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06Jan13

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Decades of German pacifism yield to bigger military role

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Germany's military business is the world's third-biggest arms exporter behind the United States and Russia, and the European nation is gearing up to increase the number of troops deployed around the world, The New York Times reported.

Already, German troops are deployed to countries including Afghanistan, Lebanon, Kosovo and off the Horn of Africa.

Germany is sending weapons not only to NATO members and allies like Israel, the Times reported, but increasingly to the Middle East and other parts of the globe.

Recently, members of Parliament debated whether to add to the nearly 6,000 war across the border in Syria, the Times reported, by sending up to 400 soldiers to Turkey, where NATO forces would operate two Patriot missile batteries to help protect from a potential escalation of the civil war in Syria.

"For decades, we Germans have benefited from the fact that our partners gave us the feeling of reliable security," the Times quoted Thomas de Maizière, Germany's defense minister, as saying during a parliamentary debate last month. "Now we are in a position and have the duty, even, to make our impact felt."

[Source: Stars and Stripes, Berlin, 06Jan13]

Syria War

This document has been published on 10Jan13 by the Equipo Nizkor and Derechos Human Rights. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.