Dispatches
1) “„Kann das nicht nachvollziehen“ – Gauck kritisiert Scholz‘ Taurus-Zögern,” den 7. Januar 2024 (02:13 Ukr);
2) “‘Can’t understand this’ – Gauck criticizes Scholz’ Taurus hesitance,” Die welt, January 7, 2024 (02:13 a.m.);
Analysis
While further U.S. military aid for Ukraine is stalled in Congress and further European military aid is blocked by Hungary, it is important to stress that Joe Biden’s and Olaf Scholz’s fear of Putin and his nuclear threats severely handicap the military strategy of Ukraine and the West, denying Ukraine victories and dragging out the war.
Germany has many Taurus cruise missiles with a range of 500:kilometers which Ukraine desperately needs. Former President Joachim Gauck (the presidency us largely a ceremonial position) has strongly criticized German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for his failure to supply Ukraine with the Taurus missiles it so desperately needs.
Biden continues to enforce Putin’s “red line” that no Western-supplied weapons be used to attack targets in Russia proper or the Kerch Strait Bridge, which is a lifeline linking the Crimea to the Russian mainland.
The prohibition against striking targets in Russia prevents Ukraine from using Western-supplied weapons to attack military installations in Russia from which missile and drone attacks or aircraft making such attacks are being launched, and from attacking Russian supply lines for Russian military operations in Ukraine.
Biden refuses to allow the use of force with Western weapons to defend Ukraine against Russian attacks in exercise of the right of self-defense.
Similarly, he appears afraid and unwilling to use force to take out the sites in Yemen from which Houthi missiles and drones are being launched against shipping in the Red Sea.
Biden is weak, very weak, when it comes to using force to defend the vital national security interests of the United States.