Germany needs to get off the fence

The German defence minister has resigned. Christine Lambrecht had not had a distinguished career in this post. She and the German government have been dithering too long over whether to give serious equipment to Ukraine. I can understand the different geopolitical arguments for Berlin because they are next-door neighbours to Moscow and think they need to maintain good relations. But come on, Berlin, enough is enough. Your next-door neighbour has invaded one of its other neighbours and is steadily destroying the country and killing its citizens. Vladimir Putin needs to be punished and the best way Germany can play its part is by authorising Poland to send German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Kyiv. There should be no hesitation. Poland is ready now to dispatch them, but Berlin still won't give permission. There has been a lot of talk about Germany itself supplying the tanks from its stocks but now admits that even if this decision was made it would take until 2024 for the first batch to arrive. So, there we are, that's even more of a reason to let Poland send their Leopard 2s. The US would approve. So why the delay? Ukraine needs these tanks before the expected Russian offensive in the spring. By then they should have the UK's Challenger 2 tanks but only 14 of them. Kyiv will need more if they are going to withstand a Russian armoured attack. Germany should regard Ukraine in the same way as every other member of Nato - as a de facto member of the alliance. Russia has to be stopped. And Germany's Leopard 2 tanks should be in the frontlines helping to bring this about.