Der Zeitgeist

As a German, I'm not at all bothered by seeing the UK go first here. I always found the British module one of the most interesting forces for CMSF, and developing the Bundeswehr or NVA stuff is a lot of work, of course. Two questions, though: Will we get a similar campaign structure to the US CMCW campaign, where the missions remain the same but the equipment changes through the years? Will there be a 1982 UK campaign at all? I would love to see a smaller expansion extending the time frame to the mid-late 80s. Call it a equipment & TO&E pack or something. Just the vehicles and formations, nothing else, for a reasonable development time & cost. Just to give developers the chance to build some scenarios in the time where the Soviets had ERA on their tanks while NATO didn't have tandem warheads or 120mm M1s yet.

If it even was Spetsnaz. To these volunteer units, every Russian they come across will probably be some Elite Spetsnaz Commando Supersoldier, and every time the story gets retold he will be more elite

Mission time limit was probably 1-2 hours or so.

So far, this "German Wagner mercs captured" story didn't play much at all in Germany. Haven't seen anything on it outside the usual Twitter discussion circles. Legally, this could be an interesting case. With Germans fighting for ISIS being captured by Kurdish factions in Syria, usually extradition to Germany was the way to go, with the individualy being arrested at the airport and then tried for various things in German courts.

New German public opinion survey results just came in from ZDF Politbarometer/Forschungsgruppe Wahlen. Pretty solid 54% majority there favouring the transfer of Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. Breakdown among supporters of our different parties on the right of the chart. It breaks down similar to previous surveys, with support being highest among Green party voters, and lowest among right-wing AfD and left-wing Die Linke.

As far as I understand, there's no way Germany would be able to agree to that since we're signatory to and have ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which is very clear on these points: Countries that ratify the convention will be obliged "never under any circumstances to": Use cluster munitions; Develop, produce, otherwise acquire, stockpile, retain or transfer to anyone, directly or indirectly, cluster munitions; Assist, encourage or induce anyone to engage in any activity prohibited to a State Party under this Convention.

If anyone misses the fun "what the hell is wrong with Scholz"-discussions we had, get ready for the ultimate "Estonia wants to send German-made DPICM artillery rounds to Ukraine"-Clusterfu***.

NO autoplay with Chrome on Windows 10.

I don't want to overdo it with the "Scholzology", but this article makes some good points about German domestic politics and public opinion surrounding the Leopard decision. It should auto-translate well.

Exactly. The hustle never stops.

It already started over here. The chair of the parliamentary defense committee was asked what she thinks about sending fighter jets next, and she said she couldn't quite see this yet. Headline was "Strack-Zimmermann rules out sending fighter jets to Ukraine!!11!1".

The German government has now officially confirmed yesterday's press reports about sending Leopard 2 to Ukraine as part of a broader coalition. Overall goal is to quickly provide equipment for 2 battalions of Leopard 2.

It will get even worse. The next few months will be hell for Ukraine. Russia can't wait, they'll have to throw everything in before any of the new western stuff becomes operational.

Former Ukrainian ambassador to Germany.

The Netherlands will apparently send 18 Leopard 2.

Germany will send at least one company of Leopard 2A6.

Scholz actually HAS taken this stance. He spelled it out dozens of times since shortly after the beginning of the war. The problem is that nobody believed he was honest with that and/or ridiculed that stance as that of a coward.

"The Scholz effect"

We are past that. Thanks to the US sending M1s. Like Scholz apparently suggested last week.

Alright, fair enough, thanks!

I'm not sure how this works, would this need another (possibly unanimous) decision by the EU?

Oh, FFS.

Wait, are you claiming Ukraine doesn't use anti-personnel mines in the war?

Nobody knows what the official government stance is right now or if there even is an official government position. I watched the Bundespressekonferenz today and it was completely ridiculous. My current theory is that it's mostly domestic intra-SPD pressures on Scholz. Scholz himself doesn't seem to have any problem with taking the international criticism and is happy to play the official European Anti-Tank villain, as this keeps him out of trouble with the SPD electorate and also nicely shuts up Mützenich and the rest of the left wing of his party. When Germany eventually does send Leopard 2s, not even the most pacifist SPD guys will say a word because Scholz was simply forced to do so by the warmongering Americans and Poles. Everyone's happy.

This will be a big one, as it happens right at the same time with the Munich Security Conference. We might see Zelensky and other heads of government attending directly there.