Russian aggression and US isolationism push a once hesitant Germany to invest heavily in defence.

This article is about Germany rapidly increasing defence spending, and also the fact that they’re considering conscription. I also found this interesting:

A recent YouGov poll showed that 79% of Germans still see Vladimir Putin as “very” or “quite” dangerous to European peace and security. Now 74% said the same for Donald Trump.

Thoughts?

  • Freddy@lemmy.worldEnglish
    17·
    3 days ago

    I don’t think bolstering up defence spending is bad.

    It is much better to be prepared than sorry, also negotiating from a strong standpoint is helpful towards some other nations.

    • poVoq@slrpnk.netMEnglish
      51·
      3 days ago

      The EU defense spending is already massive, easily outclassing everyone but the US.

      The problem is on what the money is spend on, as much is wasted to national white elephants or transferred to unreliable US defense companies.

      And in general way too much is spend on global force projection tech. There is for example no need for the EU to have a navy fleet that can operate independently for many months in the Pacific.

        • poVoq@slrpnk.netMEnglish
          1·
          3 days ago

          Now add all the EU defense spending together. But yes, China is trying to catch up, which isn’t great either.

          Those French overseas colonies would probably benefit from more independence, yes, but if you have an actual military base there or an ally that wants you to be there, you don’t need navy ships capable of operational multi-month independence either. That is really only needed if operating in hostile territory far away from home, and IMHO we don’t need that.