the season in spectacular fashion ferrari revealed the flash new design in a glitzy ceremony held inside a theater in northern italy german driver sebastian vettel said he couldn't wait to try it out the 32 year old is hoping to improve his performance this year after a disappointing showing last season the new campaign gets underway in just over a month. coming up next is a documentary exploring germany's role in a world of shaky alliances i'm told me a lot of both and that's all from me thanks for watching.

the arms race with nuclear and conventional weapons is imminent existing alliances are crumbling the need to be for me need to be strong to deter any potential aggressor from attack the most to preserve the peace germany and its neighbors could again be caught in the middle between the superpowers. russia is laying claim to territory and for the 1st time since world war 2

a country is taking that territory by force it doesn't operate in sa this is a potential threat of the highest order and anyone who opposes a rearmament debate is not just naive that's incredibly dangerous and if it. can the german military the bundesliga and meet the new challenges. i do believe that the german military is in a very dire and critical state is that number of ships that can't sail the number of planes they can't fly. can the western alliance system still guarantee security. what role does germany play in nato and in the world.

when nato sounds the alarm the order reaches the 9th armored demonstration brigade in moonstone in northwestern germany this time the mail is about an exercise but the entire apparatus responds as it would in a genuine emergency the brigade provides part of the ground troops for nato's very high readiness joint task force the v j t f it was established in 2014 in response to russia's annexation of crimea. i mean also when. i received the alarm order now i have valuated and then i decipher the letter combinations in the order to find out which alarm measures have actually been triggered and. for that i consult the crisis response plan. so i can see which alarm measures are behind the combination of letters. to check which measures are important for the v.j. t.f.

brigade and then i'll inform the chief and the brigade leadership accordingly. bring in for me and rapid response units are central to nato new threats scenarios in this instance an emergency situation that involves fighting off an enemy attack will be rehearsed in a maneuver in poland. within 3 days at the most 2300 soldiers from 3 countries have to be ready to move. all the strands come together here and a high security area at headquarters. it's a logistical challenge to coordinate the troops from germany norway and the netherlands. we have to establish communication with the 1st german armored division and the german netherlands corps i want the initial results in 90 minutes on. the clock is also taking 4 major

maja on. all they all look up to nothing unusual to report in the area you have a very good with the major heads a company of around 250 soldiers. and the biggest challenge for us is to be ready to move within 48 hours my soldiers have to load all the trucks the trucks have to be organized in convoys by heavy vehicles have to be prepared for rail transport 48 hours is not a lot of time and i fear a. major item is an experience older who has served on foreign missions in mali and cost of a now she has to ensure that the command in poland will have a fully equipped work place around $600.00 vehicles including 70 tanks are setting off from garrison's around germany to head for poland.

the rapid response force is more important to nato than ever whitted a at a time when europe once again has to worry about security how united are the partners in the alliance. washington april 2900 nato celebrated the 70th anniversary of its founding for 7 decades the north atlantic treaty organization has used its deterrence capability to protect. yes freedom and prosperity on both sides of the atlantic a day before the ceremony the west's leading defense and foreign policy officials gathered at a meeting. it was supposed to be a celebration of 70 years of nato and transatlantic relations. but then u.s. vice president mike pence took to the podium to issue a rebuke. more

of our allies are now beating their commitments but still too many others are falling short and as we all acknowledge germany is chief among germany is europe's largest and healthiest economy it's a leading global exporter and has benefited from u.s. protection of europe for generations germany must do more thanks and not so diplomatic attack on the alliance partner that has not invested the agreed 2 percent of its g.d.p. on defense. the german foreign minister had to try to explain why his wealthy country wasn't prepared to spend more on european security. and

