Scholz’s token military gesture won’t undo years of neglect

Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s announcement that Germany is sending weapons and missiles to Ukraine – and is increasing its defence budget to two per cent – marks the mother of all U-turns. But it comes too late, too late for Ukraine. Years of Germany allowing its military to atrophy cannot be done overnight. Compromised by her cosy relations with the tyrant in the Kremlin, open to economic blackmail by being stretched over an oil barrel and a gas pipeline, and guilt-stricken by her Nazi past, today’s Germany is in a very bad place indeed.