German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday that welfare and social spending must take precedence over the increased military expenditure demanded by U.S. President Donald Trump.
I think those minimal defense spending demands--that Germany agreed to--were made by Obama. How convenient for Germany that Trump is in office now, eh?
The question of whether Germany has now strategic role in the world because they have no military to back diplomacy or have no military because they perceive no strategic role in combatting threats (that others--coughamericacough--will handle) will remain unanswered.
Yet Putin tries to act like Germany will rise up and march on Moscow again if Russia doesn't rebuild their empire. Isn't Putin embarrassed to be jumping on a stool and yelling "eek!" at this mouse of a power?
We freed them from Nazism; defended them from the Soviets; and backed reunification. And this is what we get from Germany.
And some on the Left here celebrate this complete abdication of responsibility as alternative leadership of the West.
UPDATE: The messages are mixed:
Germany's planned defense spending hikes will not trigger welfare cuts, Chancellor Angela Merkel said, rebutting criticism from her Social Democrat (SPD) rivals that she was caving in to U.S. demands for a bigger military budget.
I'm not expecting Germany to meet the low goal of 2% of GDP toward defense any time soon. But I guess Germany expects to make pathetically slow progress toward the goal.