know that our budget jury bro says it's sometimes difficult for outsiders to understand i believe we are not just for them however we made a firm commitments to invest more money and defense. and we intend to keep all words. we in europe know that we can take our security for granted. a rather modest show of strength from the foreign minister. left the meeting by the back door to avoid unwanted questions a fitting image of germany's appearance at the nato summit. germany has already promised its allies at 3 summits to raise military spending as agreed the defense ministry would like to see a hefty rise to $54700000000.00 euros a year but the finance ministry has other plans even one spending to drop in the

coming years to 44200000000 that corresponds to 1.23 percent of g.d.p. so even further below nato's 2 percent target. julia a smith was a security advisor in the obama administration and is a prominent expert on german american relations. i do think the nato alliance has a germany problem because now one of its largest allies is unwilling or unable to meet a commitment that essentially all allies made in 2014 this is not a situation where the trump administration is fired up and frustrated with the german government we're now facing a situation where democrats and republicans alike are quite critical of berlin and its failure to meet that target understand that almost all cultish us would like to spend money on something else down the phone on health or education or

infrastructure at the same time we suspect germany to invest more. in defense because we all promised to do so back in 2014. but germany's governing coalition of conservatives and social democrats. has a different take on the numbers they say germany has invested more than 30000000000 euros in nato since 2014 provided the 2nd largest contingent of troops in afghanistan and taken part in many missions around the world 2 the social democrats in particular oppose a sudden rise in the defense budget foreign and defense policy expert cliff notes and he explains. the figures supposedly provide suitable personnel to nato. but we try to coordinate with our alliance partners and are guided by quality. is a swipe at sent back when the german government accepted this 2 percent target so

we in parliament said alternately we the lawmakers are the ones who will decide what will be in the annual budget of us in yiddish and whole associated. a professor at the blindest a university in munich advises the government on security issues he says economizing on military spending would be disastrous this is it's not just grossly naive it's negligent and risky here in europe we are currently in a situation where the russian federation with its armament efforts has an advantage in strategic escalation that we currently can't compete with about the sheets and. letting their putin's russia has changed the world in terms of security policy when the cold war ended it seemed unthinkable but the world is now once again in the middle of an arms race and putin has been testing the limits of the nato alliance with the conflict in eastern ukraine the russian an accession of crimea russia on

the other hand has provoked by nato's eastern and large meant plans. in april 26th seen over the baltic sea 130 kilometers from kaliningrad 2 russian fighter jets carried out 20 mach attacks on a u.s. warship. and the number of product. patience is increasing. and there are threats that we have to address or challenges we have to address in the north atlantic with increased russian submarine activity and our lack of sensors up there to understand what's going on there is definitely a threat stemming from russia. nato takes that threat very seriously its response has been for example the exercise in poland with the brigades from germany norway and the netherlands 4 days after the raising of the alarm in one stop the

j.a.t.'s rapid response troops are on their way to the noble jump exercise. more than 2300 soldiers are being trained to ensure europe's security under german leadership noble jump it's a huge noble jump is basically all about nato is rapid response troop the task is deterrence through a show of strength. but if at the end of the day that doesn't help we have to clearly show that we are in a position to defend the territory of the alliance and if necessary to restore the territorial integrity of nato and after we do have some. it's just after 4 o'clock in the morning the 9th armored demonstration brigade positions itself. first sergeant major hey get him commands a leopard 2 tank. it weighs 64 tons and has a 1500 horsepower engine. and.

we're here on a leopard to battle tank. we have a crew of 4 men. the fairness of this is my driver he steers according to my orders the gunner is responsible for the exchange of fire and the loader is responsible for all the weapons on the tank including the machine guns i'm the commander i coordinate everything. the final preparations for the maneuver take it to him and his crew take up battle position. ok it's ok saigon are swing the tower to the right. but also you've got woods on the right do you recognize. this wing more to the left. and although right there you can see the observation center of the platoon.

the mission here is to retake a village even though no one wants to say it openly the rapid response troop is supposed to deter russia today the enemy only consists of dummies and decommission tanks here let's follow here on our left my platoon is in position next to them is another platoon in position for the log further ahead. head in the left hand section there's also a norwegian company in opposition. they are all ready and waiting for the shooting to start off the single. week. as i call it was around.

