Oh, about that '80s foreign policy everyone had such a chuckle over

I think the Germans finally smell something,

The German military plans to bring 100 mothballed tanks back into service as it deals with increased demands from the Ukraine crisis.

Defense Ministry spokesman Jens Flosdorff said Friday that the military will pay $23.6 million to buy back the Leopard 2 main battle tanks from the defense industry, which has kept them in storage. The tanks will then be modernized starting in 2017.

The decision to equip the Bundeswehr with a maximum 328 tanks nearly reverses a four-year-old decision to cut the total from 350 to 225.

Here is something to ponder.

Germany only spends 1.3% of their considerable GDP on its military. The USA spends 3.8%, almost 3 times that of Germany as a percentage of GDP. As a land power, they do not have to spend as much on their navy as we do - and unlike the past, they do not have to worry about their western border. A bit more of 20th century math for you here; in 2014, Germany's GDP was $3.6 trillion. Russia was $2.1 trillion.

The USA? $16.8 trillion.

Imagine if you will, what kind of military that German could have if she invested even 2/3 what the USA did. Russia spends 4.2% of her GDP on the military ... but, she has two fronts to worry about. What if Germany doubled her spending to ONLY 2.6% of GDP. Imagine the positive effect that would have on keeping Russia a little more humble.