German Right-Wing MP Tries to Undermine the Tanks Supply to Ukraine

German tanks against Russia? — Your grandfathers tried it! German MP Petr Bystron from the German right-wing populist party AfD (Alternative für Deutschland) is trying to prevent the transfer of German tanks to Ukraine by speculating on history and playing the card of Germany’s moral debt to Russia.

He announced this from the rostrum of the Bundestag on January 19.

The deputy believes that German tanks against Russia caused immeasurable suffering, death, and defeat more than 80 years ago. Petr Bystron (native Czech), foreign policy spokesman for the AfD parliamentary group in the Bundestag, compares today’s Russia and the former Soviet Union. 

“Like their grandfathers,” Petr emphasizes, “they seem to have forgotten that one cannot win the war against Russia by military means. Foreign policy should not be war, but diplomacy and the search for a compromise.”

The party

At the beginning of the creation of the German party, the media often called it an “anti-euro party” or a “Euro-critical party.” Conservatives and critics from the centrist political spectrum of Germany call the ideology of AfD “populist”; critics, on the contrary – consider it conservative.

Since its foundation, it was no secret to German political observers that the party was almost openly funded by the Kremlin.

The Left Party’s regressive nature and appalling track record as a government were extensively discussed by Christoph Vandreier, the current chair of the Socialist Equality Party. Vandreier also forewarned of the threat posed by the AfD and the fascist plot that existed within the state machinery. He asserted that implementing all parties’ militaristic and anti-working class platforms was the direct cause of AfD’s growth.

Blaming the US

If you follow the AfD, then the winner of the war is already: the USA. Washington leases its weapons to Ukraine and then demands that the Europeans pay for them, said AfD representative Peter Bystron. The war could not be won militarily. The Russians had over 10,000 tanks, and a few Marders (tracked German infantry fighting vehicles) or Leopards (Leopard 2, German main battle tank) would hardly have changed the situation.

In the speech mentioned above, he stated that the United States not only expands its sphere of influence but also earns financial capital from supplying weapons. He believes the EU should pay for “made in USA” military supplies. And the Federal Republic – from the so-called “Special Fund of the Bundeswehr.” He called the position of the allied faction cynical in its application for the supply of battle tanks to Ukraine and that it does not even hide the real initiators: NATO and the US Embassy.

The matter of politics

Politics, not law, addresses the main battle tank issue. The former chair of the Munich Security Conference says from Davos, where the World Economic Forum is currently taking place, that there is a fight. “The globe is waiting for the go-ahead from Germany,” said Wolfgang Ischinger. 

And although the new defense minister, Oscar Pistorius, is fluent in English and appears to have long held positions of authority, he spoke with his American counterpart, Lloyd Austin, an hour after taking the oath, and the Bundestag debated it.

It has become clear that the chancellor will no longer have a majority in his coalition if he insists on saying “no” to the supply of battle tanks.

Discussions are still ongoing, and Leopard 2 tanks are getting closer to the frontline in Ukraine every day. Nevertheless, nasty politicians do not tire of threatening the German population with retaliation from Russia or playing on historical events and memories of human grief and guilt in the interests of Russia.