German leader Friedrich Merz attends a press conference in Berlin following his country's general election in February 2025.
A striking statement, the one that serves as the heading of this post: “Germany is back.” It was uttered by Friedrich Merz, the German leader. Some will gulp at his statement — particularly the oldest among us.
Maybe I could quote a paragraph from an article I wrote in 2017:
Not everyone was happy about the reunification of Germany, after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Prominent among the unhappy was Margaret Thatcher — who said, with alarm, “We beat the Germans twice, and now they’re back.” Her fellow Briton, General Ismay, had made a famous remark. He was the first secretary-general of NATO. And he described the alliance’s purpose as “to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down.”
Let me give Herr Merz’s statement in full: “Germany is back. Germany is making its great contribution to the defense of freedom and peace in Europe.” Those words can be found in this article from Politico Europe. The headline over the article is “Germany’s Merz secures breakthrough on gargantuan spending plan.
An article on the same subject in the Washington Post is headed “Germany approves massive spending package to boost defense.” The article begins,
German lawmakers passed a mammoth spending plan Tuesday that could allow for up to $1 trillion in defense and infrastructure investments over the next decade.
The package amends the country’s constitution to relax strict limits on debt that have long constrained German spending, as European countries, questioning the reliability of U.S. commitments under President Donald Trump, rush to strengthen their defenses. It’s part of a push to rearm across the continent, where leaders are seeking to prepare for Russian threats and American unpredictability.
Actually, I think that we are more predictable than un- at this point. In any event, the article continues,
The temporary U.S. suspension of Ukraine aid following the Oval Office clash last month between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky prodded German officials to accelerate a rethink of the country’s tightly drawn purse strings.
Above, I quoted an article I wrote in 2017. That was part of a pair of articles, on Germany and defense, and Japan and defense. They are found here and here. Both countries were adjusting their defense postures.
“Germany and Japan are responding to new threats,” I said. “They are also responding to a new America, which is ready to abandon or lighten the burdens it has long carried.”
I quoted Radek Sikorski, the foreign minister of Poland. He was foreign minister from 2007 to 2014, and he is again today. Back in 2011, he made a startling statement in Berlin: “I will probably be the first Polish foreign minister in history to say so, but here it is: I fear German power less than I am beginning to fear German inactivity. You have become Europe’s indispensable nation.”
I also quoted Robert Gates, a U.S. defense secretary under both Bush 43 and Obama. In 2011, he said, “The blunt reality is that there will be dwindling appetite and patience in the U.S. Congress — and in the American body politic writ large — to expend increasingly precious funds on behalf of nations that are apparently unwilling to devote the necessary resources or make the necessary changes to be serious and capable partners in their own defense.”
Let me go back even further, to Harold Brown, the SecDef under Carter. Talking of our allies, he said, “They need to behave as if their military security is as important to them as it is to us.”
A little more quoting, from my 2017 article on Germany:
. . . it is Russia that has really concentrated the German mind. In 2014, Vladimir Putin’s state annexed the Crimea, and made war in the Donbass region of Ukraine. This was alarming in Berlin and throughout NATO, and it was particularly alarming in the Baltic states, the eastern flank of NATO. The alliance decided to send fresh battalions to those states: Britons to Estonia, Canadians to Latvia, and Germans to Lithuania.
The Lithuanian president, Dalia Grybauskaitė, made an exuberant statement. “I think we are at a historic turning-point,” she said. “First, a lot of time has passed, and a breakthrough is occurring in the German mindset: Time for self-doubt, fear, reluctance to take responsibility, and dread of what Putin might think is over.”
Today, in 2025 — more over than ever.