The German Question Gets an Answer?

Will Germany defend the West?

Germany showed resolve after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 but then seemed to retreat from that resolve. 

But now, Germany seems determined to deter and fight war if necessary:

War is officially on Germany’s agenda. The prevention of it, that is, and the country’s defense during one, if it ever came to be.

But in a nation haunted by the militaristic ghosts of its past, the recent demand by Defence Minister Boris Pistorius that Germans should ready themselves for the possibility of actual war still came as a shock.

That's good. Because past ghosts are being replaced by new ghosts risen from the victims of new aggressors in Moscow.  

To repeat, 

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 note that some Europeans are trying to push the EU into a defense role despite NATO's longstanding reason for existence that is better suited for that. We know why. 

But perhaps Russia wielded the clue bat effectively to show that Russia and not America is the enemy to defeat (back to the first article): 

The bloc’s genes are that of an institutional administrator — effective at regulating markets or resolving health and energy crises, but not at organizing a common defense, according to [Christian Mölling, deputy director of the Berlin-based German Council on Foreign Relations’ Research Institute]. “We may have to say goodbye to the idea of the EU as an actor in defense.”

The EU's efforts to grab all power and gut American-led NATO may have seemed like a good idea in Brussels when it was easy to believe war in Europe had been banned. Even Balkans conflict didn't shake that belief. But Russia's large-scale war on Ukraine has apparently cracked that fantasy world of a zone of peace built on 10,000 cheese regulations.

I wonder if the French--still hoping to ride the EU for the glory of France--think they can guide a newly resolved Germany. Heck, do the Germans still want that leash to settle their conflicted resolve? NATO should be enough without a French stamp of approval.

So maybe German--and European--resolve will hold up this time. Still, there's that word "may" that Molling uses.

NOTE: TDR Winter War of 2022 coverage continues here.

NOTE: I'm adding updates on the Last Hamas War in this post.