In light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke of a "turning point" in February 2022, announcing a change in German policy towards Russia and the provision of a one-off 100 billion euro "special fund" for the Bundeswehr. He also declared that he would support Ukraine in its defence campaign by supplying weapons. More than two years after this speech, the question arises: how serious is the German government and the supporting parties about this turning point?

The current SIRIUS issue illuminates aspects of this question with its essays and analyses:

• The article from Thomas Jäger "Room for manoeuvre in German security policy after Russia's attack on Ukraine in 2022" takes a critical look at the narratives set by Olaf Scholz with regard to the opportunities for shaping a multipolar world.
  
• Thomas Horlohe argues in his contribution "The "turn of an era" and the search for a paradigm for the post-liberal international order"that the "turnaround" proclaimed by the Chancellor had raised great expectations, which had been thoroughly disappointed.
  
• The contribution "Attrition through multi-front pressure: How the axis of autocracies wants to bring the Western alliance to its knees", from Heiko Herold, explains where a policy that does not recognise the real dangers and risks, but instead focuses on multilateralism, can lead.
  
• The brief analysis of Peter Eitel, "It's Geopolitics, Stupid!? - Ten theses on the connection between geopolitics and economics"continues these thoughts with a view to German companies that trade internationally and operate worldwide.

Two further articles continue the discussion on the lessons learnt from the Ukraine war from issue 1/2024:

• Torben Schütz argues in his contribution "The long shadow of standardisation in alliances - technological path dependency, strategic depth and the global arms market" The thesis that the technical standardisation of artillery ammunition calibres initiated by alliances during the Cold War still has an impact on the global arms market today.
  
• Antje Nötzold thematises in her article "The security significance of space and NewSpace in the Ukraine war - political implications for military and commercial space utilisation" the new expanded significance of outer space in conflicts and wars

These contributions are supplemented by Presentation of results more diverse international strategic studies and several book reviews.

As usual, the entire current issue is available online under the Open Access licence via De Gruyter Verlag HERE freely available.