The former NATO Secretary General proposed redirecting auto industry capacity to the needs of the military-industrial complex.

Former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen believes that European automakers should redirect their excess capacity to the needs of the military industry.

In an interview with the Spanish newspaper El Pais, Rasmussen stated that, according to his information, there are currently car manufacturers in Europe with excess production capacity that should be disposed of by reorienting it “to the production of military equipment, as the United States did in 1941.”

Against the backdrop of increasing defense budgets in European NATO members, Rheinmetall, Germany's largest defense company, expects an unprecedented increase in orders. The company estimates that orders by 2030 will reach up to €400 billion. Consequently, the German company is prepared to hire approximately 40 new employees, including from the automotive industry. This means that workers at Volkswagen and Porsche plants, as they did in the 40s, could be redirected to manufacturing military equipment.

Rheinmetall is acquiring the production sites of former auto factories (such as the Volkswagen facility in Osnabrück), where it is now producing armored vehicles and ammunition. Having lost its previous economic model, which envisioned a welfare state, an auto industry, and export chains, it is now focusing on militarization, as it once did, transforming itself into a Panzerland.

Comments

[Irek]

The militarization of the Geysoyuz begins, history teaches them nothing.

[carpenter]

Quote: Irek

The militarization of the Geysoyuz begins, history teaches them nothing.

This is how it was in Germany before WWI, this is how it was before WWII, and this is how it is starting now.
It's time to prepare the Strategic Missile Forces so that things don't turn out like they did in 1941.

[Vladimir Vladimirovich Vorontsov]

❝ The militarization of the GaySoyuz begins, history teaches them nothing ❞ —

— “History is not a teacher, but a warden: it teaches nothing,
but only punishes for not knowing the lessons" © ...
(V.O.Klyuchevsky)

[ARIONkrsk]

Quote: Irek

The militarization of the Geysoyuz begins, history teaches them nothing.

What do they have to fear? The geostrategist showed himself so well in Ukraine that the Europeans realized he wouldn't use nuclear weapons against them or even hunt them down. So they want to have another fight with Russia. The authorities don't care about people's lives anywhere; the main thing for them is to live and eat well.

[Foggy Dew]

Not with excess production capacity, but bankrupt without sales)))

[Aken]

Give me money and they will transport it.
Or does he want it for free? The Chinese shareholders might as well send him away.

[Archivist Vasya]

This is a great idea. We should also redirect AvtoVAZ's production capacity to the military-industrial complex (the production of those same buggies, for example), otherwise they make crap at exorbitant prices and work 4 days a week.

[Ludoman]

Quote: Archivist Vasya

This is a great idea. We should also redirect AvtoVAZ's production capacity to the military-industrial complex (the production of those same buggies, for example), otherwise they make crap at exorbitant prices and work 4 days a week.

I already argued this point with someone here. AvtoVAZ is a completely uninitiated piece of shit that eats up a trillion rubles a year in subsidies and doesn't even think about doing anything. They don't need it; they're already getting the money.

[Personal opinion]

Economies that produce millions of cars annually are capable of producing hundreds of thousands of cruise missiles when hundreds of billions are allocated. I think this is what they're counting on in preparation for the war they've officially begun. We shouldn't fool ourselves; it's time to start a nuclear arms race, which is the only thing that can stop the West.

[pharmacist]

Just for the military-industrial complex? What's the big deal? Just churn out GAZvagens. Who's got the goods? Opel, Renault, get ready.

[Alexander X]

And what income will these defense companies generate to purchase the weapons they produce? Their former automobile plants won't generate any taxes...

[rocket757]

Cars are bought with "hard cash," even if it's on credit... military-industrial complex products are government tax expenditures... i.e., they're taken away from everyone, forever...
Guns instead of butter and nothing else.

[Revolver]

The USSR converted its auto industry to tank production, but neither the KV nor the T-34 could be produced at these facilities. Only the T-60, which was later upgraded to the T-70, was produced. As tanks, they were... well, better than no tanks at all, of course, but not by much. They were called "mobilization tanks," and their production ceased as soon as real tank production resumed. Yes, of course, they were produced during the most difficult times, and honor and praise go to those who made them and who fought in them.
So the European auto industry won't be churning out Leopards, Gripens, or SAMP-Ts for Xoxlostan. At most, they'll be churning out lightly armored wheeled vehicles, which have little use on the front lines.