Former senior NATO strategist Stefanie Babst criticized the planned move by the political parties of the Left, SPD, and Greens in Berlin to eliminate the program of youth officers in Berlin schools. Babst told the television broadcaster “Welt” that such “leftist pacifist urges” completely disregard reality and impede dialogue between the Bundeswehr and society.
Babst argued that if the German armed forces were to grow in manpower-a necessity she stated-and if they were to become more integrated within society, helping people understand that they contribute tangibly to defending freedom and their way of life, then a dialogue between the Bundeswehr and the public was essential. She pointed out that the youth officers had already been making a crucial contribution to this process. “It would be incredibly regrettable if these left-wing pacifist instincts and fantasies were cemented once more, thus moving even further away from reality.”
Furthermore, Babst refuted the notion that the desire for peace is exclusively a German right. She insisted that peace will not happen automatically. No nation has a privilege or a monopoly on wishing for peace; this applies to people in Germany, as well as in Poland, Lithuania, Portugal, Spain, and throughout Europe. However, she stressed that peace does not fall from the sky; something must be done for it to materialize. To achieve this, a ready-to-deploy and defensively capable Bundeswehr is required. “And for that, we need a society that doesn’t just observe it from the sidelines, but actively supports it. And the youth officers certainly could continue to make a vital contribution to that.”
