Germany announces vast defense spending increase

Good. I hope other NATO nations follow suit and increase their spending to the 2% target. Military spending gets a bad rap (sometimes rightly so) but it can go to improving the conditions and readiness of troops without just unjustly enriching defence businesses which seems to be everyone's concern. (My bigger concern would be growing the administrative ranks preferentially to better funding for actual soldiers). We tend to treat our servicemen/women very badly most of the time, then place huge expectations on them when we need them. More spending is good, we just need to be smart about it

> Asked by German broadcaster ARD whether he could imagine allowing nuclear plants to run longer than planned under Germany's exit plan, which foresees shutting the country's three remaining plants by the end of 2022, he said: "It is part of my ministry's tasks to answer this question ... I would not reject it on ideological grounds."

Letting nuclear plants that have been kept on life support to run for a little while longer is not an about turn. Would have liked to see more nuclear energy be funded.

Germany will be reviving coal plants and the Greens will herald in a new decade of climate change accelerating emissions. Bravo.

It's a start. Being able to run their power grid without having to send large amounts of money to Gazprom would be good too.

I wasn't able to read the article due to a pay wall, but it sounds like excellent news. One of the purposes of a government is to defend its people. Outsourcing that to another country is just reckless.

This should put to rest the notion that we can't afford some social or societal program.

No matter the outcome of the current war in Europe, the military-industrial complex wins.