German of the day: Russisches Vermögen

That means Russian assets (frozen assets).

Merz also wants to use Russian assets in Germany.

Brilliant move, Germany. The Russians won’t notice and there won’t be any retaliation.

Can Russia’s assets frozen in the EU be used for Ukraine? Negotiations on this issue are gaining momentum. Germany is also making concessions.

Step 1, Page 1: Have an army.

Step 2, Page 2: No. A real army.

Germany Has Drawn Up a 1,200-page War Plan for a Russian Attack – Germany has quietly produced a 1,200-page Operational Plan for Germany that assumes a large-scale war with Russia and treats time as the key variable.

Drawn up at Julius Leber Barracks, the plan details how up to 800,000 German, U.S. and other NATO troops would flow east via ports, rivers, rail and roads—and how they’d be supplied and protected en route.

Rather than just counting tanks and troops, Berlin is betting on logistics and an “all-of-society” approach, from infrastructure to cyber. With Russian sabotage and probing already mounting, officials see a genuine race against time to be ready.

“Learn to code?”

Forget that one, right? Get a job with a German armaments firm instead.

That’s the only industry booming over here at the moment.

German Shipbuilder TKMS Reports Rise in Sales, Earnings Fueled by Europe’s Defense Spending – Results are first since spinning off from Thyssenkrupp and its Frankfurt IPO.

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

“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.

“The New German War Machine…”

Just lost half its ammunition.

After World War II, Germany embraced pacifism as a form of atonement. Now the country is arming itself again…

Thousands of rounds of German army ammunition stolen from lorry – A shipment of German ammunition has been stolen from a delivery lorry in the eastern town of Burg, the country’s defence ministry has said.

Speaking to Germany’s DPA news agency, officials did not specify how much was taken. However, other reports cited a defence spokesperson as saying it was close to 20,000 rounds.

Snipers in the subway?

Germans copying amerikanische Verhältnisse (American conditions, the American situation) again or what? Sheesh.

Snipers in the metro: German military conducts urban warfare drills in Berlin – German military forces began a five-day urban warfare training exercise in Berlin, focusing on rapid deployment and protection of critical infrastructure in a landmark event.

German military forces began five days of urban warfare training in Berlin, practising emergency deployment scenarios across the capital as Europe’s security landscape shifts following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Bundeswehr’s guard battalion launched the “Bollwerk Bärlin III” exercise on Sunday at multiple locations including Jungfernheide underground station, the Ruhleben police training ground and a former chemical plant site in Rüdersdorf.

“In the near future”

Is still pretty far away.

If at all. At least in Germany it always is.

Friedrich Merz says Syrians no longer have reason for asylum in Germany – Chancellor suggests deportations could begin ‘in the near future’ as government seeks to counter rise of AfD…

Merz said late on Tuesday that he expected many of the more than 1 million Syrians living in Germany would voluntarily return home.

“There are now no longer any grounds for asylum in Germany, and therefore we can also begin with repatriations,” he said. Those who refused to return could face deportation “in the near future.”

German of the day: Russische Wegwerf-Agenten

That means disposable Russian agents.

You know, low-level agents who are not not professional spies but hired for small sums to carry out minor acts of sabotage, then “discarded?”

Things like photographing military sites, setting vehicles and facilities on fire, spray-painting political slogans, spreading pro-Russian content and conspiracy theories, etc. They would normally also sabotage rail lines and other forms of strategic infrastructure but the Germans have already beat them to it.

Putin’s secret terror in Germany – Russia’s “disposable agents” pose a threat to internal and external security. It is difficult to expose them. That is why German politicians are puzzling over how to defend the country against them. Now, for the first time, a strategy is taking shape.

German of the day: Bunker

That means bunker.

Germany plans to revamp shelter system in case of Russian attack as fears of a major war rise – Fearing Russia could attack another European country within the next four years, Germany is planning to expand its network of bomb-proof bunkers and shelters, according to reports.

“For a long time, there was a widespread belief in Germany that war was not a scenario for which we needed to prepare,” Ralph Tiesler, the head of the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance, said in a recent interview as reported by The Guardian.

“That has changed,” Tiesler said. “We are concerned about the risk of a major war of aggression in Europe.”

“I love my scars.”

“It reminds me where I came from.”

Berlin still bears scars 80 years after pivotal battle that sealed the defeat of Nazi Germany – Central Berlin was in ruins after the Red Army completed the Allied victory over Nazi Germany in an intense fight for the capital in May 1945.

After decades of division and its revival as the capital of a reunited, democratic Germany, the city is now transformed, blending painstakingly restored buildings with modern architecture. But the scars of the past remain visible in many places: facades riddled with holes from bullets and shrapnel, or gaps in rows of houses sometimes plugged by new buildings.