Did we witness a strategic reversal during the Ramstein meeting?

The subject of all hopes and expectations on the part of the Ukrainians and their closest supporters such as Poland or the Baltic States, the meeting which was held today at the American air base of Ramstein in the Rhineland- Palatinate, will ultimately have produced very few concrete results apart from the announcements which had already been made by its various participants. And if the United States has announced the sending of 50 new Bradley IFVs and 80 Stryker armored personnel carriers, they will have neither announced the long-awaited shipment of heavy Abrams tanks, nor will they even have arrived to get Germany to deliver its tanks Leopard 2, or simply to allow European countries that have it, to do so.

If, as one might expect, all the criticism is now directed against Berlin and Chancellor Olaf Scholz, it is clear that the German position has not deviated one iota since the start of the conflict. Indeed, Berlin has always and systematically waited for Washington to announce the delivery of a new type of equipment, before doing the same. This was the case, at the start of the conflict, regarding anti-tank weapons after the announcement of the sending of American Javelins, later regarding armored troop transports after the announcement of the shipment of M113, again later concerning the transfer to Ukraine of IRIS-T batteries and Guépard anti-aircraft guns after the sending of American NASAMS, or even Pzh2000 self-propelled guns after the arrival of American M109 and M777 in Ukraine. Even recently, Berlin waited for a joint announcement made with the United States, to confirm the sending of 40 Marder infantry fighting vehicles to Kyiv, alongside 50 American Bradleys.

In fact, the German authorities refuse to deliver Leopard 2 to Ukraine, without the United States having announced the delivery of M1 Abrams, is in no way a surprise, and even less a step backwards. It is only the strict application of the doctrine pursued since the start of the conflict, and to which the vast majority of other countries supporting Ukraine have also complied, including France and Great Britain, until 'to the episode of the AMX-10RC and the Challenger 2. However, Paris like London can, if necessary, rely on their own deterrence to face possible Russian threats, where Germany, for its part, does not can only rely on NATO and American cover. What is much more surprising is the American refusal to deliver Abrams to initiate the dynamic, and even more so the explanations provided by officials on this subject. Indeed, the explanations put forward by the American Chief of Staff, General Miley, as well as by the Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, on this subject are very unconvincing.

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