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Comment by davidmr | Hacker News Reader

Okay, I get that the computers don’t work right and there are some other engineering-specific problems of varying severity, but the primary objection from the WSJ’s point seems to be that it isn’t designed to hold its own in a shooting war with Russia. (And secondarily that Germany’s defense industry is no longer capable of building complicated programs like this.)

I know next to nothing about strategic planning, but it doesn’t seem that any missile battery whatever would be a better deterrent to Russia than the great big German flag flying on the top of the thing. How much effort should Germany really be trying to put into challenging the Russians?

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> How much effort should Germany really be trying to put into challenging the Russians?

So what are the options? Surrender when russian partisans cross the border?

I think his point is that the option is "strengthening the flag", i.e. increasing (the already really high) German standing in the world through economy, diplomacy, alliances.

The odds of Russia attacking Germany, even indirectly, are absolutely minimal. Germany is one of their main export countries and is one of the leading countries in the EU (more big trading partners for Russia) plus a member of NATO.

On top of that, Russia is a shadow of the USSR. A bit more than half the population and an economy which in relative terms is a dwarf (i.e. the USSR had a much higher share of the world economy than Russia does now). Let's say they occupy Germany after a "clean" campaign. Their economy would be completely shot.

And let's not go into guerrilla warfare territory, they couldn't even control Chechnya, let alone 80 million educated people which would surely get foreign support in terms of arms and supplies.

>The odds of Russia attacking Germany, even indirectly, are absolutely minimal.

So thought Adolf Hitler, until he found out that Soviet army was 4 times the size his recon told him, bristling with technologically superior weapons in great numbers, and busy preparing its own invasion of Europe 24/7.

>Let's say they occupy Germany after a "clean" campaign. Their economy would be completely shot.

Russian political establishment has said repeatedly that it don't object to Russians having to eating grass. Do you think those guys address those speeches to Russian population? No, they are saying it to you and strategic planners of Western states. They expect them to cowardly concede without a fight.

Your knowledge of WW2 is different from mine (and I've read quite a bit about it...). Hitler was planning to attack the USSR from day 1, where do you think the Lebensraum was supposed to be?

Regarding Russia, if the Russians truly have to eat grass again, Putin's head will be in a basket within 1 week.

Nuke them. The tanks and ships are foreplay.

Unfortunately for them, places like the Ukraine are the proxy battlefields in the global chess game. “Crossing the rubicon” is a step the only ends one way.

Do you think that missile batteries on eight ships are what’s stopping Russia from invading Germany?

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