The consequences of [former defense minister] Guttenberg's "realignment," the graphics make clear, are hollow structures and a military that is slowly wearing out. There is a huge need for new, modern equipment. According to protocol, the army is supposed to have at least 70 percent of large pieces of equipment, such as tanks and armored vehicles, available during operations. In reality, though, it is often much less than that. Other systems, such as night-vision goggles, are often missing completely.
The need for a unit that just wants to train to borrow heavily from other units is outrageous. Do read it all.
But Germany just doesn't value defense. America has a secretary of defense who is a former general and combat veteran whose nickname is "Mad Dog." This is an appointment that speaks to taking defense seriously.
Germany's current minister of defense was a medical doctor who previously served as the Minister of Family Affairs and Youth and the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs. Well.
No offense to Minister von der Leyen, but she's a Fluffy Kitten.
This difference in defense leadership demonstrates the contrast between America and Germany about the priority of national defense. We care about it and the Germans don't.
And yes, I understand that when the Germans were led by a mass-murdering, empire-building maniac Austrian national socialist corporal, they did a lot of harm to Europe. And so the Germans want to avoid doing that again.
Kudos on that attitude. Sincerely. But I will remind the Germans of this simple rule of thumb on that issue:
I keep reading that the Germans hate their militaristic past so much that they don't want to fight.
Let's try applying the clue bat to Germany's collective skull on this issue.
Conquering and setting up death camps under the shield of a powerful military? That's bad. By all means, don't do that.
Having a military capable of fighting death cult enemies or stopping the Russians from moving west? Well, that's a good thing. Try doing that.
And in bonus stupid territory, the German Left, in a classic cut off your own nose to spite your face attitude, is resisting an increase in already ludicrously low defense spending as a symbol of resisting President Trump who wants them to do more for their own defense.
I don't think that the Europeans have as secure a grasp of sophisticated nuance as American liberals like to claim.
UPDATE: Germany is so far gone that they don't even want the ability to shoot down enemy attackers?
Germany's defense ministry on Tuesday told lawmakers it would not complete a contract with European weapons maker MBDA for a multi-billion euro missile defense system during the current legislative period as planned, ministry sources said.
I'm sure if the launch button was in Brussels, they'd be building like crazy, right?
