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submitted 2 days ago by LaGG_3@hexbear.net to c/news@hexbear.net

article textBERLIN — Six weeks into his current term in office, President Trump was asked by a reporter about countries, like Germany, that for decades had not spent 2% of their GDPs on defense — despite, like all NATO countries, having made that commitment.

His response was chilling to many in Europe.

"Well, I think it's common sense, right?" Trump said, interrupting the reporter asking the question. "If they don't pay, I'm not going to defend them."

A new Trump presidency and a war on European soil have pushed Germany — a country that for the better part of the past two decades has spent between 1% and 2% of its gross domestic product on its beleaguered military — to take the big step of changing its constitution to free up the money to spend more.

Two months after Trump's comments, incoming German Chancellor Friedrich Merz gave what many observers saw as a historic speech to parliament.

"Building up our military is our top priority," said Merz. "From now on, the federal government will provide the military with as much money as it needs to ensure it becomes Europe's strongest armed force. We are Europe's most populous country and Europe's biggest economy, and nothing less should be expected from us. Our partners not only expect this — they demand it." Changing the national DNA

"So this sense of urgency made a decision possible that was unthinkable before," says Claudia Major, senior vice president overseeing trans-Atlantic security initiatives at the German Marshall Fund.

She says the German government's plan over the next decade to spend 3.5% of its GDP on defense — a percentage equal to that of the United States — is a bold and surprising move.

"But we also know that the DNA of a country — the way our country and the citizens behave in defense, how they see military force, how they see their armed forces — takes years and decades to change," she says. "Normally we say it takes a generation."

Germany won't cut social programs for defense. A $117 billion special fund and a 2025 constitutional change suspending what's known in Germany as the debt brake — or balanced budget spending cap — let it borrow separately from the normal federal budget for defense and infrastructure. This will enable close to $400 billion in defense spending through 2029 without affecting core budgets — for now.

Some parts of German society, especially businesses in the defense sector, are more ready than others for this historic change.

In an industrial park outside Munich, a worker completes a series of tests on a drone that has just come off the assembly line at Quantum Systems. The aircraft, called the Vector, is the company's bestselling drone, says Director of Operations Alexandra Rietenbach. "It's our dual-use product," she says. "It's used on the one hand in Ukraine. It's also used for the German armed forces. It also is used in Europe in general, in different organizations like police, like border control." Quantum Systems’ chief sales officer, Martin Karkour, holds one of his company’s bestselling drones, the Vector, at the company’s headquarters outside Munich.

Photo: Quantum Systems' chief sales officer, Martin Karkour, holds one of his company's bestselling drones, the Vector, at the company's headquarters outside Munich. Quantum Systems' sales are up due to its role in providing Ukraine's military with drones to defend the country against a Russian invasion. Rob Schmitz/NPR

Rietenbach says Ukrainian troops rely on the Vector and the company's other drones to gain a military advantage against invading Russian troops. As a result, Quantum Systems' chief sales officer, Martin Karkour, says sales have picked up. "We are doubling each year in terms of sales and revenue, and also in terms of head count," he says.

Buying weapons is the easy part

While business for defense companies like Quantum Systems looks promising, Germany's defense spending boost might take some time when it comes to rebuilding a culture of military service.

At a job fair in Berlin, the Bundeswehr, Germany's armed forces, has set up a recruiting booth staffed by Marco Mann, who has recruited at fairs like this for 18 years. He says the German public's attitude toward its armed forces is improving.

"I never used to hear 'Thank you for your service' from others, but that's starting to change," he observes. "People now are thanking us for our support of Ukraine, thanking us for being here — it's a nice change."

Germany is the third-biggest provider of military support to Ukraine, after the U.S. and the United Kingdom. It provides weapons systems prized by Ukraine, including Leopard 2 tanks, the IRIS-T air defense systems, ammunition and artillery shells. Germany has also welcomed 1.2 million Ukrainian refugees, according to the German Interior Ministry.

Abdul Rehman Saeed is one of the job seekers at this fair. He's 32, was born in Pakistan, has lived in Germany for a decade and is a German citizen. He says he's interested in joining the Bundeswehr as an IT specialist. "I think it's not about going to the battlefield, but as a preemptive measure to actually help them if they are trying to do something and might need someone with a cybersecurity background, because everything is now cyberwar," he says.

He says Germany has given him a free education, affordable health care and many other opportunities. "I feel personally responsible to provide back to this society because Germany gave me a life I wanted," he says.

In return, he says, if he gets job security, then joining the Bundeswehr is a "win-win." And as the Bundeswehr has more money and begins the challenging process of recruiting more personnel, it hopes to gain prestige, both domestically and internationally.

Esme Nicholson contributed to reporting from Berlin.

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[-] doublepepperoni@hexbear.net 61 points 2 days ago

At a job fair in Berlin, the Bundeswehr, Germany's armed forces, has set up a recruiting booth staffed by Marco Mann, who has recruited at fairs like this for 18 years. He says the German public's attitude toward its armed forces is improving.

