‘WE are witnessing a turning point … the world is not the same anymore,’ said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in a speech last Sunday, which has been called Germany’s biggest military shift since 1945.
‘Staring down the barrel of Putin’s gun’, Scholz announced a massive and immediate cash injection for Germany’s armed forces, as well as a long-term commitment to higher defence spending.
Russia’s military operation in the Ukraine to defend the Donetz and Lugansk republics and to ‘deNazify the Ukraine’ has shaken the German ruling class to its core.
Chancellor Scholz said that Putin had ‘provoked a coldblooded offensive war’ against Ukraine, solely because Ukrainian freedom ‘puts into question his own oppressive regime’. He condemned Russian actions as ‘inhumane’, ‘unscrupulous’ and ‘appallingly unjust’.
He announced that the Bundeswehr, Germany’s military, will receive a massive one-off cash injection of 100 billion euros (£85bn) ‘in order to put the troops in a position where they can do their duty.’
The entire defence budget for the year 2021 was 47 billion euros, less than half the special boost it has just received.
Scholz’s pledge that this money will be used for ‘necessary investment and planned rearmament’ sent a message of support to NATO which has been attacking Germany accusing it of working with Russia over oil and gas supplies and stabbing the US, France and the UK ruling class in the back. Scholz is now committed to building a stronger Bundeswehr from the ground up. He has put his jackboots back on!
He had been under massive attack by the US, UK and France and was accused of selling out the NATO alliance to safeguard Germany’s oil supply from Russia. Now Scholz is promising a return to a German army that will act decisively when it is called upon to do so. He said: ‘From now on we will invest more than two per cent of GDP in our defence year on year,’ emphasising that this was being done not as a response to NATO calls for collective defence but ‘also for our own security’.
Getting into a ‘war mode’ he pledged: ‘I want to build the next generation of war planes and tanks together with European partners – particularly France – here in Europe.’ He also mentioned acquiring defence systems against cyber attacks and the planned acquisition of the Heron Drone from Israel, plus greater investment in the Eurodrone project – the contracts for which were signed last week.
The mood in the German ruling class is that Germany’s ‘difficult past’ has rightly created a long legacy of military caution; but now Germany ‘must find the courage to look forward, not just back.’
The move came after the government made the surprise announcement on Saturday that it would be sending weapons and other supplies to Ukraine, including 1,000 anti-tank weapons, 500 surface-to-air Stinger missiles and thousands of gallons of petrol. The decision marks an historical break with Germany’s postwar pledge to not export weapons to conflict zones.
The existence of the special fund should be anchored in Germany’s constitution, Scholz said, in order to ensure it remains a guarantee beyond the life of the current parliament.
Germany has long been criticised by its allies for its resistance to increasing its defence spending. This position has been reinforced by a strong pacifist sentiment among the electorate linked to Germany’s Nazi past.
His announcement was greeted with relief in the German parliament, with Scholz receiving a standing ovation on Sunday morning as he said that Putin’s decision to launch a war ‘marked a turning point in the history of our continent’. He said the conflict would alter the world and called it ‘a catastrophe for Ukraine’, but that it would ‘also prove to be a catastrophe for Russia’.
Scholz issued ‘mandates for action’, including the delivery of weapons to Ukraine, which he said ‘can be the only answer to Putin’s aggression.’ This follows his decision last week to suspend approval of the gas pipeline Nord Stream 2, in effect, killing the multibillion-euro project.
The new militarism of the German ruling class will be massively opposed by millions of German workers who are determined that there will be no return to German militarism.
With the UK, France and Germany tooling up for military action against Russia, it is vital that the working class of Europe takes revolutionary action to smash the imperialist EU and replace it with the Socialist United States of Europe.
ends ‘WE are witnessing a turning point … the world is not the same anymore,’ said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in a speech last Sunday, which has been called Germany’s biggest military shift since 1945.
‘Staring down the barrel of Putin’s gun’, Scholz announced a massive and immediate cash injection for Germany’s armed forces, as well as a long-term commitment to higher defence spending.
Russia’s military operation in the Ukraine to defend the Donetz and Lugansk republics and to ‘deNazify the Ukraine’ has shaken the German ruling class to its core.
Chancellor Scholz said that Putin had ‘provoked a coldblooded offensive war’ against Ukraine, solely because Ukrainian freedom ‘puts into question his own oppressive regime’. He condemned Russian actions as ‘inhumane’, ‘unscrupulous’ and ‘appallingly unjust’.
He announced that the Bundeswehr, Germany’s military, will receive a massive one-off cash injection of 100 billion euros (£85bn) ‘in order to put the troops in a position where they can do their duty.’
The entire defence budget for the year 2021 was 47 billion euros, less than half the special boost it has just received.
Scholz’s pledge that this money will be used for ‘necessary investment and planned rearmament’ sent a message of support to NATO which has been attacking Germany accusing it of working with Russia over oil and gas supplies and stabbing the US, France and the UK ruling class in the back. Scholz is now committed to building a stronger Bundeswehr from the ground up. He has put his jackboots back on!
He had been under massive attack by the US, UK and France and was accused of selling out the NATO alliance to safeguard Germany’s oil supply from Russia. Now Scholz is promising a return to a German army that will act decisively when it is called upon to do so. He said: ‘From now on we will invest more than two per cent of GDP in our defence year on year,’ emphasising that this was being done not as a response to NATO calls for collective defence but ‘also for our own security’.
Getting into a ‘war mode’ he pledged: ‘I want to build the next generation of war planes and tanks together with European partners – particularly France – here in Europe.’ He also mentioned acquiring defence systems against cyber attacks and the planned acquisition of the Heron Drone from Israel, plus greater investment in the Eurodrone project – the contracts for which were signed last week.
The mood in the German ruling class is that Germany’s ‘difficult past’ has rightly created a long legacy of military caution; but now Germany ‘must find the courage to look forward, not just back.’
The move came after the government made the surprise announcement on Saturday that it would be sending weapons and other supplies to Ukraine, including 1,000 anti-tank weapons, 500 surface-to-air Stinger missiles and thousands of gallons of petrol. The decision marks an historical break with Germany’s postwar pledge to not export weapons to conflict zones.
The existence of the special fund should be anchored in Germany’s constitution, Scholz said, in order to ensure it remains a guarantee beyond the life of the current parliament.
Germany has long been criticised by its allies for its resistance to increasing its defence spending. This position has been reinforced by a strong pacifist sentiment among the electorate linked to Germany’s Nazi past.
His announcement was greeted with relief in the German parliament, with Scholz receiving a standing ovation on Sunday morning as he said that Putin’s decision to launch a war ‘marked a turning point in the history of our continent’. He said the conflict would alter the world and called it ‘a catastrophe for Ukraine’, but that it would ‘also prove to be a catastrophe for Russia’.
Scholz issued ‘mandates for action’, including the delivery of weapons to Ukraine, which he said ‘can be the only answer to Putin’s aggression.’ This follows his decision last week to suspend approval of the gas pipeline Nord Stream 2, in effect, killing the multibillion-euro project.
The new militarism of the German ruling class will be massively opposed by millions of German workers who are determined that there will be no return to German militarism.
With the UK, France and Germany tooling up for military action against Russia, it is vital that the working class of Europe takes revolutionary action to smash the imperialist EU and replace it with the Socialist United States of Europe.
