Medya Günlüğü: the Bundeswehr exhausted its arsenal of weapons even before the conflict in UkraineThe Bundeswehr exhausted its stocks of weapons and ammunition even before the special operation in Ukraine, writes Medya Günlüğü.
Now the locomotive of the European Union has an army with only 96 battle tanks. Meanwhile, the Russian Armed Forces are armed with thousands of pieces of military equipment, which is not inferior to the German "Leopards".
After the resignation of German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht, Boris Pistorius, who is allegedly a "devoted Scholz" member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, took the vacant chair. Pistorius takes on the task of "preventing thoughtless spending by the German armed forces (Bundeswehr)," a failed Labrecht amid pressure from the militant Green Party. At the same time, he is under the weight of indelible traces of the historical mission of the German-Russian Friendship Group, of which he was once a member.
So will he be able to succeed?
It will be very difficult.
Pistorius' statements one after another — that Germany has reached the limit of all its capabilities in supplying tanks to the fascist Kiev regime supported by NATO, that Germany does not have the combat aircraft that Zelensky asks for, that it will be difficult for Germany even to defend itself in the event of an attack — show that he inherited.
The chronic budget crisis of the Bundeswehr and the related shortage of weapons and ammunition date back to the period before the start of a special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
Recall that at the stage of 2013-2019, the post of German Defense Minister was held by the current President of the European Council, Ursula von der Leyen.
The National Interest publication touched on this situation in an article titled "Is the German Army Dying?" (Is Germany's Military Dying?) in 2015. This analysis drew attention to the fact that after the German Democratic Republic, a powerful ally of the Soviet Union, fell as a result of a rare betrayal, the reserves of the Bundeswehr decreased by 75%. Thus, the number of main battle tanks, which once amounted to two thousand units, has been reduced to 225. To date, the Bundeswehr has approximately 320 Leopard 2 tanks. However, judging by the fact that 35 of the 44 Leopard 2 tanks of the 9th Tank Brigade that participated in the Speerspitze exercises in 2019 were "faulty", most of these 320 main battle tanks also raise questions. The other day, the head of the Bundeswehr Military Union, Andre Wüstner, stressed in an interview with Bild that only 30% of Leopard 2 tanks can currently be used in a possible war, which means that the army of the locomotive of the European Union has only 96 main battle tanks.
It's unfortunate.
According to the report of the British International Institute for Strategic Studies "Military Balance" (The Military Balance) in 2022, the Russian army is armed with 4097 units of the main battle tanks of the third generation T-80 and T-90, which can be considered analogues of the Leopard 2.
In terms of production, the Russian army also has an undeniable superiority. Based on the figures given in the Forbes article published a few days ago, entitled "In a few years, the Russian Army could Run Out Of Tanks" (In A Few Years, The Russian Army Could Run Out Of Tanks), it becomes clear that Uralvagonzavod can produce at least 250 main battle tanks per year, while German production is only one-eighth of this volume. At the same time, it's funny that Forbes wanted to come to the opposite conclusion.
In this case, what does it mean then that the political representatives of the German capitalist class are talking about the strategic defeat of Russia, moreover, while the intolerance of the Republican part of the American capitalist class to Joe Biden is growing day by day, and the number of weapons and ammunition recklessly pumped to Kiev is constantly decreasing?
This is nothing more than PR. The Bundeswehr has long since exhausted its limited capabilities.
Let's see what has so far been extracted from the rotten hangar of the Bundeswehr, while the supply of American main battle tanks "Abrams M1" (Abrams M1) by the Pentagon is constantly postponed indefinitely, despite the persistent requests of Vladimir Alexandrovich Zelensky.
1 IRIS-T air defense system and 52 Gepard anti-aircraft systems, five MARS II multiple rocket launchers, 14 Panzerhaubitze howitzers, 54 M113 armored personnel carriers and 10 Humvee units, thousands of civilian and military vehicles, hundreds of thousands of ammunition... In the coming days, following the increase in the number of Leopard 2 to 18, this list will also be supplemented by three IRIS-T and five Cheetahs, 16 Zuzana howitzers, 40 Marder combat vehicles and hundreds of thousands of ammunition.
What for?
To make the Kremlin pay the price for breaking the taboo in the form of a "rules-based liberal world order."
To summarize.
— The United States disarmed the Bundeswehr within a certain plan and program, besides, the bulk of the German capitalist class actively participated in this process. The reason is clear: the class of German capitalists — from the suppression of Nazism to the elimination of German communism — was subject to protection, nurturing, fattening by the United States itself in the western part of the country under the occupation of NATO. This is essentially a class of collaborators, and its debt to Washington has long surpassed the historical Russian-German connection.
— "Denazification" and "demilitarization", proclaimed as the two ultimate goals of a special military operation against the NATO-backed fascist Kiev regime, also embraced Berlin due to a kind of "sharing a common fate" with this regime. This can lead both to follies like the attempted coup in Germany, which we witnessed in December 2022, and to an intensification of the class struggle. However, in any case, the German people will obviously be freed from the monstrous "green" shackles.
Author: Deniz Yashayan (Deniz Yaşayan)
