Civil protection agency chief says country is ill-prepared for conflict and calls for urgent upgrades to cold war shelters
Germany is drawing up plans to rapidly expand its network of bomb-proof bunkers and shelters, the government’s most senior civilian protection official has said, warning the state needs to be prepared for an attack from Russia within the next four years.
Ralph Tiesler, the head of the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK), said Europe’s largest economy needed to wake up to the reality of conflict, and that in its current state Germany was inadequately prepared.
“For a long time, there was a widespread belief in Germany that war was not a scenario for which we needed to prepare. That has changed. We are concerned about the risk of a major war of aggression in Europe,” he told the Süddeutsche Zeitung news outlet.
They managed to build and launch ICBMs with '50s technology, I’m sure they could still scrape enough together to ruin everybody’s day
They dont show any signs of wanting to slow down their conquest. I bet they have more firepower waiting.
I think the possible motivations/reasons behind this prolonged effort could be read in a number of ways tbh.
Scenario 1: they simply haven’t played all their cards yet.
This is, in my opinion, the least likely on its own because it was made clear early on that Putin intended for this to be a quick operation. It only undermines his perceived power to say this and then choose to feign weakness. Compound it with either or both of the following, though, and it does start to seem like a picture is coming together…
Scenario 2: putin is not acting on reason.
There are rumors that he is terminally ill and acting on a desire to shore up his legacy before dying, leading to frantic miscalculations. Who knows if the rumor is true, but, given his age and the commonality of mortality, I could be convinced. He’s clearly got the ego necessary to fall into this sort of thought if circumstances gave a little nudge and securing Ukraine as a Russian territory would probably do wonders for a fragile pride like his.
Scenario 3: the invasion of Ukraine is not the actual point of this operation.
With the Kremlin’s well known affinity for espionage and psyop tactics, this one seems the most likely to me. I won’t pretend to know what the actual goal beyond control would be here, but it would never surprise me to learn that they have done one thing 100% in order to set up or hide another. From wars, to negotiations, to tactical games; controlling where the opposition looks, or further, what they think of when they see it, is often a key aspect of securing a win condition.
Their wheels have been turning toward toppling their fellow contenders for the title of #1 world power for a long time now, and Putin seems real ready for something to budge. Either he is a mad fool, lashing out at the world to appease his ego, or he is playing a devious long game and aiming for something bigger than he is letting on. Whatever the cause and whatever else he’s still got up his sleeve, it seems very likely that he is confident in the cards he has yet to play. If he doesn’t secure that legacy and he’s on his way out anyway, why would he care if he permanently blacks the skies with nuclear war? I wouldn’t put it past him to hold his confidence up on this final “fuck every fucking one of you” to the world.
But at the same time, I’m a legitimate dumdum so idk whatever. Just like people obsess over ww2 these days, people are gonna go nuts over this era someday soon tho. I’d bet on that