In this conversation with RevDem editor Ferenc Laczó, Wolfgang Merkel describes key decisions and non-decisions of the new German government led by Olaf Scholz and addresses the question of continuities with the Merkel era; he discusses the main issues and dilemmas that have been raised in the German debates regarding the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and reflects on the reasons that led him to sign the recent Open Letter to Chancellor Olaf Scholz; and considers the perceptions and attitudes that guide Germany in its complex international environment but also the blind spots and mistakes of the country’s recent Russia policy.