Russia and Ukraine

[Pat Mustard]

Germany has just announced that it is going to more than double its annual military spending. This will give it the world’s third largest defense budget (behind only the US and China). Other NATO members seem genuinely pleased at the news.

How’s that alliance-fracturing plan working out for ya, Vlad?

Boru

Sorry, but after building up that brand new Bundeswehr.....we gonna  have to invade something.   If you have a tool, you gotta use it, and whats good for Vlad surely is good for Olaf too.

You could invade us, we'd be more than happy to sell you stuff.

---

especially as we'd be using the Yank button, which doubles the price of everything

---

---

yet tying themselves to the west got their GDP per capita on purchase power parity basis from slightly higher than Russia’s in 1990 to about half of Russia’s just before the war.

[citation needed]