In an interview before his first official visit to Washington, Germany’s defense minister staked out a broad geopolitical vision, taking pains to indicate that his country is ready to assume a more assertive stance in the face of growing international instability.
The defense minister, Boris Pistorius, laid out plans for Germany to increase its arms deliveries and take a more robust role in both the Indo-Pacific region and in military leadership in Europe.
He spoke to The New York Times before traveling to meet his U.S. counterpart, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, as well as the national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, on Wednesday in Washington.
The minister has been a part of Germany’s effort to change allies’ perceptions of his country as reluctant to take up leadership in Europe in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — a view fostered by its slow initial pace in delivering weapons to Kyiv and its stumbling efforts to fulfill a pledge to revitalize its own military.
Mr. Pistorius’s candor when discussing such topics has made him one of Germany’s most popular politicians, even when he sometimes goes further than some Germans, still haunted by their country’s World War II history, find comfortable.
Persons:
Boris Pistorius, Defense Lloyd Austin, Jake Sullivan, Pistorius’s
Organizations:
New York Times, U.S ., Defense
Locations:
Washington, Germany, Europe, Ukraine