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.”

  • baggachipz@sh.itjust.works
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    7 days ago

    Germany, Italy, and Japan go to war against Russia and the US. Only this time the former group is the Good Guys.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      Go back to WW1 and you’ll have a hard time pointing to good guys. Even WW2 was heavily sketch. The US was halfway in bed with the Nazis under Hoover and only at odds with Japan because it was encroaching on the British opium trade through Hong Kong and Shanghai.

      These wars were, at their hearts, the end consequences of a century of industrial imperialism. The good guys were in Latin America and North Africa and the South Pacific, fighting for their independence and sovereignty.

      • Blackmist@feddit.uk
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        Lieutenant George: The war started because of the vile Hun and his villainous empire-building.

        Captain Blackadder: George, the British Empire at present covers a quarter of the globe, while the German Empire consists of a small sausage factory in Tanganiki. I hardly think that we can be entirely absolved of blame on the imperialistic front.

    • 3laws@lemmy.world
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      Italy has a grotesque far right wave RN, they are not the good guys still. Japan is not progressive enough compared to Germany, but I can believe Germany is far removed from being as much as a bad guy compared to the USA & Russia today.

      • MisterFrog@lemmy.world
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        Japan has never really reckoned with its past. They were just pacified.

        I judge the country as a whole for this, since they keep electing politicians who continue to do very little to reckon with their past.

        I feel a lot could be gained by apologising to the people and nations for the past, and nothing lost, other than nationalistic pride, bring forced into self reflection, and being genuinely sorry on behalf of the country.

        People who think they shouldn’t apologise because it wasn’t them personally are stupid, frankly, and standing in the way of reducing tensions.

        Will it fix everything in the region? No. Will it take some of the steam out of the war machine? Probably.

        • Gammelfisch@lemmy.world
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          Is that why Japan is the only WW II participant who has not fired a shot in anger since August 1945? Japan learned, the rest of you fucks failed miserably and continue to do so.

          • MisterFrog@lemmy.world
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            Oh don’t get me wrong. The strong adherence to pacifism is laudable. But they have not reckoned with their atrocities committed during and prior world war II. They practically deny them ever happening.

            Your whataboutism is not appreciated.

  • TylerBourbon@lemmy.world
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    I don’t see this as Germany leaving history in the past, but being smart to protect their future so the that the lessons of the past mean something.

    • IndustryStandard@lemmy.world
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      Germans are on track to elect the AfD. Do you think them having a 500 Billion dollar army is a good plan?

  • Lord Wiggle@lemmy.world
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    It feels a bit weird being on the German side for once, also their track record of succeeding isn’t that great, but I love our neighbors and I fully support them.

    I’m just, sad the world is falling into another world war while we also just could be more kind and forgiving towards each other. It would save a lot of lives and leads of pain and agony.

      • Lord Wiggle@lemmy.world
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        Not just republicans. Democrats in the US are right wing too. The entire country is fucked up, the reps just speed up the process exponentially. But don’t forget the most immigrants who have been thrown out was during Obama and Biden. Biden supported Israel too, with loads of weapons.

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          I call them the Republicrats and get attacked as being a centrist. That is the perversion of this situation is that I don’t think either part of our one party system give two shits about me. The only thing about the democrat faction is they are not trying to put people in real cages. Just trap them in wage slavery.

          • Lord Wiggle@lemmy.world
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            Right… As if incarceration didn’t increase during dems terms. As if there weren’t crimes against humanity in prisons and detention centers thanks to dems.

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              Its been increasing no matter who has been in office as long as I have been alive. Its never gone down. So your point to me is meaningless.

              • Lord Wiggle@lemmy.world
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                It actually went down during Trumps first term. That fucking idiot even failed in the thing he wanted most.

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      Their success rate would have been a lot higher if they had known when to stop ;-). I think if the stated goal of defending Europe from Russia doesn’t change that they have a very good chance of success given the numbers they are talking about.

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        I also wonder how much farther their war efforts would have gone had they not wasted time, men, and resources on ineffective warfare like that massive train driven cannon. Its a lot of effort and resources to set up double track rails just to miss most of your shots.

        • Lord Wiggle@lemmy.world
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          Or if they only focused on Brittain and didn’t invade Russia for one, especially with summer gear in winter.

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            The opposite is probably true. The blitzkrieg strategy relied on soldiers being able to fight effectively for days on end without sleep. It definitely isn’t a sustainable way to treat your troops but it was very effective and not possible without Pervitin.

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              That part worked. The resultant addictions didn’t really help. Like the decisions got worse over time, even when it was a pipe dream in the first place.

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                You’d almost need to take your front line troops after a few days/week of methed up raids and then put them into rehab backline labor positions. Rinse and repeat until you win the war or the troops hold a methed up mutiny.

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            Generally incompetent leaders who promoted people to positions of power based on their loyalty rather than merit also.

            Just the whole general way they did everything, I’d say.

