The Bundeswehr launched a nationwide initiative to train German businesses in how to prepare for the coming crisis, which sounds as though it will become a full-scale military escalation between Germany and Russia.
The 1,000-page document outlines strategic steps that Germany can take to defend its critical infrastructure and maintain its national security amid rising tensions with Moscow over the situation in Ukraine.
Germany is going to try to bolster its economic resilience as part of the plan, which is a tall order considering the economic powerhouse of Europe no longer has access to cheap and abundant energy from Russia.
The Hamburg Chamber of Commerce recently hosted a seminar for local businesses to teach them how to take proactive measures to protect themselves once the fighting really gets going.
Lt. Col. Jörn Plischke, who led the session, encouraged German business attendees to train at least five additional truck drivers for every 100 employees. This is due to the fact that about 70 percent of the trucks on Germany's roads are driven by Central and Eastern Europeans who may no longer be available to drive once the war begins.
Plischke also encouraged seminar attendees to develop contingency and employee wartime plans to increase their chances of staying in business once the storm arrives.
Keeping backup power sources like diesel generators and wind turbines is one way that German business can keep the lights on and the books balanced once the bombs start dropping, Plischke suggested about what is soon to come.
The situation is urgent now that President Joe Biden announced that Ukraine now has permission to use U.S.-made, long-range missiles deep within Russian territory. This crosses a red line that President Vladimir Putin says gives Russia the green light to use nuclear weapons against its enemies.
Putin had previously warned the West that nukes might be dropped after NATO joined the war effort. After all, many of the missile systems that Ukraine is using to attack Russia can only be operated by NATO employees, which just about officially makes this a conflict between NATO and Russia that will culminate with WWIII.
Meanwhile, two undersea cables in the Baltic Sea were cut this week, one of which is 730-miles long, connecting Germany to Finland.
Because the cable cuts are believed to be sabotage, U.S. allies are now warning that "hybrid warfare" could break out in the coming days from this incident as well.
"We have to state, without knowing specifically who it came from, that it is a 'hybrid' action," commented German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, adding that "no one believes that these cables were cut accidentally."
"And we also have to assume, without knowing it yet, that it is sabotage."
The other cut cable connected Lithuania to Sweden's Gotland Island. Lithuania's navy announced this week that it will continue to monitor the affected waters to prevent any further sabotage.
Arelion, the Swedish company that operates this cable, announced that it is "in contact with Swedish authorities and the Swedish Armed Forces regarding the incident."
The Swedish Prosecutor's Office also released a statement indicating that it has launched a preliminary investigation into "suspected sabotage," which seems to be the agreed-upon cause of this latest escalation between Russia and the West.
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