Well, at least Germany is at the brink of a recession. And the signs are there to see for quite a while now. Companies restructering and preparing for an expected economic downturn can be hardly called bad management. Also, not eveything is driven by Big Tech, nor does everyone just copy ehat FANG is doing.

If Germany had committed resources to the war earlier, it's possible that the Ukraine conflict would have already ended, and they could have avoided recession.

While I agree that Germany can and should do more, it is worth pointing out that France, Spain, and Italy are all contributing less than Germany. And Switzerland's level of aid is frankly appalling (too much money to be made in laundering Russian money apparently).

https://www.ifw-kiel.de/topics/war-against-ukraine/ukraine-s...

Plus, I don't get it why everybody thinks that it was Germany's, or any other single NATo countries, decision what ang how much aid Ukraine was getting when. First was a bunch former Warsaw pact gear, then NATO decided to send top notch hardware, namely Abrams Leopard and Challenger 2s.

So far, the whole miltary NATO aid for Ukraine, which started years before the actual invasion, seems to work out rather well.

Nothing of that has anything to do with layoffs, that economic crisis was bound to happen after COVID and decades of free money.

True. They also have smaller economies and are arguably less responsible for Russia's strengthening. They are also less vulnerable in case of military escalation.

Don't pay heed to the commenter above you. They have been guilt tripping Germany since decades. Germany would have been better off if it had kept it's own interest first, by drawing redlines around American intentions of taking out nordstream.

And I'm not even German, rather an American. But I do keep my eyes and mind open and realize what's going on. Why don't Germans do the same? Hard to think this is the civilization of great thinkers.

You use English the way only a German ever does. Better not to lie at all than to prove so incompetent in the attempt.

What do I gain by lying? I could say I'm a german who stands against American Imperialism, and it would only make my argument stronger.

What do you gain by lying?

Chances are that if Russia was taking a good beating, it would have used nukes. It signaled that plenty of times. The strategy with Russia is to arm Ukraine so that the ultimate Russian defeat comes little by little, akin to the proverbial boiling of a frog.

Separately, the actual leadership of Nato is on the other side of the Atlantic. Everything that Germany, or France or the UK, or any other Nato member does, needs to be sanctioned in Washington. If Germany was perceived to be slow, at least part of the reason for that lies in Washington.

Germany and the rest of the EU have been "at the brink of a recession" for well over a year. (Remember the gas price increases started in October-November 2021, before the war.) Compared to a year ago, a recession seems almost unlikely by now, and if any, seems like it would be small. The US also seems to have avoided a recession. So this is strange timing to me.

I also don't see any companies outside tech doing massive layoffs.