German political leaders have reacted with alarm to U.S. President Donald Trump’s bombshell announcement that his administration will conduct peace negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the head of European leaders.

“To be clear, peace must last over the long term. It must secure Ukraine’s sovereignty,” said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Thursday. “That is why we will never support a dictated peace. Nor will we accept any solution that leads to a decoupling of European and American security. Only one person would benefit from that. President Putin.”

Scholz, whose Social Democratic Party (SPD) is in third place according to polls ahead of a Feb. 23 national election, called for more spending on Germany’s defense and military aid for Ukraine, and urged conservatives to relax the country’s strict spending rules — a theme he has touched on repeatedly during the election campaign — in order to do so.

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  • ms.lane@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    Europe won’t though, since they expect US/UK/AUS to do all the military heavy lifting and always have.

      • Serinus@lemmy.world
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        5 days ago

        The US fostered this and the EU was happy to accept it. It worked out reasonably well for everyone until about checks watch right now.

        The EU got to under fund and under prepare their military, and the US was effectively buying soft power and security around the world. It’s why the US able to basically unilaterally drag a coalition into Iraq.

    • Justin@lemmy.jlh.name
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      5 days ago

      This makes no sense.

      When did European leaders ever say that the US should put boots on the ground in Ukraine?