Germany’s military, the Bundeswehr, recently got the all-clear for a massive increase in investment after parliament voted to exempt defence spending from strict rules on debt.

The country’s top general has told the BBC the cash boost is urgently needed because he believes Russian aggression won’t stop at Ukraine.

“We are threatened by Russia. We are threatened by Putin. We have to do whatever is needed to deter that,” Gen Carsten Breuer says. He warns that Nato should be braced for a possible attack in as little as four years.

“It’s not about how much time I need, it’s much more about how much time Putin gives us to be prepared,” the defence chief says bluntly. “And the sooner we are prepared the better.”

  • Lord Wiggle@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    It feels a bit weird being on the German side for once, also their track record of succeeding isn’t that great, but I love our neighbors and I fully support them.

    I’m just, sad the world is falling into another world war while we also just could be more kind and forgiving towards each other. It would save a lot of lives and leads of pain and agony.

      • Lord Wiggle@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        Not just republicans. Democrats in the US are right wing too. The entire country is fucked up, the reps just speed up the process exponentially. But don’t forget the most immigrants who have been thrown out was during Obama and Biden. Biden supported Israel too, with loads of weapons.

        • MehBlah@lemmy.world
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          3 days ago

          I call them the Republicrats and get attacked as being a centrist. That is the perversion of this situation is that I don’t think either part of our one party system give two shits about me. The only thing about the democrat faction is they are not trying to put people in real cages. Just trap them in wage slavery.

          • Lord Wiggle@lemmy.world
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            3 days ago

            Right… As if incarceration didn’t increase during dems terms. As if there weren’t crimes against humanity in prisons and detention centers thanks to dems.

            • MehBlah@lemmy.world
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              2 days ago

              Its been increasing no matter who has been in office as long as I have been alive. Its never gone down. So your point to me is meaningless.

              • Lord Wiggle@lemmy.world
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                2 days ago

                It actually went down during Trumps first term. That fucking idiot even failed in the thing he wanted most.

    • LittleBorat3@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      So yes forgiving and all that. Here are the steps: 1 Putin removes his troops from the occupied territories 2 he apologizes 3 maybe someone forgives him.

      • Lord Wiggle@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        Well yeah, but what I wished was that he wouldn’t have invaded in the first place, no totalitarian rulers, no people declaring wars as a dick measuring contest. No Putin in the first place. Putin will never give up and apologize, but hopefully he dies and his replacement would retreat, apologize and help Ukraine fix their country. But the chance of that happening is little to none, the next in line is probably just as bad as Putler.

    • realitista@lemm.ee
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      3 days ago

      Their success rate would have been a lot higher if they had known when to stop ;-). I think if the stated goal of defending Europe from Russia doesn’t change that they have a very good chance of success given the numbers they are talking about.

      • FireRetardant@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        I also wonder how much farther their war efforts would have gone had they not wasted time, men, and resources on ineffective warfare like that massive train driven cannon. Its a lot of effort and resources to set up double track rails just to miss most of your shots.

        • Lord Wiggle@lemmy.world
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          3 days ago

          Or if they only focused on Brittain and didn’t invade Russia for one, especially with summer gear in winter.

      • gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de
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        3 days ago

        The crazy thing that still makes my head spin and that I fail to process properly is that Europe would still be under Nazi regime today had they not attacked Russia … despite all the crimes. How do you deal with that? idk

        • Skua@kbin.earth
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          3 days ago

          I’m not sure it would. The Nazi economy was supported by plunder, they had to keep attacking to fund it. They couldn’t get to Britain or America, and they had otherwise more or less run out of Europe.

          I don’t want to imagine the kind of atrocities they could have committed in the time that it would take for them to collapse, but I do think the collapse would have come

    • Gammelfisch@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      We are not the same Germany, with exception to the Prussian military discipline that is buried deep within us. Thanks to morons in DC and Moscow, they are forcing to break the pacifistic dam that we were force to build post WW II.

    • MehBlah@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      They are good as long as they don’t have a demented drug user has their leader.

    • njm1314@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      I mean the track record is pretty good as long as you don’t just stop at the 20th century.

      • Lord Wiggle@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        There were no world wars pre 20th century. But yeah, Germany, Prussia and the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation were pretty successful pre 20th century.

      • Lord Wiggle@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        That doesn’t feel weird, it feels totally fucked up. The Dutch government is the same, maybe not as bad as Germany but still. There’s a ban on supplying them with weapons, but the Dutch government is finding loopholes to do it anyway. I’m totally disgusted by it. Fuck Israel, bunch of fucking nazis. Out of everyone on this planet, especially them should know better.