Dear Reader,

Forgive me if you’re sick to death of reading about the will-he-won’t-he on Scholz’ deliberations on sending battle tanks to Ukraine, but I’ve been doing so much reporting on it that I don’t have too much space in my head for other thoughts at the moment. Also, I think that a lot of the explanations that are being given for why Scholz is so hesitant are less than persuasive.

In trying to understand why Scholz is so ‘hesitant’, foreign commentators have come up with several theories, which include Germans being encumbered by the historical shame of Nazism and therefore unable to act decisively in war, Scholz being reluctant to go against public opinion, and Scholz being scared of a rebellion inside his own SPD faction in the Bundestag. 

While all of these aspects might play some role, I think that they are somewhat over-hyped in helping us to understand why Scholz appears to be dithering over whether to send battle tanks to Ukraine (or giving export licences for other countri…