Politics and Press

What ever happened to the Wehrmacht?

So let’s get this straight. North Korea outwits all the military powers in the world and sets off an atomic bomb. Just like Tom Lehrer predicted. But even Tom couldn’t have written a satire in which Germany protests that one of its naval ships was fired upon by the Israeli air force in the same week that Polish custom guards would shoot at a German tourist boat as it entered Polish waters. It turns out that the German military command seems to have been mistaken when it took over coast guarding in Lebanon on the assumption that they would give the orders. Looks like the Lebanese navy, such as it is, will, and that the Israelis have information on every helicopter that takes off from a German naval ship.
Finally, at a Nato meeting in Finland, the Canadian defence minister accuses all the NATO allies except Canada, the UK and the USA of shirking their military responsibilities in Afghanistan as they hide behind thick garrison walls in safe parts of the country, while Canadian soldiers get killed while fighting around Kandahar, something he thought all NATO troops were understood to be doing. Now that would include such tough guys as Germany, France, Spain, Italy, all safely hidden,while Canada, the US and the UK actually engage the enemy. The leading Geman paper brings this story on its front page and wonders if the word “feig” (cowardly) is appropriate.