Rüdiger Lucassen, January 19, 2024, Populism and Cruise Missiles

German Bundestag, Plenarprotokoll 20/148, pp. 18939-18940. Frau President. Frau Defense Commissioner. Ladies and gentlemen. The CDU/CSU this week carves out motions in which it demands, free of charge, “more weapons for the Ukraine”: Day before yesterday Taurus cruise missiles, today one million artillery shells. What comes next? Atomic weapons?             Marcus Faber (FDP): That is …

Rüdiger Lucassen, June 28, 2023, Bundeswehr in Lithuania

AfD Kompakt, June 28, 2023. The Ampel government here proclaims in passing a decision of strategic importance without parliamentary participation or putting forward a concrete plan for implementation. The stationing of a combat brigade on foreign ground would be a novelty in German post-war history. Never yet was a large unit of the Bundeswehr stationed …

Rüdiger Lucassen, November 23, 2022, Defense Procurement

German Bundestag, Plenarprotokoll 20/69, p. 8092. Frau President. Frau Defense Commissioner. Ladies and gentlemen. Nine months Zeitenwende [change of times] Bundeswehr. Here, I want to open with a question: Where is it, the Zeitenwende of Chancellor Olaf Scholz? In the Defense Committee it so far has not arrived. The press in any case seeks it. …

Rüdiger Lucassen, September 7, 2022, Defense Budget

German Bundestag, Plenarprotokoll 20/50, p. 5382. Frau President. Ladies and gentlemen. The government puts forward the largest defense budget in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany –  a good 50 billion euros, more than nine times as much as the Ukrainian defense budget before the outbreak of the war. And like every year, …

Rüdiger Lucassen, July 8, 2022, A European NATO

German Bundestag, Plenarprotokoll 20/48, pp. 5106-5107. Right honorable Frau President. Excellencies. Dear colleagues. With Sweden and Finland, two European nations join NATO upon which Germany and the alliance can rely. Both countries maintain high value armed forces. Sweden re-activated the defense duty in 2018. Finland has a reservists corps which is superior even to many …

Rüdiger Lucassen, April 28, 2022, Weapons Deliveries to the Ukraine

AfD Kompakt, April 28, 2022. The Gepard is a solid, near-range anti-aircraft system, but only with a high state of training for the crew in specific conjunction with other troop elements, and when sufficient munitions and maintenance have seen secured. These prerequisites for the mission in the Ukraine armed forces are at the moment not, …

Rüdiger Lucassen, March 22, 2022, Defense Procurement

German Bundestag, Plenarprotokoll 20/24, pp. 1999-2000. Frau President. Right honorable colleagues. No one likes a dogmatist. On that account, I renounce repeating what the AfD for over four years in every budget debate has demanded. Decisive is: Even for the government, the penny appears to have fallen. With the exception of a few leftist pacifists, …

Rüdiger Lucassen, February 27, 2022, Bundeswehr and Russia

German Bundestag, Plenarprotokoll 20/19, pp. 1378-1379. Herr President. Right honorable colleagues. The atomic power Russia has attacked the Ukraine. Putin’s military victory is very probable – at an enormously high price. What then comes? A country twice as large as Germany in guerrilla war, repressions, terror, long-term destabilization on the EU’s eastern border – dramatic …

Rüdiger Lucassen, December 16, 2021, Ukraine and INF Treaty

AfD Kompakt, December 16, 2021. The Russian-American conflict over the future of the Ukraine threatens the security of Europe and of Germany. The heads of government of all interested states should not repeat the failures of the Cold War. The Federal government needs to credibly commit itself to the position for an up-to-date arms control …

Rüdiger Lucassen, September 7, 2021, Flood in Nordrhein-Westfalen

German Bundestag, Plenarprotokoll 19/239, p. 31151. Frau President. Ladies and gentlemen. The flood in western Germany is, without a doubt, a once in a century catastrophe. I myself have never before seen with my own eyes damages on this scale. My dwelling is in the old town of Bad Münstereifel, directly on the Erft. The …