It is difficult to say which is more disgusting in the debate in the German parliament, the Bundestag: the contributions of the participants or the media coverage.
Budget deliberations in the Chancellery are traditionally used as a public debate about the policies of the federal government. That was the case again on Wednesday. Opposition leader Friedrich Mers (Christian Democratic Union) and Chancellor Olaf Schulz (SPD) agreed with everything the other said regarding the fiercest rhetoric of war. Like two bullies exchanging headbands, both promised to send more deadly weapons to Ukraine and to make the Bundeswehr the strongest armed forces in Europe.
Merz opened the discussion by thanking the “tricolor” coalition of the SPD, Free Democrats (FDP) and the Green Party, with whom the CDU and the Christian Social Union agreed last Sunday on the design of the “Liberal Democratic Party Special Fund”. Bundeswehr (German Army)” with €100 billion. “Last Sunday was and still is a good day for our country’s alliance and its defensive capabilities, and it’s a good day for the Bundeswehr,” he said.
Then the beautiful Schulz returned. He thanked everyone who contributed to this decision “constructively and across party lines as well.” It was a “giant leap,” he said: “The Bundeswehr would then probably have the largest conventional army in the European NATO system.”
After lip service to his basic agreement with the government’s rearmament policy, Meretz began to violently attack the chancellor. He said Schultz “issued a high-level government statement” on February 27 that said a promise “Changing the times” and the delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine. “Since then, everything I said there has evaporated and evaporated into obscurity, into a blur.”
He said that the promised heavy weapons had not yet been delivered to Ukraine. The chancellor was destroying the reputation of German politics. He was a liar, a hypocrite and dishonest. He did not intend to build a “European security architecture”. Instead of “Ukraine must win this war,” it just says, “Russia must not win this war.” It lasted for minutes.
Schulz responded by listing the large quantities of arms and ammunition that Germany supplied to Ukraine in the hundred days after the war began: anti-aircraft missiles and anti-tank weapons, “more than 15 million rounds, 100,000 grenades, more than 5,000 anti-tank mines, numerous explosives, machine guns, and dozens of trucks.” Filled with other “useful goods.” Together with Denmark, it supplied “54 modern armored personnel carriers” and “20 T-72 battle tanks” from the Czech Republic and armored personnel carriers from Greece, which Germany replaced.
In addition, there were “twelve of the world’s most modern self-propelled howitzers” and Gibbard anti-aircraft tanks, on which Ukrainian soldiers were currently training: “This weapon comes with an initial supply of 59,000 rounds; it is enough for 1200 combat operations.”
Finally, Schulze announced that the government had decided to provide Ukraine with “the most modern air defense systems available to Germany” as well as “a sophisticated tracking radar that detects howitzers, mortars and artillery rockets.”
The IRIS-T-SLM anti-aircraft missile system, developed by the German defense company Diehl, can shoot down planes, helicopters and drones from an altitude of 25 km and a distance of 40 km. The missiles are guided by a target tracking radar and hit their target in the final approach using anti-jamming infrared guidance.
According to Schultz, the decision to supply these highly effective weapons was made in close consultation with the United States, which also supplies it Missile systems Capable of hitting distant targets inside Russia.
The result is an escalation of the war deliberately provoked by NATO, and a growing risk of direct confrontation between Russian and NATO forces, including the use of nuclear weapons.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had already commented on early reports of planned missile deliveries last week, saying he had “warned the West in the strongest terms that it was already waging a proxy war against the Russian Federation”. But these deliveries were “the most dangerous step towards an unacceptable escalation”.
It is a measure of the German media’s decline and corruption, and no comment warns of the dangerous repercussions of this military escalation. Instead, Schultz was hailed for his skill in handling the military issue. “The counselor can also be different” (Tajischaw) and “the chancellor is attacking” (tazNewspaper headlines.
What the Social-Democrats “presented in the general debate in Parliament had little to do with the jerky speeches with the narcotic smell of which he is known, and for which he praised Der Spiegel. Instead, Schulze showed up on Wednesday in a manner rarely shown at home: quarrelsome, rhetorical stinging, surprisingly accurate on the topic at hand.
Did any of these hackers think for a second about the consequences of continuing the conflict with the world’s second largest nuclear power? They do not because German militarism has long intoxicated them.
Eight years ago, when then-Federal President Joachim Gauck, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) called for an end to military moderation and German global power politics, the media were already ignoring themselves at their feet. Now the war in Ukraine is being used as an excuse to put those plans into action.
The 100-billion-euro “special fund”, launched by the Budget Committee on Wednesday with votes from the Tricolor coalition and the CDU-CSU faction, and which was voted on in the Bundestag on Friday, aims to transform the Bundeswehr not only into the largest army, but also into the newest army in Europe.
41 billion euros were allocated for the modernization of the Air Force. Plans include purchasing US F-35 fighter jets capable of dropping nuclear warheads, developing and procuring Eurofighters with electronic warfare capabilities and arming Heron TP drones. In addition, 60 new transport helicopters, light helicopters to support the army, electronic naval reconnaissance aircraft, early warning and reconnaissance systems will be purchased.
Part of the money will also go to the Franco-German “Future Combat Air System” (SCAF), whose development costs are estimated at 100 billion euros.
20 billion allocated to the computerization of the German army.
19 billion allocated to the Navy. Cruisers must be upgraded and at least one additional F126 frigate purchased. The shopping list also includes modern anti-ship missiles capable of sinking large warships, anti-aircraft missiles for submarines, a new submarine and multi-purpose combat boats.
A total of 16.5 billion was allocated to the military. This will be used mainly to purchase armored vehicles, improve communications (including satellites) and create conditions for a new brigade of 5,000 men that can be quickly deployed.
(Article published in English on June 3, 2022)