The German debate on how to deal with a revisionist Russia revolves around questions of how to better organise deterrence, defence and support for Ukraine. This is important to protect Ukraine and to prevent the Kremlin from taking further aggressive steps, write Dr Tobias Fella and Dr Cornelius Friesendorf in a new article for the IPS Journal. However, they argue that too little attention has been paid to the unintended consequences of the German government’s Zeitenwende.
They plead for paying closer attention to such consequences and to strategies for preventing or mitigating side effects. In addition to inadvertent military escalation, Fella and Friesendorf point to other risks of a confrontational policy towards Russia, including the overstretching of the EU and the strengthening of autocracies. Their point is not to question the need for deterrence and defense against Russia but to call for appropriate risk management. To prepare for the emerging age of military, political, and economic instability, Germany and other supporters of Ukraine need a rational and systematic debate about unintended consequences.
You can find the article "The unintended consequences of the Zeitenwende" (22.03.2024) in the IPS Journal.