Short excerpts from reporting, interviews, and analysis around Germany Rearmed. Each entry links to the original source to read or watch in full.
9 entries · Updated continuously
“For decades, Germany has relied on American security guarantees. Now Europe’s economic powerhouse is rearming for a future in which the United States may not come to its aid.
Norwegian original: “I flere tiår har Tyskland lent seg på amerikanske sikkerhetsgarantier. Nå ruster Europas økonomiske stormakt opp for en fremtid der USA kanskje ikke stiller opp.”
“Liana Fix on the possible reawakening of Europe’s old demons as Germany bolsters its arms industry
“The plaudits that greeted Germany’s rearmament drive in 2022 led Berlin to believe it had free rein, said Liana Fix, senior fellow for Europe at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington. “My perception sometimes was that they had drunk too much of their own Kool-Aid,” she said.
“But, as I argue in my book, of course, they don't want to see that military power in the hands of the AfD. Even if that is only a possibility like 10 years or 15 years down the line, it is still a very scary thought for Germany's neighbors.
“Germany's rearmament, financed through debt. But that, of course, now leads Germany's neighboring countries to wonder: What if we have a militarily powerful Germany that then at some point might see the AfD in power?
“Researcher Liana Fix fears a militarist and nationalist turn in Germany if the AfD wins.
French original: “La chercheuse Liana Fix redoute un tournant militariste et nationaliste en Allemagne en cas de victoire de l’AfD.”
“Today, as the United States withdraws from Europe, an old question is resurfacing: who actually leads Europe?
French original: “Aujourd’hui, alors que les États-Unis se retirent d’Europe, une vieille question refait surface : qui dirige réellement l’Europe ?”
“This combination of economic and conventional military supremacy is destabilising the European security architecture created at the end of the cold war and exposing an imbalance that neither the façade of European integration nor the fiction of the ‘Franco-German couple’ can conceal any longer.
“Two months ago, the US journal Foreign Affairs, not known for excessive criticism of Germany, published an article by historian Liana Fix.
German original: “Vor zwei Monaten hat die nicht für übermäßige Deutschland-Kritik bekannte US-Zeitschrift Foreign Affairs einen Artikel der Historikerin Liana Fix veröffentlicht.”