Russian aggression and US isolationism push a once hesitant Germany to invest heavily in defence.

Germany’s military, the Bundeswehr, recently got the all-clear for a massive increase in investment after parliament voted to exempt defence spending from strict rules on debt.

The country’s top general has told the BBC the cash boost is urgently needed because he believes Russian aggression won’t stop at Ukraine.

“We are threatened by Russia. We are threatened by Putin. We have to do whatever is needed to deter that,” Gen Carsten Breuer says. He warns that Nato should be braced for a possible attack in as little as four years.

“It’s not about how much time I need, it’s much more about how much time Putin gives us to be prepared,” the defence chief says bluntly. “And the sooner we are prepared the better.”

  • archonet@lemy.lolEnglish
    572·
    4 days ago

    I’d like to believe they’ll kick the Nazis out of the bar before they reach the levers of true power, but I’m American and you see how well having that naive hope went for us.

    Having said that, I imagine the Germans are at least slightly more cognizant of the risks involved than we are. Difference between “It can’t happen here!” and “It has already happened here and it was bad.”

    • 🦄🦄🦄@feddit.orgEnglish
      311·
      4 days ago

      Having said that, I imagine the Germans are at least slightly more cognizant of the risks involved than we are.

      Yeah one would think so, huh? But nope, right now nothing points to that. The last government declined to start the banning process against the AfD even tho the chances of success would have been really high. And that was a coalition of basically the labor party (as far as they think of themselves at least), the greens and some neo-lib shitheads. With the conservative government of right now? Lmao fat chance.