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This paper tracks the rise of German dominance since Bismarck’s unification of Germany in 1871 and during the 20th century, when the Germans used their economic, demographic, and military power in addition to geopolitical theories, particularly the vital space theory, to support expansionism. The «German question» evolved in the wake of the two world wars as the European States’ main concern was how to maintain a peaceful, powerful Germany. Following the Ukrainian war, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz declared Germany’s goal to have the greatest army in Europe, modernize military industries, and allocate 100 billion Euros for the defense budget. Accordingly, as strong Germany, historically, has always sought to dominate its neighbors, the paper examines the possible scenarios for the rise of Germany and its dominance over the European Union. What will be the repercussions of Germany’s rise on the future of the European Union and its institutions, and the potential incentives for cooperation and collaboration among European nations? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dieser Beitrag befasst sich mit der Einsatzbereitschaft der Bundeswehr, sich an Auslandseinsätzen im gesamten Konfliktspektrum beteiligen zu können. Vor dem Hintergrund der „Zeitenwende" werden drei Konflikte unterschiedlicher Intensität in der Ukraine, Afghanistan und Mali untersucht. Er bewertet sodann das Leistungspotenzial der Bundeswehr und gibt Empfehlungen für den Fähigkeitenaufbau: Neben der Modernisierung des Panzer- und Artilleriedispositivs fehlen vor allem Drohnen zur Fernaufklärung und als verharrende Waffen sowie eine wirksame Luftunterstützung – die jedoch in zwischenstaatlichen Konflikten hoher Intensität nur eingeschränkt einsetzbar sein wird. This contribution looks at the readiness of the Bundeswehr to contribute to external deployments in the full spectrum of conflict. Against the backdrop of the "Zeitenwende" three conflicts of differing intensity are analyzed. It then assesses the potential performance of the Bundeswehr and gives recommendations for the improvement of capabilities: Apart from the modernization of the tank and artillery weapon, what is lacking are drones for long-range reconnaissance and as loitering munitions, as well as effective air support – that will, however, only have limited use in interstate high intensity conflicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The article "Czech Republic and the War against Ukraine" describes the Russian aggression against Ukraine and its impact on the relationship between the Czech Republic and Russia. The author emphasizes that Russia has violated international norms with its actions and that Putin is willing to cross almost any civilizational boundary. The claim that the West promised in 1990 that NATO would not expand to the East is seen as strange from the Czech perspective. The relationship between the Czech Republic and Russia has deteriorated due to Russian historical revisionism and the rehabilitation of Stalin. The political relations between the two countries are described, with some Czech politicians expressing sympathy for Putin. However, economic relations have halved since the annexation of Crimea. The Czech government now supports Ukraine and seeks dialogue with Russia, while the population sees Russia as guilty. The Czech Republic rejects a German military leadership role and calls on Germany to provide heavy weapons to Ukraine to defend its sovereignty. [Extracted from the article]

The article titled "Turning Point: More Security through an Arms Boost?" deals with the announcement by Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz to massively arm the Federal Republic of Germany. Scholz plans to establish a special fund for the Bundeswehr amounting to 100 billion euros and an annual defense investment of more than 2 percent of the gross domestic product. In addition, a modern replacement aircraft for the outdated Tornado jets is to be procured. However, the author argues that this armament would neither help Ukraine against Russian aggression nor improve deterrence capabilities towards Russia. He also questions whether a re-militarized Bundeswehr could reliably protect Germany and argues that there is no military answer to security against a nuclear power like Russia. [Extracted from the article]

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Recently, a total of 32 carbapenem- and fluoroquinolone-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (Ab) isolates was isolated from war-injured patients who were treated at German Bundeswehr Hospitals, and preliminarily typed by "DiversiLab" repetitive elements sequence-based (rep-) PCR. Core genome-based sequence typing was also used to provide more detailed epidemiological information. From the clusters observed by rep-PCR, selected Ab strains were subjected to Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) in order to compare them with international outbreak-associated Ab strains and to identify MLST (multi-locus sequence type) lineages, as well as to identify known resistance genes. Accordingly, NGS indicated higher diversity than rep-PCR, but also confirmed likely transmission events. The identified acquired carbapenem-resistant genes comprised blaOXA-23, blaOXA-72 and blaGES-12, as well as various other intrinsic and acquired resistance-associated genetic elements. All isolates clustered with the previously identified international clonal lineages IC1, IC2, IC6 and IC7, with corresponding Pasteur sequence types ST1, ST2, ST78 and ST25, respectively. In conclusion, the assessment confirmed a broad spectrum of resistance-associated genes in Ab isolated from war-injured patients from the Eastern Ukraine, and provided the first insights into locally abundant clonal lineages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]