The above can be and should be handled as a serious question. It comes to mind when looking at several matters that are now clearly observable:
- Germany, the largest and most powerful country in Europe, has maintained a soft approach to Russia by developing a massive trade in Russian fossil fuels in return for exporting a huge volume of investment goods and vehicles to Russia. It was probably a relatively innocent action because Germany has always been Europe’s largest trading partner with Russia going back more than a century. However, in the last decade, it was clear to all, that this innocence was replaced by arrogant blind stubbornness in the face of the looming Russian threat – Moldova, Georgia and Crimea…
- Germany, the largest and most powerful country in Europe, unlike many other European countries, has not maintained a defensive force against the growing threat of Russian military actions and only spends around 1.5% of GDP on defence. Finland, one of the smallest countries in Europe, spends more than 2% of GDP on defence.
As the largest and most powerful country in Europe, Germany should have followed the USA, which spends the equivalent of 3.5% of GDP on defence. The Germans cannot hide behind the curtain of history to claim that they somehow are not permitted to become a great military power again. European and global politics no longer regard Germany as a Nazi threat. Germany is now a peace-loving country that leads Europe as an extraordinary economic powerhouse. France, Spain, and Italy all have large populations but are still fall far behind Germany in terms of raw economic power and influence.
European unity is what drives Europe forward in economic and political terms. This unity is weakened by Germany’s actions in underestimating the risks of their dependence and support of Russia, and their underinvestment in defence as a percentage of GDP.
Can you now call this behaviour cowardice, or an arrogant stubbornness mixed with total myopia? It is difficult to believe that the latter is applicable since Germans cannot be accused of simple neglectfulness or inadvertent planning. They are too well-educated and too well organized to be accused of such deficiencies, defects, or flaws.
We are now reading how the German government is trying to deal with the global outcry against their indecisive actions in not providing Ukraine with sufficient and suitable defensive support and weapons.
Now is the time for Germany to act decisively and take the European lead position. Russia has invaded Ukraine in a criminal and brutal manner exactly one year ago – this war cannot continue.
Russia and all Russians must be treated collectively as war criminals and held responsible for the paying for a new Marshall plan to repair the terrible destruction they have wrought on Ukraine. This can only occur when Russia understands that Europe is throwing is full military support with the USA for defending Ukraine against Russia.
Graph: NATO
