Merkel says Germany must improve its military to keep US bases...

via Stars and Stripes.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said her country must take “pains” to improve its armed forces amid U.S. threats to move American bases from Germany unless Berlin boosts defense spending.

Merkel played down U.S. diplomatic warnings about the possibility of relocating some of the roughly 35,000 troops in Germany to neighboring Poland.

“I think that the German (bases) are good locations for the American soldiers,” she said after a meeting Wednesday with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, as cited by the German t-online news website.

“There are good reasons for the (U.S.) bases here in Germany but at the same time we know that we must take the pains to get the German military in better shape.”

Story here.

Hmm.  Merkel's bluster has disappeared now that the US has fully embraced Poland.

Pity.

No, not aligning more with Poland.  I'm good with that.  It's a pity that the German govt had banked so hard on having US forces on their soil...basically subsidizing their defense, that they allowed their forces to whither and die.

Change is constant.

The Germans bought into the lie that the US would always be in Germany.

They were wrong.

With looming budget cuts and the tilt toward the Pacific, the US won't be able to maintain bases in every European country.  From my chair we're going to have two hubs.  The UK for global operations (along with Spain) and Poland as the new base for our major US Army commitment to Europe.

Germany simply acted too slowly...and now I believe its too late.