About a year into the Russian-Ukraine war.....you got the sense that the German view of defense had finally awaken, and they knew they were 'behind'. They lacked the hardware, the technology, the missile-defense, the bunkers to protect the general public, and the man-power.
So the coalition gov't (SPD-Green-FDP) at the time....went to review funding. In the period after Covid....they weren't in great shape. The next gov't (CDU-CSU-SPD) found a magic number and borrowed against future tax income. Their number works....ONLY if the economy takes off (it has yet to show that).
Their perception of Russia as the 'threat'? It's a 50-50 situation.....some folks see Russia as zero-threat now....stuck in a 20-year rebuilding process....handcuffed to a 3rd-world banking 'mess'....negative population situation (actually on decline), and can only achieve a rebuild situation if Germany continues to buy natural gas/oil from them. Others feel Russia will be a serious threat....the minute that the Ukraine-war ends.
Polls suggest that a minimum of 50-percent of German youth have no interest in the draft/conscription or defending the nation. You have to wonder why, but it's not likely to change.
Realization that the US is likely to lessen it's projection in Europe? Discussed almost daily.
Reality if you have to rely upon new immigrants for the defense of Germany? This gets brought up occasionally.
How things will look in ten years? Unknown.
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