This is an op-ed by Sir Niall Ferguson, Milbank Family senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University; and Moritz Schularick is president of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy.
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Germany’s rearmament is not going nearly fast enough. While Germany and Europe urgently need more weapons, at the current pace it will take years for them to roll off the production line and to constitute an arsenal sufficient to deter Russia. In no other area will Germany invest as much money in the coming years. And in no area is the absence of economic rationality more pronounced. Without swift changes, Germany is on a path to waste billions in taxpayers’ money for the delayed delivery of partly outdated defence capabilities.
Nearly four years after Russia’s assault on Ukraine, large German defence producers still work in single shifts, five days a week, instead of three shifts, seven days a week. The current production rate for the Taurus long-range guided missile system is only a few a month. The production of the Iris-T air defence system — which could provide crucial support to defend Ukraine’s energy infrastructure this winter and which is also essential for closing gaps in Europe’s air defence — is positively artisanal.
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At its heart, this is a task of industrial scaling, something German industry is well placed to deliver. As economic historians, we know that without the coordinating hand of the government and economic expertise, this kind of crash rearmament programme will not happen fast enough. ... the obvious path would be to create a national defence industrial board to assess resources, set quantitative production goals, negotiate capacity with industry and fast-track dual-use innovation. ... "German rearmament" are two ominous words for historians, just as "state co-ordination" is a phrase we tend to eschew as believers in freemarket economics. However, in the face of an increasingly dangerous and heavily armed Russia, co-ordinated rearmament is imperative. Above all, it needs to happen at warp speed. ...
Berlin has woken up to the Russian threat, but its thinking is stuck in the past ... British readers of a certain age may find it hard to be enthusiastic about German rearmament. As historians, we understand their unease. However, this is not the 1910s or the 1930s. The 2020s are a time when the UK has been in a mutual defence alliance with Germany for close to 80 years; ... The arguments for a more rapid and technologically advanced German rearmament are more than just narrowly military. They are also economic and strategic. We have four recommendations that add up to an "Operation Warp Speed" for German rearmament. ...
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Maybe... not?
AfD is on the brink of winning the next election... do we really want a fascist german army in the middle of europe again??!
We have one fascist army in the East of Europe, the one that has been invading Ukraine and engaging in a hybrid warfare against the rest of Europe (oh, yes, this fascist army's government is also one of AfD's main supporter).
Exactly... do we want to give russias allies the power to build the strongest military in europe?
I am for a european armed forces. Fuck nations, ficht together as one
Russia's allies are not in power.
They are in slovakia, hungary, serbia and now also czechia...
Soon it could be Germany and my fucking homecountry of Austria too...
I guess it could, but I'd say it's rather unlikely.
Still, I'd rather have a military than can stand up to Russia should things escalate instead of not having one on the off-chance democracy collapses.
That's why I'm advocating for a co.bined european army. The chances that every single EU country turns fascist is unlikely. The chances for singular countries like germany to turn fascist are absolutely present.
The ironic thing is that I think the only realistic way to get an European army on a reasonable time scale would be pretty much the worst case scenario: A full conventional war with Russia without US support, which would literally force European countries to integrate their militaries beyond what we currently do in NATO.
Russian neo-Nazi paramilitary group Rusich announces “contest” encouraging fighters to execute Ukrainian POWs
The announcement, which was published on the group’s channel on Telegram on Nov. 17, read:
Executing prisoners is a direct violation of the Geneva Conventions. Under the Third Geneva Convention of 1949 and Additional Protocol I of 1977, the summary execution, torture, cruel treatment, and humiliation of POWs are all strictly prohibited. Those who order such acts are also considered war criminals.
Article 25 of the Rome Statute likewise establishes criminal responsibility for anyone who “orders, solicits, or induces” the commission of such crimes.