After much pondering and perhaps prevaricating, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has broken with a seven-decades-old non-aggression policy by greenlighting tank deliveries to Ukraine. How momentous is this moment? Did Scholz dither and cave to pressure, or did he drive a hard bargain to make sure Berlin did not go out on a limb alone?
As German media were breaking the story, the United States was granting Scholz his wish: the sending of US-made Abrams tanks, which come on top of UK Challenger 2 battle tanks. Is this a new phase for NATO's main supplier, or a symbolic gesture to cover the Germans?
