this post was submitted on 27 Mar 2025
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No, we are afraid of Germany having an actual army. But telling the biggest economy to just lay back and chill is no option either.
So we need to find a way for them to waste enormous amounts of money on defense without getting anything to show.
Enter: conscription.
Because this way you can then spend massive amounts of money on infrastructure for a lot of people instead of buying actual stuff like equipment or ammunition. And as a bonus for the country that has perfected keeping the population poor and on low wages while the top 1% make all the money (see: Germany's GDP while at the same time having a median wealth more fitting for eastern Europe*), they can get a lot new ~~slaves~~ ~~serfs~~ ~~forced workers~~ cheap labor from those refusing to serve to optimise corporate profits even more.
*reference (because I know people love to deny reality): median/wealth...
I also agree that investing in training, equipment and deployment capabilities seems like a better option than having a conscription as the number of fighting personnel is roughly equal (and as a defender you need less people for defense). From what I heard the European armies match Russias army in power overall - however I'm not sure if they could be as fast as Putin in getting this power coordinated to the Baltics.
Regarding the median and wealth statistics: I agree that they are concerning especially for a rich country as Germany. However I think that is mainly due to the lower home ownership rates compared to most other countries. So I think it's more an accidental situation (with f.e. historic reasons) than result of more neoliberal policies. Still an important point to highlight and work on.
"match":
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And that's before accounting for quality of equipment or training of operators.