Germany has given Ukraine substantial support in recent months

Germany’s much-criticized defense minister announced her resignation Monday, as her department steers the massive project of modernizing the country’s military and oversees expanding weapons deliveries to Ukraine. Christine Lambrecht said in a statement that she had submitted her resignation request to Chancellor Olaf Scholz, adding that “months of media focus on my person” had stood in the way of a factual debate about the military and Germany’s security policy. “The valuable work of the soldiers and many people in my department must stand in the foreground,” she said. There was no immediate word on a possible replacement. The 57-year-old has been defense minister since Scholz became chancellor in December 2021. Critics have long portrayed her as out of her depth, but Scholz stood by her, describing her last month as “a first-class defense minister.” Pressure on her mounted recently after an ill-judged New Year’s video message. https://reallygoodemails.com/avatarhdcasttv https://reallygoodemails.com/avatarmovie2hd https://reallygoodemails.com/avatar2thewayofwaterjk https://reallygoodemails.com/avatar2fullhdmovies https://reallygoodemails.com/avatar2hdmovies https://reallygoodemails.com/avatar2hd4kmovie https://reallygoodemails.com/avatarhdmovie2in https://reallygoodemails.com/avatar2movieenglish https://reallygoodemails.com/avatar2englishmovies https://reallygoodemails.com/avatarfullmovie2hd https://reallygoodemails.com/avatar2movie4inhd https://reallygoodemails.com/avatar2hdmoviesub https://reallygoodemails.com/avatarmovie4hds https://pastebin.com/NMvM5TA1 https://pastelink.net/hipy6sem https://ide.geeksforgeeks.org/4504c020-47f8-4f78-8f42-2015d979db4f https://www.bankier.pl/forum/temat_dsfgfdsasd,58590525.html https://mypastelink.com/j6i2qxxron https://pastebin.pl/view/c5af64fc https://www.vingle.net/posts/5217191 https://rextester.com/EMBN97765 https://paste2.org/W5WtExnx https://anotepad.com/notes/994m4ige https://etextpad.com/s3ghhexrz7 https://justetext.com/qh4dbi9PUF https://paste.rs/se9 https://pasteio.com/xkXojfYUfnw0 https://www.pastery.net/ywbsbx/ https://paste.ee/p/YUMIi https://p.teknik.io/z4Jqn https://bitbin.it/Fjz8Wcgh/ https://paiza.io/projects/TITQ3braZ91s3fWddBEcjw https://notes.io/q1PtR https://ideone.com/kPQ3Za Germany has given Ukraine substantial support in recent months including howitzers, Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft guns and the first of four IRIS-T surface-to-air missile systems. But critics, some inside Germany’s governing coalition, have long complained of Scholz’s perceived hesitancy to step up aid. Lambrecht was overshadowed on the issue by the chancellor, who made most major announcements. Lambrecht was Scholz’s deputy when he was finance minister. She was appointed justice minister in 2019. She also served as minister for families and women in the closing months of then-Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government. She was respected in those roles but was widely viewed as one of the Scholz government’s weakest links at the Defense Ministry. The notoriously unwieldy department has a history of diminishing ministers’ reputations. The ministry’s importance increased with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. That prompted Scholz to announce a special $108-billion fund to upgrade the German military, the Bundeswehr, which has suffered for years from neglect and in particular from aging, poorly functioning equipment. Last month, Lambrecht dismissed suggestions that the government had been too slow to get going on its spending drive. She said that officials have moved fast but that “such projects must be carefully negotiated — this is tax money.” The minister also drew criticism for hapless communication, starting with a January 2022 announcement that Germany would deliver 5,000 military helmets to Ukraine as “a very clear signal that we stand by your side.” In April, she took her 21-year-old son along on a military helicopter flight, which became public when he posted a photo on Instagram that it turned out Lambrecht had taken herself. Her ministry said she had applied for permission and paid the costs herself, but critics said it showed poor judgment. An amateurish New Year’s video message on her own private Instagram account prompted new opposition calls for Lambrecht’s departure and strained political allies’ patience. It showed a barely audible Lambrecht speaking against a backdrop of loud New Year’s Eve fireworks in a Berlin street. “A war is raging in the middle of Europe,” she said. “And connected with that for me were a lot of special impressions that I was able to gain — many, many meetings with interesting, great people. In the house where I grew up, President Nixon was a villain. My parents voted against him every opportunity they got, and we all cheered when he resigned during his second term, flying off in ignominy from the White House lawn to a life outside the public eye. That he was a criminal, a warmonger, a bigot, a vicious redbaiter, a threat to the Constitution — these were unquestionable truths. So for me, a recent visit to the Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda was a head-turning, mind-bending experience that challenged my assumptions and forced me to test my long-hardened opinions against a very different narrative. Some people don’t like having their assumptions challenged. I decided to embrace it. I didn’t go to the museum because of this month’s historic anniversaries. But for the record, January 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the Paris Peace Accords that led Nixon to withdraw American troops from Vietnam, and the 50th anniversary of the trial of the Watergate burglars before U.S. District Court Judge John J. Sirica. At the museum, I knew I’d be entering an alternate universe. One in which the same facts are presented but somehow seem different, where the story has subtly shifted so you’re caught off guard and forced to scramble to find the truth. Like watching Fox News after years in front of MSNBC.