Angela Merkel’s Toll on Germany, by David Archibald.
Two hundred years ago France was the country most feared in Europe. Then Germany won three wars in 1864, 1866 and 1870-71. The rest of Europe started to ally against Germany. These fears were well founded because Germany started a couple of civilisation-destroying wars in 1914 and 1939. After the first of these some of the victors thought that Germany should be de-industrialised so that it would no longer be a military threat. After the second, Drexler-White, a high ranking agent of influence in the Roosevelt administration, proposed the Morgenthau plan to that end. … In the end the Truman administration chose the Marshall plan to rebuild Germany. …
Germany spends 1.2% of its GDP on defence, well under the NATO minimum of 2%. What is spent is largely wasted. It is certainly not spent on equipment. A German Defense Ministry report of June 2018 listed the major weapons systems ready for action as:
Typhoon jets: 39 of 128
Tornado jets: 26 of 93
CH-53 transport helicopters: 16 of 72
NH-90 transport helicopters: 13 of 58
Tiger attack helicopters: 12 of 62
A400M transport aircraft: 3 of 15
Leopard 2 tanks: 105 of 224
Frigates: 5 of 13
Submarines: 0 out of 6The German Navy had one operating submarine in October 2017 but that vessel damaged its rudder on a rock off Norway. German operational readiness is stuck around 30%. Thus morale in the Bundeswehr is at rock bottom.
Apart from a bloated procurement bureaucracy of 11,000 souls and general ineptitude, the German military has also been afflicted by sheer looniness. This article reports that the delivery of 350 Puma armored personnel carriers was delayed because they had to be suitable for heavily pregnant female soldiers (the use of the word female to describe someone pregnant is no longer a tautology in this day and age). To expect heavily pregnant soldiers to make a positive contribution in battle is delusional. Sadly that is also something that needs to be said. …
As this article says, “the Bundeswehr is now a successful disarmament project.”
Conqueror of the modern Wehrmacht
The German defense minister who achieved this state of affairs over the last five years, Ursula von der Leyden [pictured], is now President of the European Commission.
