re: Latest Updates: Russia-Ukraine Conflict

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It took the invasion of Ukraine itself for them to be convinced, that is true.

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I’m arguing they still aren’t given they backdoored sanctions with France for their own gain and have repeatedly balked at serious help to Ukraine.

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The tradition of Ostpolitik runs deep. I don't think not sending aid is justification enough to possibly being out of the loop with regard to a major operation that would directly affect them. The Germans still essentially rely on the US for their security. They might have protested but if the US wanted to do it, the Germans would have had to go along.

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Fair point I hadn’t though much of and maybe that’s a bit of my own ignorance. In my mind they were unified Germany prior, obviously had the brutal separation, they’ve been reintegrated, at least officially, for 30 years now, so I’d think generally a re-normalization would be well progressed and the East Germans would understand the calculus very much like the Poles and Baltics. Maybe their 75+ year fear of themselves also is still a factor pertaining to this. I know the self consciousness about Hitler still exists and has driven their defense policy since, with some (maybe a lot for our own gain) driven by us.

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I could see that and hopefully the concessions help US industry too.

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Would hope so, but as other more well versed on energy than I have commented, there’s only so much gas to be extracted and exported with lost capacity from covid and current admin policies. Military seems an obvious option, but that doesn’t get them energy.