Why Fight? A Civilization Not Worth Dying for Is Not Worth Living for Either

Jun 17, 2024 by Dave Doveton

By Rod Dreher, European Conservative.

“The collapse of Christianity as the animating force in Western civilization has brought us to this point. Secular values are simply not enough to motivate a people to live sacrificially to perpetuate their social order.”

Sigmar Gabriel, the left-wing former German foreign minister and still an influential voice in European politics, is talking very tough these days. In a recent interview with Stern, Gabriel said Germany should be willing to escalate the war with Russia over Ukraine.

“I never thought I’d have to say this: However, we’ll need to checkmate Russia again as we did during the Cold War with the Soviet Union,” Gabriel said. “Putin must grasp our resolve.”

“The clear signal should be sent to Putin: Stop this war—or we’ll target you. If that entails deploying German air defense systems, assisted by the Bundeswehr, to establish no-fly zones in Ukraine to shield Ukrainian cities from Russian attacks on the civilian population, I wouldn’t guarantee Mr. Putin that we’d never act this way.”

Who is Herr Gabriel kidding? It is bizarre to read the former German foreign minister’s bluster, in light of how feeble the German armed forces have become. Stalin’s infamous joke—How many divisions does the Pope have?—could almost be said about the German Chancellor today.

In 2024, Spiegel published a brutal report on what it termed “The Bad News Bundeswehr,” decrying the “abysmal” state of Germany’s military. The idea that Chancellor Olaf Scholz sending in the Bad News Bundeswehr to defend Ukraine would stay Vladimir Putin’s hand is mental.

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