Spending Spree: To Defend Europe, Germany Opens Its Wallet
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Spending Spree: To Defend Europe, Germany Opens Its Wallet
GERMANY/ EUROPEAN UNION
US presidents have long berated the Germans for being so thrifty, complaining about their sluggish consumer spending and the trade deficits that ballooned as a result. Their fellow Europeans have occasionally begged Europe’s largest economy to relent on strict budget deficit and debt rules, especially during Europe’s sovereign debt crisis 15 years ago.
So it’s shocking to some that a country whose fiscal policies have resembled a penny-pinching “Schwabian housewife” has done such an about face: Over the past few months, it has amended its constitution to allow some deficit spending beyond 0.35 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) and in late June, unveiled a budget to borrow 850 billion euros ($1.3 trillion) to fund a new infrastructure and defense program.
“These days the streets of Berlin run red with the blood of sacred cows,” wrote the Economist. “The world’s third-largest economy is jettisoning its hard-earned reputation as Europe’s champion of flinty austerity.”
The move to upend Germany’s “debt brake” came as NATO leaders met in the Netherlands in late June to discuss shoring up defenses against Russia in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine, and to meet US demands that Europe pay more for its defense.
It may be difficult for some European countries that already borrow up to the European Union’s limits to fund their expenses. It’s not for Germany, however. Famously a country of savers, it is actually in a very good position to splurge: Its debt is low compared with other European countries.
Meanwhile, the urgency is there. Europeans – and especially Germans – believe Russia will attack a NATO country within the next five years. Russia, they say, has already been for a decade a major source of destabilization for the EU in its attempt to “challenge the global order.”
“…turmoil is all around us: war rages, norms erode and old certainties are challenged,” wrote German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron in a joint opinion piece recently in the Financial Times. “We cannot accept it, because our aim is to protect and preserve peace on our continent.”
As a result, Germany plans a 70-percent increase in military spending to 162 billion euros by 2029. This would bring core defense spending to about 3.5 percent of GDP over the next four years, from about 2.4 percent in 2025. As a result, the country will meet the new NATO targets to spend 3.5 percent of GDP on the military and 1.5 percent on infrastructure investments six years ahead of the deadline.
France and the UK have said they would meet those targets by 2030 and 2035, respectively.
As a result, Germany is forecast to increase its budget deficit to 82 billion euros this year, more than double what it was in 2024. It is projected to reach 126 billion euros by 2029.
The payoff, German leaders say, is that the spending and infrastructure improvements are likely to jumpstart its sluggish economy.
Why should we have a balanced budget, German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil wondered, when bridges, schools, and train networks are decaying, the military is neglected, and the economy is stuttering because of a lack of investment.
“I believe that nothing is more expensive than the standstill of the past few years,” said Klingbeil in an interview with Die Zeit. “Unlike some of my predecessors, it’s of no special value for me if I keep the money and can’t spend it, and if I notice that nothing is moving forward in the country…something needs to change.”
The key question now is whether Germany can summon the political will to take on a greater and increasingly urgent leadership role in European security affairs, wrote World Politics Review.
Regardless, the new push to build up defense is a dramatic change for Europe but especially Germany, which has long grappled with their Nazi legacy. As a result, Germans and other Europeans have viewed a strong Germany, militarily, as a threat even as the military was not held in high esteem. It’s a change Germans are now slowly coming to accept and even welcome.
“I never used to hear, ‘Thank you for your service’ from others, but that’s starting to change,” Marco Mann, who was manning a recruitment booth at a recent Berlin job fair as he has for 18 years, told NPR. “People now are thanking us for our support of Ukraine, thanking us for being here – it’s a nice change.”
THE WORLD, BRIEFLY
Canada Arrests Four Attempting to Conquer Québec
CANADA
Four Canadian men, including two active members of the Canadian Armed Forces, were arrested this week and charged with plotting to seize land in Québec, the sole French-speaking province of the country, the Washington Post reported.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said Tuesday that three of the suspects have been charged with taking action to “facilitate terrorist activity” and planned “to (an) create anti-government militia.”
The RCMP added that the trio intended to “forcibly take possession of land in the Québec City area,” and took part in military-style training to further their goal.
A fourth individual was charged with possessing explosives and firearms, some of which are illegal in Canada, the BBC said.
One of the suspects opened an Instagram account intending to recruit new members, officials said.
Searches conducted in January 2024 in the Québec City area also led to the seizure of an extensive arsenal of weapons, including 16 explosives, 83 firearms with accessories, 11,000 rounds of ammunition, four pairs of night-vision goggles, and other military equipment, the statement said.
The four men, all under 30, are in custody and appeared virtually in a Québec City court on Tuesday.
Analyst Jon Lewis told the Washington Post the incident reflects the pattern of anti-government extremism that is present “across most of the liberal democratic world.” The phenomenon often involves young men with military links who organize in small groups, which are harder for authorities to track compared with traditional extremist organizations.
This specific case underscores growing pressure on the Canadian military to confront extremism within its own ranks, analysts added.
A 2022 report by a military advisory panel showed an increasing number of army personnel with links to extremist organizations.
