Pete Hegseth is considered a man whom even Republican party friends certify a limited grasp. Various politicians on this side of the Atlantic wish the US Defense Minister nothing more than a map of Europawith the help of which he can memorize a few country names before Vladimir Putin comes up with the idea of trying out whether the United States is still on NATO. Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, for example.
The German Defense Minister met this Pete Hegseth Boris Pistorius On Monday afternoon in Washington-just at the time when US President Donald Trump only performed a few stone throws away from the Pentagon, Hegseth’s headquarters, his explanation announced with a large pomp. Out of annoyance about his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, Trump threatened to raise 100 percent import customs on goods from Putin’s Reich in the future if he does not get involved in a peace agreement with Ukraine within 50 days. Putin had recently grazed more and more shameless Russian licorice on the phone, only to then have ruthless Russian rockets in Kyjiw.
Trump announced even more. The United States want the Ukraine In the future, provide several Patriot air defense systems – paid and delivered by Europe. And here Hegseth comes into play again, and Pistorius too.
Sell Europe instead of giving away to Ukraine
Trumps Trouble about Putin lasts a little longer. The idea of delivering weapons again to Ukraine is not new. So far, she has so far confronted Trump’s announcement that it doesn’t want to do that anymore. The new is normal in US politics. Hegseth came up with the task of thinking about how the USA can deliver weapons without having to break his word.
A proposal by Pistorius, which he had already submitted to his counterpart a few weeks ago, came to his aid: Germany could buy two of the Patriot systems so urgently needed in Ukraine, Norway might be a third, and the two would then pass it on. After all, it was something completely different to sell weapons to Europeans than to deliver to Ukraine for free. That glowed in Hegseth.
Unfortunately, Hegseth’s strength is not to take a clear position and then consistently hold out. And so it was not clear on Monday afternoon Pistorius’s landing in Washington whether the US side would get involved in the deal, let alone how it should be done. And also not which configuration of the Patriot could be. The latter is a not unimportant price question. For the most modern variant of the high -tech system, one can – including rockets – to leaf around one billion euros per piece. Older Patriots from US stocks are cheaper.
After meeting Hegseth, Pistorius is now on a lawn in the Columbia Island Marina, a marina, in the background you can see the Pentagon with its 280 meter long outer walls. Since Trump ruled and obeys Hegseth, foreign politicians are no longer allowed to give up statements on the site itself. Not Pistorius either. So he had to be driven around five corners before he was allowed to say what he had agreed with his colleague.
