That was pretty much what I was referring to. Colorado, I think you mentioned that you served a bit in Europe some time ago. What perception did you get in regard to how serious the Europeans were about resisting a Soviet invasion?
I got the impression that the Germans and Brits and for the most part the Dutch were very serious about resisting a Soviet invasion. The Germans especially understood it was an existential threat.
We Americans were also quite concerned about a Warsaw Pact conventional invasion. This was the era of the Brezhnev Doctrine and communism was on the march. If you talked to an officer privately, few of us thought Carter had the balls to use nuclear weapons, which had kept the Russians behind the Iron Curtain since Eisenhower. So, Fort Knox and TRADOC closely studied the 1973 war because the Israelis had faced and defeated similar odds. They let us look at the crap Russian equipment and had us listen to defectors who talked about the crap morale among the Russian conscripts. Still, we thought hard about 6-1 odds in a Russian breakthrough attack with a President we were not at all certain had our back.
I no longer have direct sources, but my impression is the current German reluctance to fight, if not pacifism, set in after the fall of the Soviet Union and the wolf was no longer at the door.
Another trend was happening in the 70's, however. The German economic miracle was in full swing and Germany had a labor shortage. So, they started importing poor Turks to make up for it. Of course, Turks from the Ataturk era in Turkey are quite different from the Islamist trash that is now invading Europe. Plus, there aren't any jobs for them.
Do you think Germany is blind to the threat because of the way they have internalized nondiscrimination based on religion after they were forced to confront their role in the Holocaust?