Germany incentivizes Russian terrorism with pathetic drone attack response

Germany has incentivized future Russian attacks against NATO in its recent weak response to a Russian terrorist attack.The attack involved an explosives-laden drone attempting, but fortunately failing, to destroy Ukrainian aircraft at Leipzig airport last month. Two other drones also failed to detonate. Germany and the United States have stated with high confidence that Russia’s GRU military intelligence service is responsible. The attempted attack reflects just one tentacle of a Russian terrorist Octopus that is delivering escalating violence against NATO territories.In turn, for Germany to call this a “hybrid attack” is to utterly dilute the substance of what President Vladimir Putin is doing. If an attacker puts on a balaclava and then punches you, prosecutors call that crime an assault just as they would were the assailant’s face visible. Unfortunately, Berlin’s rhetorical response matches its functional reaction. Summoning the Russian ambassador, Germany will close a Russian consulate (which operates as a signals intelligence station) and a Russian cultural center (which operates as a human intelligence station). The government also says it will introduce some new sanctions on Russian officials and has vaguely pledged to crack down on Russian sanctions-busting tanker ships. Top line?This is very weak stuff. Indeed, as Fredrick the Great observed, “Diplomacy without arms is like music without instruments.”Chancellor Friedrich Merz has failed an important test here. At a minimum, he should have extended Germany’s response by expelling the Russian ambassador and explicitly committing to join increasing Anglo-French naval efforts to seize sanctioned Russian tankers. Doing so, he would have presented an eyeball-to-eyeball riposte to the Russians, the only language they understand when it comes to confrontation. Merz would also have boosted German and NATO deterrence.Instead, we’re getting a reaction akin to that of the most overrated Western leader of the past 20 years, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel. This is regrettable. Unlike Merkel and her clueless successor, Olaf Scholz, Merz has supercharged German defense spending. He has thus reoriented Europe’s largest economy to NATO burden-sharing.Germany’s effective invitation to new Russian aggression will pose problems beyond its borders.THE NATO CODE TO DETER RUSSIA: 82, 173, 6, 16, 11From the United Kingdom to Germany to the United States, Russia is pursuing a terrorist campaign designed to cow governments into abandoning Ukraine. And each time Russia sees no consequences for an attack, it has more reason to plot more aggressive attacks. This is an especially pertinent concern when dealing with Putin and his intelligence service directors. After all, these individuals are shaped indelibly by that Soviet KGB stratagem of exploiting perceived weakness to maximal effect. They will not back down unless they are forcibly reeducated on the need to back down.In turn, expect more Russian outrages in the near- to medium-term future.