Berlin's Defence Minister Calls on Germany to be ‘Ready for War’

And thus the most important race of our lives becomes more serious: will Western warmongers drive us all over the cliff before Inauguration Day?

As always, translation, emphases, and [snark] mine. Sigh.

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‘The situation is serious’—Pistorius calls on Germany to be ‘ready for war’

Via Die Welt, 24 Nov. 2024 [source (paywalled); archived]

According to Defence Minister Boris Pistorius [SPD, and in the running of succeeding Olaf Scholz], Europe is facing a long-lasting threat. The Russian war of aggression against Ukraine is ‘no longer a regional war’, said the SPD politician at an event organised by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Arnsberg in the Sauerland region. Russian President Vladimir Putin ‘has long since switched completely to a war economy’. Russia produces as many weapons and ammunition in three months as the entire European Union does in a year [good luck fighting them; a comparison with the US might be more interesting, though].

In a speech at the end of October, Putin spoke of a ‘serious, irreconcilable battle for a new world order’ and said that he already saw himself as the victor in the war against the Ukranians [I’m unsure which speech Mr. Pistorius is referring to; I’ve looked at the available transcripts and there would be but two options, both references made at the Kazan BRICS plus summit (here and here), and none of them contain these phrases; I did find an agit-prop piece quoting this verbiage at MSN, which used the UK-based The Express as its source (sic) that does not contain this quote; yes, Mr. Putin spoke of a ‘new world order’ in the sense that ‘US-led hegemony’ is ‘declining’, but that’s hardly what Mr. Pistorius allegedly said, but then again, the official calendar of the German Defence Ministry doesn’t contain references to any such statement…]. At the same time, hybrid warfare with disinformation and fake news is in full swing. ‘Our security is a fragile asset.’ Germany must step up the pace and invest more in its ‘ready for war’ [orig. kriegstüchtig], warned the Defence Minister [we note, in passing, that Mr. Pistorius mentioned these exact same words in autumn 2023 already and has been rehearsing this particular song ever since].

Our security is a very fragile asset.

Kremlin leader [sic] Putin expressed his satisfaction with the deployment of a new medium-range missile against the Ukrainian city of Dnipro. He praised the missile, known as Oreshnik (German: Nussstrauch), as being unique in the world and announced that it would go into serial production [Putin called it an ‘operational test’]. The decision for serial production had been made [add: already, it was not contingent on the strike at Dnipro] and was practically already organised [we don’t have any further information about the bomb damage assessment, which tells us at least that this is a new kind of weapon, that NATO has no answer (defence) but nuclear weapons, and this all looks very, very bad for us: it’s a warning, Russian style]. Putin emphasised that Moscow would continue to test the missile, including in combat operations. He described the firing of the missile at Dnipro as a successful test.

He added that the Oreshnik system is neither a strategic weapon nor a weapon of mass destruction because it can also be used in a very targeted manner [but I’m sure it could contain a nuclear warhead; since this things takes but a handful of minutes to reach Western European capitals, people like Pistorius and his ilk are literally playing with fire]. According to Moscow, the missile is supposed to fly at hypersonic speed and be unreachable by air defence systems. This information could not initially be independently confirmed. Experts assume that the missile could technically also be equipped with nuclear warheads.

Russia fired a new medium-range ballistic missile at Ukraine on Thursday. According to Russian information, it was used to attack a defence plant in Dnipro. However, Moscow had also deliberately used the launch of the missile to deter the West. The aim is to prevent the West from continuing to support Ukraine, which is under attack from Russia.

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Bottom Li(n)es

For the record, here are two instances Mr. Putin used the term ‘new world order’ at the BRICS plus summit in Kazan:

1. From the BRICS Plus/Outreach plenary session at the 16th BRICS Summit (source)

   It is crucial for BRICS members to discuss all these issues with countries from the Global South and East that share our approach. All our countries share similar aspirations, values and a vision of a new democratic world order that reflects cultural and civilisational diversity. We are confident that such a system should be guided by the universal principles of respect for the legitimate interests and sovereign choice of nations, respect for international law and a spirit of mutually beneficial, honest co-operation.

