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Germany and America are dear friends. Friends tell each other the truth. And the truth is that Germany is not pushing against Russia.
During a recent visit to the United States, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised his country would soon start spending 2% of its annual budget on defense.
President Joe Biden meets with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, Friday, March 3, 2023. (Oliver Contreras/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
If this sounds familiar, it’s not déjà vu. This is just one of the many promises Germany made in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has yet to come true.
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By all accounts, Europe’s economic leader Germany has fallen short.current Expenditure as % of GDP Germany cannot even be in the top 10 countries when it comes to financial aid to Ukraine.
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland are all More than double What Germany gave Ukraine in its share of GDP. But countries don’t have to be close to Russia to spend more than Germany. The UK, Canada and the US all have more GDP than Germany. In raw dollars, the US donated her seven times what Germany sent to Ukraine.
Just as it relied on Russia for energy, Germany relies on everyone else to support Ukraine and keep Putin at bay.
Germany is not only slow to withdraw its wallets, it also appears to be in no hurry to send its weapons. Germany delayed sending Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine for weeks while negotiating with the Biden administration. Scholz will only agree to send tanks if the US first commits to send his M1 Abrams.
Germany requires the US to move a mile before it moves an inch. So far, the Biden administration seems to be doing well.
Germany would be wise to consider the situation a year ago. The German army was in disarray as Putin’s men rapidly approached Kiev.
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The Bundeswehr (Germany’s armed forces) population is now one-third of what it was after the Cold War. Defense spending plummeted from 3% of GDP at the end of the Cold War to 1.3%. That tank doesn’t work. The plane did not fly.
Chancellor Scholz called this moment a turning point for Germany. He increased defense spending by 2% of his, while pledging to recruit an additional 30,000 men and women to join the Bundeswehr by 2025.
But its defense spending has rarely peaked above 1.5%. Experts don’t believe the goal of hiring 30,000 people will be met. Also, the Very High Readiness Task Force still lacks the manpower and equipment to deploy in less than 72 hours. Germany has shown initiative by purchasing 35 of her F-35 fighter jets from the United States, but they are not set to fly until 2027.
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In a recent interview, Chancellor Scholz defended the spending blunders by pointing out that in the event of a Russian invasion, the primary concern would be energy, not defense.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz arrives for a two-day closed-door meeting of the German government at Moeseberg Palace in Gransee, near Berlin, Germany, Sunday, March 5, 2023. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)
Germany foolishly left its energy security in Russia’s hands in the years leading up to the war in Ukraine. In theory, Germany’s purchase of natural gas from Russia should have endeared Putin in the West. In reality, it only made Germany dependent on Russia.
And when Russia started the war, it was not Germany that rejected Russian energy. Russia flipped a switch and left Germany in the cold. Over the past year, Germany has successfully diversified its energy partnerships, investing in her LNG terminals to expand its gas reserves and boosting its nuclear energy capabilities.
But Germany has not learned its lesson. Just as it relied on Russia for its energy, Germany relies on everyone else to support Ukraine and keep Putin at bay.
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What you do is what you believe and everything else is just cottage cheese.
It’s time for our German friends to fulfill their promises to Ukraine and start paying for their country’s defense. With a year of war already over, Germany must act like the leader of Europe it claims to be.
Click here to read more about SEN.John Kennedy
