Sarah Marsh and Sabine Siebold

BERLIN (Reuters). Russian President Vladimir Putin inadvertently accomplished what Western allies had long struggled for: Get Germany to take up its position as a major international power, with a assertive foreign policy backed off by a powerful military despite World War II guilt.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Sunday announced a massive increase in military spending to counter Russia’s invasion. It is being called a historical speech which marks a shift in German defense and foreign policy.

After years of resistance to NATO’s pleas to invest in defense, Scholz stated that Germany would now spend more than 2 % of its economic output.

He also discussed plans to decrease Germany’s dependency on Russia for half of its gas requirements, igniting hope that Berlin would be more open to geo-strategic considerations in its trading relations.

He said that “Putin’s war” was a breaking point in German foreign policies.

Thorsten Benner from the Global Public Policy Institute, (GPPi), said “This historic speech marks an important shift in German foreign policies.” “It is a beginning point for further fundamental re-thinks as part of Germany’s National Security Strategy. This will also need to address the challenges presented by China in conjunction with Russia.

Germany was criticised for failing to take a prominent role in the global stage, despite being Europe’s largest economy.

This stance was under scrutiny during the Ukraine crisis. Some commentators in high security allies the United States called Germany the weak link of the NATO western military alliance.

Despite Western Allies concerns that it might compromise the security of Ukraine’s traditional transit country, the German government supported construction of Nord Stream 2 Baltic Pipeline to transport gas directly from Russia to Germany.

Berlin also resisted Western calls to block Russia’s SWIFT payments system last week as part of Western sanctions, saying that it would not be able to pay for Russian gasoline.

Scholz suspended Nord Stream 2 last Tuesday and agreed on Saturday to remove Russia from SWIFT. He said that Germany will build its coal and gas resources and accelerate the implementation of long-stalled plans for LNG terminal construction.

According to Reuters, most policy changes were made after it became clearer what Putin did on Friday.

The source stated that Saturday was the day when the European Union and other members realized they had to act on SWIFT as it has been such a symbolic symbol.

WAKE-UP CALL

Germany’s military has long asked for more equipment. On Thursday, the Army chief expressed his dismay at the ongoing neglect of military readiness via LinkedIn. This was just a few hours after Russia attacked Ukraine.

After the Cold War ended, German forces were dramatically reduced. The number of battle tank units was down to just 225 from the 1980s.

Later, the force was trained to fight in Afghanistan. The enemy had poor weapons and the troops were not equipped with modern weapons.

Germany’s three-way new coalition pledged to promote a values-based foreign strategy when it assumed office in December. This was in response to growing concern over authoritarianism around the world and potential threats from strategic competitors like China.

The coalition, which also includes Greens and the fiscally hawkish Free Democrats, did not agree to increase defence spending in support of a stronger foreign policy.

In recent weeks, it was also criticised for not delivering weapons to Ukraine due to a German ban on arms exports to conflict areas.

This weekend, all that has changed was this:

Scholz stated Saturday that Germany will supply Ukraine with 1000 anti-tank weapons from its military stock and 500 Stinger surface to air missiles.

Sunday’s announcement by the president was of a 100 billion-euro fund. This new fund is twice as large last year’s defence budget. The new funds will be used to upgrade its military and buy new fighter jets.

At an emergency session at the Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, he stated: “It’s clear that we must invest significantly more into the security of our nation in order to defend our freedoms and our democracy.”

We need ships that sail and planes that can fly. And soldiers that are well-equipped for the missions they undertake.

Terry Anderson served from June 2015 to July 2018 as U.S. Defence Attache in Berlin. He stated that the Russian invasion was an obvious wake-up call.

They place so much importance on speaking. He said that diplomacy with no teeth is unlikely to work.

Tyson Barker (head of Technology and Global Affairs, German Council on Foreign Relations) said that Germany “just became a regular power.”

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