"I never used to hear 'Thank you for your service' from others, but that's starting to change," he observes. "People now are thanking us for our support of Ukraine, thanking us for being here — it's a nice change."

internet-delenda-est

[-] LaGG_3@hexbear.net 58 points 2 days ago

What could be worse than Germans? Germans with American levels of boot licking!

[-] doublepepperoni@hexbear.net 41 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

How dare you insult the brave troops that are the only thing between us and Putler's orc hordes?!?!?! maybe-later-kiddo

American boot licking with smug liberal European aesthetics agony-deep

[-] 30_to_50_Feral_PAWGs@hexbear.net 28 points 2 days ago

Is there a German word for this...?

[-] gueybana@hexbear.net 36 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Ohhhhh mein gott, here come ze accuzations of being Nazi, so v must do ze opposite and kill all ze palestinians now

[-] Skye@hexbear.net 25 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Yes actually, "Stiefellecker" is an actual German word and literally translates to bootlicker (meaning the same thing). Speichellecker pretty much means the same thing.

Arschkriecher is most commonly used but doesn't just apply if the recipient is a person of authority. But it does literally translate to "asscrawler", so clearly it's the best word.

[-] TrustedFeline@hexbear.net 18 points 2 days ago

Germans with American levels of boot licking!

The word for this is Nazi

Marco Mann

Marcomanni once more on warpath

[-] CarbonScored@hexbear.net 49 points 2 days ago

the German government's plan over the next decade to spend 3.5% of its GDP on defense — a percentage equal to that of the United States

Jesus they really are planning to replace any ounce of imperialism the US accidentally gives up.

[-] Keld@hexbear.net 48 points 2 days ago

How many times do we gotta teach you this lesson old man

[-] ShimmeringKoi@hexbear.net 42 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

They will end up seig heiling, theyre falling off the wagon and it's only a matter of time before that old dog comes out

[-] SorosFootSoldier@hexbear.net 44 points 2 days ago

1942: Putting Russians and communists into death camps

2025: Putting Russians and communists into death camps

[-] iridaniotter@hexbear.net 40 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Between European sanctions against Russia, the inefficiency of Western military procurement, and the peninsula-wide move to significantly increase spending on the unproductive military sector, this subcontinent's real economy is never growing again under capitalist rule.

[-] Collatz_problem@hexbear.net 30 points 2 days ago

is-this Is this degrowth?

[-] CTHlurker@hexbear.net 10 points 2 days ago

This is the closest thing this continent will get to a decent climate initiative so I'll fucking take it. Even if it means I also wont have a future

[-] miz@hexbear.net 42 points 2 days ago

morgenthau_apology_form.jpg

[-] KuroXppi@hexbear.net 31 points 2 days ago
[-] 9to5@hexbear.net 40 points 2 days ago
[-] egg1918@hexbear.net 25 points 2 days ago

Only to buy all American weapons that both don't work and require American troops/technicians to maintain peltier-laugh

Even Krupp is closing factories because of energy price, German military industry is cooked.

On the other hand Poland is buying tons of arms in Occupied Korea and US is not stopping them.

[-] LaGG_3@hexbear.net 40 points 2 days ago

hitler-detector They really should have slapped an Article 9 on these guys when they had a chance, oops.

[-] iridaniotter@hexbear.net 25 points 2 days ago

It wouldn't have even mattered! Article 9 was slapped onto Japan, but the actual regulation of a defeated genocidal state's military is whatever the occupying force determines. And so it was immediately de facto repealed when the Americans remembered to be anti-communist, and the American-approved Japanese government continues to come up with justifications to weaken remaining limits. Genocidal states can only be rectified by applying the doctrine of state suicide put forth by Radical Republicans following the American Civil War to international socialist historically-contingent conditions (and since WW2 was an alliance between the socialist bloc and one imperialist bloc, these conditions were not met). In other words, Germany and Japan ought to have been nationally dissolved and incorporated into the international proletarian culture of the Soviet Union over the course of a few decades. Alas!

[-] kristina@hexbear.net 31 points 2 days ago
[-] PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmygrad.ml 36 points 2 days ago

Round 90 years after their predecessors announced the same thing

[-] Gorillatactics@hexbear.net 33 points 2 days ago

Getting outplayed by a man with severe dementia.

[-] KoboldKomrade@hexbear.net 21 points 2 days ago

The failure to denazify west germany by shooting any "solder" or "officer" and its consequences.

[-] blunder@hexbear.net 17 points 2 days ago

Germany has repeatedly demonstrated that it does not deserve to exist as a nation

[-] Alisu@hexbear.net 19 points 2 days ago

Something might be about to happen

[-] CloutAtlas@hexbear.net 23 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)
[-] replaceable@hexbear.net 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)
[-] doublepepperoni@hexbear.net 5 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I always find the worker's lines about unions eventually "going too far" a bit curious

I think one of the main writers was a big libertarian during this time

[-] replaceable@hexbear.net 2 points 2 days ago

I meant the channel name, but that is suspicious as well

[-] doublepepperoni@hexbear.net 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

lol, I didn't even notice

What's next, unwoke Star Trek?

[-] HexReplyBot@hexbear.net 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:

[-] Assian_Candor@hexbear.net 16 points 2 days ago
this post was submitted on 03 Jul 2025
81 points (100.0% liked)

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