Germany's German Problem -- and Ours

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PJ Media
Michael Walsh
May 26, 2018

Since the time of Augustus, when a German army under Arminius wiped out three Roman legions in the Teutoburg Forest and sent the Empire scurrying back permanently across the Rhine, the question of how to live with the Germans has concerned both their immediate neighbors in central Europe and, latterly, the world. From the ferocious Vandals who sacked Rome in 455 to the hapless Hessians who got surprised by George Washington at the Battle of Trenton to the Panzer divisions of the Wehrmacht that swept across Europe and the Soviet Union in 1939-41, the Germans, it seems, are always a problem.

After the war, tamed and domesticated, and despite (or perhaps because of?) being bisected into capitalist and communist states, the Germans developed a cohesive civil society that abjured aggressive warfare and, shielded by the American nuclear umbrella and some 50,000 U.S. troops, turned into a pacifist state, especially after the fall of the Wall in 1989 and reunification. So... yay, right?

More... https://pjmedia.com/michaelwalsh/germanys-german-problem-and-ours/

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Much the same could be said for Japan. They need a stronger military to meet current threats but none of their neighbors yet trust them.

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There's good reason to not trust either of them.

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There's good reason to not trust either of them.

There seems to be a cultural pattern with the Germans that has them building to some crescendo just to self-destruct.