With Russia looming, peacenik Germany is building its army

Germany’s army is desperately in need of a few thousand good soldiers. Theo Riebel will most certainly not be among them.

“I don’t want to fight for this country,” says the student at Berlin’s Technical University, sitting on a bench outside the cafeteria.

To him, the Russian threat seems remote, and diplomacy is a better solution anyway. Besides, why would he take up arms for a government that he says has only made his life harder, with crumbling schools and a rising cost of living?

Why We Wrote This

With Europe worried over the threat from Russia and finding the United States increasingly unreliable, Germany is feeling pressure to lead the way on European defense. Whether Germans themselves are ready to pick up arms is another matter.

“Young people have enough problems already,” he