Russian aggression and US isolationism push a once hesitant Germany to invest heavily in defence.

Germany’s military, the Bundeswehr, recently got the all-clear for a massive increase in investment after parliament voted to exempt defence spending from strict rules on debt.

The country’s top general has told the BBC the cash boost is urgently needed because he believes Russian aggression won’t stop at Ukraine.

“We are threatened by Russia. We are threatened by Putin. We have to do whatever is needed to deter that,” Gen Carsten Breuer says. He warns that Nato should be braced for a possible attack in as little as four years.

“It’s not about how much time I need, it’s much more about how much time Putin gives us to be prepared,” the defence chief says bluntly. “And the sooner we are prepared the better.”

  • ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3710·
    3 days ago

    I feel like this is a good idea but I also saw what Germany did to Brazil in that World Cup and there needs to be a plan for them going too far and hurting people just for living.

    • Hudell@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      2·
      1 day ago

      And they did hold back that day, after the first 4 goals +/-, just to avoid embarrassing the host that much further.

      • ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.worldEnglish
        252·
        3 days ago

        I feel like I’m doing ok. I want the Fediverse to happen and I imagine I have way more likes than dislikes. (I don’t know how to check.)

        Sometimes, jokes don’t hit. Life has upvotes and downvotes and I accept both with the zeal of a competitor.

        • qyron@sopuli.xyzEnglish
          61·
          3 days ago

          That’s the spirit.

          But did Germany defeated Brasil in the cup?

            • idiomaddict@lemmy.worldEnglish
              61·
              3 days ago

              Ehh, they scored more than half of those points within six minutes, and six out of seven within the first half hour. They stopped trying to score after halftime and dampened their post-goal celebrations. It seemed like they really weren’t trying to rub it in, but Brazil was just not being competitive.

              • barsoap@lemm.eeEnglish
                51·
                3 days ago

                but Brazil was just not being competitive.

                That’s quite the understatement: It was so bad Brazilian fans started to cheer for the German team. Which, under usual circumstances, only happens when we’re not playing against each other.

                All in all it could’ve been worse for Brazil: It could have been Argentina. And it could have been better for Germany: It could have been the Dutch.

            • baduhai@sopuli.xyzEnglish
              11·
              2 days ago

              What was mean spirited? Your joke, or Germany winning 7-1? Because I don’t think either were mean spirited, and I’m Brazilian.

              • ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.worldEnglish
                11·
                2 days ago

                Germany winning 7-1. I was a neutral but kind of rooting for Brazil just to see a fun match and home fans celebrating. It’s always more fun when a team wins at home. And then minutes later. I thought “Oh no. Namar is out and Germany is the country least likely to hold back.” Brazil players looked dejected. Anyone with empathy felt for them.

        • pwalker@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
          31·
          3 days ago

          It’s true, most of your comments seem to have a positive upvote score and therefore more upvotes than downvotes. Your Yale comment seems to have attracted the most downvotes in recent time, currently “-14” “upvotes”/points (seems that some lemmy clients just call them “points”)

          So actually it seems that currently Lemmy itself doesnt support showing one users total upvotes/downvotes as this would very much resemble the reddit Karma system and they dont want that.

          However as all your comments and the total sum of votes for each comment(I think also the bare numbers of upvotes/downvotes are visible via Api access) are public one could theoretically write a script or build this into a Lemmy client. However the 3 clients I just used to test this don’t support this and probably don’t want to.

          • ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.worldEnglish
            121·
            3 days ago

            Maybe I’m a bit contrarian, which grows old but I try to balance it with sincerity and light jokes. I don’t have any particular agenda when posting on Internet forums, to be honest.

            You do you as well. I would nominate “Meh, you do you.” as the Fediverse slogan if I had such powers.

            • Bronzie@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
              101·
              3 days ago

              You keep doing you. I found the joke funny.

              If we’re all too afraid of downvotes to post our true opinions, Lemmy will turn into another echochamber.