peggy thames tank platoon is one of nato's elite units it's a fully equipped brigade which makes it quite an exception in the bundesbank. the military is supposed to have 8 fully equipped brigades by the year 2031 but at the moment not a single brigade is 100 percent ready for action which even the v.j. t.f. troops had to borrow material from all over germany. is cut and everyone has realized that the way the system functions at the moment we had to bring materials from throughout the book is fair to munster or other places to fulfill our mission but that is not an acceptable state of affairs. this is not about building but adequate equipment those 8 brigades have to be fully equipped so that they can be just as ready for action as this brigade is. fully acquitting them

will be costly but germany has made a binding commitment to nato. the army estimates that the price for a single brigade will amount to $5000000000.00 euros but in recent years there has been practically no investment in material and equipment and even with a lot of money it will. hard to quickly rebuild all the structures that have been dismantled over the years. that's if there's going to come. from guns a steam and up with the studies and there are systems in the that are older than i am and we still have the problem that we are deployed in major nato exercises so we can meet our obligations but it comes at the expense of operations and exercises back home get. a nice mean is we no longer invested in the large stocks of replacement parts nor of ammunition and now to fill up and modernize everything in

the existing structures will take until 2031 for. one cause we will definitely need that many years to get to the point where we can meet nato and e.u. demands to become less rigid not to follow. sometimes even a piece of fencing can stop 60 tons of military high tech in its tracks limited tank commander hey get him is not happy with the situation if. they're not going to go in there turn the motor on give a signal to the front and then drive backwards a bit about. time is pressing the tank crew has to get the vehicle back into position for the nato exercise. and.

the scenario that is being rehearsed here is chillingly realistic. in terms of liberating a village symbolizes the fear of an invasion by enemy troops. right here in poland in europe. thank. after 5 hours the maneuver is completed for hated him and his crew the commander is $32.00 his comrades are all under 30. the cold war is something they only know from history books. to decide when i joined up the bullets there was already involved in missions abroad but now the threat is different and we see here that a completely battle ready brigade has been formed to engage in high intensity

combat if necessary. it was defense of. the idea of defending the alliance and their country is no longer entirely theoretical 3 quarters of a century after the end of world war 2 that has become an imaginable scenario for german soldiers. from the house he handled i've been a soldier for 35 years of help because i saw the wall fall i saw europe being reunited i experienced islamist terrorists occupying half the middle east. as it's so at the end of the day one thing counts for me is that it doesn't matter who you're against at the end of the day there's only one thing that is lasting and forward looking and that's what you're for and we are for freedom and peace and full stop. peace and freedom where the goal is in the late 1980 s. when the u.s. and the soviet union agreed to ban their land based intermediate range nuclear

missiles. u.s. president ronald reagan and soviet leader mikhail gorbachev signed the i.n.f. treaty in december in 1987 in washington after decades of cold war it was a milestone in ending the arms race between the superpowers. in 2019. and after accusing russia of violating the treaty the us formally pulled out of the i.m.f. . and the new start a 2010 nuclear arms reduction treaty between the us and russia may not be extended when it expires in 2021. does this herald a new nuclear arms race designed if it's all at the i.n.f. treaty can't be saved because neither of the party east of ukraine meant are still interested in saving the united states would only want to rescue it if it is globalized meaning of china india and pakistan join the chinese have already made it clear that they see no reason to join it on the russians have violated unless

the in the. inflects. in early 2019 russia publicly unveiled its s s c 8 nuclear missile the ground launched cruise missile is claimed by u.s. intelligence to have a range of over 2300 kilometers which puts it in violation of the i.n.f. treaty the agreement bans the development and possession of ground based missiles with a range of over 500 kilometers. below. the floor for me it's also a question of security for germany for an end to the treaty would mean that we again enter a threat mechanism that nuclear medium range weapons will again threaten areas extending to us and western europe. and that has to be urgently prevented you from. it's a crucial test for europe. for some years poland has been calling for nuclear

