German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, dubbed by Foreign Policy recently as the man that “Germany Loves to Hate,” has become the face of German postwar rearmament. According to Merz, “Pax Americana,” that period following the Cold War in which US military, economic, and political power was unparalleled and Washington enjoyed full-spectrum dominance over the world, is officially over. 

He’s right about that last part—but it’s funny coming from the leader of a country that has become little more than a client state for Washington, London, and Brussels when it comes to German foreign policy. After all, until just a few years ago, there was a bipartisan consensus in Germany that war with Russia was both unwanted and avoidable. Indeed, Germany’s post-Cold War economic miracle was fueled by cheap Russian energy—and even as Berlin recoiled at Russia’s foreign policy from 2014 onward, it understood that access to Russian gas was an economic necessity.

What’s more, German leaders generally agreed that Ukraine should not become part of the NATO military alliance, reasoning that adding it would be seen as an act of aggression by the Kremlin. Yet the Europeans are giving NATO-like military support and unofficial guarantees to the Ukrainians as they defend themselves against the Russians in eastern and southern Ukraine.

Berlin has been among the most vocal of European states........

© The National Interest