“I have already spoken to the future US president at length on the phone…”

“And we are also in direct contact with his advisers on security policy.”

Germany aims to align with Trump?” Has anybody told the Germans yet?

Germany aims to align with Trump to end ‘merciless’ Ukraine war – Chancellor Olaf Scholz ruled out supplying Kyiv with long-range missiles but stressed the country’s sovereignty should be guaranteed.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expects he’ll find alignment with president-elect Donald Trump on how to end Russia’s war against Ukraine, playing down concerns a shift in US leadership risks splitting Kyiv’s biggest backers.

The war must almost be over…

If Germans are finally beginning to prepare for it.

‘Would you survive 72 hours?’ Germany and the Nordic countries prepare citizens for possible war – Apps and booklets are offering advice on how to build a bunker, stockpile food and live without electricity in case the worst happens

Germany is developing an app to help people locate the nearest bunker in the event of attack. Sweden is distributing a 32-page pamphlet titled If Crisis or War Comes. Half a million Finns have already downloaded an emergency preparedness guide.

Sabotage?

Really?

Germany suspects sabotage behind severed undersea cables – German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius has said damage to two undersea cables in the Baltic Sea looks like an act of sabotage and a “hybrid action”, without knowing who is to blame.

A 1,170km (730-mile) telecommunications cable between Finland and Germany was severed in the early hours of Monday, while a 218km internet link between Lithuania and Sweden’s Gotland Island stopped working on Sunday.

The incidents came at a time of heightened tension with Russia and Pistorius said “nobody believes that these cables were cut accidentally”.

German arms exporters suddenly worried about “humanitarian law”

Silly me. I thought that was the only kind of law there was.

Germany has stopped approving war weapons exports to Israel, source says – Germany has put a hold on new exports of weapons of war to Israel while it deals with legal challenges, according to a Reuters analysis of data and a source close to the Economy Ministry.

A source close to the ministry cited a senior government official as saying it had stopped work on approving export licences for arms to Israel due to legal and political pressure from legal cases arguing that such exports from Germany breached humanitarian law.

Just don’t drink the water…

In Germany?

Montezuma’s Revenge it is not. More like Moscow’s Revenge, I’d say.

Drinking water contaminated? Suspected sabotage again at Bundeswehr base – Once again there is suspicion of sabotage at a Bundeswehr base. This time, a fence at a drinking water tank in Mechernich, North Rhine-Westphalia, has been cut. The public health department warns against using the water.

German of the day: Aufrüstung

That means rearmament.

US to send Tomahawks, hypersonics, other long-range fires to Germany – The U.S. will start deploying long-range fires units to Germany in 2026, according to a joint statement from both the U.S. and German governments released today amid the NATO Summit in Washington, D.C.

The new capabilities will “have significantly longer range than current land-based fires in Europe. Exercising these advanced capabilities will demonstrate the United States’ commitment to NATO and its contributions to European integrated deterrence,” the joint statement reads.

Peace bunkers are out

Now “war bunkers” are in. Again.

Germany plans new war bunkers – German cities are calling for new bunkers to be built, to protect the population in the event of war. But critics argue there’s no point.

There might be no better way to gauge a country’s anxieties than by checking in on the companies building panic rooms and private bunkers.

Business has been going worryingly well for BSSD Defence, the Berlin-based company that builds “protection room systems” for private, business and military applications. As well as a range of home security equipment, the company offers everything from “pop-up panic rooms” for around €20,000 ($21,400) to full-scale bunkers for close to €200,000.

Women more equal, again

This time it’s when it comes to avoiding military service in Germany.

Hey. Girls will be girls. I mean, women.

German national service plan ‘discriminates against men’ – All 18-year-olds to get questionnaire but women do not have to fill it out.

PS: This also applies to “trans-women,” of course. However, one aspect of Germany’s recent gender law is very interesting. If it ever came to war – and a draft – these “trans-women” would be treated as men and drafted. This law may be ridiculous, and it is, but at least it legally establishes that there are only two genders and that they are not equal.

We’ll be ready for war by 2129

I mean 2029, of course.

But only if nothing unforeseen happens. Like war, or something.

German defense minister calls for war readiness by 2029 – Germany’s Boris Pistorius has said the country needs to prepare for a worst-case scenario regarding the specter of war in Europe. He also said a return to some form of military conscription would likely be necessary.