544. Benjamin Tallis - Lack of Leadership and Will in Europe Risks Another Munich and Defeat of Ukraine

For nearly a thousand days, Ukraine has resisted full-scale Russian aggression: the heroism of its armed forces and its people stand as an example to all free nations. But as the US has delivered Trump back to the White House, Ukraine and its allies face mounting strategic dangers. ---------- Dr Benjamin Tallis is Director of the Democratic Strategy Initiative, a Berlin-based Think Tank, set up to address the systemic competition we now see in global politics. He is also a research fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations. He runs the project “Action Group Zeitenwende” on the transformation of Germany’s security and foreign policy, and where he hosts the podcast "Berlin Inside Out" in 2025. He previously worked for the EU on security missions in Ukraine and the Balkans and was policy officer at the European Centre of Excellence for Civilian Crisis Management in Berlin. Benjamin spent five years at the Institute of International Relations Prague where he headed the Centre for European Security, advised numerous European governments, edited the journal New Perspectives. Benjamin regularly appears in the media, and has been published in Foreign Policy, Politico, The Independent, and in leading academic journals. ---------- SILICON CURTAIN FILM FUNDRAISER - A project to make a documentary film in Ukraine, to raise awareness of Ukraine's struggle and in supporting a team running aid convoys to Ukraine's frontline towns. https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extras ---------- SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ---------- CHAPTERS: 00:00:00 Heroism of Ukraine’s armed forces stand as an example to all free nations. 00:02:08 Olaf Schulz's party banking a good result in the Hamburg state elections. 00:05:09 Delaying election is not about German national interest on the part of the SPD. 00:08:17 Decision makers take strange comfort in fatalistic view Russia destined to win. 00:12:08 Seizing Russian assets would not “make us as bad as the Russians.” 00:16:13 There’s a risk Trump could try to impose a disadvantageous deal on Ukraine. 00:20:17 Former NATO official asked how many people work there, “about half” he said. 00:27:36 NATO is still the best we've got, for the present, because it's tried and tested. 00:32:42 So many European countries still haven't understood this as their war too. 00:37:18 Lack of strategic depth in Europe has been exposed this last year particularly. 00:40:23 This would be de facto neutrality, and a guaranteed disaster for Ukraine. 00:44:33 Rusia loves to watch the world burn because then it can profit off the chaos. 00:46:37 We have dropped the ball massively in Europe on providing our own security. ---------- LINKS: To Avoid Another Munich, Europe Must Act to Secure Ukraine – Sunday 3rd November 2024. https://www.democratic-strategy.net/_files/ugd/dcfff6_17f621993d194aeda9bb6c7cf7352dd6.pdf https://berlinsideout.podigee.io https://twitter.com/bctallis https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-tallis-b02a386/ https://dgap.org/en/user/28265 https://foreignpolicy.com/author/benjamin-tallis/ https://www.opendemocracy.net/ru/author/benjamin-tallis/ ---------- TRUSTED CHARITIES ON THE GROUND: kharpp - Reconstruction project supporting communities in Kharkiv and Przemyśl https://kharpp.com/ Save Ukraine https://www.saveukraineua.org/ Superhumans - Hospital for war traumas https://superhumans.com/en/ UNBROKEN - Treatment. Prosthesis. Rehabilitation for Ukrainians in Ukraine https://unbroken.org.ua/ Come Back Alive https://savelife.in.ua/en/ Chefs For Ukraine - World Central Kitchen https://wck.org/relief/activation-chefs-for-ukraine Ukrainian Freedom News https://www.ukrainianfreedomnews.com/donation/ UNITED24 - An initiative of President Zelenskyy https://u24.gov.ua/ Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation https://prytulafoundation.org NOR DOG Animal Rescue https://www.nor-dog.org/home/ ----------