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        The crazy thing that still makes my head spin and that I fail to process properly is that Europe would still be under Nazi regime today had they not attacked Russia … despite all the crimes. How do you deal with that? idk

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          I’m not sure it would. The Nazi economy was supported by plunder, they had to keep attacking to fund it. They couldn’t get to Britain or America, and they had otherwise more or less run out of Europe.

          I don’t want to imagine the kind of atrocities they could have committed in the time that it would take for them to collapse, but I do think the collapse would have come

    • LittleBorat3@lemmy.world
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      So yes forgiving and all that. Here are the steps: 1 Putin removes his troops from the occupied territories 2 he apologizes 3 maybe someone forgives him.

      • Lord Wiggle@lemmy.world
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        Well yeah, but what I wished was that he wouldn’t have invaded in the first place, no totalitarian rulers, no people declaring wars as a dick measuring contest. No Putin in the first place. Putin will never give up and apologize, but hopefully he dies and his replacement would retreat, apologize and help Ukraine fix their country. But the chance of that happening is little to none, the next in line is probably just as bad as Putler.

    • Gammelfisch@lemmy.world
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      We are not the same Germany, with exception to the Prussian military discipline that is buried deep within us. Thanks to morons in DC and Moscow, they are forcing to break the pacifistic dam that we were force to build post WW II.

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      They are good as long as they don’t have a demented drug user has their leader.

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      I mean the track record is pretty good as long as you don’t just stop at the 20th century.

      • Lord Wiggle@lemmy.world
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        There were no world wars pre 20th century. But yeah, Germany, Prussia and the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation were pretty successful pre 20th century.

      • Lord Wiggle@lemmy.world
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        That doesn’t feel weird, it feels totally fucked up. The Dutch government is the same, maybe not as bad as Germany but still. There’s a ban on supplying them with weapons, but the Dutch government is finding loopholes to do it anyway. I’m totally disgusted by it. Fuck Israel, bunch of fucking nazis. Out of everyone on this planet, especially them should know better.

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      Yeah I’m a bit tired of bought out politicians dismantling a country from the inside.

      Probably the biggest loophole that HAS to be fixed!

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        The biggest problem with democracy is that voting isn’t mandatory, and 25% of any population is dumb as bricks.

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          I would estimate the number is higher than 25% (and growing all the time)

    • index@sh.itjust.works
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      That’s one of the reason governments shouldn’t have any power. Good luck when in the nearby future adolf hitler II becomes the president of a police state with an army ready for war…

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      The AfD may be hard right but I can’t see any Germans getting in bed with Russia.

  • Gammelfisch@lemmy.world
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    What choice do we have? I would focus on improving everything for the regulars and copy the Finnish reserve system.

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    What the hell is with the Germans and austerity? They’ve been holding their own country back for over 15 years

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    Just don’t draft people & you good. A drafted military never fights well

      • ZeroOne@lemmy.world
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        How about you fight instead of dragging people to die in wars witbout their consent.

        Oh wait, you rather sacrifice others.

        Oh & there are more desertions in a drafted military

        • Kusimulkku@lemm.ee
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          I mean I’d be there right with the other reservists fighting. Not that many options for a lot of countries, Russia is so much bigger and stronger than a lot of those bordering Russia that you need pretty much every man to do their part.

        • Bashnagdul@lemmy.world
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          Don’t mistake me for saying drafting and war is good. Just that a drafted army fights better than a non existent one.

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      Oh yeah. That’s it. They’re morally bankrupt. They shouldn’t be allowed to defend against a lighthouse for human rights and ethical behaviour such as Russia. Imperial media. Lol.

    • Kusimulkku@lemm.ee
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      I’m not sure what else those under threat of attack should do than to try and best prepare for it. Germany isn’t the first target that comes to mind but still.

        • Kusimulkku@lemm.ee
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          And Germany needs to spend more to get their shit in order. Right now their military is in a very poor shape.

          You don’t defend your country or help your allies by just pointing at a balance sheet.

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              They’re spending billions on military pensions alone. Doesn’t do anything for their military capability. They’ve been chronically underspending for decades and it has deteriorated their capabilities. And it’s understandble, times have been good and USA was a good strong partner. Things have unfortunately changed. What they need money now is modernization, new purchases, development, all sorts of things to actually make the military a respectable defence force.

              You don’t fight a war with receipts.

              • index@sh.itjust.works
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                Who are you supposed to fight a war to begin with?

                Germany is not the only country in the world spending money on military pensions.

                • Kusimulkku@lemm.ee
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                  Gee I wonder who might be the threat here.

                  Germany is not the only country in the world spending money on military pensions.

                  No but if they are spending a lot of money on it, by your logic they must have a a very capable military.

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    I foresee a non-zero chance that this could backfire and their new ever-expanding military budget gets used on smaller weaker nations and then as an excuse to divert funding away from services that people actually rely on.