Russian President Vladimir Putin has inadvertently achieved what Western allies have long struggled to: get Germany to step up to its role as a major global power with an assertive foreign policy backed by a strong military despite its World War guilt.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced on Sunday a dramatic hike in military spending in view of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in what is being heralded as a historic speech that marks a paradigm shift in German foreign and defence policy.