2. From the News conference following 16th BRICS Summit (source)

   The Kazan Declaration which summed up the discussions was approved at the summit. It is a comprehensive conceptual document with a positive forward-looking agenda. Importantly, it reaffirms the commitment of all BRICS countries to building a more democratic, inclusive, and multipolar world order based on international law and the UN Charter. It also underscores our collective determination to oppose the practice of imposing unlawful sanctions and attempts to erode traditional moral values.

So, it is clear from these words that Russia = Mordor and Mr. Putin = Sauron, isn’t it?

Honestly, this reads more like WEF-inspired, technocratic ‘we’re the good guys here’ boilerplate rather than the proverbial one ring to bind them all.

Of course, we don’t know what Mr. Putin thinks when he says these words, and neither do we know his intents (ahem).

But we do know that these words are a far cry from the verbiage used by John Varga in The Express: ‘Vladimir Putin claims chilling “new world order” dreamed by Russia “already underway”’.

Enough about the bad legacy media coverage, let’s now address Germany’s stance here for a moment.

It is quite obvious that German mainstream politicos had lost their marbles; and given that it’s a centre-left/far-left gov’t, although failed and outgoing, this isn’t surprising—given the history of the Social Democratic Party of Germany in, during, and esp. in the immediate aftermath of World War One, this is exactly what any halfway knowledgeable observer would have expected from Mr. Scholz, Mr. Pistorius, and their ilk:

Germany in Autumn 1918

Germany in Winter 1918/19

Yet, if you do read German, I’d also re-direct you to a specific Bundeswehr publication from late September 2024: you see, two months ago, the German defence ministry released a graphic novel-like agit-prop piece about a 19yo entitled ‘Ben Serves Germany’ (orig. Ben dient Deutschland):

The comic book ‘Ben Serves Germany’, which was created at the Centre for Innere Führung [Inner Leadership] in Koblenz, is intended both as a stimulus for discussion and as a search for clues between facts and emotions [bruahahahahaha]. What exactly does it actually mean to serve the Federal Republic of Germany loyally and what does it mean to bravely defend its freedom?

The ‘story’ follows a woke-fied enlisted young man (Ben) who doesn’t know what to do with his life, volunteers as a soldier, and, some years later, finds himself ‘deployed to Lithuania’:

Above, a screen shot with the top-left paragraph reading as follows:

In response to Russia's annexation of Crimea in violation of international law, NATO has stationed additional, multi-national combat units (eFP Battlegroups) in the eastern member states since 2017. This also includes a unit in Lithuania, which is led by the German Armed Forces

(Do note the shaded areas, which are somewhat larger than those controlled by Russia these days.)

On the following page, the following agit-prop is found:

A fortnight ago we deployed to Lithuania, a mere 350 kilometres to Ukraine.

There’s been a war there since this morning. I’m Ben Schneider, and now it all has a lot to do with me.

The commander says the following:

We don’t know whether or how long Ukraine will hold out. And we don’t know how the situation will escalate. So it is serious and we are close [to escalation].

But if it comes down to it [war], we are here together to defend justice and freedom. People are relying on us. And I know I can rely on you.

I’ll spare you the rest, but I do recommend you check out the piece even if you don’t know German. It’s horrifying to consider banging the war drums, and I don’t mean this because I’m naive about the human condition or anti-war in principle (which I consider stupid; war is, and the end of war also means the end of mankind).

I’m supremely against things that endangers my children, and I’m certain of this warmongering being among them.

Note that I don’t like Mr. Putin, and that I don’t want Russia to ‘win’ because I support everything Russian.

At least Mr. Pistorius did a tour of service as a conscript with the Bundeswehr, very much unlike Olaf Scholz (who did civil replacement service), but that doesn’t change the fact that the drums of war are banging ever louder.

As always, buying arms from weapons manufacturers will line their pockets massively, hence it is possible (likely) that the anti-Russian stance is, in part driven by considerations other than ‘our values’.

Finally, I note that the Scholz gov’t—and Mr. Pistorius has been mentioned as replacement for the sinking Scholz for quite some time now—is a ‘lame duck’ if there ever was one: the coalition gov’t was ended the day after the US election, and the current gov’t has no majority in the Bundestag. With federal elections scheduled for mid-February 2025, it might very well be that the warmongers in Berlin and D.C. seek to escalate tensions to prevent a swift conclusion of the fighting, as vowed by Mr. Trump.

We all get front-row seats here, though, and I for one don’t like that movie.