ICC Issues Arrest Warrants For Top Taliban Leaders
AFGHANISTAN
The International Criminal Court (ICC) this week issued arrest warrants for two top Taliban leaders over the persecution of females in Afghanistan, nearly four years after the armed group retook control of the country following the withdrawal of the United States and its allies, CNN reported.
On Tuesday, the Hague-based tribunal announced warrants against Taliban Supreme Leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada, and Chief Justice, Abdul Hakim Haqqani.
The two officials are accused of “ordering, inducing or soliciting” the persecution of girls, women, and others who fail to conform to the Taliban’s gender policies.
In its statement, the court said the Taliban specifically targeted “girls and women by reason of their gender, depriving them of fundamental rights and freedoms.”
It also accused the group of targeting individuals whose sexualities or gender identities are viewed as “inconsistent with the Taliban’s policy on gender.”
Taliban officials rejected the ICC’s move and accused the court of harboring “enmity and hatred for the pure religion of Islam.”
Since seizing power in August 2021, the Taliban have imposed a series of draconian restrictions on women and girls, including banning girls from education beyond sixth grade, ordering women to cover their faces and bodies in public and refrain from speaking, and limiting female employment opportunities.
The warrants were issued a day after the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution condemning the oppression of women and girls in Afghanistan and urged the Taliban to “swiftly reverse these policies.”
Human rights groups welcomed the ICC’s decision, saying the warrants could “provide victims and their families with an essential pathway to justice.”
However, the ICC is unlikely to enforce the warrants, Newsweek noted.
While the move could dissuade some countries from establishing ties with the Taliban, others won’t likely be deterred.
Last week, Russia became the first country to officially recognize the Taliban government, saying it wanted to strengthen ties and offer security and anti-narcotics cooperation.
‘Shut Down India’: Indian Workers Strike Against Economic Reforms
INDIA
Hundreds of thousands of workers across India went on strike Wednesday, disrupting public services and manufacturing in Asia’s third-largest economy, to protest Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s economic reforms, including the privatization of state-run companies, the Associated Press reported.
A coalition of 10 major trade unions, along with several organizations representing farmers and rural workers, called for a one-day industrial strike, naming it “Bharat Bandh” – Hindi for “Shut Down India.”
Besides stopping the privatization program, the workers are asking for higher wages, the repeal of new labor laws, and additional staff to fill vacancies within the government.
Farmers are also demanding an increase in the minimum purchase price of crops, such as wheat and rice.
The strike halted coal mining operations in a number of states, and disrupted rail and road traffic. Some schools, offices, stores, and banks were forced to close. In the financial capital, Mumbai, bank employees chanted against the privatization of state-run banks. In Kolkata, people protested at a local railway station, shouting anti-government slogans and burning an effigy of Modi.
The strike dealt another blow to Modi’s efforts to attract foreign companies by loosening labor laws aimed at streamlining business operations and increasing productivity.
The new measures are intended to open parts of the economy to direct foreign investment and offer billions of dollars in financial incentives to attract investment to shore up local manufacturing. They also aimed at reducing the budget deficit by privatizing state-owned companies deemed unprofitable. Meanwhile, the new labor laws would provide workers with higher minimum wages, social security, and healthcare.
Trade unions, however, remain skeptical and want the new laws scrapped.
While the demonstrations were mostly peaceful, police arrested around 30,000 striking workers, trade union officials said.
DISCOVERIES
Guided by the Stars
Each spring, billions of Bogong moths take to the night skies of southeastern Australia, flying hundreds of miles to reach their cool alpine retreats.
For years, scientists have wondered how these unremarkable-looking insects manage to return to the same cool caves in the Snowy Mountains year after year. Earlier research showed that the moths rely on Earth’s magnetic field to make their 600-mile journey.
Now, a new study has found that Bogong moths (Agrotis infusa) also navigate by the stars.
Researchers found that the moths use a stellar compass – relying on constellations and the Milky Way itself – to guide their nocturnal migration, making them the first known invertebrates to use star patterns for long-distance travel.
“Bogong moths are incredibly precise,” senior study author Eric Warrant said in a statement. “They use the stars as a compass to guide them over vast distances, adjusting their bearing based on the season and time of night.”
To test their theory, Warrant and his team created a miniature flight simulator, suspending the moths on tungsten rods inside a magnetic vacuum to isolate celestial cues. When a realistic night sky was projected above them, the moths consistently flew in the correct migratory direction.
But when researchers rotated the sky image 180 degrees, the moths changed course accordingly – demonstrating they were using the stars for orientation. When the star patterns were scrambled, the moths became completely disoriented.
“That was, for us, like the final proof, more or less, that they actually indeed use the stars for navigation,” co-author David Dreyer told NBC News.
The team also found that the moths combine this stellar guidance with their internal magnetic compass, giving them a robust dual navigation system – even in cloudy weather.
“This proves they are not just flying towards the brightest light or following a simple visual cue,” Warrant added in the statement. “They’re reading specific patterns in the night sky to determine a geographic direction, just like migratory birds do.”
The researchers hope their findings not only reveal the remarkable sophistication of insect navigation but also support conservation efforts.
Bogong moth populations have plummeted in recent years: In 2021, it was added to the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List as a vulnerable species.