Expert Mölling calls for NATO to be tough on Putin

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stern podcast “The situation – international”
Expert Mölling recommends that the West “rattle its saber a bit”

The flags of the 32 NATO countries in front of the Brussels headquarters

© AFP

Stefan Schmitz

75 years after NATO was founded, security expert Christian Mölling sees no alternative to the alliance – and advises determination against Putin

The security expert On the occasion of its 75th anniversary, Christian Mölling advises NATO to show the Russian President clear boundaries. In the star-Podcast “The situation – international” Mölling said on Friday: “Then perhaps we have to rattle the saber a bit.” He accused the West of the fact that fears of an expansion of the conflict with Russia could have exactly the same effects one wants to avoid. “We are in a discourse of fear that inspires Moscow,” complained the research director of the German Society for Foreign Policy. All Putin had to do was “say the A-word” – that is, threaten with nuclear weapons – and everyone flinched. From Mölling’s perspective, it would make more sense to be tougher towards Putin. “We rule things out instead of thinking about what is a possibility, a success to win over Putin,” he criticized. This increases the risk that Russian aggression will reach NATO territory in a few years. Mölling asked: “What do we actually do when Putin says: I can hold Berlin harmless, but I would like to have eastern Poland.”

“Don’t pull the plug now”

The security expert pointed out that there was no alternative to NATO, despite all of the organization’s shortcomings. The European Union has not asserted itself in the military sector. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is “virtually dead.” Given the threat from Russia, now is not the time to think about fundamentally new concepts. “I wouldn’t want to pull the plug right now,” he said to the North Atlantic Alliance. The Europeans should make “attractive offers” to the USA in order to maintain its willingness to engage in Europe. Even if the American view of the continent changes, the USA may have no interest in an unstable Europe under greater influence from Russia or China. Mölling did not give a reliable forecast in the event that Donald Trump were to become US President again. However, he tended to expect that the apparatus, without which Trump could not govern, would “take hold” in a conceivable second term in office to avoid serious errors.

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