That is what a small minorty is actually REALLY hoping for. Most of those populists and supporters probably don't want wars. But strange enough, there is a very small group inside those, the hardliners or extemists. And they exist on the left just as much on the right. And they seek the confrontation. You just have to look at some comments, where they ideolize the past, with the nationality and wars, the glorification of soldiers and military might and all that stuff. They picture themself in glorious unifors and great battles. The reality though ... I doubt those people would really like it. I mean who knows how many German soldiers realized the first time, what totall war really means when they got encircled in Stalingrad.
Europe should be able to hold its own. We can't at this point.
Well this is where we have to agree to disagree then, because I think we can. Or well we have so far. Mind you, I am not saying everything is perfect. A lot of branches are understaffed and some modernisation sure wouldn't hurt.
But more military isn't going to help us with the issues we are facing now in Europe, the real challanges of the future are rather on the political side, which is also shown by the numbers in the UK poll. A lot of old people voted against the EU, where as the majority of the young people are pro-eu.
The challanges of our time, are inequality, financial issues, social problems and populism and so on. What's more military going to do here? Nothing. What we need are reforms. And I don't see a war on the horizion, at least not in the near future.
If the US decides to become isolationist and non-interventionalist, we could be screwed.
Is it fair to overly rely on the US for our own protection?
Possible? I guess you have a point here, no one knows what might happen in the future. But, I would say that's really not the most likely situation. One where we would have to actually use military power to keep the US in check?
The US didn't mind way back when because of the Soviet threat. But that's gone now. Those simple days are over. We live in a far more complex world.
Well, as far as I can tell the world was always complex. Even back then. So I am not sure if it has really changed. The challanges are a different one, yes. But even with the arch enemy Sovietunion, it was a lot more complicated. Which is shown nicely by Germany, which for example gave est Germany millions in the form of a credit. And before that, Germany was even making trade negotiations with the Sovietunion.
Except you don't have any nukes.
The Brits do. The French do. The Americans do.
You don't.
And that would be a problem how? Making nukes in Germany would be really just a question of a few days or weeks. If the need would REALLY arrise. The fact that Britain and the French have them now, is more than enough. But like I said, if Germany would have really to fall back on nuclear weapons, they could get them. Rather easily. The technology and expertise is there. A large scale war is seriously no real threat for now. I am not saying I would know what the future holds. But as long we are not runing out of resources, a war like WW2 would be pretty much game over for everone. And if we ever get to that, we would be all fucked either way. What ever if we have a big kick ass army then or not, would not really change much here.
The biggest danger for Europe right now, comes from the inside, not the outside. As we have seen nicely with the Brexit and what damage populism has done to the EU ... and how much does military power help us here? Nada. Zilich. Nothing. But how much would have money in critical sectors do? Like healthcare, creating jobs, stability, education, research, in other words reforms? I would say a lot more than what ever if the UK or Germany is now owning 5 more submarines or a cariers or what ever ...
Like I said, I am not anti military. All I am saying. Not more than what we actually really need. As any weapon or gun that is to much, serves only the stocks of Krauss-Maffei-Wegmann GmbH & Co. KG, in other words making companies rich, not helping really the people.
Ironically, we've largely been trimming the muscle, not the fat.
We've been grossly underspending on personnel, training & logistics. Sure, we're spending money on new helicopters, new planes, new APCs, etc. But we barely train with them. We don't have strategical airlift capability to transport them. We have a military which is quickly ageing (top heavy, full of old farts).
Most EU armies get stretched thin when participating in peacekeeping and mentoring. This means that in case of war, they don't stand a friggin' chance.
Absolutely, here I agree with you. However, like I said earlier, what are we going to do anyway if a war starts? The German army was ALWAYS a joke. The last time they meant something was in WW2. But since then? Want to know one of the jokes the Germans say about their own Bundeswehr? It's there to keep the enemy bussy till the real army arrives. This alone should tell you everything you have to know.
If a real war would happen, like with Russia, China, or the US, Germany would be out. That simple. So we don't need a huge military. Because it would not change anything. But yes, I do agree with you, reforms are badly needed, a modernisation, and many other changes so we can actually react to the reality that we are facing right now, like peacekeeping operations and the like.
I understand why so many people like to see a strong and kick ass military. If nations would be like people, the military would be their penis. But we neglect the brain and heart right now. We can take care about the penis later, when the ... need for it becomes an actuall reality. Germany lost it's penis, and it didn't really killed us. But we are in real danger of loosing our Brain and sanity to the far right ... in all of Europe.
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