Germany has announced that it will spend hundreds of billions of dollars to upgrade its military in what Berlin sees as a threat from Russia, compounded by an unreliable partner in the U.S., but critics say the spending is largely going to antiquated systems that benefit arms manufacturers at the expense of security.
Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, has lost more than $1 trillion over the last six years as a result of the COVID-19 War, the Ukraine War, and President Donald Trump’s tariffs against the country, according to data from the German Economic Institute.
The Eurozone’s industrial economy sank deeper into recession last month, according to the Hamburg Bank of Commerce’s purchasing managers index (PMI).
There’s a rush inside Germany among companies and workers who want a piece of the action as Berlin committed itself to increasing military spending by more than $500 billion over the next 10 years and see the funds as a way to shake off the country’s struggling industrial economy.
Friedrich Merz, the warmongering German chancellor, addressed a conference on Sunday and compared President Vladimir Putin to Adolph Hitler—stating that if Russia is not stopped in Ukraine, it will continue on, just like the "Sudetenland was not enough” for the Nazi leader in 1938.
German officials are reportedly working on plans to mobilize Europe against Russia over what officials in the country say is a high likelihood that the Kremlin will be willing to attack NATO states by 2029.
The impact of Donald Trump’s tariff war on the world’s economy has been less than feared but still has taken a toll, according to figures released by several national governments.
Europe’s model of economic prosperity “is geared towards a world that is gradually disappearing,” Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank (ECB), said in a 21 November keynote speech to the European Banking Congress.
Surveying 186 economic analysts, German thinktank ZEW said its monthly Indicator of Economic Sentiment slipped 0.8 of a percentage point from October, settling at 38.5.
Germans are forced to spend more on their energy demands because of Berlin’s decision to cut off Russian gas, and have seen their heating bills increase by 82 percent since 2021, Euronews reported.