Sunday, February 27, 2022

Germany Chimes In

>Germany has just witnessed a truly historic day. Chancellor Olaf Scholz only came to power in December, but within 24 hours he has transformed modern Germany's foreign policy.

During an emergency parliamentary session on Ukraine on Sunday, Chancellor Scholz announced an additional $113bn (£84bn) for the German army.

There was an audible ripple of shock in parliament. Some MPs clapped, some booed, others looked stunned.

Undeterred, Mr Scholz went on to announce drastic measures that would have been unthinkable a week ago, including a constitutional commitment to Nato's military spending target of 2% of GDP - and he confirmed that Germany would be sending weapons direct to Ukraine.

Within a few days Vladimir Putin has managed to do what Nato allies have spent years trying to achieve: a massive increase of military spending in Germany.

Based on what I've been able to find about Germany's military spending, that is a doubling of the German military budget. Germany has been totally unwilling to go much above spending 1.4% of its GDP on its military since the end of the Cold War and even that for 2020 was a 30-year high.

Putin's been able to break Germany's near-pacifism in just a few days. Heckovajob, Vladdie.

4 comments:

  1. Too bad Japan doesn't have a military to expose Russia's Eastern flank.

    https://www.dw.com/en/germany-reverses-ban-on-weapon-sales-to-ukraine-as-it-happened/a-60924798

    ReplyDelete
  2. Following the Trumpsters recommendation I guess...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Unknown
    But the spending increase is under Biden's administration, not Putin's pet's corrupt regime. Give credit.
    Trump failed at getting increased spending and then failed Putin's order to kill NATO.
    But still Cadet Bone Spur's kissy bromance with the war criminal continues. Get a room, kids. Stop scaring the horses.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Japan will never, ever, ever forget Nomonhan and Khalkin Gol.

    ReplyDelete

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