Tag Archives: Pacifism

“I don’t want to be part of this war machine!”

December 6, 2025 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

“One that actually works, maybe. But not this one.”

‘I don’t want to be part of this war machine’: Young Germans protest against military service plans – Young people have taken to the streets of Berlin to protest against the German parliament’s decision to introduce voluntary military service to boost national defences after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The change means that all 18-year-olds in Germany will be sent a questionnaire from January 2026 asking if they are interested and willing to join the armed forces.

Of course Germans back voluntary military service

August 28, 2025 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

As long as they aren’t expected to volunteer themselves.

German cabinet backs voluntary military service, opening door to conscription – Compulsory military service in Germany was ended in 2011 under then-Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz has made boosting Germany’s military a priority given the threat from Russia and said “we are now back on the path to a military service army”.

He summed up his thinking earlier this year saying: “We want to be able to defend ourselves so that we don’t have to defend ourselves.”

Ukraine and Israel top the list!

January 3, 2024 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Home Cooking, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

When it comes to record German weapons export recipients.

€11.7 billion ($12.8 billion) in 2023. Wow. Not bad for a pacifist country.

German weapons exports reached record high in 2023 – Germany’s government authorized more arms exports in 2023 than ever before, according to preliminary figures disclosed to lawmakers last month.

The war in Ukraine partly fueled this uptick, with exports to Kyiv more than doubling compared to 2022. The record-breaking volume follows the government’s commitment to placing tougher restrictions on arms sales, a promise from the campaign trail.

German of the day: Wehrpflicht

December 29, 2023 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means conscription.

Germany mulls reintroduction of compulsory military service – The Bundeswehr is facing a dramatic shortage in personnel. Now Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has rekindled the debate over reintroducing conscription.

At the end of October, the Bundeswehr said it counted 181,383 soldiers in its ranks — that’s still some distance from the target of 203,000 that the German military hopes to reach by 2025. This has given rise to concern in times of Russia’s war against Ukraine, which has once again reminded Germans how quickly conflicts can erupt in Europe.

Since taking office at the beginning of 2023, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has been thinking about ways to make the Bundeswehr more attractive as a career. He said he has received 65 concrete proposals from his ministry on recruitment and reforming training methods.

Even conscription, something Germany ended in 2011, is also up for debate. “There were reasons at the time to suspend compulsory military service. In retrospect, however, it was a mistake,” Pistorius told newspaper Die Welt earlier in December.

Nothing to fear, Germans

November 28, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

You’ll never ever find yourselves in that role and everybody knows it. Like, we get it already. Yawn.

It would be nice, however, if you could maybe possibly perhaps put yourselves in the position to defend yourselves. Just saying.

Most Germans oppose military leadership role in Europe – 54% of Germans say they do not want Berlin to pursue more active foreign policy, and 71% say they are against taking on leadership role for Europe’s defense.

According to the survey, a majority of Germans are against a more militarized foreign policy, but support diplomatic efforts to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts.

The German Culture Cult Thinks War Is Bad

March 7, 2022 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

And that it should be stopped immediately. And the rest of us need to know that they think war is bad and that we, the less-cultured, should think it is bad too. War ain’t got no culture, in other words.

I know!, the cultured say after brainstorming. We’ll hold a “Concert for Peace.” That’s never been tried before. We will also make paintings of doves holding olive branches. That ought to have the desired effect. Anti-war books are also in the process of being written. Once they are published and airlifted to those making war, and read by them, this will definitely stop the war, provided it hasn’t been stopped already by, I dunno, all the cultured people of the world holding hands together and singing “Imagine” while waving Ukrainian flags with “No war!” on them to “express solidarity” or “make a statement” or “set a sign” and bring an end to this awful, culture-less conflict.*

But be warned, you war mongers out there: If none of this works, the culture may escalate. And you don’t want that.

*Yes, it’s true. Cultured people can hold hands together and wave a flag at the same time.

It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

December 26, 2021 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

For arms exports!

Beautiful German weapons sale of the week. Because somebody has to admire them.

German arms exports hit new record during Merkel’s last days – The former government approved almost €5 billion in warships and missile defense deals as it prepared to leave office. New Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who was then finance minister, has also received criticism.

Germany’s weapons exports reached a record level this year, thanks to the last-minute approval of deals worth nearly €5 billion ($5.6 billion) by then-Chancellor Angela Merkel’s administration.

France

December 3, 2020 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Beautiful German weapon sale of the week.

Bombs

Because somebody has to admire them.

German defense contractor Rheinmetall on Wednesday announced the sale of MK-82-EP general purpose aircraft-dropped bombs to France and Germany.

The order, for about 2,000 bombs, totals $42.3 million, Rheinmetall said in a statement.

The 500-pound bomb bodies will be used by France’s Mirage 2000 and Rafale fighter planes, the Direction General de l’Armament said, and as the warhead of the GBU-54 Laser Joint Direct Attack Munition system for Germany’s Tornado and Eurofighter platforms.