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Germany and a lot of politicians in other countries just woke up from 30 year long dream that Russia is and can be normal country. In a few years a lot of what you're talking about will be thing of the past.

>Another big problem is the pathetic state of German army, especially heavy component, luckily they have just decided to put significant amount of money on making Bundeswehr a real force since right now with its 300 tanks (three times less than Poland) it is a sad joke.

Tanks seem to be more and more of a joke in a modern symmetrical conflict right now.

I wish we didn't buy Abrams, but more jets and SAMs.

> Tanks seem to be more and more of a joke in a modern symmetrical conflict right now.

If you are suggesting that because of missiles, you should take a look at Trophy which can shoot the missiles down before they hit the tank.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trophy_(countermeasure)

And yet you see all these tanks destroyed in Ukraine-Russian conflict.

Because they don't have that tech as it is currently only used by Israel, the U.S. and Germany.

"Nord Stream was pushed by Germany even though it was obvious that this would make Germany depended on Russian gas."

Many held the view that a more interdependent world is a safer world.

Without such interdependence, the West wouldn't have the ability to impose economic sanctions.

If those sanctions wind up having the effect of shortening this war or lessening the likelihood of future war, then this view will be vindicated.

If not, then we've got a very dark future ahead of us as military conflict (and possibly the end of the world as we know it) will become ever more likely.

Yeah, more interdependent. That’s why they routed around Ukraine and Poland. Anyone with quarter of brain would know how it’s gonna end.

Yeah but I think the lack of an army supports this behavior. If German gas emboldens Russia, it should be German boys dying if Latvia is invaded.

don't play the blame game. If Latvia is invaded, all boys from NATO should come to play

They're also the ones refusing an outright ban on Russian gas and oil right now, because they're addicted to it. This is why Eastern Europe, Poland and the Baltics trust the US and UK, France but not Germany. President Trump was right to pressure them get off Russian gas, build an LPG terminal and increase their military spending to at least 2% of their GDP. Other NATO members complied, but not Germany. They are going to do it anyway now that Russia has invaded Ukraine. Both the ≥2% and the terminal.

This can change, and probably will now. Liberals want a peaceful, rules-governed world, like international law.

When a country so flagrantly violates those rules with the consent of other large nations like China, and does an enormous amount of harm, extreme threat (or use) of force is the only valid response.

EU militarization is near certain to happen. And hopefully much of Asia too. Taiwan needs a militarized Japan

Kosovo? Iraq? Libya International law? Trying putting all these into a single sentence. Unfortunately in the last 20 years West lost all claims for upholding “international law” or “rules”.

That is actually a very counter productive response. A likely one, but not a productive one.

> That's why Germany to the very last moment was opposing arms sale for Ukraine and until the 3rd day of the Russian invasion on Ukraine was opposing sanctions.

That's not a fact but pure speculation which I find very far fetched considering how pro Putin half of Germanys ministry was.

I find it much more likely that they're simply paid off as most of them have already been proven to be corrupt with various scandals. Heck, the green party was on television shilling for Putin and how overblown the fear of war is on the weekend before the invasion.