Current German debates over military policy

Agnieszka Brugger is the deputy chairperson for the German Green party in the Bundestag (lower House of the German Parliament). She posted on Facebook on August 20 this call for the current government to become more assertive in its defensive posture in relation to Russia.

The current German government is a coalition headed by the conservative Christian Democratic Union (DCU/CSU) with the Social Democrats as the junior partner (SPD). CDU leader Friedrich Merz is the current Chancellor (Prime Minister) and the Vice Chancellor is Lars Klingbeil of the SPD. The Interior Minister responsible for internal security is Alexander Dobrindt (CSU).

It gives us an interesting glimpse at current national and European defense politics in Germany.

My translation to English:

What more still has to happen, Herr Merz and Dobrindt?

Make security the main thing. Be done with the irresponsible slowness, not just since the failed terrorist attack in Leipzig.

Such attacks on our country should not pass without consequences. Everyone who challenges us in this way should have to expect serious consequences.

Our country must become more resilient in the face of Russia’s strategy of testing us with drone overflights and hybrid attacks. We need real technical improvements in defense against drones, very clear responsibility and real consequences. That’s why we have made concrete recommendations in our proposal. The [German] Federal Government keeps on ducking away. And that means that every non-reaction will be read in the Kremlin as encouragement to escalate further to the next step. The necessary actions [by Germany] are missing.

That is not taking adequate responsibility for our national security and our democracy in these serious times. [emphasis added]

The “failed terrorist attack in Leipzig” refers the recent incident with a mystery drone showing up at the Leipzig Airport that I discussed in an August 10 post. Now there have been three drones discovered as part of the same incident. Kate Connolly reported on August 25:

German investigators uncovered a third drone and suspected military explosives thought to be connected to an attempted attack on Leipzig airport, local media have reported.

The drone was discovered in Kabelsketal, just to the west of the airport, along with about 50g (1.8oz) of a suspected military explosive on 14 August, 10 days after the unsuccessful sabotage. Leipzig airport is a cargo and military logistics hub used by Nato and Ukraine’s Antonov Airlines for transporting military supplies.

The office of the prosecutor general, which is leading the investigation, declined to comment on Tuesday. But the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said the government would soon provide information about who it believed was behind the drone attacks.

“They will pay for this,” Merz said, stopping short of naming a suspect, before a cabinet meeting in Brandenburg. He added that the government was “working intensively on this together with the security authorities and we will present our findings and comment on them shortly”.

The German government has so far avoided expressing a clear position as to whether it thinks Russia, or an actor close to it, is responsible. (1)

Based on the reports I’ve seen so far, it’s hard to imagine that the attack was a serious attempt to down or destroy a plane. Because of the Russia-Ukraine War, it’s very plausible that Russia could have been behind the attacks. And the German government of course has to take that seriously. But especially as long as that war goes on, there will be continual instances of Russia and the European NATO allies testing each other over how well the other side is responding to threats, including cyber-attacks of various kinds.

I’m chronically suspicious of the term “hybrid war.” Because acts of war are acts of war, espionage is espionage, and provocations are provocations. But Germany and its European allies are exceptionally unlikely to initiate a major military attack on Russia because of some half-assed drone “attacks” like the Leipzig incident. I’m particularly suspicious of characterizations of refugee flows like the strange recent incident in the Spanish city of Ceuta as part of “hybrid war.” That characterization plays into the lead issue used by far-right parties, i.e., xenophobia.

Agnieszka Brugger’s urgent message about stepping up national defense preparedness is consistent with the position the Green Party has been taking since the Balkan Wars of the 1990s. The Greens started as a militant environmentalist and pacifist party. And they maintain the environmental emphasis. And while they take more of a “realist” position in foreign policy than an aggressively “neoconservative” one, Green spokespeople aren’t necessarily emphasizing cautions against warmonger in the current situation.

With the Trump Administration increasing making disastrous blunders in military and economic policy, the European NATO members are in a serious moment of transition that includes developing more consistent shared European foreign and military policies. And that includes a broad range of risks in striking the right balances of realistic defense and diplomatic posturing, all the while trying to avoid direct military hostilities with either Russia or the US. And it involves complicated challenges in armament policies, particularly with the successful use of drone warfare that Ukraine and Iran have been demonstrating. It also involves messy possibilities and real challenges with the use of new AI technology in warfare. But those are also areas where the manufacturers of the most expensive missiles and airplanes and space-war system may not want to give up some of their very high-margin products for cheaper but more effective systems that may not have such high margins.

And the fact that the foreign policy of the US has to an amazing extent degenerated in ill-informed blundering around by a President seemingly suffering from serious dementia at operating with the mentality of a Mob boss doesn’t make calculations about the immediate future of European security practices any easier!

Notes:

(1) Connolly, Kate (2026): Third drone and suspected military explosives found near Leipzig airport. Guardian 08/25/2026. <https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/25/germany-drone-suspected-military-explosives-found-near-leipzig-airport> (Accessed: 2026-27-08).