Tag Archives: Arms exports

Weapons orders? Bitte!

July 7, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Home Cooking, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Please! By all means.

But to be willing to actually use them ourselves? Nein, danke!

German Defense Companies Could Be Europe’s Arsenal of Democracy – But for the Bundeswehr to fight will take a culture shift, not just weapons orders.

More than a decade ago, the German government made the deliberate decision to kill the ability of the Bundeswehr, Germany’s military, to fight a conventional land war in Europe and strip it of the equipment, manpower, and resources to do so. In 1990, as the Cold War was ending, the then-West German Bundeswehr alone was still able to field 215 combat battalions in a high state of readiness. Today, Germany has around 34 battalions, and the word “combat” is a bit of a misnomer. They are at such a low state of military readiness that when the 10th Tank Division conducted an exercise late last year, its entire deployed fleet of 18 Puma infantry fighting vehicles broke down…

New German Weapons Export Law That Won’t Actually Change Anything Now In The Works

December 27, 2021 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

It won’t change anything but it will make us feel good about ourselves.

Compare the weapons export numbers for Germany this year with the numbers this time next year if you don’t believe me. Just have patience. Seen it a dozen times. It’s a recurring, calming ritual Germans like to perform. They seem to believe it reinforces their moral superpower status.

Germany: Baerbock vows new law to curb weapons exports – German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said new weapons export control legislation is in the works. During its last few days in power, Angela Merkel’s administration approved almost €5 billion in arms sales…

Together with the United States, Russia, and France, Germany is one of the world’s biggest arms exporters, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

China

November 18, 2019 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Beautiful German weapon sale of the week.

China

Because somebody has to admire them.

OK, it’s not exactly a weapon sale this time. The Germans just plan to train 11 Chinese soldiers so they can, you know, better use their weapons in places like, I dunno, Hong Kong or some place like that.

In addition, one soldier is to be provided with special training in “press and public relations.”

Ausland

November 13, 2019 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Foreign countries. Name about any country you want.

Beautiful German weapon sale of the week.

Deutschland

Because somebody has to admire them.

In the first ten months of this year the German federal government has given its OK to the sale of arms valued at 7.42 billion euros, nearing an all-time record.

Die Welt verlangt nach deutschen Waffen: Die Bundesregierung hat in den ersten zehn Monaten des laufenden Jahres Rüstungsexporte im Wert von 7,42 Milliarden Euro genehmigt. Die Summe erreicht damit schon fast das Ausmaß des bisherigen Rekordjahres 2015, als die Große Koalition Ausfuhren von Waffen und anderen Rüstungsgütern für 7,86 Milliarden Euro freigab.

Number Four Has Issues

March 11, 2019 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

But it doesn’t really make much sense, does it?

Four

How can the world’s fourth largest exporter of arms (don’t worry, they’ll be back up at third place again in no time) have “issues with readiness of submarines, aircraft” for its own army? Year in and year out, I mean. One could almost think it’s intentional.

The readiness of Germany’s weapons systems stood at about 70 percent in 2018 overall, but its submarines, heavy-lift helicopters and Tornado fighter jets faced continued challenges, the German Defence Ministry told lawmakers on Monday.

Germany is the fourth largest arms exporter in the world, according to a report released by the Stockholm Peace Research Institute on Monday.

Egypt

January 2, 2019 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Home Cooking, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Beautiful German weapon sale of the week.

Egypt

Because somebody has to admire them.

With the export (of a frigate) to Egypt, the Federal government maintains its controversial practice of supplying weapons to authoritarian regimes if these are considered to be regional partners of the Federal government. In addition, they will again break the promise not to deliver any more weapons to countries that are directly involved in the Yemen war (Saudi Arabia supports Egypt financially and makes this purchase possible and Egypt has participated in the Yemen conflict as a coalition partner with fighter jets).

Ägypten gehört ganz offiziell zu dieser von Saudi-Arabien geführten Koalition und hat auch mit Kampfjets an Missionen über dem Jemen teilgenommen. Indirekt dürften die Millionen für die deutschen Fregatten ohnehin aus Riad kommen. Seit Jahren hängt Ägypten finanziell am Tropf des Königsreichs. Ohne die massiven Zahlungen wären die ägyptischen Institutionen längst zusammengebrochen.

Israel

April 9, 2018 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Beautiful German weapon sale of the week.

Israel

Because somebody has to admire them.

The contract will be signed in the coming weeks, German parliament member Fritz Felgentreu, responsible for defense affairs in the German Social Democratic Party, told “Globes.”

The German Ministry of Defense estimates the cost of the agreement, which includes leasing five Heron TP UAVs manufactured by IAI in cooperation with Airbus, at €1 billion over nine years.

German Of The Day: Unproblematisch

February 19, 2016 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means problem-free or uncomplicated.

Exports

And that is what Germany’s economics minister Sigmar Gabriel (SPD) has to say about the significant rise in German arms exports. It’s problem-free. And totally uncomplicated.

He is the economics minister, after all. What could be more “economical” than increased arms sales? And you also need to know that this guy took office in 2013 promising to significantly restrict arms exports. So, well, there. At least his heart is in the right place.

SPD-Chef Gabriel hatte sein Amt Ende 2013 mit dem Versprechen angetreten, die Rüstungsexporte deutlich einzuschränken. Nun räumte er ein, dass seine Halbzeitbilanz „Licht und Schatten“ aufweise.