Katja Hoyer

When Volodymyr Zelensky told the German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier yesterday that he did not want to see him in Kyiv, it hit his delegation like a slap in the face. The political class in Berlin still underestimates the depths of mistrust caused by Germany’s Russia policy. Whether trust with Eastern Europe can be rebuilt will depend on Berlin’s support for Ukraine – and certainly not on empty words, gestures and visits. Steinmeier had been on a state visit to Poland when Zelensky’s message reached him. He had travelled there in order to meet with President Andrzej Duda – in itself no easy encounter. Tensions between the two countries run higher than many in Germany realise.

‘We are witnessing a turning point… the world is not the same anymore,’ said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz yesterday in a speech that will be remembered as the country’s biggest military shift since 1945. Staring down the barrel of Putin’s gun, Scholz announced a massive and immediate cash injection for Germany’s armed forces as well as a long-term commitment to higher defence spending. Russia’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine has pulled Germany out of decades of complacency and misguided pacifism. Foreign minister Annalena Baerbock seemed genuinely shocked at the discrepancy between Putin’s words during her visit to Moscow last month and his actions in Ukraine. She has said she feels betrayed: ‘stone-cold lied to.

The Chief of the German Army is angry. Alfons Mais’s words were coloured by evident frustration when he said that the Bundeswehr had been ‘caught with its pants down’ in the current crisis in Ukraine:  ‘The options we can offer politicians to support the alliance are extremely limited’ Such outspoken political criticism is rare from high-ranking German military figures, which gave Mais’s rant even more resonance. He was particularly frustrated that he and others had raised concerns for years. ‘But our arguments to draw conclusions from the annexation of Crimea and put them into practice failed to cut through,’ he said. Mais admitted:  ‘That does not feel great! I am pissed off!

When German chancellor Olaf Scholz met Russian president Vladimir Putin yesterday, the visuals said it all. As he had done with Emmanuel Macron, Putin kept his visitor at arm’s length, or rather at five metres’ length. Sitting at opposite ends of the Kremlin’s infamous long table, the two men were as physically far away from each other as they were on content. But Scholz did not seem intimidated by this. On the contrary. At the press conference that followed, he was assertive, even feisty. Are we seeing the beginnings of a post-Merkel foreign policy shift in Berlin?

Amidst the heavy criticism of Germany’s lack of commitment in the Ukraine crisis, the German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock argued in a speech to the German parliament on Thursday that alliance systems were a bit like a football team. ‘You don’t need 11 centre-forwards who all do the same thing; you need 11 players who get on with one another and who, most importantly, have the same game plan in mind.’ In other words, western alliance systems such as Nato should assign different roles and responsibilities to member states that are best suited to their individual strengths and weaknesses – horses for courses, to stay within the sporting imagery.

Germany's navy chief, vice admiral Kay-Achim Schönbach, resigned over the weekend. His crime? Saying something out loud that many German politicians intrinsically believe: that the Russian president Vladimir Putin deserves 'respect'. Schönbach also made the mistake of suggesting Ukraine would 'never' regain the Crimean peninsula from Russia, and calling Western fears about Russia invading Ukraine 'nonsense’. As Germany's government scrambled to limit the collateral damage of Schönbach's words as they went viral on the internet, it was clear he had to go.

Ukraine’s list of demands towards Germany is straightforward: it wants Berlin to stand up to Russia. With tens of thousands of Russian troops stationed on Ukraine's border, its plea is urgent. It is just a matter of time before this week's Russian-American security talks in Geneva end in a diplomatic stalemate. When that happens, an invasion could be imminent. But there's bad news for Kiev: Berlin is in no position to help. In an interview with the German press, Kiev’s man in Berlin, Andriy Melnyk, urged Angela Merkel’s successor to intervene quickly.

As Angela Merkel prepares to write her autobiography, 'explaining her key decisions in her own words', her successor has his hands full dealing with the decisions she did not make. Germany’s new chancellor Olaf Scholz has taken captaincy of a ship on a course to nowhere in particular. He is beginning to find out just how difficult it is to steer his predecessor’s middle course between China and the West. Sooner rather than later, some difficult decisions will have to be made as their political world drifts too far apart to be navigated in tandem from Berlin. Admittedly, this dilemma is not of Scholz’s making. Over the course of Merkel’s chancellorship, trade ties between Germany and China have become so close that they are now very difficult to untangle.

Covid was probably the last thing on Angela Merkel’s mind as she listened to the East German pop tunes of her youth played by the Bundeswehr’s military band for her retirement ceremony last night. But a few hours earlier, the outgoing German chancellor had one last entry to make on her political will. No longer a member of parliament herself, she urged those who are to vote for mandatory vaccination against Covid as an 'act of national solidarity'. The German states had pulled forward a Covid conference planned for 9 December in light of high case numbers and localised pressure on hospitals and ICUs. They decided on a de-facto lockdown for the unvaccinated at federal level as well as further restrictions on social gatherings and events.

By the end of winter, Germans will be ‘vaccinated, recovered or dead,’ according to the country's health minister Jens Spahn. Yet as Germany battles another wave of Covid outbreaks with renewed restrictions, the outgoing Merkel administration is failing to inspire public confidence in the central government. In the city of Dresden, which usually hosts some of Germany’s most iconic Christmas markets, the mood is particularly glum. Businesses in the capital of Saxony had been looking forward to welcoming locals and tourists back to the smells of Glühwein and Bratwurst. Months ago they received the green light from state authorities to open up, but then came a shock last Friday: lockdown in Saxony, no Christmas markets, no tourism.

Picture German troops marching in front of the Reichstag in Berlin. Their polished black boots hit the ground in rhythm with the drums. Night has fallen and the soldiers are carrying burning torches that cast an eerie glow over the spectacle. But these aren’t Nazis. This ceremony was held last Wednesday in honour of Germany’s Afghan campaign. The inevitable furore has overshadowed the purpose of the event — to remember the 59 German fallen — exposing the dilemma of the German armed forces: can they have a sense of history and tradition despite their unforgivable role in Nazi crimes? German politicians have been busy debating the purpose of the Afghan campaign since the Reichstag march.