Germany’s military, the Bundeswehr, recently got the all-clear for a massive increase in investment after parliament voted to exempt defence spending from strict rules on debt.

The country’s top general has told the BBC the cash boost is urgently needed because he believes Russian aggression won’t stop at Ukraine.

“We are threatened by Russia. We are threatened by Putin. We have to do whatever is needed to deter that,” Gen Carsten Breuer says. He warns that Nato should be braced for a possible attack in as little as four years.

“It’s not about how much time I need, it’s much more about how much time Putin gives us to be prepared,” the defence chief says bluntly. “And the sooner we are prepared the better.”

    • @index@sh.itjust.works
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      81 month ago

      That’s one of the reason governments shouldn’t have any power. Good luck when in the nearby future adolf hitler II becomes the president of a police state with an army ready for war…

    • @rippersnapper@lemm.ee
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      161 month ago

      Yeah I’m a bit tired of bought out politicians dismantling a country from the inside.

      Probably the biggest loophole that HAS to be fixed!

      • @madcaesar@lemmy.world
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        151 month ago

        The biggest problem with democracy is that voting isn’t mandatory, and 25% of any population is dumb as bricks.

        • waxy
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          41 month ago

          I would estimate the number is higher than 25% (and growing all the time)

  • @TylerBourbon@lemmy.world
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    721 month ago

    I don’t see this as Germany leaving history in the past, but being smart to protect their future so the that the lessons of the past mean something.

    • @index@sh.itjust.works
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      21 month ago

      Authoritarian governments and corrupted politicians needs people to fight their wars. War will come once enough people get brainwashed into it

    • suoko
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      11 month ago

      Popcorn for all. New subsidies are coming, hybrid phev or bev ?

  • @PumpkinSkink@lemmy.world
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    81 month ago

    Great powers rearming will not be good for anyone no matter what the context is around it. After Napoleon, European leaders were so afraid of war between great powers that they avoided it for 100 years. The moment they let their guard up we got WW1. The weapons do not make us safer. Don’t think for a moment it can’t happen again.

    • @zaphod@sopuli.xyz
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      51 month ago

      After Napoleon, European leaders were so afraid of war between great powers that they avoided it for 100 years.

      What kind of bullshit is this? The napoleonic wars were over in 1815. In 1866 there war the austro-prussian war, in 1870 the franco-german war. That’s barely 50 years, and those wars are just those I remember from history class. I’m sure there were more in between. Or are we talking Napoleon III who was deposed in the franco-german war in 1870? Well I’m pretty sure in the 100 years since then Napoleon there were some even bigger wars.

    • @ynthrepic@lemmy.world
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      101 month ago

      Neither does passivism though. If everyone around you is losing your mind, you either give up your freedom and very possibly your life, or you fight.

      The only reason no other great power has needed a fully prepared military is because of US leadership. That can’t be trusted now, so here we are.

  • @archonet@lemy.lol
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    1661 month ago

    for the first time, Germany possibly gets to be the “good guys” in a world war! Quite a turnaround.

    • Boxscape
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      251 month ago

      for the first time, Germany possibly gets to be the “good guys” in a world war! Quite a turnaround.

    • @index@sh.itjust.works
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      121 month ago

      “good guys” vs “bad guys” logic isn’t much wise. In the cold war USA and germany recycled nazi and ss members to war with russia. World governments are all corrupted and have blood on their hands, none of them is really the good guys.

      • @archonet@lemy.lol
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        81 month ago

        who says I think Germany would be on our side?

        at this rate, the US is looking more and more like it’ll jump into bed with Russia than the rest of NATO.

    • @gaael@lemm.ee
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      41 month ago

      Remember the first persons to be harassed, assassinated, detained, sent to concentration camps were german citizen.
      The first who tried to resist Hitler’s power, sabotage infrastructure, retrieve and send confidential informations to the allies were german citizen.
      A lot of germans were the good guys in ww2 (and afterwards for that matter).
      Whatever the conflict, let’s not forget that [country X leadership] is not the same as [country x as a whole].

    • 🦄🦄🦄
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      931 month ago

      With the Putin-loving, fascist AfD as the second strongest party in the country? We will see, but I do not have high hopes.

      • @archonet@lemy.lol
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        1 month ago

        I’d like to believe they’ll kick the Nazis out of the bar before they reach the levers of true power, but I’m American and you see how well having that naive hope went for us.

        Having said that, I imagine the Germans are at least slightly more cognizant of the risks involved than we are. Difference between “It can’t happen here!” and “It has already happened here and it was bad.

        • 🦄🦄🦄
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          301 month ago

          Having said that, I imagine the Germans are at least slightly more cognizant of the risks involved than we are.

          Yeah one would think so, huh? But nope, right now nothing points to that. The last government declined to start the banning process against the AfD even tho the chances of success would have been really high. And that was a coalition of basically the labor party (as far as they think of themselves at least), the greens and some neo-lib shitheads. With the conservative government of right now? Lmao fat chance.

