Neo-Nazis or neo-Stasis.is the world ready for a rearmed, resurgent Germany? Bruce SPIEGEL ONLINE - September 6, 2006, 12:34 PM URL: http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,435409,00.html
German Military Merkel Says Bundeswehr Should Be Reviewed More troops are being deployed abroad than ever before in post-war German history. Chancellor Angela Merkel says it's time to review the Bundeswehr's structures in order to make it fit for international peacekeeping. AP German Defense Minister Josef Jung and Chancellor Angela Merkel: Fighting for the Bundeswehr Against the backdrop of increasing German troop deployments abroad, Chancellor Angela Merkel has called for improvements to the country's army, the Bundeswehr. "That's why we need to ask ourselves, fundamentally, if the structures of our forces are sufficient for the future," the chancellor, a member of the conservative Christian Democratic Union, told the weekly Die Zeit. Merkel went on to note that, measured against gross domestic product, Germany spends less on its army than Finland, Norway and Holland and considerably less than Italy, France, Britain or the United States. "You won't be able to say that the defense expenditures in the next 20 years will be sacrosanct," said Merkel. No significant hikes in spending are expected in 2007 or 2008, but she hinted they could come later. "A German government just can't say: Please, no new conflicts in the coming decades because we cannot afford it," she told the paper. Merkel's comments came under heavy criticism from Oskar Lafontaine, the firebrand left-wing former chief of the Social Democratic Party, who now chairs the Left Party in Germany's parliament, the Bundestag. Lafontaine described the security and foreign policy of the Merkel government as "dilettantish" and said that the early debate over sending German troops to Lebanon had been a mistake. He accused some in the government of "manically seeking to send German soldiers all over the world." He added, "If Germany participates in wars in other countries that violate human rights, then perhaps the families of the victims will come up with the idea of conducting attacks against Germany." dsl/ddp/ap [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