weapons if necessary going it alone with the us. it's. romania has invested billions of euros in u.s. missile defense systems to protect it from a potential russian threat. is vladimir putin deliver. exploiting the current power vacuum and nato's weakness to redefine his own role. and he's definitely fanning the flames in central eastern europe so it's not that i lie awake at night and worry about some sort of conventional military. escalation with russia i think that's always a possibility but that's not war what worries me the most what worries me the most is his efforts to divide us and undermine our values and our institutions that we've spent 70 years building and he's succeeding on that front. russia is trying

to destabilize the alliance and western democracies it influences elections and referendums launches cyber attacks and wants to bind individual nato partners to it more closely. does putin see the end of the i.n.f. treaty as a way of driving a further wedge between nato partners. what is the aim of russia's foreign and defense policy. for years journalist alexander golts has been observing and analyzing the russian military apparatus and kremlin policy. he too finds putin's motivation puzzling daunte of. argumentation for these reasons because this argumentation doesn't exist but importance of mind and within kremlin approach nato is plenty aggression. you can name it part of north god knows.

moscow sees itself as a victor of the military conflicts in syria and eastern ukraine. the annexation of crimea also set a dangerous precedent take what you want you don't have to fear consequences. roughly if you are needed to restrict. one of the main features of military state is that the state gives. to a new channels i think mr porter as well as mr robb. are very. dear to possess this. force there's overwhelming nuclear mart if i have these i can do everything i want.

mediators are urgently needed german chancellor angela merkel could take on the role but she's caught in the middle in germany there is opposition to sanctions against russia while the us is calling for grillin to take a tougher stance. of . the. we should keep. that according to putin mentality. germany is not self-confident. and indeed the governing coalition has been sending out contradictory messages on foreign and security policy what should germany's relationship with russia be a partnership or a stronger rejection of the kremlin's provocations. and for we discussed this in the defense committee before the parliamentary summer break. we

have means of dialogues. we have points of contact between the bundeswehr and the russian military because there are policy talks on a ministerial level and the contacts are there but we also clearly show that we expect the russian side to abide by the mixed accords and assessments cup coming out. in february 2015 the minsk 2 accords were signed by leaders of ukraine russia france germany and ukrainian separatists the aim was to end armed fighting it failed to hold and in the baltic states there is concern about a possible new ukraine scenario the narrow corridor between poland and lithuania with borders to the highly militarized russians. enclave of kaliningrad and bella ruse is nato's the coolies heel if the so-called gap were to be occupied by russia it would cut off the baltic states from the rest of the e.u. the defenses on lithuania's border with bella ruse have been bolstered with

millions of euros of e.u. funding they include 300 cameras along the more than 650 kilometer long border. lithuanian border police volume soloveitchik and ilona sabah are on patrol. security on nato's out of borders is a police matter. the military can only approach within 5 kilometers of the border so as not to further provoke the neighboring country. well being father a violation of border all flogging. so i began to make. just people who doesn't know that the border and.

surveillance system are. no move goes unobserved the 2 sides watch each other suspiciously. border security here is also security for nato the military alliance is less interested in smugglers and migrants than in provocateurs sent by the kremlin who might be entering to prepare or even trigger a conflict. of course the system helps in gathering information that could be of interest to our military. especially when military exercises take place in a neighboring state so. that's definitely on the rise more

uniform personnel on the border and technical innovations. as western frontline states these are the they're powerful neighbor the baltic countries followed russia's annexation of crimea in 2014 with a heightened sense of threat compared to other european countries having experienced decades of soviet occupation many lithuanians have unpleasant memories of the cold war era. so i served on a submarine in more months. i know their system i know how they take they would take ukraine with away any and everything that was part of the former soviet union through their influence extends to belarus which they can use for their military and they're stretching out the valorous of dollars just basically. a land that they can use for their own military advancement so we see what happened in ukraine and we don't want any of that here that would rather have tractors than tanks to farm

