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This _was_ very much enshrined in German society for the longest time, many people growing up in the 1980s or 1990s had parents that had witnessed WWII. German
by sottol 3y ago
This _was_ very much enshrined in German society for the longest time, many people growing up in the 1980s or 1990s had parents that had witnessed WWII.
Germany is very densely populated but mostly smaller towns and cities and people tend to stay put more, so there's a lot of local history/memory. Imagine small towns where a generation ago everybody knows several people that died in the war and those who stayed home experienced other hardships. The US has been spared this mostly, but even the US smaller scale foreign wars had a toll on military members.
I grew up in Germany, and up until the FIFA World Cup in 2006 I can't remember seeing any person fly a German flag outside their house! Nationalism was a very frowned-upon thing, mostly for "Neo-Nazis", understood to be a slippery slope that lead to wars. The same goes for politics, there was great debate every single time German troops were deployed abroad before ~2010, see eg [1].
But things may be changing, AfD is gaining more and more popular support indicating an uptick in nationalism to me and a stronger feeling of international "importance".
[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1993/07/28/germans-in-angst-filled-debate-over-troop-deployment-to-somalia/4c80ceed-c7a8-4f8c-99c8-62735251bbdb/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1993/07/28/g...
- scrubs 3y agoJapan similarly has been reluctant to re-militarize. The essential question is whether they can now see change is required. Our super power role isn't good for America either (I'm American). We spent too time in the middle east protecting oil, and committed ourselves to stupid wars in Iraq under Bush. Guntanimo Bay and special extradition are grave American errors. I am happy to see that through energy independence we can delink ourselves from the middle east. I am heartened too see new applicants to Nato, which is a defensive force only. Going forward neither European weakness nor American habit of leading should play us into anything other than strategic threats namely China. We have to learn to say no. Once nato partners have a problem on their border we need to compose better and strengthen each other. I'm inclined to agree: better to temporarily prioritize China over getting better European cooperation if push comes to shove. We can't own European risk more than it can itself.
- riku_iki 3y ago> . I am happy to see that through energy independence we can delink ourselves from the middle east. it may not last for a long, there are many reports that most potent shale reserves are soon to be depleted.