My German and French government sources tell me that the reason why Germany has refused to provide long-range missiles to Ukraine and that a peace conference is being organised in Malta is that France and Germany don’t want Ukraine to win the war on its terms and are pressuring it to hold peace negotiations with Russia. Ukraine is obliging because France and Germany are donors to its war effort, but Ukraine’s plans haven’t changed and they intend to keep fighting until every inch of Ukrainian land is freed from Russian forces.
This is not the position of the US which supports Ukraine’s position to win the war by retaking all the land occupied by Russian forces including Crimea. The US is providing long-range missiles to Ukraine in what is a gradually escalating provision of heavy weaponry. While Germany and France are only providing Ukraine with a limited number of weapons just so that it can defend its current borders, the US intends to provide enough weaponry to Ukraine to eventually win the war on its own terms.
The fundamental position of Germany and France is that they don’t want to humiliate Russia because it is a nuclear power. They are also afraid of being entangled in the war if Ukraine uses its weaponry on Russian soil. Basically, France and Germany are handing over a minor victory to Russia by giving in to its threats and complying with its demands. This is dangerous for the world and the international rules-based order. France and Germany are creating a precedent whereby a nuclear-armed nation can do whatever it wants, or rather, this precedent provides nuclear-armed nations with international impunity.
France and Germany are failing to provide a robust and serious security framework for Europe. The only acceptable security framework should be full compliance with international law and zero tolerance for armed and military invasions. Any overt and illegal military activity or imperialistic invasion should be met with a resounding force that humiliates and decapitates the aggressor. The other option is to give Russia what it wants and accept a world where nuclear-armed dictators will be able to dictate terms to us as they flout international law and commit acts of great injustice.
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