“After World War II, the allies did a tremendous job of re-educating the German population. This led to a society which I would say is peace-minded, and of course there’s nothing wrong with that. But it is also non-military.”
Germany needs 460,000 troops but has 180,000. They’re dropping a trillion euros on defense while the far-right AfD sits second in the polls and neo-Nazi cells keep getting discovered inside the military. The Bundeswehr’s recruitment pitch is a tough sell when your officers are stockpiling Nazi memorabilia. Eighty years of “never again” meeting the hard reality that someone has to defend Europe when America checks out.