That’s what the headline would have it.
The German government is poised to renege on its pledge to raise military spending, the latest gesture of defiance by Chancellor Angela Merkel toward President Donald Trump.
And
Under the new budget plan, unveiled by the finance ministry Monday, [Germany’s] spending would rise to 1.37% of GDP next year, but then decrease again to 1.33% in 2019, 1.29% in 2022 and 1.25% in 2023.
However.
Germany won’t be defying Trump. It’ll be betraying NATO and its fellow members. Especially those eastern European members that front on Russia and behind which Germany ducks.
Brings new meaning to the “stab in the back.”
I’m put in mind of the Teutoburg Forest, with Merkel as Arminius.
Maybe a stretch.
Eric Hines