This year, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz pledged to build Europe’s strongest army – a tall order for a country whose military has undergone years of neglect.
The coalition government is hoping a new bill agreed upon last week will help make this a reality, bolstering Germany’s forces in the face of the perceived threat from Russia and a significant shift in US foreign policy.
The sweeping new reforms will see Germany attempt to boost its numbers to 260,000 soldiers, up from around 180,000 currently, in addition to an extra 200,000 reservists, by 2035.
A problem we frequently observe is when armies are given a giant hammer they suddenly start looking at the world map as a bunch of nails. Next thing you know Germany is invading Iran for Israel and not “defending against Russia”.
Remember the Iraq and Afghanistan invasions.
So your argument is to better be the “nail” and let the soviet “hammer” fuck you up?
How do you defend against hammers when you’re a nail, watching other neighbour nails get hammered?