the land and to give us bread to serve the people should not these tanks what are they good for now the presence of those we know is vital for it to survive and actually if we didn't have another soldiers he would be bombed. in the capital dili as there is little to be seen after 1000 nato soldiers but they are present in people's minds and their numbers are set to rise. and we have all that increased and redness all forces triple the size of the night the response force we had all the implementing a new ribbon this initiative and germany is pawtucket out on this year and leading the heart of this force of nato this reflects that we are now going to talk to different security environment and we were years often in the cold war. but deterrence depends not only on troops and military equipment but also on the enemy's belief that the alliance will stick together in an emergency the current

u.s. president views international organizations as a person who is at best. his advisors seem to have difficulty preventing him from fundamentally questioning the alliance. i would caution germans against assuming that it could didn't happen i think it could happen and the fact that we recently saw a news break that. certain members of the pentagon and the state department were tasked with looking into the possibility of giving germany a bill 1st stationing u.s. troops to me indicates that that is a process that could lead to the united states at least distancing itself. american troops during an exercise in the baltic. but how much longer will they be

there. if worst comes to worst with the americans withdraw from nato and would europe then hold berlin responsible and not washington and not still be thought he was basically using germany as a whipping boy for the issue of the burden sharing in nato. if the us president says out loud that the u.s. is no longer interested in nato without the us will not stand by its obligations under article 5 of. the 2 parties are responsible for the united states and the federal republic of germany define it can stop when america thought of. article 5 of the nato treaty commits members to consider an armed attack against one member states to be an attack on all of them donald trump has awakened doubts about his solidarity with the alliance and russia is trying to divide nato still further. turkey orients itself towards moscow and has made an arms deal with russia italy's

government has been flirting with the west's greatest rival china the giant country doesn't need an alliance china plays its own game. china sees its autocratic political model as a blueprint for the world of tomorrow. the master plan by the leadership in beijing aims to make china the 1st modern socialist global power by 2050. china's new silk road project is designed to revive the ancient trade routes across central asia and the middle east to europe. it's the biggest infrastructure investment program of all time including high speed rail way lines. deep water ports. gigantic tunnel and bridge projects oil and gas pipelines electricity grids and european harbors from greece to italy to germany.

we must further facilitate and liberalized trade and investments and reject protectionism outright china checks all the boxes i mean obviously there we have military and security concerns about china but we also have concerns about the political model that china is putting forward as an alternative to what the west has put its faith and for many many many decades economic. policy is also military policy with the exception of the u.s. no country in the world spends as much on arms as china in 2018 it amounted to some 142000000000 euros. our military must regard combat capability as the criterion to meet in all its work and focus on how to win when it is called on. we will take solid steps to ensure military preparedness for all strategic directions and make progress in combat readiness in both traditional and new security fields changed it

that he needs a president president of the chinese president said very clearly at the 19th party congress that he wants a world class military. he doesn't need a world class military if it's just about asia if it's just about defending chinese territories that doesn't mean he needs a world class military if the scenario is a possible military escalation with the united states. meeting with soc. china has gone on the offensive and is flexing its muscle this marshall footage is part of a promotional video from a chinese arms manufacture it could almost have been shot in hollywood the message is clear we are big we are powerful we take what we want. taiwan is a primary focus of china's power play the chinese leadership wants reunification with what it sees as a breakaway province and it's willing to take on taiwan's protective power the u.s.

