Just stop it!
Top German leaders here have managed to put a damper on the expectation that Berlin would radically ramp up its defense spending, as Washington would have it, stressing instead that gradual boosts and integration with foreign development would yield better results than military might alone.
A commitment by Germany to meet the NATO goal of spending 2% of GDP on defense is not complicated! It's simple! Germany either meets the goal of spending on commonly agreed categories that count as defense, or they don't.
Germany doesn't meet that standard and doesn't want to, and they're trying to muddy the standard.
Of course you also try to spend more efficiently. Of course spending more inefficiently isn't a way to get security. Spend more and work to reduce inefficiencies. Do both you slacker morons! It isn't complicated!
Just where the Hell is that vaunted grim Prussian efficiency these days? It's not a worry. Really.
Oh, and the first article covers an issue that really gets me into a state of mind where I seek the glorious relief of pounding my head into a wall until I am dizzy with pain:
But there is another component to the case of Germany, [German foreign minister] Gabriel said, and it has to do with post-World War II sensitivities.
“Imagine that Germany for 10 years would spend 2 percent of GDP on defense. That would mean more than €70 billion every year,” he said. “I’m not so sure that all partners within Europe would appreciate this after 10 years.”
Stop us before we rampage across Europe again? Are you effing kidding me? That's your excuse? After over 70 years of not being Nazis you are claiming that under the veneer of democracy you are just a bunch of barely restrained thugs eager to rampage around Europe? Really?
When West Germany built a powerful army during the Cold War, nobody in NATO was worried more about West Germany than the Soviet Union!
Allow me to pull out the clue bat before I'm too woozy to wield it:
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.
Not that there isn't some hope for responsibility:
Germany risks losing international credibility if it retreats from its commitment to increase military spending towards the NATO target, a key member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives said on Wednesday.
But I fear this is a lonely voice. And a tepid one, calling for going from 1.2% of GDP to perhaps 1.5% by the end of the next legislative 4-year period. Nobody is talking about meeting the 2% goal by 2024.
And perhaps the Germans should have a little more sense of responsibility the way Slovenia has demonstrated:
Slovenia's government has sacked the army chief of staff after the military's poor performance at a NATO combat readiness test.
Seriously, is German unwillingness to pay for common defense in line with their economic status so strong that the Germans are willing to argue that they are barely suppressed Nazis at heart despite 70+ years of being part of the West with freedom and democracy?
If the Germans say they aren't to be trusted with sharp knives and actually believe it is true, maybe NATO and Russia should just pull back a safe distance and nuke the place just to be sure.
Is what deep dark motives Germany might have behind the facade of their modern democracy really going to be the form of the debate that Germany wants to have?
West Germany was a good ally in the Cold War. What happened to them?
NOTE: I added clarification to indicate West Germany (the Federal Republic of Germany) during the Cold War, pre-reunification.
UPDATE: Indeed, what the heck happened to Germany's military? Tip to Instapundit.
