Berlin, Germany (Weltexpress). War propaganda is in full swing, debt restrictions have been relaxed: now it’s time to arm ourselves and provide cannon fodder. The CDU and SPD want to lure young people with a ‘voluntary’ military service model, a new central command is in place, and a fleet of drones and a satellite system are to follow.
Russia, Iran, China: with a barrage of horror propaganda, the political and media establishment has marked the supposed ‘enemies’ of Germany and the ‘free West’. The bourgeois ‘middle class,’ whether liberal or conservative, is whipped up into a frenzy, and war credits have been approved. Now it’s time to embark on the hundreds of billions of euros worth of restructuring the Bundeswehr into a war army: a new command structure, a drone fleet, its own satellite system – and the piecemeal reintroduction of compulsory military service.
Luring young people into the military …
War needs soldiers. Surveys and the results of the February federal elections suggest that young people in Germany are not particularly keen to end up as cannon fodder on the front lines. This has not escaped the attention of the CDU, CSU and SPD parties, which are keen to form a coalition: they are using ‘carrots’ as bait to lure young people to the guns.
The prospective ‘grand coalition’ agreed in coalition negotiations on a new ‘military service model based initially on voluntary participation,’ according to reports in the German media on Wednesday evening. The emphasis is clearly on ‘initially,’ and the word ‘voluntary’ seems euphemistic at best….
and ‘voluntary’ coercion
Because coercion is something young people will not be able to avoid. The planned model is based on the Swedish military service system, where all young people must fill out a questionnaire when they turn 18 and provide mandatory information about their health, personality and motivation. This applies to young men and women alike. The prospective grand coalition wants to keep it that way: those whom the recruiters deem ‘motivated’ enough will be called up for conscription.
The aim is to at least double the current troop strength. According to NATO guidelines, the Bundeswehr must provide between 370,000 and 460,000 soldiers; currently, there are around 183,000. Young women and men are now to be enticed with ‘flexible service and career models’ and ‘social welfare’. In plain language: the main bait is the pay – poor and marginalised: step forward!
The current defence minister, Boris Pistorius (SPD), has been advocating this model for some time. The traffic light coalition cabinet had even already decided on it in November. Due to the early elections, the Bundestag did not vote on it again. In the new parliament, the majority is likely to be in favour of it as well: with the exception of the Left Party and the outgoing BSW, all parties, including the AfD, are in favour of compulsory military service.
Command for ‘Germany as a military hub’
In any case, the chain of command is already in place: on Wednesday, the Federal Ministry of Defence laid the ‘foundation stone for a new era’ and presented the new ‘leadership from a single source’. With an appeal at the Julius Leber Barracks in Berlin, it put the ‘Operational Command of the Bundeswehr’ into service, thereby implementing the ‘Osnabrück Decree’ presented last year by ‘war minister’ Pistorius.
The new command is to coordinate all Bundeswehr operations, serve as the central point of contact for NATO and the EU, and ‘secure Germany’s position as a military hub.’ It is also responsible for contact and joint planning with ‘civilian actors,’ such as hospitals. This is being done within the framework of the strictly secret ‘Operation Plan Germany,’ which was also drawn up a year ago under Minister Pistorius.
To this end, the Bundeswehr had already set up a new ‘homeland security division’ on 1 April this year (unfortunately not as an April Fool’s joke). This is also subordinate to the Operational Command and forms the subordinate unified command structure for the ‘homeland security regiments’ already established in previous years.
Combat drone fleet and satellite system
Germany also wants to advance technologically on the imperialist battlefield. Local warlords want to set up their own drone fleet explicitly for attacks and launch their own satellite system into space to monitor their imperialist ‘enemies.’
In anticipation of eagerly awaited special profits, some corporations are already standing by, including the Munich-based start-up arms company Helsing: Thanks to large orders from Ukraine, it has developed into one of the world’s largest manufacturers of combat drones since its foundation in 2021. In February, Helsing also announced that it was developing a ‘state-of-the-art multi-sensor satellite constellation’ for European armies.
War as a business model
One thing is already certain: the state will not be turning to billionaires to foot the bill for the billions in new debt that the war chest is likely to swallow up, but will instead fleece the masses of wage earners even more heavily than before. And young people will have to pay the price, while privileged arms moguls and financial sharks, major shareholders and speculators look forward to super profits. War is still one of the most lucrative business models of the imperialists.
