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Germany has money for all of that, it doesn't have to neglect healthcare to afford a working military. Merkel has starved the Bundeswehr of resources relying o
by spupe 5y ago
Germany has money for all of that, it doesn't have to neglect healthcare to afford a working military.
Merkel has starved the Bundeswehr of resources relying on assumptions that have revealed themselves to be false. Historical alliances can be unreliable (Trump) and historical rivalries can be reignited (Russia). I fully support this move by Scholz.
- xcambar 5y agoIt is now very popular to see the good ol' times of alliances as dead. The lack of reliability regarding the relationships between nations is truly the most significant sign of a changing (changed?), unstable, world.
- pas 5y agoIt's a long overdue correction. Alliances were not just big promises and handshakes and expectations of blind loyalty (and doing the right thing). They were power structures forged in quid pro quo deals that continuously benefited the parties. As the cold war, uh, thawed to room temperature and China became the new focus the old alliance deals started to make no sense. Now that suddenly the kleptocratic gas station attendant feels insecure the old alliance starts to make sense again, but the underlying deals might need a bit of tweaking.
- mccorrinall 5y agoWhile we do have money, I don’t agree with this move. In the end, the german tax payer will need to pay more for gas, since we are importing very expensive fracking gas from the US now, instead of getting cheap gas via nordstream 2. Germany has so many social issues, we honestly should spend more money to get people off the street and have affordable housing. Not spending another 100bn on weapons and destructive activities.
- b112 5y agoGermany already has the money to do that, but it doesn't want to. Thus, spending money on the military has no relation, as to why other things aren't being done. Therefore, complaining about those other things, in reference to this thing, is not logical. They are separate. Now take a step back. Look at history. Don't be fooled into thinking humans have somehow inexplicably changed in a few decades. Now, should a country be able to defend itself? Should it prepare? If not, why?
- mccorrinall 5y ago> Germany already has the money to do that, but it doesn't want to. We are taking on debt to do this.
- b112 5y agoWhich changes nothing I said in the logic tree above. In fact almost every modern state runs a debt laden budget.
- spupe 5y agoGermans have to pay more for gas because of Putin, not because of this investment. And I'm not saying there are no other issues, I'm saying that this should be a high priority right now. Germany is a very rich country. It can walk and chew gum at the same time.
- mccorrinall 5y ago100B is more than 2% of Germany's economic output. And no. Our leaders (especially Olaf Scholz) decided to put Nordstream 2 on hold, Putin didn't change anything regarding Russia's gas export. I see it like this: Russia gets the eastern Ukraine, the US gets to export more expensive fracking gas, and the Europeans are on the losing side in both cases.
- pelasaco 5y agoWhile you are exercising your whataboutism, people are fighting in the streets of Kyiv. If Russia succeeds they are probably going to put their weapons on the Polish and Romania's border. Germany now has to run against the clock and everything done without planning, is more expensive.