Johnson: France was "in denial" and Germany favored a quick Ukrainian military defeat

[Dennis 8,391]

So Boris Johnson decided to spill after he left politics. He detailed how western attitudes have shifted before and after the war in Ukraine. His accounts seem to align with what U.S insiders also told The Washington Post in their "road to war" article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/interactive/2022/ukraine-road-to-war/

While Johnson stressed that EU nations later rallied behind Ukraine and are now providing steadfast support, that was not universally the case in the period before the Russian invasion.

“This thing was a huge shock … we could see the Russian battalion tactical groups amassing, but different countries had very different perspectives,” Johnson told CNN’s Richard Quest in Portugal.

“The German view was at one stage that if it were going to happen, which would be a disaster, then it would be better for the whole thing to be over quickly, and for Ukraine to fold,” Johnson claimed, citing “all sorts of sound economic reasons” for that approach.

“I couldn’t support that, I thought that was a disastrous way of looking at it. But I can understand why they thought and felt as they did,” Johnson went on. Germany has rapidly sought to reduce its reliance on Russian energy since Moscow’s invasion.

“Be in no doubt that the French were in denial right up until the last moment,” Johnson also said.
 

Johnson said that once Russia launched its invasion in February, attitudes across Europe changed quickly.

“What happened was everybody – Germans, French, Italians, everybody, (US President) Joe Biden – saw that there was simply no option. Because you couldn’t negotiate with this guy (Putin). That’s the key point,” the ex-Prime Minister said, adding that the “the EU has done brilliantly” in its opposition of Russia since that time.

“After all my anxieties … I pay tribute to the way the EU has acted. They have been united. The sanctions were tough,” Johnson went on.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/22/europe/boris-johnson-ukraine-invasion-europe-comments-intl/index.html

[BornAsUnic0rn 2,247]

Yeah, I feel like this is not really news? The whole world saw this happen, thanks for stating the obvious Boris?