Europe “awake and armed”: Germany calls for self-defense in US pivot

• Europe needs to strengthen its own defenses.
• Russia’s threats to the Baltic states raise concerns.
• Europe needs to catch up in terms of armed forces.

Germany’s defense minister stated that even while the United States, a security friend, is shifting its attention to the Indo-Pacific, Europe needs to move quickly to assure it can better protect itself in case new military threats materialize by the end of the decade.

Russia was threatening the Baltic republics of Georgia and Moldova while also significantly increasing its weaponry production to support its invasion of Ukraine. In an interview with Welt am Sonntag, Boris Pistorius was cited as stating.

As it shifts its focus more toward the Indo-Pacific, the US will probably decrease its military presence in Europe in the interim.

“We Europeans must engage more to ensure security on our own continent,” said Pistorius, noting however it would take time for the region to increase its own weapons production.

“We have about 5-8 years to catch up, in terms of armed forces, industry and society,” he said.

If Washington cannot agree on further cash, Europe is aware that it may also have to make up for U.S. help to Ukraine, he continued.

The Weimar Triangle of Berlin, Paris, and Warsaw should now be able to expand their military cooperation thanks to the election of a more pro-European government in Poland, he continued.

“We need to figure out how best to set ourselves up on the eastern flank on the basis of NATO defense plans,” he said, noting he wanted to travel as soon as possible to Poland next year.

According to Pistorius, he does not currently anticipate the German army carrying out operations of the magnitude that they conducted in Afghanistan and Mali again.

Germany’s troops engaged in its first land combat since the conclusion of World War Two in Afghanistan.

“But small missions, in particular in the area of military consultancy or cooperation also with countries that do not necessarily share our values will be essential,” he said.

“The alternative would be to not have any more contacts with these countries and to simply hand them over to the Russians and Chinese, and that would be a lot ore dangerous.”

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