Citizen Participation (I)

BERLIN (Own report) – The Federal Academy for Security Policy (BAKS) is calling for a propaganda campaign to strengthen the German population’s resilience to attacks in their country by enemy combatants. In collaboration with “media partners” and “civil society,” an “understanding” must be achieved that “firmness against crisis” by each citizen towards “terrorist attacks” forms an “integral part” of society’s overall resilience,” explains the government’s military policy think tank. BAKS explicitly refers to the “White Paper on Security Policy and Future of the Bundeswehr,” presented by the German Defense Ministry in 2016, which is also pleading “to improve the ability of both state and society to withstand and adapt” to all kinds of attacks, necessitating a “whole-of-government approach to security.” The state-owned Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft had launched urban projects along the same lines, already years ago, in which “each individual citizen” is considered “part of a comprehensive concept of resilience to multiple security risks.”

Confronting New Wars

BERLIN (Own report) – The German Bundeswehr’s new “White Paper” is conceived as just a milestone in the ongoing development of German global policy and its instruments, according to an article published by Germany’s leading foreign policy periodical. According to the article’s two authors, who had been in charge of elaborating the “White Paper” for the German Defense Ministry, the White Paper’s explicit claim to shape global policy and policy for outer space must be implemented and “brought to life” in the near future. While the German government is initiating new projects for upgrading military and “civil defense” measures, the EU is boosting its militarization: A growing number of government leaders of EU member states are supporting the creation of an EU army under openly proclaimed German leadership. According to a leading German daily, the balance sheet of recent German military involvements is “not exactly positive,” but this should not discourage future military interventions. One should, however, not expect too much and harbor “illusions about rapid successes.”

Germany Orders New Air Defense System and Battleships

 

Military chief General Volker Wieker said Germany plans to acquire the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS). The system – developed by European defense firm MDBA and Lockheed Martin of the United States – will replace the military’s current Patriot system by 2025.

Germany has used the Patriot system since 1989. The unit’s manufacturer, United States-based Raytheon, had updated its version of the Patriot, but ultimately lost in its quest to secure a new contract with the Germans.

The Renaissance of the West (II)

BERLIN (Own report) – German military experts have initiated a debate on NATO’s nuclear rearmament. The Western war alliance has “become more important” through the Ukraine crisis, wrote a high-ranking specialist of the Federal Academy for Security Policy (BAKS) in Berlin in a recently published discussion paper. In this context, “nuclear deterrence” must again become a topic of discussion. The “entire deterrence package” must put be on the agenda, not only nuclear arms in general, but also Europe-based US nuclear weapons – not least of all, those stored in Germany. Beyond the threat of nuclear war, the danger of a further barbarization of future wars is looming in the wake of the regeneration of the West. A former head of the Policy Planning Staff of the German Defense Ministry is proposing that Berlin consider procuring depleted uranium munitions for the Bundeswehr to combat Russian tanks. Depleted uranium is extremely destructive, even after their battlefield use. In Iraq for example, where NATO countries used these weapons, vast areas are contaminated still today.

The Elite Wants More

BERLIN (Own report) – The CDU and Green party-affiliated foundations have been holding conferences with prominent experts to continue Germany’s campaign by elite circles to promote a more aggressive German global policy. Ultimately, a “public discussion of the security policy’s soft and hard factors” must take place, insisted the head of the Policy Department of the German Defense Ministry, Monday at a conference held by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. At the Heinrich Boell Foundation, just shortly before, the audience was told that “a ‘pacifist Sonderweg'” (special path) cannot “be permitted.” Germany must finally “come out of the comfort zone.” According to the reader published by the Heinrich Boell Foundation, it must be “accepted that it may become necessary to take action outside the current international legal framework.” The reader calls for the creation of a “national security bureau” within the chancellery, patterned after the US-American “National Security Council,” and to significantly “upgrade” the “equipment of Germany’s intelligence services.” Decisions on foreign military missions should, thereby, be structurally facilitated.

Germany ‘may buy weaponised drones from Israel’

AFP – Germany is in talks with Israel to buy weaponised drones for its military that are seen as more technologically advanced than US ones, the weekly Der Spiegel reported.

The news magazine’s Monday edition said the German defence ministry had already held two meetings with Israeli military officials, in November 2012 and February 2013, on the proposed purchase.