. and its come about taiwan sort of now we're seeing the same problem with taiwan that we discussed in reference to the baltic states look at china and $800.00 pound gorilla in asia and this tiny little bird territorially speaking that is taiwan what's the likelihood that the united states would go to war with china with the potential of a nuclear escalation to prevent this little bird from being taken by an 800 pound gorilla. very unlikely i'm going on something so taiwan could become one of the big conflicts in asia in the future. of this region. a few experts doubt that china will try to pursue its plans for a reason if a case in with taiwan beijing has not ruled out using military force to achieve that aim and china is an increasing threat to the western alliance in other areas as well. military aspects are becoming increasingly important in cyber technology.

how great is the danger for germany. i think it's clear that china not only intends to become an economic world power. and of course we are concerned about this development. in the area of digitalisation we have the question of which chinese companies we should allow to build up our infrastructure. i think there's a lot of sensitivity on the european and german side when it comes to dealings with china. in. the u.s. warns of chinese companies like huawei and. they say their technology can be used by beijing for espionage and in fact the chinese government can force companies to take part in espionage operations and sabotage european networks.

through the threat in cyberspace is not primarily a classical military threat but it is a threat to our critical infrastructure as we call it it's a threat to everyone in that we are all exposed to hacker attacks without actually knowing where they are coming from if it was consequential and challenging in ways that it's hard for people today to imagine the cold war had a whole host of challenges that we were facing but we had essentially kind of one. adversary and we were looking at it through the lens of kind of state to state conflict and through a conventional military lens now we've taken that and we've blossomed and so i think what worries me is that we're still operating in government structures and institutions that were designed for a very different era. is nato ready to meet the new challenges does the western alliance system still guarantee security. the 70 year old foundation

our foreign policy on both sides of the atlantic is showing more and more cracks the one time promise of shared values has been watered down europe's governments are trying to find the least common denominator. as much as climb up and down and we have to make it clear in the alliance that we have an interest in approaching russia and china with the support of the us to say the world will be a safer place if we agree on a new comparable arms control system. for that we need to have the u.s. as a partner. as europeans we see ourselves as part of nato as part of the western alliance but we also want to make a stronger contribution to this alliance to remain transatlantic but become more european as of tons outlandish. but how would that work in practice french president a man who went back on dreams of a european army under french german leadership could such

a european army fill the power vacuum that would result if the us pulled out of nato. at the moment the e.u. is politically and militarily a small entity on u.s. life support. if europe starts to go along it will divide europe from north america. but it is also the wild europe so to go alone is not good for not the states it's not good for europe to roll wars the cold war fought to get started somehow thought was that we need to stand together. honestly i can't imagine europe being able to guarantee its own security in the foreseeable future because we need the us but when i look around the world i can't see any power that is as close to us culturally and economically as the united states. that's why i think it's good for us to hold on to it but the fact that we sometimes

wrangle with the americans that we sometimes have different points of view means that the europeans have to get more involved and make a more effective contribution only then can we have a say. but. the new threats don't permit europe to go it alone nato is being forced to stick together as shown by the rapid reaction force. tank commander hagi tim's working day is coming to an end he and his crew have been involved in this exercise for several weeks now. but they're not necessarily expecting an emergency. she said of course shooting exercises are different because the cardboard targets don't shoot back but i know my training was so good that if i were facing a real tank i'd react just as well. it's still an exercise but the world has become more confusing the old structures are fading germany will have to invest

more and not just financially. but to be a reliable partner germany will have to take responsibility and send soldiers on combat missions. the tasks are growing larger and becoming more dangerous. directs and close up. topics that move the world. from society and politics to the environment. as

a current affairs documentary. in the us a climate change. summit most of. the 2 years do they have for their future. d.w. dot com megacities the. clear cut or. not nothing to the general well i guess sometimes i am but i stand up and whip that region of thanks deep into her jemma culture of looking at the stereotype the question to me is think the future of the country that i don't claim. needed to be taken as grandmother day out to me it's all about ok look i'm

a joke join me to meet the jetman sunday w. . post. cut. this is deja vu news live from berlin bernie sanders claims victory in the new hampshire primary the presidential hopeful holds a slim lead over last week's winner in iowa former mare pete boucek but are the democrats any closer now to getting a candidate to challenge donald trump. and they risk speaking out they risk their lives.