Russian aggression and US isolationism push a once hesitant Germany to invest heavily in defence.

This article is about Germany rapidly increasing defence spending, and also the fact that they’re considering conscription. I also found this interesting:

A recent YouGov poll showed that 79% of Germans still see Vladimir Putin as “very” or “quite” dangerous to European peace and security. Now 74% said the same for Donald Trump.

Thoughts?

  • myrmidex@slrpnk.netEnglish
    417·
    3 days ago

    Leftist parties in my small country in Western Europe are mainly advocating for more diplomacy.

    They’re generally on board with the idea that NATO expanded too much eastwards, undoing a promise made after the fall of the USSR. So they seem to view Russian attacks on Georgia, Crimea and now the rest of Ukraine as a logical consequence. With enough diplomatic maneuvering, they believe the situation can be resolved in a peaceful manner.

    • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
      121·
      3 days ago

      Here’s my perspective as a non-European watching this shitshow unfold: That’s fucking stupid. I mean NATO is a defensive alliance so what the shit?

      • myrmidex@slrpnk.netEnglish
        61·
        3 days ago

        The parties I talk about are not a fan of NATO, let that be clear. NATO has multiple authoritarian regimes under its wings, not only Trump but also Erdogan and Orban. Meloni’s Italy is not too far off either, so I suppose that makes it hard for leftist parties to get behind it.

    • Sektor@lemmy.worldEnglish
      121·
      3 days ago

      I understand Russia’s reasoning, but without punching power we are at mercy of those who have it. Russia went from a insignificant poor country with nukes in the 90s back to main player worldwide today, mainly by weakening the other side with information warfare.

      • myrmidex@slrpnk.netEnglish
        41·
        3 days ago

        Next to diplomacy, punching power can very well come in an economic form, e.g. still multiple tens of billions of euros flow to Russia to purchase fossil fuels.

    • MaggiWuerze@feddit.orgEnglish
      5·
      2 days ago

      There never was such a promise, it was one diplomat who sid that and it was pulled back almost immediately. And most of all, there never was anything close to official or formal offered in that direction.

      And that a country does not like a defense union, that was founded to manage their aggressions shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.

      The only one responsible for Russia’s aggression is Russia itself.