No. of Recommendations: 3
Thank you for recommending this post to our Best of feature.
… especially Germany.
Background - Germany has been starving its military for decades by means of an ever-shrinking defense budget (now 1.5% of GDP), reaping what was a comfortable peace dividend.
SB
That started within a few months of the fall of the wall. They reduced the length of the draft a couple of times to a point where it almost made no sense. Much of the money saved went to the Unity funds to raise the standard of living in the former East Germany. Even with the 10% unity tax it was never enough to accomplish equality and eventually they accepted it would take longer.
People started wearing T-shirts with “Give Us Back Our Wall” on them. Lots of good stories … too many.
Tim