Some in Germany think that once the war ends, there will be a return to business as usual with Russia. "To me, I find that unthinkable for a generation to come," he says. The European order of prosperity and security on which Germany depended was fundamentally undermined by Russia's aggression. And Germany still needs to come to terms with that new reality.
For decades, Germany has downplayed military spending. But after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the government reversed its longstanding ban on sending weapons into war zones, and announced a plan to spend an additional 100 billion euros to upgrade its armed forces.
Bloomberg senior editor Alan Crawford joins this episode to explain why the country’s defense industry is booming—and why that’s dividing a public wary of a German military resurgence. And military analyst Dr. Bastian Giegerich makes the case for why Germany should be spending even more to prepare for current and future threats.
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