Berlin’s latest Russia panic is reckless even by its own standards

Berlin blamed Moscow for a drone scare without proof, then used it to deepen a confrontation Germany can least afford When you’ve burned all your bridges, go and burn some more.

That seems to be the unspoken strategy of Berlin’s policy toward Moscow, which is the only plausible interpretation of Germany’s fresh efforts to damage its already abysmal relationship with Russia.

Not that they have come as a surprise.

Since the odd drone incident at the Leipzig/Halle airport at the beginning of August, the German political establishment and its always compliant mainstream media have been preparing the ground for explicitly blaming Moscow.

The German public has been subject to what looks like a systematic campaign of escalating innuendo for almost a month.

The story emerging from this barrage of unfounded claims and speculation masquerading as self-evident certainty has been changing: the role of an airport bus driver merely discovering the drone sitting quietly on the tarmac next to an extra-large Ukrainian transport plane or kicking it to the ground with a Bruce-Lee-type flying kick , as initially claimed, has remained unclear and contradictory.

Initial reports of another drone colliding with a plane in flight had to be retracted when traces of birds became too obvious.

Now, clearly, the time has come to make things official.

The German government, represented by Minister of the Interior Alexander Dobrindt and foreign policy chief Johann Wadephul, has blamed the drone incident on Russian intelligence services and announced retaliation measures, such as closing a consulate and cultural center in Berlin, even more travel restrictions and individual sanctions on Russians, and fresh attempts to go after Russian ships by, in effect, piracy.

The Russian ambassador has been called in, various EU governments, the EU commission, and NATO – though not the US – have made a grand show out of supporting Germany.

Moscow has roundly rejected Berlin’s accusations, called in the German chargé d’affaires, and promised a symmetric response to Germany’s actions.

President Vladimir Putin has plausibly described them as a “grave mistake” and, equally plausibly, surmised that it is due mainly to attempts to shape elections and distract from Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s historically sensational unpopularity.

Read more Faith in fakes: How anti-Russian hysteria is driving the EU’s drone hoax So far, so bad: Berlin has managed to reach a new low-point in a relationship that is crucial for Germany but which it loves to tear apart.

As Sarah Wagenknecht of the new-left BSW party has noted , the drone did not do any damage, regardless of the question of where it came from.