Germany is embarking on the lofty quest of making “feminism” an official foreign policy. But will the leftist utopianism pay off in a high-tension global environment that increasingly calls for tough realism over fanciful idealism?
The new feminist guidelines were announced by Germany’s foreign and development ministers on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported.
Specifically, the guidelines aim to ensure that women “have the same right to representation and access to resources” when it comes to foreign policy. The ministers claim this will not only clamp down on gender discrimination, but ultimately make for more stable societies.
“Feminist foreign policy runs through all areas of our foreign policy actions from humanitarian aid to stabilization measures, peace missions and also foreign culture and education policy,” said German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in remarks to the press.
Meanwhile, Development Minister Svenja Schulze said the move is about making “societies fairer.”
In essence, the policy broadly states that authorities should strive to protect women and girls from violence and ensure enough public resources are devoted to preserving women’s participation in political processes.
The guidelines also affect actions taken domestically. According to Baerbock, government departments such as the German foreign office — where 26 percent of ambassadors are female — will strive to achieve greater gender parity.
One of the goals of the new policy is that in the future, 90 percent of new project funding must be devoted to international projects that finance gender equity in some way.
The decision gained the praise of Welthungerhilfe, a nongovernmental organization focused on aid projects across Latin America, Asia, and Africa. However, the group expressed uncertainty at how the government intends to carry out its goals.
“The question of funding remains a blank. Local civil society organizations must be adequately financed and must be able to access funds easily,” Welthungerhilfe posited in a statement. “How this is to be done remains an open question.”
Another question persists: Is feminism really a winning foreign policy? Especially in an age of rising socio-economic-military threats?
Specifically, Germany would perhaps be better off focused on developing its military capabilities than worrying about woke wish list items.
After all, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius this week made the alarming admission that the country’s military is not prepared to protect the nation against aggression from another power. This is a perilous state for Germany, which due to its position in Central Europe, would inevitably be a target in the event of an assault on the western powers by Russia — which western Europe continues to antagonize with aid to Ukraine.
“We have no armed forces that are capable of defending [the country], that is, capable of defending [it] against an offensive, brutally waged aggressive war,” Pistorius said during a meeting with members of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
The Russian outlet RT detailed the woes characterizing Germany’s military forces:
The minister said the Bundeswehr is understaffed and under-equipped after decades of neglect from the federal government. Pistorius added that Germany would have to invest much more in its military in order to be up to NATO standards.
Lieutenant General Alfons Mais, the commander and highest ranking officer of the German army, told the DPA press agency on Sunday that the €100 billion previously promised by Chancellor Olaf Scholz would not be enough to make the country’s armed forces battle ready. He further added that “the army that I have the duty to lead is more or less bare.”
Further remarks about the Bundeswehr’s lack of combat readiness came from the chairman of the German Armed Forces Association, Colonel Andre Wustner, who claimed in an interview on Sunday to Bild that of the approximately 300 Leopard 2 tanks in stock, “only 30% are currently operational.”
To the credit of the current national leadership, there is an acknowledgement of the longtime military deficiencies and a desire to play catch up.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in January announced a $100 billion infusion into the military. While that’s a step in the right direction, it amounts to little more than a drop in the bucket for a nation that is sadly far behind other great powers in terms of military capability.
The state of Germany’s military can seem surprising given that it is an economic powerhouse with a huge population (83 million, compared to France and Britain, both of which have populations of 67 million). Moreover, Germany is a country that has always been known for the high quality and productive output of its industrial base.
But much of this can be attributed to both domestic policy and globalist design. Germany’s political leaders have shunned military-building due to feelings that doing so would put them on par with the country’s Nazi past.
For this same reason, the Washington-driven international community has, since World War II, welcomed and even encouraged a militarily weak Germany. The last thing they have wanted is a repeat of the World Wars, both of which were made possible by the existence of the powerful Germany empire with its historically world-class military prowess.
The irony is that now that the western powers have a weak Germany, they have antagonized Russia — and the greatest bulwark against a Russian offensive on Europe would be a strong Germany.
Japan, which was likewise neutered after World War II, is also realizing the folly of having remained a pacifist nation for so long and is now also rushing to rebuild its military amid the growing threats from China and North Korea.
Again, ironically, keeping Japan weak for so long has now also proved to be shortsighted given current global realities. After all, a strong Japan is also key to keeping both Russia (see Japan’s victory over Moscow in the Russo-Japanese War) and China (see the Sino-Japanese Wars) in check.
