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Germany is unlocking billions to supercharge its military at a seismic moment
- on_the_train 2y ago> Unlocking Going into debt for*
- rsynnott 2y agoGerman debt is 62% GDP, and has been falling nicely; it can absolutely afford a bit of extra debt.
- on_the_train 2y agoIt's still just debt. Framing that as "unlocking" just because it's done by someone the press likes is wrong and abhorrent. The words would have been different if the proposal came from the political opposition.
- yubblegum 2y agoWho do these world powers borrow money from??? Forget who built the pyramids and other mysteries of history. I have go now and ask DeepSeek ..
- alecco 2y agoThe money system is owned by the Central Banking cartel (BIS club). The major holder of German debt is the ECB. This is not owned by states. It’s very enlightening to learn how it came to be. Next big buyers of German debt are individual European banks (members of the cartel) and pension funds (also known in Wall Street as “Dumb money”).
- yubblegum 2y agoSo, why not instead of "annexing Canada", or "shutting down Social Security", or fighting endless wars that require that we borrow money from this "club", we invade B.I.S. and shake them down? The 'sanctity of the international finance system' you say? :) https://www.cfr.org/blog/first-time-us-spending-more-debt-interest-defense https://www.cfr.org/blog/first-time-us-spending-more-debt-in... As I said, it is a "mystery of history" ... /g
- alecco 2y agoLate-stage Central Banking.
- attila-lendvai 2y agothe search keyword is rehypothecation...
- c0l0 2y agoEven if WWIII is not a consequence of all this senseless and reckless militarization, each and every penny spent on it will end up missing dearly for fighting human civilization's real fight of this century: combatting climate change. It's even worse, since this kind of spending will make it even worse. I'm afraid humanity is blowing it for good with this.
- hansvm 2y agoThe plot twist of the century would be if climate change is the driving force behind our bluster about annexing Canada and Greenland. He can't admit it publicly without alienating his base, so he's forced to come up with increasingly ludicrous ruses to justify his attempts to save America from its real threats.
- dudefeliciano 2y agoIn a way it is his very openly stated goal. He has mentioned that it's a national security issue, since Russian and Chinese ships are passing through the arctic route, and as the ice melts greenland and canada will become increasingly important.
- AlecSchueler 2y agoAs the ice melts most of the issues we're talking about will become distant memories.
- more_corn 2y agoWe don’t need to invest a shit ton of money to stop climate change. We just need to decide to do it. There are cost-effective ways to do it. What we’ve been lacking is the consensus to do it.
- jupp0r 2y agoWe need to invest a lot of money to stop climate change. Renewable energy projects are very capital intensive compared to fossil fuel equivalents.
- timewizard 2y ago[flagged]
- thegreatpeter 2y agoSurprised you’re getting downvoted. The truth hurts
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- timewizard 2y agoPrivate equity wants the war. It wouldn't be popular here.
- more_corn 2y agoThe trump administration is pursuing negotiations without Ukraine. That’s not negotiation for peace. I don’t know what you’d call it but it’s not that.
- timewizard 2y agoAre we talking about the current case fire talks or the original peace talks that were on the table back in 2022?
- piokoch 2y agoTrump is pursuing the only negotiations Putin could agreed for. Ukraine is losing on the battlefield, Putin does not see any reason to talk with Zelensky, as in his view, he needs to continue the war for another year and Ukraine will run out of people ready to fight. This is brutal mathematics, Ukrainian to Russian losses are 1:2, sometimes even 1:1.5, Ukraine is not able to persist with such ratio, as they have potential soldiers. This is all Biden's fought, he was constantly afraid of "escalation" and upsetting Putin, he was delivering military help in insufficient quantities and too late. He panicked so much that during Prigozhin's Putsch (Wagner Group rebellion) he ordered CIA chief to call Putin to tell him that USA is not behind this situation. Totally idiotic move that appeased Putin that he is save and does not need to worry about "toothless West". More, Biden (or, in fact, Blinken and Sullivan) was stopping other from helping Ukraine, he never agreed to pass Polish Mig-21 war planes, which eventually were disassembled into parts and miraculously "lost" by Polish army in the forest on the Polish-Ukrainian border and then someone miraculously found them and put back together. Similarly he opposed passing Polish T-72 and PT-91 "Twardy" tanks to Ukraine, finally he agreed after pressure from Polish president A. Duda, when Biden visited Warsaw (see investigative journalist Zbigniew Parafianowicz book "Polska na wojnie" (Poland on the War)). Trumps at least tries to do something except pretending military help. He might fail, obviously, but at least he started some process that could end the war at some point.
- hmmmcurious1 2y agoI wonder why americans trashed their own hegemony in record time. Was it just to own the libs or are they lashing out because the elites know something we dont
- yodsanklai 2y agoDid they though? Are Trump's speeches followed by any action? US has numerous bases across the world, notably surrounding Russia and China. Any sign they're going to close them? Besides, Europe doesn't have much geopolitical significance nowadays. I'm more curious about US stance on China.