      • @Djehngo@lemmy.world
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        161 month ago

        So my understanding is that they are the second strongest, but still at around 20% the other German parties formed a coalition that froze Afd out of power. So they are still a threat in future elections, but they have limited impact on policy for now.

        Is that correct or have I got the wrong idea?

        • 🦄🦄🦄
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          91 month ago

          Mostly correct yes. The main danger lies in future elections.

        • @iLStrix@lemmy.world
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          41 month ago

          Yes and no. In general you are right, but there are municipalities in East Germany that had over 50% of the votes go to the AfD… which is still absolutely insane to me. I’m sure it’s the same in the USA, but cities tend to lean more left and rural regions tend to heavily favor the AfD (or slightly less/more right parties).

      • @takeda@lemm.ee
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        41 month ago

        Fuck trump, he made world less safe in so many ways and now in addition to threatening Canada and Greenland he appears to be planning to stay a war with Iran.

        And get this, the excuse is because they don’t want to negotiate suspending their nuclear program after he broke previous agreement.

      • @archonet@lemy.lol
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        31 month ago

        you know that article is dated September 28th 2023, right?

        now, I’m not saying Israel doesnt have a history of acting like bastards, but that’s just a wee bit before they started ethnically cleansing the Gaza strip.

    • Fat Tony
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      321 month ago

      I mean, were they really The Bad Guys™ in WW1?

      • NoneOfUrBusiness
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        61 month ago

        The Austrians were the bad guys in WW1. Germany just played European Great Power politics like everyone else.

      • @crushyerbones@lemmy.world
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        Yes. There are actual letters and memos from german leadership about poking the Austrians into making the situation in Serbia worse in hopes a tiping point would give them an excuse to take swathes of Russia and France in the coming conflict.

        Bonus points: methods for the handling of jews and other undesirables in the occupied lands were already being talked about

    • @nuko147@lemm.ee
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      11 month ago

      World war normally has not good guys. It is that Germany has gone so evil in WW2 that made all others appear the good guys. But in the end they all are evil (countries not people living in them, and no it’s not the same).

  • Lord Wiggle
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    841 month ago

    It feels a bit weird being on the German side for once, also their track record of succeeding isn’t that great, but I love our neighbors and I fully support them.

    I’m just, sad the world is falling into another world war while we also just could be more kind and forgiving towards each other. It would save a lot of lives and leads of pain and agony.

    • @realitista@lemm.ee
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      231 month ago

      Their success rate would have been a lot higher if they had known when to stop ;-). I think if the stated goal of defending Europe from Russia doesn’t change that they have a very good chance of success given the numbers they are talking about.

      • @FireRetardant@lemmy.world
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        61 month ago

        I also wonder how much farther their war efforts would have gone had they not wasted time, men, and resources on ineffective warfare like that massive train driven cannon. Its a lot of effort and resources to set up double track rails just to miss most of your shots.

          • @prettybunnys@sh.itjust.works
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            61 month ago

            Generally incompetent leaders who promoted people to positions of power based on their loyalty rather than merit also.

            Just the whole general way they did everything, I’d say.

          • @Venus_Ziegenfalle@feddit.org
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            81 month ago

            The opposite is probably true. The blitzkrieg strategy relied on soldiers being able to fight effectively for days on end without sleep. It definitely isn’t a sustainable way to treat your troops but it was very effective and not possible without Pervitin.

            • @tacobellhop@midwest.social
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              51 month ago

              That part worked. The resultant addictions didn’t really help. Like the decisions got worse over time, even when it was a pipe dream in the first place.

              • @FireRetardant@lemmy.world
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                31 month ago

                You’d almost need to take your front line troops after a few days/week of methed up raids and then put them into rehab backline labor positions. Rinse and repeat until you win the war or the troops hold a methed up mutiny.

        • Lord Wiggle
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          41 month ago

          Or if they only focused on Brittain and didn’t invade Russia for one, especially with summer gear in winter.

      • @gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de
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        41 month ago

        The crazy thing that still makes my head spin and that I fail to process properly is that Europe would still be under Nazi regime today had they not attacked Russia … despite all the crimes. How do you deal with that? idk

        • Skua
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          111 month ago

          I’m not sure it would. The Nazi economy was supported by plunder, they had to keep attacking to fund it. They couldn’t get to Britain or America, and they had otherwise more or less run out of Europe.

          I don’t want to imagine the kind of atrocities they could have committed in the time that it would take for them to collapse, but I do think the collapse would have come

      • Lord Wiggle
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        21 month ago

        There were no world wars pre 20th century. But yeah, Germany, Prussia and the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation were pretty successful pre 20th century.

    • @LittleBorat3@lemmy.world
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      201 month ago

      So yes forgiving and all that. Here are the steps: 1 Putin removes his troops from the occupied territories 2 he apologizes 3 maybe someone forgives him.

      • Lord Wiggle
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        71 month ago

        Well yeah, but what I wished was that he wouldn’t have invaded in the first place, no totalitarian rulers, no people declaring wars as a dick measuring contest. No Putin in the first place. Putin will never give up and apologize, but hopefully he dies and his replacement would retreat, apologize and help Ukraine fix their country. But the chance of that happening is little to none, the next in line is probably just as bad as Putler.

