Posted on 08/21/2018 10:33:41 PM PDT by Olog-hai
Their tactic is to not pay for as long as the US pays. If the USA were out of the picture, then Maas’ rhetoric would suddenly take on new life. And if a strong leader were to barge onto the scene, then it’d be a problem.
Remember, one of the points about NATO was to keep a certain country down.
They don’t lack means; they want to spend it on their imperial dream alone. They’re pushing the rule by crisis to the breaking point, in search of a strongman-type leader.
I don’t see Germany ever being able to exert the kind of control over all of Europe that it wants to have and they are finished forever as a military power.
They are locked into socialism which saps their financial strength, their demographics are awful...at least of native Germans...and they people are utterly spineless. They wouldn’t even defend themselves much less join the military and be aggressive toward anybody else. This isn’t some temporary fad either. This is a very deeply ingrained mentality that isn’t going away. They’re spineless jellyfish.
There’s no need for us to keep Germany down.
They already exert that kind of control, particularly economically. That was one of the reasons for Britain leaving the EU, although always covered up by the press.
As for “finished” militarily, the Bundeswehr has already been absorbing parts of the military forces of the Netherlands, Rumania, even the Czech Republic, so they’re already at work on a nucleus of a EU military. For a long time, they were also second behind the USA in terms of global deployments.
Never mind the current rapprochement with Russia in spite of their rhetoric.
There is no good reason to let Germany back up.
How much control do they actually have? The Greeks and all of Eastern Europe have given them the middle finger on their open borders demands and now Italy has too. The Brits voted to secede from the EU and they and the French have kept viable military forces of their own.
The Germans are so pathetic that we couldn’t even have them deployed in a regular zone. They had to be deployed in a super super safe zone way up north. They are incapable of handling any actual combat. Their subs are all stuck in port because they’re not seaworthy. Something like 4 of their 129 fighter jets were ready for action and less than half of their 220 tanks were fit for service. There’s no need for us to subsidize their defense one moment longer. They’re just spineless freeloaders looking to line their pockets to pay for their socialism any chance they get.
They have virtually total economic control, which Margaret Thatcher predicted. Remember that the “social market economy” is patterned after the post-war Adenauer-approved economic model. They also have a lot of shared left-wing ideology that won’t be given up in spite of whatever fruitless bickering goes on; note that Germany hasn’t given any concessions on either social ideology or economic dogma. Every idea of the EU had its origin in the Kaiser’s “United States of Europe” idea.
Never underestimate them. They want to be out from under the US thumb. Trump pointed out their current collusion with Russia (to give a true meaning to the worn-out media cliché). Obama gave them the notion that they can actually try to boss us around now. They don’t need to be free to act as they really want.
Oh they have a bossy streak NO DOUBT. The problem for them is that without the credible threat of military force, your influence only goes so far. They’ve adopted the notion that since they are militarily toothless, military force doesn’t matter. That everything is just a question of “international law”.
Occasionally, they get reminded that its not. That actual military forces matter if you want to exert influence. Right now their economy is in good shape because the Euro effectively gives them a competitive devaluation, they are able to free ride on the US for defense and they benefit from unbalanced trade with the US. Trump is going to sort out the unbalanced trade deal and may remove their free US provided defense as well. How long will Southern European countries stay in the Euro given its causing sky high unemployment and debts to pile up? How long can Germany stay in relatively good economic shape with ever more freeloading muslims pouring in?
I don’t see any danger of them dominating and imposing their will on the rest of Europe.
Two world wars were fought over that very notion. Was Thatcher wrong when she saw a danger in it? German dominance of Europe is anti-American to the core. Take a look at history; they sure are doing so. And don’t be fooled by the rule-by-crisis tactic.
I don’t see any danger of (Germany) dominating and imposing their will on the rest of Europe.
Germans never change.
Yes I think Thatcher was wrong about that. They are trying to give others in Europe their marching orders and are getting the middle finger in return. That’s what will always happen.
Well, Thatcher was not wrong about that. There is no isolation of Germany happening on the highest political level; if there were, we’d see a far more vocal reaching out to Trump out of the “core” EU nations, and a very strident call for an end to the euro.
With all due respect, I do not take a bright view of Obamaesque minimalization of the European problem. Have a nice day.
Red Lines?
You mean like the Siegfried Line?
Don’t make us come back over there.
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