- hmmmcurious1 2y agoLosing the EU as an ally against China is disastrous for US chinese containment policy. Trump wont be able to bribe Putin either if China starts a war.
- jajko 2y agoYeah the idea that russia would somehow join US if China would start war is laughable, they are US sworn enemy since stalin era since all US stands/stood for is a direct threat to their oligarchy. There were 0 days when this wasn't true since WWII ended. Even assumption they would just stand by during any conflict won't fly, they would at least try to take Alaska or similar action. They are much more friendly with China on all levels compared to US and its deepening since his first term. But now US can be sure as hell Europe won't give a flying fuck if such conflict would happen. We were fractured and weak but as all psychologists know a common enemy can solidify a society like nothing else. A recent stab in the back can be interpreted that way. And we're half a billion and rich market which once dominated all known world. It just shows that in order to be a good respected politician adding value to one's own country, one need to be way more than some nepo kid with daddy issues, reality show host, hyper arrogant narcissistic investor who made hundreds of millions of his father into billions (while crashing handful of casinos).
- permo-w 2y ago
- mistrial9 2y agoanti-war social movements are alive and well, despite this headline. Who is investing whose money, and who gets advantages in doing so? There is no "we" in the war machinery. Extra bonus points for putting ambitious women in front of the camera to ride the herds.
- Schnitz 2y agoEveryone except the US is going to come out stronger on the other end of this mess. Too many Americans believe the world would be screwed without the US and the USD, they can’t imagine trading being done in RMB or EUR, yet it is already happening. As a German that has lived in the US for over 10 years I just watch and wonder. Moving back to Germany is a more enticing prospect than it has been for a long time. I know a lot of Europeans that have moved or are planning their move. I don’t mean they talk about plans, they are buying land, building houses, etc.
- gotoeleven 2y agoWhat I hear from europeans is that it sucks to be there if you're ambitious. https://x.com/DouglasCarswell/status/1893374276327137367 https://x.com/DouglasCarswell/status/1893374276327137367
- squigz 2y ago[flagged]
- shaftoe 2y agoWe can agree to disagree without name-calling, but the impact of compounding growth vs intentional stagnation is going to continue to widen the gap that's already opened up over a few generations.
- Herring 2y agoYou'll discover that compounding growth is useless to YOU, when Trump and Musk are taking 99.9% of it. Wages are stagnant. The US is #24 on the world’s happiest countries list, and has been dropping for a long while. At the top of the list, we find socialist countries with access to world-class public services like healthcare and education -- which the US is currently trying very hard to gut. The last time something like this happened, it took a Great Depression and intense widespread economic pain for Americans to snap out of it. Inequality is destabilizing and Americans are clueless (see inflation leading to Trump), so I think Europe is likely to do better in the long run.
- awongh 2y agoIt's pretty crazy if you look at how much the US is/was spending on NATO in pure dollar amounts. Since that's going to be cut back Germany and to a lesser degree France are the only countries left to take up the slack. I don't have a really strong opinion either way in terms of what's happening in the US or in Europe, but the argument claiming that there's no real reason to spend money on the military seem pretty disingenuous re. Russia. What's the real chances that Russia would do something like a land invasion of Europe? Really, really small.... But military spending is the thing helping keep those chances very small.
- jupp0r 2y agoThe point of deterrence is that you spend the money so the chance of Russia doing something like a land invasion of Europe is decreased. The much more likely scenario that Europeans are wanting to prevent is a limited invasion in the Baltics or Balkans in order to politically divide and damage western democracies.
- consumer451 2y agoMost strategic thinkers in both Western and Eastern circles saw the chances of a full invasion of Ukraine as "Really, really small..." on Feb. 23, 2022. Imperialist Russia is in its final throws prior to becoming "a normal country," like the rest of Europe. From the European point of view, keeping those insane throws to a minimum is worth every penny, both in human and economic costs.
- red-iron-pine 2y ago> Imperialist Russia is in its final throws prior to becoming "a normal country," like the rest of Europe. From the European point of view, keeping those insane throws to a minimum is worth every penny, both in human and economic costs. That is about as likely as "they're not going to invade" -- the guys picking up the piece after Putin look to be as, maybe even more, hardline and aggressive. There is a reason someone tried to assassinate Dugin.
- consumer451 2y ago
- rdtsc 2y ago> Presumptive Chancellor Friedrich Merz has decided that now is the moment for Germany to invest in its military, on levels not seen since the Cold War Now? After spending billions funding Putin’s war with gas money. Especially after watching him annex Crimea in 2014, or taking Ukraine’s NATO’s membership off the table after Bucharest summit. Now they finally see how dangerous he is! Better later than never I guess… In perverse way they are also doing Trump’s bidding who chastised them for not investing enough in defense.
- redserk 2y agoI don't understand the angle of remarks like this. Russia invaded Ukraine, Germany pulled back money going to Russia, and Germany is now investing where it's appropriate. Are we expecting them to re-litigate this problem until the end of time instead of addressing the problem?