    • @Gammelfisch@lemmy.world
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      61 month ago

      We are not the same Germany, with exception to the Prussian military discipline that is buried deep within us. Thanks to morons in DC and Moscow, they are forcing to break the pacifistic dam that we were force to build post WW II.

      • Lord Wiggle
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        351 month ago

        Not just republicans. Democrats in the US are right wing too. The entire country is fucked up, the reps just speed up the process exponentially. But don’t forget the most immigrants who have been thrown out was during Obama and Biden. Biden supported Israel too, with loads of weapons.

        • @MehBlah@lemmy.world
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          71 month ago

          I call them the Republicrats and get attacked as being a centrist. That is the perversion of this situation is that I don’t think either part of our one party system give two shits about me. The only thing about the democrat faction is they are not trying to put people in real cages. Just trap them in wage slavery.

          • Lord Wiggle
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            61 month ago

            Right… As if incarceration didn’t increase during dems terms. As if there weren’t crimes against humanity in prisons and detention centers thanks to dems.

            • @MehBlah@lemmy.world
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              31 month ago

              Its been increasing no matter who has been in office as long as I have been alive. Its never gone down. So your point to me is meaningless.

              • Lord Wiggle
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                21 month ago

                It actually went down during Trumps first term. That fucking idiot even failed in the thing he wanted most.

      • Lord Wiggle
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        61 month ago

        That doesn’t feel weird, it feels totally fucked up. The Dutch government is the same, maybe not as bad as Germany but still. There’s a ban on supplying them with weapons, but the Dutch government is finding loopholes to do it anyway. I’m totally disgusted by it. Fuck Israel, bunch of fucking nazis. Out of everyone on this planet, especially them should know better.

  • @Gammelfisch@lemmy.world
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    151 month ago

    What choice do we have? I would focus on improving everything for the regulars and copy the Finnish reserve system.

    • @3laws@lemmy.world
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      121 month ago

      Italy has a grotesque far right wave RN, they are not the good guys still. Japan is not progressive enough compared to Germany, but I can believe Germany is far removed from being as much as a bad guy compared to the USA & Russia today.

      • @MisterFrog@lemmy.world
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        81 month ago

        Japan has never really reckoned with its past. They were just pacified.

        I judge the country as a whole for this, since they keep electing politicians who continue to do very little to reckon with their past.

        I feel a lot could be gained by apologising to the people and nations for the past, and nothing lost, other than nationalistic pride, bring forced into self reflection, and being genuinely sorry on behalf of the country.

        People who think they shouldn’t apologise because it wasn’t them personally are stupid, frankly, and standing in the way of reducing tensions.

        Will it fix everything in the region? No. Will it take some of the steam out of the war machine? Probably.

        • @Gammelfisch@lemmy.world
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          61 month ago

          Is that why Japan is the only WW II participant who has not fired a shot in anger since August 1945? Japan learned, the rest of you fucks failed miserably and continue to do so.

          • @MisterFrog@lemmy.world
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            111 month ago

            Oh don’t get me wrong. The strong adherence to pacifism is laudable. But they have not reckoned with their atrocities committed during and prior world war II. They practically deny them ever happening.

            Your whataboutism is not appreciated.

    • @UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      81 month ago

      Go back to WW1 and you’ll have a hard time pointing to good guys. Even WW2 was heavily sketch. The US was halfway in bed with the Nazis under Hoover and only at odds with Japan because it was encroaching on the British opium trade through Hong Kong and Shanghai.

      These wars were, at their hearts, the end consequences of a century of industrial imperialism. The good guys were in Latin America and North Africa and the South Pacific, fighting for their independence and sovereignty.

      • @Blackmist@feddit.uk
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        41 month ago

        Lieutenant George: The war started because of the vile Hun and his villainous empire-building.

        Captain Blackadder: George, the British Empire at present covers a quarter of the globe, while the German Empire consists of a small sausage factory in Tanganiki. I hardly think that we can be entirely absolved of blame on the imperialistic front.

  • @Ponygirl42@lemmy.wtf
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    61 month ago

    Sad to read that people are ok with this.

    Stop contributing to rich people bullshit and step out of the system. Every other move will get us all killed.

    • Omega
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      11 month ago

      That suggests you have an alternative, care sharing?

      • @Ponygirl42@lemmy.wtf
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        1 month ago

        Yes. Dying for peace is way better than dying for war. Also stop buying shit, stop paying taxes, build and support alternative networks. Educate yourself and especially the young people around you. Stop building walls, start building bridges. The system only “works” because we believe it does.

        • Omega
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          21 month ago

          Oh, you’re suggesting an anarcho commune.

          I’m sure those will work.

          • @Ponygirl42@lemmy.wtf
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            11 month ago

            will war work? No it wont so better to try something different.

            Also no i do not mean an anarcho commune. But hey all is better than the slaughter for money we have at the moment.