At the end of the Cold War, back in 1990, Germany slashed its spending on the military. In 1990, the German army had over 5,000 main battle tanks; now it has just 321. By some estimates, its ammunition stock would last only two days in any kind of real fighting. It's said that restoring the level of ammunition to adequate levels would alone cost about 20 billion euros.
Excitement still surrounds the spoiler candidate Peter Obi, whose down-to-earth ways appeal to a large constituency of fed-up youths. We look at the early returns. A year ago Olaf Scholz, Germany’s chancellor, announced a tremendous shift in defence policy and funding; we ask how far the warship has turned since then. And remembering Queen Elizabeth I’s favourite composer.
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