- rdtsc 2y agoThey should have strengthened their military and supported Ukraine joining NATO instead of opposing it publicly at the Bucharest Summit. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Bucharest_summit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Bucharest_summit > The Alliance did not offer a Membership Action Plan to Georgia or Ukraine, largely due to the opposition of Germany US govt warned Merkel to wind down purchasing gas and oil from Putin: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/trump-scolded-germany-for-buying-gas-from-russia-heres-what-we-know https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/trump-scolded-germany-for... Currently as it stands for all great chest thumping for "supporting Ukraine" EU as a whole is spending more money funding the war by buying gas and oil from the Russian than helping Ukraine. But somehow in the media domain, they managed to position themselves as great friends and supporters of Ukraine. It's quite baffling. https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/01/03/europe-russia-ukraine-war-energy-imports-oil-gas-pipeline https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/01/03/europe-russia-ukraine-w... (https://archive.is/1ULVQ https://archive.is/1ULVQ)
- rdsubhas 2y agoThis, and they actually invested heavily into building Nord Stream 2 from 2011 onwards. Nord Stream 2 never delivered any gas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nord_Stream_2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nord_Stream_2
- tom89999 2y ago[flagged]
- poisonborz 2y agoEveryone optimistic about this, but looking at the past decade, I don't think we have much to look for. This is Germany/Bundeswehr we're talking about. They already decided on 100 billion after the Russian attack in 2022, a plan that didn't really pan out. The Bundeswehr is famous for its overspending, backwards/lazy ethics, rampant right-wing/neonazi ties. German, and let's be honest, EU government is - even now - in "play it safe" mode, not even big on words, even less on actions. They fumbled virtually every crisis since the 2000s. They let Orban/Putin puppets run rampant and veto most of the botched little help they provided, and still think he can be reasoned with after 15 years. They thought the same of Russia right up the second until a full scale invasion of Ukraine, 8 years after it started to attack it. Europe is just hopelessly fractured, with no identity, hazy goals and an increasingly degrading economical power. I wish it weren't so, but we didn't manage to unite the forces of these 27 nations beyond some superficial economical agreements.
- singularity2001 2y agoAll hail to rearmament /s
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- 2-3-7-43-1807 2y agoThe caveat is that there's almost nobody in Germany who'd be physically fit and or motivated to actually fight a war. Germany was systematically drained off anything even remotely resembling patriotism. This was politically and legally enforced by borderline criminalizing terms like Heimat (home / homeland), forget about displaying its flag without raising eyebrows. Its cultural DNA is diluted to an extent that I'd be hesitant to even call it a country - it's basically just an area with lots of people living on it. There's no coherent society anymore. The war machines will all be sold to other countries. Rich people will get richer and the plebs will be brought to heel with orchestrated fear. It's a funny irony that the warmongers in German politics are the same people who'd have taken any opportunity to express their contempt for anything military up until only a few years ago.
- lr1970 2y agoGermany enters the arms race. What could go wrong...?
- perlgeek 2y agoThe article's headline says Germany is "supercharging its military", but for somebody who's been following the development of the German armed forces, it's more like "patching the most glaring, gaping holes".
- red-iron-pine 2y agoAye. It's been neglected for decades, and their procurement system is as bad (maybe worse) than Canada's. Odd, though, that when the phrase "the Germans are rearming" pops up the French and British are notably calm.
- 240ccccc5205 2y agoA journalist would never misrepresent such a thing. Germany must be having a spontaneously explosion of defense competence, just in the nick of time. We're going to see tangible results regardless of obsticles in the near future, I'll hold my breath for it.
- exiguus 2y agoThe key point is that Germany has finally loosened the debt brake, which has particularly strained the social system and infrastructure. In addition to the 1,000 billion euros allocated for social welfare and infrastructure, another 600 billion euros are designated for the military. The former is linked to the tense situation in social systems and the associated right-wing shift in Europe, while the latter is connected to the ongoing fascist counter-revolution in the USA. Since the USA and companies based there are no longer reliable partners, Europe will stand alone in the future. This means that France and Germany are working together on a joint nuclear defense shield to ensure Europe's security and strengthen NATO's eastern borders.
- raxxorraxor 2y agoThat remains to be seen. Inflation will grow and the average worker will have to shoulder even more. Most of that money will be used to fill holes in collapsing social security systems anyway. Problem for the military is that money doesn't buy soldiers anymore for the most part and very few like to pursue a military career.
- exiguus 2y agoActually, Germany has "Sondervermögen", they not printing the money, they just have in their bank accounts. So no inflation.
- raxxorraxor 2y agoThat is false, these costs are financed through debt.
- kiviuq 2y ago> 1,000 billion euros allocated for social welfare No, the money is definitely not meant for social programs, neither for affordable housing. On the contrary, the debt brake was introduced to justify cutting social spending after the 2008 banking crash. Social spending is still limited, debt financed military spending however is unlimited. The money will go into fortifying bridges, roads for Truppentransporte, programs to protect civilians from disasters, emergencies, and armed conflicts. Military Keynesianism. The political class is now debating ways to increase pressure on the population.. higher VAT, deregulate working hours, dropping public holidays, re-activate mandatory military service etc.