The largest European military donor is Germany, with €17.7 billion since February 2022, of which €9.4 billion has been allocated. The negative standing of the present German government coalition of Social Democrats, Greens, and Liberals doesn’t come as a surprise. The German chancellor’s historic 2022 Zeitenwende speech and the bitter reality that it has not had much impact … [Read more...] about Germany’s Security Failure
Deutschland Debacle
Germany’s traffic-light coalition of Social Democrats, Greens, and Liberals is unable to escape crisis mode. The coalition’s top leaders, Chancellor Olaf Scholz of the Social Democrats, Vice Chancellor and economy and climate minister Robert Habeck of the Greens, and finance minister Christian Lindner of the Free Democratic Party, have been facing one mess after another. … [Read more...] about Deutschland Debacle
Dragging Down Europe
The key message from the International Monetary Fund annual meeting in October 2022 was that Germany would fall into recession in 2023 with the worst ecomomic growth among the major countries. This did not come as a surprise. It showed how difficult it would be for the world’s leading export country to preserve its international competitiveness without access to cheap Russian … [Read more...] about Dragging Down Europe
Heat Pump Fiasco
Berlin’s focus has shifted. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s “tank battle” and the insufficient German military support for Ukraine’s defense against the Russian invaders are no longer the major issues. Germany’s new defense minister, Boris Pistorius, is now the country’s most-liked politician. And Germanyapproved a new €2.7 billion worth of arms for Kyiv—the largest amount so … [Read more...] about Heat Pump Fiasco
Germany in Crisis
With 10 percent inflation, a looming recession, and the threat of deindustrialization, Europe’s largest and strongest economy is experiencing the worst erosion of the fundamentals of its prosperity since the post-war economic miracle in the 1950s and 1960s built Germany into an economic powerhouse. As many of Germany’s 84 million citizens contemplate the end of their … [Read more...] about Germany in Crisis