iceberg and that Berlin, and possibly Washington, are in collusion with Moscow for the sake of higher, as yet unspecified, goals.
What Ukraine wants to hear is if, and when, will the US lend its political and diplomatic weight to move things forward. Again, silence from Washington and Berlin on this.
Instead, paroles, paroles. In Ukraine, however, they remember only too well the security assurances that were given to Kyiv in the Budapest Memorandum of 1994 when, in return, it agreed to give up the huge nuclear arsenal it had inherited from the Soviet Union. And when Russia invaded in 2014 these assurances remained on paper.
To add insult to injury, having persuaded Biden to cave in on Nord Stream 2, Merkel immediately calls Putin. To be the first to inform him of Washington’s capitulation? She ignores Zelensky. Do you hear Putin chuckling in the background?
Meanwhile, it seems that the Biden Administration has also behaved in a way less than worthy. Remember that before Biden received Merkel in Washington, Zelensky had appealed to them not to reach any agreements without involving Ukraine.
He was ignored. There have been reports in the press that Kyiv was even asked to remain quiet and in effect back off while Washington and Berlin were deciding things over its head.
Instead, with the “deal” about to be announced, Washington sent an emissary at the eleventh hour to Kyiv and Warsaw to inform them of what had been decided behind their backs. Hardly the way to treat friends you refer to as friends and allies.
As if to sweeten this very bitter pill, Washington also announced on July 21 that the long-awaited visit of Zelensky to the USA will take place on Aug. 30. Better late than never, it seemed.
But even here one should read between the fine print.
First, this means that Biden has chosen not to accept Ukraine’s invitation to be present in Kyiv at the celebrations of the 30th anniversary of its independence. As Zelensky knew, it would have meant so much and sent important signals.
At what level will the US be represented, and at the Crimean Platform event preceding it?
But more worrying are concerns being voiced by representatives of both sides in the Congress that on Aug. 30 they will be on holiday and therefore Zelensky will not be able to meet with bipartisan opponents of the North Stream 2 project. It seems the Biden administration wants to avoid this.
So, will the Ukrainian leader’s visit be reduced to a purely symbolic one?
In short, we have just witnessed shameful events that have opened up a host of questions and doubts. Damage control is urgently required and the courage to recognize mistakes and not repeat them.
But most importantly will the real Joe Biden now stand up so we know what’s going on?
